Shalomies with Elizabeth Woodson and Yana Jenay Conner

Since the inception of the Shalomies podcast, Elizabeth and Yana have been wrestling with the question: What is good news for this generation? But they waited to have this conversation until they could find just the right guest.
In today's episode, they finally sit down with Gen Z and Gen Alpha expert Dr. Tanita Maddox to explore the gap between Boomers and Millennials and the generations coming up behind them, learn what questions Gen Z and Gen Alpha are wrestling with the most, and discuss what it will take to faithfully pass down the faith to the next generation.


Guest Bio:
Dr. Tanita Maddox


Questions Covered In This Episode

1. What questions are Gen Z and Gen Alpha wrestling with the most? 
2. What will it require of us to faithfully reach this next generation? 
3. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are often asking, “Do All People Matter to God?”. Where does this come from for them and what's at risk if the church fails to answer it?
4. What would you say to those who feel ill-equipped or hesitant to enter conversations with Gen Z about race, justice, and equality?
5. How do we adapt how we present the gospel without adapting the gospel itself to reach this generation? 

Key Passages:
1 Corinthians 9:19-23; Romans 1:16-17

Recommended Resources:
What Gen Z Really Wants to Know About God?: Seven Questions About Life + Faith

Join the Conversation:
Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life. Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast. Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! 


If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.


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We've been taught that marriage is the only way to resolve the real pain points of singleness, but that's just a lack of imagination. We can have a meaningful, full, and vibrant life as singles.

In today's episode, Yana and Elizabeth sit down with Ashley Irons for an honest and practical conversation about the very real worries of singleness, and explore how to navigate them with prayer, imagination, and hope. If you are single, this episode is for you. But, if you’re not single, listen in to hear what your single friends are often wrestling with and might be scared to say out loud.

Guest Bio: Ashley Irons

Questions Covered In This Episode:

1. What are some of the real worries — pain points — you experience in singleness?
2. What are some of the ways singles try to resolve these pain points apart from God?
3. Why is marriage not actually the only way to relieve these worries, and why do you think we lack imagination here?
4. In your singleness, how have you used your imagination to think outside the box the culture and the church have handed you?
5. When do you find yourself "crashing out" the most, and what truths do you return to in those moments?

Key Passages: Philippians 4:5-8


Recommended Resources:

• Embrace Your Life: How to Find Joy When the Life You Have Is Not the Life You Hoped For by Elizabeth Woodson

Living Single with Yana Jenay Podcast

Join the Conversation:
Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life. Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast. Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! 


If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.


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Between the news cycle and our social media feeds, life in our country can feel overwhelming and chaotic right now. In moments like this, it's easy to lose hold of the hope that justice and shalom are actually possible.

In today's episode, Yana and Elizabeth sit down with Justin Giboney to explore how Christians can faithfully respond to the unrest of our current cultural moment. Together, they discuss the inspiration we can draw from Scripture and the Great Cloud of Witnesses, wisdom that can carry us past cynicism and toward a genuine and resilient hope.

Guest Bio: 
Justin Giboney

Questions Covered In This Episode

1. What do you see as the primary sources stirring up this sense of never ending political/social chaos that seems to keep getting worse?
2. How do you see Christians actually responding to this political/social chaos? Both online and offline? 
3. How much of our issue is connected to our theology of suffering or, said another way, how we corporately process and move forward in seasons of prolonged difficulty?
4. The challenge of dealing with a tumultuous political or social reality is not a new problem?  Where can we find inspiration for how to hold onto hope?
5. What is a moral imagination,  and how does it help us move past cynicism toward real hope?

Key Passages:

• Jeremiah 29:1-11
• Hebrews 12:1-2

Recommended Resources:

• Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around: How the Black Church's Public Witness Leads Us Out of the Culture War

Join the Conversation:
Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life. Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast. Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! 


If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.


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The role of women in the church is a topic that usually sparks a lot of debate. But in the middle of that conversation, a more important question often gets lost: how can the church help women flourish?

In today's episode, Yana and Elizabeth talk with Dr. Sandra Glahn to tackle that question. They explore the role of women in the church through historical, theological, and practical perspectives—and discuss how, regardless of their theological position, churches can help women flourish, create space for them to lead, and build meaningful partnership alongside their brothers in ministry.

