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Today, we’re honored to share a conversation with Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest, a New York Times bestselling author, and the founder of Outreach, a ministry for LGBTQ Catholics. His new memoir is called Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest. And yes, he held every one of those jobs before he found his calling. But beneath the laughs, this book is really about the slow, unglamorous, often uncomfortable work of transformation. In our conversation today, Father Jim talks about growing up desperate to be liked—and what it took to become someone willing to speak up and make waves when it matters. We talk about the difference between kindness and people-pleasing, about staying connected to religious institutions that can both nourish and wound us, and why he believes doubt is a natural part of a living, growing faith. In a moment when so many public voices feel reactive and divisive, Father Jim stands in conviction without losing compassion—offering a steady, grounded wisdom that feels deeply needed right now. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

Today we’re exploring a tender question so many parents are carrying: how do we help our kids grow in faith when we’re still figuring it out for ourselves? And underneath that—what if we get it wrong? What if we hand them something they’ll spend years trying to untangle? Today, we’re joined by pastor, author, and researcher Meredith Miller, who has spent her career thoughtfully engaging these questions. Her book, Woven: Nurturing a Faith Your Kid Doesn’t Have to Heal From, offers a grounded and practical guide for what this can look like. Meredith invites us to move away from rigid faith metaphors like walls and foundations, and instead to see faith more like a web—flexible, resilient, and uniquely woven for each person. That shift opens up a much more spacious way of thinking about what it means to guide our kids spiritually. Anchoring this conversation is her distinction between obedience-based and trust-based faith. Meredith makes a compelling case that trust must come first—that obedience, when it matters, grows naturally out of a relationship with a God we’ve come to know and trust, rather than fear. We also talk about how to approach scripture with kids, what her research revealed about the strengths of a Latter-Day Saint ward-based model, the value of family warmth, and why “I don’t know” can be a great answer. This conversation was a steadying reminder for us that while we can’t control how our kid’s faith unfolds, we can trust that God is already at work in their lives. We hope this episode gives you both some practical tools and a little more peace for the long, slow work nourishing a faith your kid doesn’t need to heal from. You can also find Meredith’s new book Wonder: 52 Conversations to Help Kids Fall in Love with Scripture on Bookshop.org and Amazon.  Did you know Faith Matters also produces a Bible Storybook podcast? Listen to Scripture Stories for Little Saints on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And for more help with family spiritual development, check out Uplift Kids. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

Today we’re asking: what do you do when someone you love tells you they’re leaving the Church? What do you say? How do you stay grounded and connected when the stakes feel high or you’re caught off guard? We sat down with two longtime friends of the podcast—authors and researchers Joseph Grenny and Jeff Strong—to explore these high-stakes moments when someone is ready to talk about their shifting faith. Drawing on research from over 500 real-life conversations about faith transitions, Joseph and Jeff uncover something both surprising and sobering: statistically, it’s devout parents and church leaders who are most likely to miss the mark in these conversations. They suggest this isn’t about a lack of love or sincerity—but consequences of a very natural response to fear. Jeff and Joseph call it a TUI—talking under the influence. When the amygdala takes over, stress floods the system, and the thinking brain goes offline. What looks like a communication problem is actually a chemical one, and even the most well-intentioned among us can say things that damage relationships for years. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Today, Joseph and Jeff show us how to recognize when we’re under the influence, how to pause before we cause harm, and how to come back grounded and clear—so that we can choose connection over control, curiosity over fear. With General Conference this weekend and Easter just days away—seasons that bring families together and open the door naturally, to these conversations—we hope this episode reminds you that you’re not alone, and that these hard moments, can become the fertile ground for relationships that are deeper, more honest, and more connected than they were before. You can also read and share an essay called "Messy Conversations: When Loved Ones Leave the Faith" by Joseph Grenny at faithmatters.org.  Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

