Uncertain

Mark Scandrette is an internationally recognized expert in practical spiritual formation. He is the founding director of ReIMAGINE: A Center for Integral Christian Practice, where he leads an annual series of retreats, workshops and projects designed to help participants apply spiritual wisdom to everyday life. His multidisciplinary studies in applied psychology, family health and theology have shaped his approach to learning and transformation. He is on the creative team for the 9 Beats Collective, a project exploring the beatitudes as a 21st vocabulary for the living way of Jesus. A sought after voice for creative, radical and embodied faith practices, he frequently speaks at universities, churches and conferences nationally and internationally and also serves as adjunct faculty in the doctoral program at Fuller Theological Seminary. His most recent books include The Ninefold Path of Jesus, FREE, Practicing the Way of Jesus and Belonging and Becoming: Creating A Thriving Family Culture. Mark lives with his wife Lisa and their three young adult children in an old Victorian in San Francisco’s Mission District. He loves walking city streets and discovering beauty in unexpected places. He is passionately engaged in sustainability practices and efforts to create safe neighborhoods for all people. www.markscandrette.com

In evangelical culture we receive a lot of messages about the body being bad. We’re told to control our bodies and deny our flesh, but as we’ll learn in this episode, that’s actually anti Christian. Featuring Dr. Hillary McBride and discussing her book The Wisdom of Your Body.

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Hillary L. McBride (PhD, University of British Columbia) is a registered psychologist, an award-winning researcher, and a sought-after speaker who specializes in embodiment. She formerly cohosted The Liturgists podcast (averages 4 million downloads per year), hosts the Other People’s Problems podcast, and has appeared on other popular podcasts. McBride’s clinical and academic work has been recognized by the American Psychological Association and the Canadian Psychological Association. She is an adjunct professor in the department of counseling psychology at the University of British Columbia and has a private counseling practice in Vancouver. McBride is the author of Mothers, Daughters, and Body Image and coeditor of Embodiment and Eating Disorders. Learn more at www.hillarylmcbride.com.

New book on Spiritual Abuse available from the founder of Tears of Eden: A Thousand Tiny Paper Cuts: The Subtle, Insidious Nature of Spiritual Abuse and Life on the Other Side

Staci Frenes is an author, songwriter, and speaker. Her book, Love Makes Room, shares her journey to love her daughter, when her daughter disclosed that she was gay.

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This is our final episode of Spiritual Abuse Awareness Month. Thank you so much for listening, for sharing, and for participating. This is not the final time we will be discussing Spiritual Abuse, but We’re so glad we got some extra space to bring awareness to this very important subject.

This episode features The Reverend Doctor Agnes M. Lover and Gimel Rogers, Psy.D

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Gimel Rogers, Psy.D., ABPP is a licensed psychologist and is Board Certified in Clinical Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. With over 10 years of clinical, professional speaking, and training experience she is the owner of F.I.R.E. Igniting Lives, LLC and founder of One Temple Fitness. She earned her doctorate from Pepperdine University and has provided trauma-focused care with clients from the Children of the Night Program, the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, FCI Terminal Island, and community programs serving survivors of intimate partner violence. She is an expert witness and assists clients who are involved in criminal, family, and civil cases involving a broad range of forensic issues. She is Faculty and the Associate Director of the Online MAP/MACLP Programs at Pepperdine University. Therapeutically, Dr. Rogers presently works with survivors who are recovering from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse as well as persons coping with life’s stressors.

She utilizes an array of therapeutic interventions with an emphasis on cognitive-behavioral therapy. She has published in the areas of culture, coping, spirituality, and trauma. Her inaugural book is the “21-Day Relationship Healing Devotional and Journal” a poetry-based devotional that promotes restoration through reflection. She is the content developer of the Power and Control Wheel of Historical Trauma.

The Reverend Doctor Agnes M. Lover is a native of Montgomery, Alabama. She enthusiastically serves as Lead Pastor at Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks Home Church, and is committed to passionate worship, community-focused ministry and the anointed preaching of God's Holy Word.

Committed to life-long learning, Dr. Lover received the Doctor of Ministry from United Theological Seminary. Her doctoral project, “From Preying to Praying: Exposing the Effects of Spiritual Abuse in the Church,” establishes a psycho-ecclesial model to equip church leadership with the necessary knowledge concerning spiritual abuse and utilizes a biblical behavioral model to illustrate how church leadership should implement spiritual authority.

She received the Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology, the Master of Business Administration from St. Peters College, the Master of Science in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology and the Bachelor of Science in Mathematics & Computer Science from Xavier University.

Beyond the local pulpit, Pastor Agnes also compassionately serves in several capacities. She serves as Alabama River Region Conference Chair of Ministry Study, Conference Trustee, Chair of Finance Committee, and past annual conference secretary. In a five-year period, awarded over $60,000 in scholarship as the Episcopal District Christian Debutante Master Commissioner.

Pastor Agnes secured funding and established Haven, at Ward Chapel AME Church - Prattville, a ministry that provides advocacy and professional counseling to victims of sexual assault; and ST. PAUL AME CHURCH ROSA PARKS FOUNDATION, INC, a non-profit to continue the legacy of Rosa Parks, Johnny and Arlam Carr, and espouse acts of Civil and Human Rights locally and globally. In addition, she made significant plant improvement in all four pastoral assignments and eliminated debt and burned the mortgage of one. Prior to pastoring full time, she served at Turner Chapel Marietta, GA as worship pastor, discipleship and fellowship purpose leader.

Prior to serving in ministry full time, she pursued a corporate career that extensively evolved around 24 years of telecommunication experience combined in systems engineering, project management, sales and marketing.

