Where Do We Go From Here?

This conversation is for you if you've been single longer than you expected to be or know someone who wrestles with prolonged singelness. Katelyn Beaty gives us a candid glimpse into her journey from Wheaton to New York City, and the way her internal landscape changed from shame to freedom.   Katelyn Beaty is author of A Woman's Place: A Christian Vision for Your Calling in the Office, the Home, and the World, and has written on issues of gender, politics, and the church for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and more. She previously served as the youngest and first female managing editor of Christianity Today magazine and currently serves as an acquisitions editor with Brazos Press. She lives in New York City and, in non-pandemic times, enjoys karaoke, birdwatching, and travel. Connect with Katelyn on Twitter and find out more at KatelynBeaty.com.   Continue the conversation with us on Twitter & Instagram   Get episodes of The Jess & Devi Show for $1 or $3USD/month   Episode show notes here

Pastor Curtis Allen joined Covenant Life Church in Gaithersberg, Maryland as a young Black man and after he joined the majority white church, he discovered the dating culture to be...different. From the overuse of the "guard her heart" mantra to rooms divided in half with all men on one side and all women on the other side. It was a world saturated in the I Kissed Dating Goodbye courtship methodology. This conversation was recorded years before the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd and the fresh wave of #blacklivesmatter protests we've seen around the world in the past weeks. But Pastor Curtis Allen's words to us about his experience as a Black man in a majority white church will give us all something to think about. From the ushers who wouldn't give him a program to the weight of having to assimilate, Pastor Allen speaks honestly words that all of us need to hear. This interview is a departure from our usual format. The audio you hear in this episode is Josh Harris interviewing Pastor Curtis Allen for the documentary I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye, a film made by our co-host Jessica Van Der Wyngaard. Full Show Notes Here  Continue the conversation with us on Twitter & Instagram Get episodes of The Jess & Devi Show for $1 or $3USD/month

Have you ever wanted to sit down with your mom or dad to talk about your life as a teenager? Jess went there. She and her mother, Caren, talk about what life in purity culture was like as a parent - what were the pressures on parents? What's it like to have your daughter publicly talking about your parenting?  This is a warm but feisty mother daughter conversation that opens up the way parents and children can misunderstand and miscommunicate and why grace is the most relevant ingredient for family relationships. Get more of this conversation and others on The Jess & Devi Show for $3USD/month Full Show Notes Here Join the conversation on Instagram and Twitter  

Today Lore Ferguson Wilbert is here to re-educate us on platonic touch. Listen in to hear why hugs, back scratches, and welcome platonic touch are a necessary part of being human.  Jess and Devi also get into how touch meant something to them both the good and the bad and what they’ve done in seasons of their lives when there weren’t people around to touch. Get all the links in the show notes here Join our conversation on Twitter & Instagram. Get episodes of The Jess & Devi Show for $3USD.  Lore Ferguson Wilbert is a writer, thinker, learner, and author of the book, Handle With Care. She writes for She Reads Truth, Christianity Today, Lifeway, and more, as well as her own site, Sayable. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram. She has a husband named Nate, a puppy named Harper Nelle, and too many books to read in one lifetime.

Ravi Zacharias died on May 19, 2020, and amidst the flood of social media posts saying #thankyouRavi by Christian celebrities like Tim Tebow and ministry leaders like Louie Giglio, there have been the quiet reminders of Zacharias' alleged harassment of a woman in Canada. This is a meaty episode - not for the theologically faint of heart - as Jess and Devi talk about the Myth of the Christian Hero. Why do we need these famous Christians to be "perfect"? What does it say about us that we even need heroes or a king figure to look up to? Jess also talks about working with Josh Harris while she was making the documentary I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye and the impact of Christian celebrity culture she witnessed around Harris. (Image of Ravi Zacharias is from Ravi Zacharias International Ministries media kit, image of Josh Harris is a screen grab from I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye) Full episode show notes here Join the conversation on Twitter & Instagram Get episodes of The Jess & Devi Show for $3/month

It's our first episode about queer Christianity, and Jenna De Witt joins us to talk about aromantic asexuality. We talk about what it's been like for her to navigate a church life and secular life that assumes everyone is sexually attracted to someone, and Jenna shares her calling with us for asexual people to know that they aren't alone. Full show notes here Join our conversation on Twitter and Instagram For $3/month you can get uncut interviews AND episodes of The Jess & Devi Show Jenna DeWitt is an aromantic asexual Methodist. She spent a decade writing and editing in Christian media, and now edits a wide variety of publications from tech support to books to articles to curriculum. She holds a bachelor of arts in journalism from Baylor University. She's originally from a small town near the border of Eastern New Mexico and the West Texas Panhandle, but now she lives in sunny Southern California, where she co-leads the LGBTQIA+ social group at her company. You can read her blog, Invisible Cake Society, and find her on Twitter at @Jenna_DeWitt for more on aromantic asexual advocacy within the church, singleness, mental health, and feminist pop music.   