Questions Covered In This Episode

1. What do you think is driving women to leave the church, or leave the faith altogether?
2. What for women has changed in our current culture that is contributing to this problem? 
3. How does a conversation about how women are valued, developed and invested in get lost in the debate about women in ministry?
4. Regardless of a church's position on leadership roles, what do women need in order to flourish spiritually, relationally, and in their gifting? 
5. Can you share about a church that's gotten this right, where women are genuinely thriving? What did leadership do specifically?
6. If you could speak directly to a woman struggling with whether or not she should leave her church, what would you want her to know?

Key Passages:
Ephesians 4:11-13
1 Corinthians 7

Recommended Resources:

• Barna Study on Women Leaving The Church
• A Woman's Place Is in the Story: Seeing Women in the Biblical Narrative - Sandra Glahn

Join the Conversation:
Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life. Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast. Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! 


If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.


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Shame is a powerful emotion. This makes sense, considering it is one of the first negative human emotions we encounter in Scripture. After Adam and Eve sinned against God, their first instinct was to cover themselves with fig leaves and go into hiding. Since then, however, we've become more creative. Shame not only drives us into lives of masking and hiding, but also into lives of performance and spiritual over-functioning beneath ill-fitting yokes.

In this episode, Elizabeth and Yana have an honest conversation about the many ways shame can shape our lives. Together, they explore how shame manifests in both subtle and obvious ways, our attempts to cover it with fig leaves or out-perform it with ill-fitting yokes, and how Jesus offers us a better way to live.

If you struggle with shame or perfectionism, we hope this conversation will help you enter into the rest and freedom Christ died for you to enjoy.

Questions Covered In This Episode

1. How would you define shame?
2. What are some ways we try to cover our shame with fig leaves?
3. What is a yoke? What ill-fitting yokes can we put on to try to out-perform our shame? 
4. What is the yoke Jesus offers? 
5. How does the gospel liberate us from shame?
6. What are some practical ways we can come to Jesus in response to His invitation in Matthew 11:28-30? 

Key Passages:
Genesis 2:25, 3:6-7; Matthew 11:28-30

Recommended Resources:

• Habits of Resistance by Elizabeth Woodson
• Shame Interrupted by Ed Welch
• The Woodson Institute 

Join the Conversation:
Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life. Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast. Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! 

If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.


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Join the Conversation:
Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life. Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast. Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! 


If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.


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"Nobody's outside the possibility of moral failure." — Lisa V. Fields

In a broken world filled with fallen people, these words are sobering—but true.

When a ministry leader we admire falls into sin, the impact can reach far beyond disappointment. The pastor whose sermons strengthened your faith, the Bible teacher who helped you understand Scripture, or the Christian influencer whose content encouraged your walk with God can suddenly become the source of confusion, grief, and even spiritual disillusionment. Their failure can leave us questioning not only them, but also the faith they once helped nurture.

In this episode, Elizabeth and Yana are joined by Lisa V. Fields, founder of The Jude 3 Project and author of When Heroes Fall: Healing from the Aftermath of Sin. Together, they have an honest and compassionate conversation about hero worship, the tension between mercy and accountability, and how to hold on to faith when someone you respect has failed.

Lisa, Elizabeth, and Yana share candidly about moments when their own faith was shaken by the moral failures of ministry leaders and discuss the biblical truths that helped them regain their footing. They explore how to process grief, disappointment, and distrust without allowing another person's sin to define your relationship with God.

If you've found yourself discouraged, wounded, or questioning your faith in the aftermath of a ministry leader's failure, this conversation is for you. Our prayer is that, despite the failures of human leaders, you would cling afresh to the faithfulness of the One who never fails.

Questions Covered In This Episode

1. What personal experiences and observations of the church and church leadership led you to write this book? 
2. Why do you think that a ministry leader’s moral failure tends to impact someone’s faith in God? 
3. There are our parasocial heroes and IRL (in real life) heroes. Why do you think it's important for us to keep this distinction in mind when navigating our hurt and disappointment when our heroes fall?
4. What truths from God’s Word do we need to hold onto when our heroes fall?
5. How do we seek the restoration of those who have been directly impacted by the moral failures of others?
6. Why do you think the church has historically given more attention to the restoration of fallen heroes than victims? 
7. When a hero falls, how do we faithfully live in the tension of doing justice on behalf of the offended and loving mercy in response to the offender? 
8. How would you encourage someone who is struggling in their faith in the aftermath of a ministry leader’s moral failure? 