Spirit-led and Sprit-driven, Pastor Agnes is a proponent that strength is found within family—a bond that is strengthened every day. Dr. Lover is the extremely proud mother of two children, son, Kevion (Jillian) Rogers and daughter, Rev. Dr. Gimel Rogers; and grandmother of Kimberly and Kyle Rogers. She is the daughter of Rosa Smith Lover-Patterson and the late William Bernard Lover, II.

In this episode, our third installment on Spiritual Abuse during Spiritual Abuse Awareness Month with guest Amy Fritz, host of the Untangled Faith Podcast, will talk a lot about what it’s like trying to explain spiritual abuse, and maybe some helpful ways to share what this experience is like with someone who might not understand.

Amy Fritz is the host of the Untangled Faith Podcast, where she provides space and encouragement for those who want to hold on to their faith while untangling it from all that isn't good and true. Amy is passionate about educating people about spiritual abuse and advocating for those who have been hurt in their faith communities. When she's not podcasting, she loves reading, watching Leverage with her family, and hanging out with her co-dependent dog, Sammy.

Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse: Creating Healthy Christian Cultures - Kindle edition by Oakley, Lisa, Humphreys, Justin. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Organizational Narcissism and Virtuous Behavior (unl.edu)

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Amy Fritz (@amyfritz) / Twitter
Amy Henning Fritz (@amyhenningfritz) • Instagram photos and videos

UntangledFaith (@FaithUntangled) / Twitter

Untangled Faith Podcast (@untangledfaith) • Instagram photos and videos

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This is also our 2nd episode addressing spiritual abuse during Spiritual Abuse Awareness Month. This is an extremely informative interview addressing power dynamics and control in spiritual abuse.

Trigger warning, this episode mentions sexual abuse and self-harm   

Connie A Baker MA LPC has a Master of Arts in Counseling degree and is a Licensed Professional Counselor and practices in Portland, Oregon. In addition to her private practice, she has been a counseling instructor at a local university, a seminar teacher, conference speaker, clinical supervisor, writer, trauma recovery specialist, trained life coach and is the author of Traumatized by Religious Abuse: Courage, Hope and Freedom for Survivors.

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In this episode, we discuss some common verses used by churches to Spiritually Abuse victims. We also discuss how common it is to find abuse of power in evangelical churches. Many times, congregations are experiencing Spiritual Abuse without realizing it.

A Church Called Tov

Willow Creek article

1 Tim. 5:19

Laura Barringer is an outspoken advocate for the wounded resisters of institutional abuse. Laura is coauthor of A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing. Laura is a curriculum writer for Grow Kids, a ministry of Stuff You Can Use. She previously coauthored the children's version of The Jesus Creed and wrote a teacher's guide to accompany the book. She published articles for The Jesus Creed and The Englewood Review of Books, and her writing has featured in Church Leaders and The Roys Report. Laura is a graduate of Wheaton College. Twitter: @laurambarringer

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Transcript:

I’m Katherine Spearing and this is Uncertain.

And this is also the trailer for season 3, coming in January 2022.

But first, a quick recap: in season 1 we spent our time addressing little-discussed subjects related to the church, many of those subjects had to do with abuse, and toxic systems that make abuse possible.

In season 2 we added artists to the conversation. Artists are the truth speakers, those accurately naming the present and envisioning where we could be in the future. When it comes to the church needing to do better, who better to invite into this conversation than artist?

In season 3, we will continue having conversations with authors, artists, experts, and survivors, but the one twist is we are kicking off in January, which is Spiritual Abuse Awareness Month. We’re organizing a social media campaign to raise awareness about Spiritual abuse, so all of our episodes in January will feature someone actively working in the Spiritual abuse education, awareness, and recovery space.

We at Tears of Eden, the nonprofit of which Uncertain is the affiliate podcast, want to invite you to join us, both for the campaign to raise awareness, and also for those episodes discussing Spiritual Abuse—this is a little recognized and as of yet under-researched form of abuse and we really, really hope you will join us. Please pop over to tearsofeden.org to sign up to participate in the campaign.

We’re really looking forward to kicking off this conversation in January so I hope you’ll tune in.

I’m Katherine Spearing, and this is Uncertain.

It is the final episode in season two and it is basically a conversation between a parent, Ginny Barker, who raised her kids in the height of the culture wars and Katherine, who grew up in the height of the culture wars. If you’re unfamiliar with the culture wars, a very brief explanation is the era of evangelicalism that was hell-bent on protecting their kids from being corrupted by the world. This led to a rise in Christian schools, homeschooling, and basically became the glory days of the white evangelical conservatism. This parenting movement emphasized submission to authority and an over-emphasis on sinfulness. Some communities took this really far, and as we will get into in the episode, some of these methods resulted in child abuse. But the greatest fallout might have been an entire generation of people who follow authority at all costs (especially parental and spiritual authority) and who distrust their bodies and intuition.

This, then, has led to the rampant abuse we now are uncovering in the church.

This is a “can of worms” episode. It’s the sort of episode that starts the conversation, but there is so much more to discuss, so we hope you’ll come back for Season three in January.

Ginny’s Story of Spiritual Abuse

Ginny’s Blog

Drinking the Kool-Aid of Parenting “the Right Way”

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Kat Armas is the author of Aubelita Faith. In this episode, we discuss reclaiming faith and the bible from colonization and patriarchy. We also discuss how some of the greatest theologians are found in the places we’d least expect. Follow her on twitter @kat_armas

Abuelita Faith tells the story of unnamed and overlooked theologians in society and in the Bible--mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and daughters--whose survival, strength, resistance, and persistence teach us the true power of faith and love. The author's exploration of abuelita theology will help people of all cultural and ethnic backgrounds reflect on the abuelitas in their lives and ministries and on ways they can live out abuelita faith every day.

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