Sorta Sacred

Mental health isn't a niche topic — it touches all of us. But for a long time, we've treated it like a secret to keep. What made one Augustana College student decide silence wasn't acceptable? 

This week, Mark and Jess welcome Haley DeGreve, founder of the Gray Matters Collective, to trace the origin story of a movement that started as a campus campaign in 2018 and grew into a nonprofit reaching high schools, colleges, workplaces, and beyond. 

In part one of this two-part conversation, Haley shares how Gray Matters got started, what we get wrong about mental health, and why the words we use — and the questions we ask — matter so much more than we think. If someone in your life is quietly struggling, this episode might just give you the courage to ask. 

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 

Gray Matters Collective: thegraymatterscollective.com 

Thanks to the incredible production team of Sorta Sacred:

Music: Brian Schou 

Post-production: Cooper Schou

Design: Lauren Brown 

Merch: Allison Winter 

What if the sacred isn't hiding somewhere far away, but sitting right in front of us — in the steam off a coffee cup, a child's offhand comment, the pattern of cracks in a parking lot?

In this episode, Mark and Jess sit down with Elaine Olson, a certified spiritual director, ordained pastor and licensed clinical professional counselor who has spent years helping people navigate grief, transitions, and the search for meaning. 

Elaine walks through what it looks like to practice intentional attention in daily life. This is an episode about slowing down enough to notice — and trusting that noticing is its own kind of prayer.

Thanks to the incredible production team of Sorta Sacred:

Music: Brian Schou 

Post-production: Cooper Schou

Design: Lauren Brown 

Merch: Allison Winter 

We're kicking off a new season of Sorta Sacred! Jess and Mark pull back the curtain on how Season One actually came together — the surprises, the lessons, the moments that stuck with them — and share a bit about what's coming up in the weeks ahead. New episodes start next week, so consider this your official heads-up: things are about to get interesting again.

Thanks to the incredible production team of Sorta Sacred:

Music: Brian Schou 

Post-production: Cooper Schou

Design: Lauren Brown 

Merch: Allison Winter 

What does it mean to serve something greater than yourself — and what happens to your faith when that service asks everything of you?

This week, Jess and Mark sit down with two men who have lived that question from the inside. Rev. Gregory S. Brown is the senior pastor at St. David Lutheran Church in West Columbia, South Carolina, and an Army National Guard chaplain. Lt. Col. David Kelso is a West Point graduate with 21 years of Army service, two tours in the Middle East, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart.

It's a conversation about duty, sacrifice, and the unexpected places where the sacred shows up — even in the hardest ones.

Thanks to the incredible production team of Sorta Sacred:

Music: Brian Schou 

Post-production: Cooper Schou

Design: Lauren Brown 

Merch: Allison Winter 

In this episode, Jess and Mark sit down with the Reverend Kenneth W. Wheeler — retired ELCA pastor, public theologian, preacher, and author of US: The Resurrection of American Terror.

Rev. Wheeler grew up under Jim Crow segregation in Jackson, Mississippi, and has spent seven decades as a Black man in America bearing witness to the through-line of white supremacy — from the lynching tree to January 6.

Rev. Wheeler talks about what white people don't have to think about, what genuine allyship requires (and what it doesn't), the difference between guilt and action, and what it means to be made in the image of God in a country still reckoning with its original sins. 

"Anger has to be acknowledged and grief has to be honored for growth to happen."

Thanks to the incredible production team of Sorta Sacred:

Music: Brian Schou 

Post-production: Cooper Schou

Design: Lauren Brown 

Merch: Allison Winter 

What can a bowl of spinach tell you about community, belonging, and what it means to truly welcome a neighbor? 

Ann McGlynn, founder and executive director of Tapestry Farms in Davenport, Iowa, joins Mark and Jess to share how a simple gift of homegrown food from a refugee family sparked a nonprofit urban farm system that has now served over 130 families and grown tens of thousands of pounds of fresh produce across the Quad Cities. 

They talk about the intersection of farming, dignity, and healing — and why the word flourishing means something different when you've had to leave everything behind to start over. 

A conversation about roots, in every sense of the word.

Thanks to the incredible production team of Sorta Sacred:

Music: Brian Schou 

Post-production: Cooper Schou

Design: Lauren Brown 

Merch: Allison Winter 

Money is practical. It's also emotional, moral, and — if we're being honest — kind of spiritual. 

In this episode, Mark and Jess sit down with Martha Wells, a Davenport-based accountant and enrolled agent with over 40 years of experience, to talk about what our finances actually reveal about our values. 

From the anxiety of opening a shoebox full of receipts to the ethics of tax deductions and generous giving to talking to both your kids and your parents about money — this is the money conversation your church probably never had. Practical, honest, and surprisingly hopeful, we hope.

Thanks to the incredible production team of Sorta Sacred:

Music: Brian Schou 

Post-production: Cooper Schou

Design: Lauren Brown 

Merch: Allison Winter 

Mark, Katy, and Sara are back — and this time they brought more jokes (some great, some gloriously terrible), more laughter, and yes, audio gremlins appeared in the pursuit of something new! But that's kind of the point. 

Sorta Sacred was never meant to be overly polished. It's honest, it's human, and it's a little messy — just like faith itself. Pull up a chair for another round of real conversation about the questions that matter most.

Thanks to the incredible production team of Sorta Sacred:

Music: Brian Schou 

Post-production: Cooper Schou

Design: Lauren Brown 

Merch: Allison Winter 

What does it actually mean to stand by someone battling addiction? Not to fix them, not to enable them — but to truly love them? Jenny Halupnik and Dakotah Smith of One Eighty join us to help us understand addiction without judgment, support without losing ourselves, and hold onto hope even when it's hard to find.

Thanks to the incredible production team of Sorta Sacred:

Music: Brian Schou 

Post-production: Cooper Schou

Design: Lauren Brown 

Merch: Allison Winter 

We all know the feeling—a conversation that starts civil and somehow ends in a standoff. But what if the problem isn't what we're talking about, but how we're talking? In this episode, Mark and Jess sit down with Dr. Gauri Pitale, Augustana College's Vice President for Culture and Connection and a medical anthropologist, to explore the transformative practice of dialogue—and why it's different from debate, discussion, or even your average conversation.

Dr. Pitale brings a fascinating lens to this work: part anthropologist, part community builder, part spiritual seeker. She introduces us to the "cultural iceberg"—the idea that most of who we are is hidden beneath the surface—and challenges us to stop judging people's "branches" and start getting curious about their "roots." From preparing for a hard conversation with your uncle to navigating a heated dinner table moment, this episode is full of practical wisdom and genuine hope.

If you've ever wanted to actually understand someone you deeply disagree with—this one's for you.

Book recommendation:
Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein

Thanks to the incredible production team of Sorta Sacred:

Music: Brian Schou 

Post-production: Cooper Schou

Design: Lauren Brown 

Merch: Allison Winter