Listen in to this lighthearted chat about Frozen 2 and the evolution of Disney princesses. Yes, we are heading into the unknown with Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and Christoph, but fear not - Elsa's in charge. And if all else fails, Anna will show us how to do the next right thing while Christoph is lost in the woods. What does Frozen 2 say about women in leadership, male and female relationships, and dealing with our past? Listen now to find out what Jess and Devi think. Download now to get the full conversation, don't forget to subscribe. Full show notes here Join the conversation on Instagram & Twitter Get episodes of The Jess & Devi Show by becoming our partner today

We promised to bring you new tools for the toolkit of your life, and this episode? It's HUGE. Remember how we grew up with the narrative that every time we blew up at someone, the times we felt frustrated in traffic, when we withdrew into ourselves, that all of that was bad because somehow sin was eating us up inside? Listen to this episode and hear how our body is leading us to truth, to God. Listen to this episode to remind yourself again that your body gives you cues, and those cues are good, an essential way of learning what you need to do, a way of acquiring wisdom. Listen to this episode to remember that God made your body, and it was never supposed to be bypassed by spirituality. Our body is one tool that helps us back to God, and we need our body to understand our sexual selves. Full Episode Show Notes Here Hear more from our interview with Aundi only as a partner for $3/month. And you get access to more expert interviews and episodes of The Jess & Devi Show. Join our conversation on Instagram and Twitter Our guide today is Aundi Kolber, a licensed professional counselor (MA, LPC), an author, and a speaker living in Castle Rock, Colorado. She has received additional training in her specialization of trauma- and body-centered therapies and is passionate about the integration of faith and psychology. She has written for Relevant, CT Women, and (in)courage. As a survivor of trauma, Aundi brings hard-won knowledge about the work of change, the power of redemption, and the beauty of experiencing God with us in our pain. Her first book Try Softer: A Fresh Approach to Move Us Out of Anxiety, Stress, and Survival Mode--and into a Life of Connection and Joy. You can follow Aundi on Instagram and Twitter

You've heard the reasons why Christian men quit porn, but in continuing this conversation, we wanted to hear from someone outside the evangelical bubble. Coach Leo Tabibzadegan is not a Christian, but he decided to quit porn and masturbation and now coaches other men to do the same. Leo tells us how he used porn in the past, why he quit, and how quitting impacted his life. We also talk about the ways he coaches men to make similar changes to their lives.  We cover: the desire for freedom and connection the power of self-improvement messaging the way porn desensitizes users why self awareness and self regulation are key to recovery how Christians separate the mind and the body and how that harms us Connect with Leo on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.  Find the full episode show notes here Join our conversation on Twitter and Instagram.  Partner with us for $3/month you get uncut interviews with our guests AND episodes of The Jess & Devi Show.

This episode is for anyone who wants to better understand how pornography impacts evangelicals. We know what we say in public: porn is sin, it leads to destruction, and it harms marriages and families. But we also know evangelical men and women still view porn. Does pornography have unique significance for conservative Protestants? Dr. Samuel Perry, a sociologist, says yes. He studied pornography in the lives of conservative Protestants in the United States for over four years, and his findings are published in his book Addicted to Lust, which we discuss in this episode. We cover the following topics: the impact of moral incongruence on evangelicals how complementarian theology justifies male porn use the unique impact of porn on evangelical women the difference in how evangelicals handle masturbation and pornography Samuel L. Perry is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago and a Th.M. in New Testament Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. His research explores the changing dynamics of religion, politics, race, sex, and family life in the United States. The author of numerous peer-reviewed articles, Sam has also written three books, one of which is Addicted to Lust: Pornography in the Lives of Conservative Protestants. He has also recently co-authored a book on the rise of Christian nationalism in the US . You can connect with Sam on Twitter Full episode show notes here Join the conversation with us on Twitter and Instagram