We are back with our second YOScast episode with Erin, Lin, and Jericho! Realizing your attraction to women well past puberty is a very common phenomenon amongst our community. Why? When and how did you come to terms with your non-heterosexual identity? Together we highlight the “pros” of coming out later in life, including how this has enriched our faith journeys. We also play bingo, but you’ll have to listen to see who won!

What was your late bloomer experience? In what ways has your faith been impacted by coming to terms with your sexuality?

you are not alone; even the sparrow finds a home

We conclude our two-part episode on the church with stories of healing from church hurt and growth in the church. We also discuss the notion of building church resiliency amid our frustrations and hang-ups with the church. How have we grown in such resiliency? Despite how the church may still fail us, how can we place our ultimate security in Jesus as we live out the truth that we are the church?

Where have you experienced healing or resiliency in the church?

you are not alone; even the sparrow finds a home

It’s the premiere episode of Your Other Family Podcast! Or, the YOFcast, as we’ll also be known. Join hosts Tom and Erin for a brief origin story of how Your Other Brothers and Your Other Sisters came to be, along with some amazing topics we would discuss at length on this show – if only we had the full funding to do so!

We’re still finding our footing as a nonprofit ministry, and we’re excited about the possibility of this new YOF coed podcast with contributing members of both YOB and YOS, also maintaining our YOB and YOS podcast productions. But we still need help getting to that point! If you’re not already giving in support of our 501(c)(3) organization, would you consider a monthly gift today? Check out the link below for general giving, or shoot us a community inquiry if you’re interested in YOB/YOS membership! There’s always room for one more sparrow in this nest.

YOF General Giving

YOB Membership

YOS Membership

YOBcast 047: Intimacy

YOBcast 092: Second Adolescence

YOScast 001: YOS is a Thing!

you are not alone; even the sparrow finds a home

Tom welcomes back Dawson to recap our seventh YOB retreat! We share our perspective about our retreat’s first-ever prayer labyrinth exercise, and we hit some of the other highlights of our weekend together in western Pennsylvania, including a manly calisthenics workout and a mysterious visitor to our lodge porch. Dawson shares his reaction to being crowned our first-ever “Mr. Masculinity,” and Tom shares a profound retreat moment that crescendoed with fifty men huddling around him in prayer.

Have you ever walked a prayer labyrinth? What were your takeaways from this year's YOB retreat?

you are not alone; even the sparrow finds a home

Where have we experienced hurt in the church, whether from our sexuality or otherwise? How do we continue in spiritual communities after experiencing church hurt? Join Tom, Ryan, and Matt for a raw discussion on our community’s church hurt stories. We’ll dive into the other side of hurt in a follow-up episode, but for now, we want to honor the pain, the loneliness, the frustration, the rejection, the abuse, the trauma, and the injustice of experiencing hurt in a place and with a people where we should have experienced life. If one of us hurts, may we all hurt together.

Where have you experienced hurt in the church?

you are not alone; even the sparrow finds a home

Andrew returns to dive deeper into his blog, “A Straight Man Won’t Fix You.” What led him to write this post, and long did he ponder it? Join Tom and Andrew for a discussion on the idolization of friendships with straight men, theorizing why some men in Side B spaces get drawn into the "mythical" realm of straight men. We also briefly recap the third season of “Heartstopper” and lament Andrew’s lack of attendance – and also his felt presence – at this year’s YOB retreat.

How have you sought healing or "fixing" from a straight man? What happened?

you are not alone; even the sparrow finds a home

After a couple years of discussions, spreadsheets, form submissions, and more legal fees than you could imagine, Your Other Family is now a government-recognized nonprofit organization! The IRS approved our nonprofit, and all membership dues and donations to our ministry are officially tax-deductible, including all amounts given retroactively on our new giving platform. We still have a journey yet ahead of us to close our remaining funding gaps, but this is a huge step forward.

Tom recounts our recently held YOB retreat, which focused on God’s call for Abram to “go” – and so, we too are going. Will you pray with us for God's provision, also taking action wherever He prompts?

200 + 200 = LIFE

you are not alone; even the sparrow finds a home

What draws us to the beauty of men? Do we engage it or run far from it? Join Tom, Ryan, and Matt for a discussion on masculine beauty! Learn why this topic has become something of Ryan’s “brand,” including a perspective shift that’s helped many members of our YOB community. We talk about navigating the tension between admiration and lust, gratitude and envy, and participation and insecurity in our interactions with the beautiful men around us. How do we direct our observations of masculine beauty back to the Creator?

What do you find beautiful about men? What's difficult about the beauty of men?

From The Christian Post: "Forrest Frank calls out fellow artists for mocking his accident..."

you are not alone; even the sparrow finds a home

Welcome to our debut episode of the YOScast! Johana-Marie and Ashley join Erin to discuss the Life on Side B podcast episode on women's inclusion in Side B spaces (S3Ep14). As listeners, Erin and Johana-Marie talk about our big takeaways from this conversation, and Ashley recalls her experience co-hosting this episode. It’s been four years since it aired, so what has changed? Has anything stayed the same? We reflect on what gaps we still see in the Side B world, discuss how YOB has impacted us as women, and build up excitement for what Your Other Sisters will add to our movement.

What ways have you been impacted by women’s contributions to Side B spaces or the Church in general? What topics would you like to hear discussed from a woman’s perspective?

you are not alone; even the sparrow finds a home

Tom here, and it's my monthly "State of the Sparrow" for Your Other Family! It feels good to say I am now executive director of this new ministry. This month we finally made the switch away from Patreon to our new ministry giving platform. I actually got emotional deactivating our old way of supporting YOB. But I'm excited for what's to come as I update y'all on the resumption of regular blog/podcast content, as well as our next YOB+YOS membership call and our 7th YOB retreat this month in Pennsylvania.

I'll share more about the numbers in my next update pod, but we would love to gain some additional support from outside our existing YOB+YOS membership. If you've been following our content and/or partaking in our community for a while, would you please prayerfully ponder this?

Is there a married couple, parent, sibling, friend, elder, pastor, or even church who knows your story, and maybe even knows about your involvement in YOB or YOS, who you might consider asking to support YOF?

200 + 200 = LIFE

you are not alone; even the sparrow finds a home