We live in a world that prizes activity: being productive, staying in control, always doing something. So when life brings seasons of waiting—through illness, loss, or circumstances we didn’t choose—it can feel unsettling, even threatening to our sense of self. But what if those seasons are actually inviting us into a deeper understanding of God? Today, we’re joined by Terryl Givens to explore an extraordinary book called The Stature of Waiting by W.H. Vanstone. Vanstone noticed something hiding in plain sight in the gospel accounts of the last week of Jesus’s life. Up until a certain moment, Jesus is the one acting—teaching, healing, feeding, leading. And then, almost imperceptibly, the grammar of the story shifts. He is no longer the one doing, but the one to whom things are done. He is handed over. He waits. He receives. And Vanstone suggests this isn’t a tragic turn in the story—it’s its deepest revelation. Terryl and Fiona introduced many of us to the God who weeps in Moses 7. In Vanstone, we meet that same vulnerable God again—this time, waiting. And we ask what it means to follow that God in how we love, how we age, how we suffer, and how we let ourselves be carried. We hope that as you move through Holy Week this year, this conversation helps see the face of God in the most vulnerable moments of the Easter story — and in your own. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

This version has the correct audio--thanks to those who let us know the last one wasn't right!  From time to time we like to share episodes from other shows in the Faith Matters network that we think you’ll really love, and today we’re highlighting one of our new favorites from Article 13, the podcast hosted by Zach Davis. If you haven’t discovered it yet, Article 13 is one of the most beautifully produced things Faith Matters does. The title comes from the thirteenth Article of Faith and that really captures the spirit of seeking that you’ll experience in these episodes. These are rich, deeply researched explorations that bring together cutting-edge scholarship and spiritual wisdom to ask big questions about how we live. In today’s episode, drawing on research from thinkers like Seth Kaplan and Pete Davis, we hear a compelling case that one of the central challenges of our time is a growing fear of commitment. Our culture tells us that the best life is the one where we keep our options open. But the irony is that the things that make life richest—friendships, tight-knit neighborhoods, shared projects, belonging—become possible when we choose to commit to one another. Real, rooted, showing-up-again-and-again community. Even though our tradition is built around covenant relationships, we’re living in the same cultural waters that pull toward busyness, mobility, and individualism. This episode is both a diagnosis and an invitation. It’s full of ideas and stories that might make you want to knock on a neighbor’s door, join something local, or start something in your own community. We hope it sends you back to your people—your neighbors, your ward, your community—with a little more fire. And with that, here’s Article 13. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

One of the real challenges of studying the Hebrew Bible is figuring out how to make sense of stories of divine violence—where a God of love seems hard to find. These passages raise real questions about the nature of God and what it means for us as we try to live faithfully. Our guest today is Riley Risto, director of Latter-day Peace Studies, who joined the Church after a powerful mystical experience while praying about the Book of Mormon, an experience that centered his faith on Jesus and shaped his lifelong effort to take Christ’s teachings seriously in a world—and a Bible—full of violence and conflict. In this episode, Riley invites us to engage scripture through what’s often called a cruciform lens—the idea that, if Jesus gives us the clearest picture of who God is, then his life and teachings should shape how we understand every Bible story. Instead of letting the most troubling passages define our image of God, we begin with Christ and the cross and allow his life—and his radical call to love our enemies—to guide the way we wrestle with the rest. Along the way we explore what René Girard’s work on scapegoating might reveal about violence in scripture, what it might really mean to “take the Lord’s name in vain,” and what a Christ-centered reading could mean about justice. Underneath it all is the conviction that we’re not meant to be casual observers of scripture, but participants—trusting that honest wrestling can refine our faith and discipleship. For us, this cruciform lens has sparked new curiosity and breathed new life into our scripture study this year, and we’re excited to share it with you. If conversations like this are resonating with you, we’d love to invite you to explore more of the work we’re doing at Faith Matters. One podcast you might especially enjoy is Proclaim Peace, a joint project from Faith Matters and Mormon Women for Ethical Government. Hosted by Jennifer Thomas and Patrick Mason, Proclaim Peace explores what it might look like to read scripture through a lens of peace—and how those teachings can shape the way we live, engage conflict, and show up in the world. If this episode sparked something for you, we invite you to subscribe to Proclaim Peace on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. We think you’ll really appreciate the thoughtful conversations happening there. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