Key Passages:
Exodus 20:2-3, Micah 6:8, Mark 10:18 

Recommended Resources:
When Heroes Fall by Lisa V. Fields
The Jude 3 Project 

Join the Conversation:
Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life. Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast. Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! 


If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.


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Have you ever been told to “count it all joy” in the middle of a difficult season and thought, "How am I supposed to do that?”

In this episode, Yana and Elizabeth talk honestly about what perseverance looks like when life is hard. They explore what Scripture says about suffering, share some of their own experiences, and discuss why the voices you listen to and the people you walk with matter more than you may realize.

If you're finding it difficult to trust God in the middle of disappointment, grief, or unanswered questions, this conversation is for you. We hope it encourages you to keep holding on to Christ and reminds you that God is at work, even in seasons you wouldn't rather not be walking through.

Questions Covered In This Episode:

1. What is a recent season of difficulty you’ve experienced? What made it hard?
2. What did quitting look like or feel like as an option during that time?
3. What were people around you saying, and did it help or hurt?
4. Looking back, what did that season build in you that you're genuinely grateful for now? How did your faith in God grow?
5. In hindsight, where was God working that you couldn’t see or appreciate while you were going through. 
6. What do you wish someone had told you when you were going through?
7. What would you say directly to the listener who is asking "Is perseverance worth it?"

Key Passages:
James 1:2-4, Romans 3:3-5, Galatians 6:9

Recommended Resources:
Habits of Resistance by Elizabeth Woodson

Join the Conversation:
Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life. Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast. Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! 


If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.


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In This Episode:

• Why Yana spent three months on sabbatical
• What Elizabeth learned from a season of nonstop ministry
• The role counseling has played in cultivating shalom
• How friendship sustains us through difficult seasons
• What it means to trust God when you don't know what's next
• The theme and vision for the new season of Shalomies

Resources Mentioned:

• Habits of Resistance by Elizabeth Woodson
• Waiting Isn't a Waste by Mark Vroegop
• Galatians 6:9
• Ephesians 2

Join the Conversation:
Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life. Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast. Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! 


If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.


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In this final episode of the first season of Shalomies, Yana and Elizabeth talk about what it really means to pursue shalom in a world that’s constantly forming us to reflect its image. Drawing from Elizabeth’s upcoming book, Habits of Resistance, they talk about suffering, the role of Scripture, and why God’s grace—not striving—is the key to a  faithful and distinctive Christian life.


Recommended Resources:

• Habits of Resistance (Book)
• Bible Recap (Podcast)
• From Beginning To Forever (Book)

Join the Conversation:
Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life. Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast. Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! 


If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.


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In this episode of Shalomies, Yana Jenay sits down with her friend and mentor, LaToya King, Chief Operating Officer of the Triangle Community Foundation, for a rich conversation about what it means to pursue shalom in our everyday work. LaToya shares her story and the experiences that shaped her calling, as well as the Scriptures and beliefs that guide how she leads and serves.

Together, they explore how so much meaningful ministry can happen outside of church walls and why it can be difficult for believers to see their jobs as part of God’s mission to restore wholeness in the world. LaToya speaks candidly about the challenges of living out faith in settings where values aren’t always shared—including how she navigates conflict, maintains integrity, and seeks the good of the communities she serves.

Throughout the episode, LaToya offers wisdom for working with intentionality: approaching our roles not simply as tasks to complete, but as opportunities to seek the welfare of the city through presence, excellence, compassion, and courage.

This conversation is an invitation to see your work—whatever it is—as a place where God is present and active, forming you and using you to bring shalom to the world.

Key Scriptures:

• Jeremiah 29:7
• Matthew 22:36-40
• Romans 12:2

Questions Covered In This Episode:

1. What beliefs or passages of Scripture guide your approach to your work?
2. It’s been said that most ministry happens outside of the walls of the church. Would you agree with this statement? If so, why?
3. Why do we struggle to see work outside of the church’s walls as a part of God’s mission to restore shalom?
4. One of the benefits of working in a church setting is that there is a shared biblical worldview, work ethic, and code of conduct. Even if we people stray, we have the Scriptures as a shared text to draw people back to. The same is not true outside of the walls of the church. What have been some of the challenges you faced when it comes to living out your faith at work?
5. How do you navigate conflict at work?
   
   

Recommended Resources:
Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good by Amy Sherman
A Just Leader: Thriving in a Fractured World by David Spickard
The Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics


Join the Conversation:
Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life. Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast. Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! 


If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.


Follow Us:
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