In today’s conversation, we explore creativity as a spiritual practice—not something reserved for artists, but a way of living. Our guests are Lisa Valentine Clark, a comedian, actor, and host of The Lisa Show, and James Rees—artist, educator, researcher, and passionate advocate for the arts. Both Lisa and James have spent their lives creating—in front of audiences on stages, in studios, in classrooms—and they’ve come to see that creativity does sacred work inside us. It gives form to what we’re wrestling with. It helps us clarify what we think and feel. It helps us metabolize the unexpected. It draws us into deeper presence. For Lisa, these insights became intensely practical. She shares the foundational rule of improv, “yes, and”: accept what’s given and build from it. This principle became a discipline that helped carry her through the hardest season of her life. Throughout the episode, we return again and again to the role of vulnerability—the courage to begin before you feel ready, to quiet the inner critic, and to let something take shape before you judge it. It’s this openness that makes growth possible. We hope this conversation expands the way you think about creativity and moves you to notice the ways you’re already being invited to practice it. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

Today we’re grateful to share a conversation with our friend Tucker Boyle—a longtime seminary and institute teacher and the founder of Harmony Road Retreats, a nonprofit creating safe, supportive spaces for people in faith crisis. As a young missionary, Tucker fell in love with teaching the gospel and knew he wanted to become a full-time seminary teacher. He stepped into that role with his whole heart, and years later pursued a PhD, hoping to become an even better, more thoughtful teacher. But during his doctoral research into early Church history, his certainty began to fracture. And before long, the ground beneath him seemed to give way. His work, his community, his family—his entire life—was built around the faith he was now struggling to hold. And for the first time, Tucker wondered if he belonged. He describes sitting in church—once his sanctuary—and feeling his body surge into fight or flight. But in time, he learned that what felt like collapse was the beginning of a deeper, more conscious faith. Today, Tucker shares how that unraveling became an invitation into transformation. And though the questions didn’t disappear, his relationship to them changed. The groundlessness opened into something more spacious and alive, expanding his capacity for love, humility, and connection. Whether you’re in the middle of your own wrestle, loving someone through theirs, or simply trying to build a faith that can hold complexity, we think Tucker offers language and light for the journey. If you or someone you love is navigating a faith journey you can check out Tucker’s organization at harmonyroadretreats.com. Tucker created these retreats to offer the kind of support and community he needed—spaces where you can feel less alone, where you can connect with others on the road, and explore practices that cultivate inner harmony and peace. He has retreats coming up in both March and April, and you can find all the details on the website. As always, thank you so much for listening—we’re so glad you’re here. You can check out more at faithmatters.org. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

We’re so excited to share a conversation that our friend and Executive Director, Zach Davis, had with Teresa Morgan, Professor at Yale Divinity School and a leading scholar of early Christian history. Teresa invites us to reconsider one of the most central words in Christianity: faith. She explains that for the first generations of Christians, “faith” didn’t mean signing on to a list of beliefs. It meant something more like trust—faithfulness, trustworthiness, the act of entrusting your life to God. Faith was less about what you thought and more about the kind of relationship you were living: a daily, embodied trust in a faithful God. But over time, as outside pressures mounted, Christian leaders drew clearer boundaries around belief. Creeds became markers of belonging, and faith—once rooted primarily in trust and lived allegiance—was increasingly defined by agreement with specific doctrines. That shift has shaped the Christian imagination ever since. In this conversation, Zach and Teresa explore how that evolution happened, what may have been lost, and what it might look like to recover a richer, more relational vision of faith today.  We also want to mention that this interview is featured in the upcoming Issue 7 of Wayfare, and that this is a special edition centering women’s voices on the theme of trust—trust in God, in ourselves, and in our communities. It’s a beautiful and thoughtful collection that we are really proud of. You can read this interview, and see the beautiful artwork that accompanies it, at WayfareMagazine.org. If you’d like to receive your own copy of Wayfare in the mail, you can become a Friend of Faith Matters or a paid Wayfare subscriber by March 31. Your support is what makes conversations like this possible, and we’re so grateful. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

Today we’re so excited to share our conversation with Bruce Tift, author, psychotherapist and longtime practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism. This summer, our friends at Uplift Kids introduced us to Bruce’s fascinating book Already Free, and we’ve been thinking about it ever since. In this conversation, Bruce dives into some of the ideas in the book. He explores how to make peace with being human. He looks at two seemingly opposing paths—both Western and Eastern wisdom—and shows how each offers a vital piece of the puzzle. Where psychotherapy may teach us to bring our early wounds and disowned emotions into awareness, Buddhist practices help us recognize the deeper freedom that’s available when we stop identifying with the fixed self. We loved that Bruce talked us through the ways we organize around our core fears, why so many of our childhood survival strategies still run the show in adulthood, and why real freedom often begins with simply allowing ourselves to feel uncomfortable without trying to fix or escape. Bruce’s insights feel so useful for navigating seasons of growth—emotional, spiritual, and relational. This conversation really helped us see that personal growth isn’t about achieving some ideal version of ourselves—it’s about meeting our actual experience with curiosity, compassion, and presence. We found Bruce’s wisdom to be gentle, honest, and deeply liberating, and we’re so grateful he joined us. You can find Already Free on Bookshop.org, Amazon, or wherever you buy your books, and you can find even more from Faith Matters on this topic in this week's newsletter on our website, faithmatters.org. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

As we explore the Old Testament this year, we’ve found ourselves returning to a past conversation with our friend Terryl Givens. It felt grounding and expansive and we're really excited to share it with you again. The Old Testament can be incredibly rich—full of beauty, poetry, and profound spiritual insights. But it can also sometimes feel bewildering or even faith-shaking. We get glimpses of a loving, nurturing God—and turn the page to encounter a God that seems angry, even violent. It's a text that raises big questions and invites us into deep wrestles. And maybe that’s part of its sacredness—that it pushes us into such honest, meaningful conversation. In this episode, Terryl helps us navigate those tensions. Together, we ask: What is the Bible, really, and where did it come from? What do different translations of this text have to offer, and how can we engage with this scripture in a posture of reverence and discernment that allows for mystery, and honors the sacredness of the whole landscape. We loved Terryl’s insights in this conversation, and we’re so grateful to revisit them now. Thanks so much for listening—we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did. For more on this topic, and for weekly resources to accompany your Come Follow Me study, be sure to check out the Faith Matters newsletter at faithmatters.org. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

Hey everyone, this is Aubrey Chaves from Faith Matters. Today I’m excited to share my conversation with Katie Ludlow Rich and Heather Sundahl about 50 Years of Exponent II, their new book tracing the history of a space where Latter-day Saint women have engaged the most urgent questions of their time—while also honoring the dailiness of life. The roots of this effort go back to 1872, when women began publishing the Woman’s Exponent to speak for themselves and stay connected across distance. A century later, Exponent II carried that work forward—not to create consensus, but to make room for complexity, difference, and the kind of deep listening that makes real community possible. And that’s what this conversation is about—what it takes to stay in relationship, even when ground we used to share—whether in belief, perspective, or experience—starts to shift. We’re probably all navigating this now in some spaces, in families, wards, or friendships. And so today, Katie and Heather explore the difference between discomfort and danger, how we can sit with the tension of disagreement without walking away, and what it means to listen not to persuade, but to witness—to be present with someone else’s experience, even when it’s different from our own. Katie is a writer and independent scholar of women’s history. Heather is a marriage and family therapist in Orem, Utah.  This was a deeply personal conversation, and we’re so grateful to Katie and Heather for showing up with such honesty and care. Their own lived experiences have led them down different paths, and it was a gift to sit with them in dialogue—watching the ways they do this together and make space for others to do the same. That kind of wisdom is hard won, and we’re honored to share it with you now. You can find their book, 50 Years of Exponent II, on Amazon, Bookshop.org, or wherever books are sold. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

We’ve all heard it called a sifting—the language that sometimes surfaces when someone is struggling or steps away from the Church. Wheat from tares, sheep from goats, a sorting in the last days that reveals truly elect. But today, our good friend and contributor Jeff Strong is back to invite us into a deeper reflection on that idea—and what he sees as the more essential question: Who is the Church for? Jeff shares how the way we answer that question has real implications—shaping how we respond to difference, and how we create (or close off) spaces for spiritual growth, belonging, and trust. In this conversation, he also brings new and fascinating findings from his large-scale survey of Latter-day Saints. Jeff introduces a framework of spiritual segments that emerged from the data—types like Seekers, Protectors, Cultivators, and more. It’s illuminating to see yourself in one of these groups—but maybe even more powerful to recognize how others might experience the same Church culture in radically different ways. He reflects on the tension people feel when their deepest values don’t seem to match what’s emphasized in their church experience. And he offers a way through that tension: wherever you fit, we each face the challenge to let go of fear—because fear, more than anything else, is what drives us apart. Ultimately, this conversation isn’t about disaffiliation or activity—it’s about relationships. It’s about how we respond to differences, how we hold tension as a community, and whether we’re building a church culture that reflects the expansive, welcoming love of Christ. And just a heads up: the story Jeff tells toward the end might sound familiar––in fact, Sister Dennis used it in conference this year, though we recorded this episode before conference, so we didn’t tie it in at the time. Also, there are some really interesting graphs and charts that Jeff mentions that are in the YouTube version of this conversation if you’d like to watch this one instead, or you can search the episode on faithmatters.org and see them there. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

Today we’re joined by our friend Patrick Mason and filmmaker Robert Reynolds. Rob is the director and producer of the new docu-series An Inconvenient Faith—a project that’s already opening hearts and starting some long-overdue conversations. This series is raw and honest. It takes on some of the most difficult and tender topics in our faith tradition—things like women and authority, LGBTQ belonging, race and the priesthood, and lots more. And it brings together voices from across the spectrum of faith—people who’ve stayed who are still engaging these issues, and people who have decided to step away. But all of them have one thing in common: they’ve wrestled with these big questions with their whole hearts. For many of us, this hits close to home. These aren’t abstract issues—this is about our families, our friends, our wards. And so it can be hard to hear a perspective that challenges your own. But Rob explains that his intention here is to help us love better. To help us listen longer and more generously. He hopes it’s a glimpse into the inner wrestles of people you may know and love, to remind us that behind every decision is a real human being, and behind these questions is a heart that wants to do what’s right. This episode is for anyone who loves someone who’s landed in a different place in their faith. If you’re looking for peace, for trust, for more compassion in the middle of complexity—we think you’ll find something meaningful here. We’re so grateful to Rob and Patrick for showing us what that can look like. Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here. 

Today, we want to introduce you to another podcast in the Faith Matters Podcast Network called Sanctuary: Discovering the Temple, hosted by Larkin Swain. Larkin brings a candid, curious, and thoughtful approach to conversations about the temple, and this episode felt especially fascinating and timely as we begin a new year studying the Old Testament. In this episode, Larkin speaks with historical linguist Jared Lambert, whose work focuses on language development, temple theology, and how translation and symbolism have reshaped biblical traditions. Jared brings a linguistic lens to the Genesis creation story, uncovering rich meanings that have evolved over time and even been lost in translation. His perspectives are both mind-expanding and spiritually moving. He reexamines the portrayal of God in Genesis, unpacks the symbolism of the temple endowment, and offers what feels like a powerful missing piece in our traditional telling of Adam and Eve’s story. We hope this conversation sparks fresh insight and deep reflection as you revisit these foundational stories.  Be sure to follow Sanctuary on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack, or YouTube for curious, open, and honest conversations about the temple! Come to Raising Little Saints: A Faith Matters Family Night! RSVP here.