Where Do We Go From Here?

In this episode we deep dive divorce with journalist Lyz Lenz. We talk about: why it's so hard to tell the truth about difficult marriages how the labor of women sustains western marriage political decisions that could make marriage easier for everyone Follow us on Instagram and Twitter to keep talking. Full show notes here Partner with us for $3/month (USD) to hear Jess & Devi talk about recent revelations about beloved author Elisabeth Elliot's abusive third marriage.  Lyz Lenz is an author and journalist living in Iowa. This American Ex-Wife is her third book. She also writes the newsletter Men Yell at Me about personhood and politics in America.

In this episode, Hillary McBride guides us toward how to see our body as a resource, and she gives us practical, free tools to help us reconnect with our bodies. Full show notes here Partner with us for $3/month to hear the full, uncut version of this converation and get episodes of The Jess and Devi Show Hillary L. McBride (PhD, University of British Columbia) is a registered psychologist, an award-winning researcher, and the host of the Other People’s Problems podcast. She has a private practice in Victoria, British Columbia, and is a sought-after speaker and retreat leader who specializes in embodiment. McBride’s work has been recognized by the American Psychological Association and the Canadian Psychological Association. She is the author of The Wisdom of Your Body and Mothers, Daughters, and Body Image, and coeditor of Embodiment and Eating Disorders. Learn more at www.hillarylmcbride.com. Connect with Hillary on Instagram.

Are you a subscriber? Have your say about this show in our listener survey! In this episode we dig into the pain points of being unpartnered when everything is getting more expensive. What's the mental load that unpartnered women carry about housing and job security? And what can people do that helps?  Connect with us on Instagram and Twitter Partner with us to hear our recap of the Christmas movie Best. Christmas. Ever! and join The Big Debrief call on December 26 (US)/ 27 (Australia) if you want to talk more about this episode. 

In this episode our co-founder Jessica Van Der Wyngaard tells us the bittersweet news that she's stepping down as co-host of the show and why it's the right time to go.  Partner with us to hear Purity Culture News & Views next week, plus a fun Christmas rom com recap later in December.  Are you in Melbourne? Join Sheila Gregoire and Devi at St. Silas' Anglican Church on Wednesday, December 6 from 1-3pm. You can find St. Silas at 99 Bridport St, Albert Park.  Full show notes here

In this episode we explore what it means to lose our faith and community because our beliefs, or sometimes our very selves, put us at odds with the expectations of others. Can there still be a spiritual home on the other side?  Plus there's a special announcement about a new book club featuring Holy Runaways. DM @wheredowegopod to get Keara's email address if you want to join. Partner with us for $3/month (USD) to hear Purity Culture News & Views this week.  Full show notes here (plus transcript) Matthias Roberts (he/him) is a psychotherapist specializing in religious and spiritual trauma and the author of Holy Runaways: Rediscovering Faith After Being Burned by Religion and  Beyond Shame: Creating a Healthy Sex Life on Your Own Terms. He hosts Queerology: A Podcast on Belief and Being and holds two master's degrees from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, one in theology and culture, and one in counseling psychology. His work has been featured by O: The Oprah Magazine, Bustle, Woman's Day, Sojourners, The Seattle Times, and many others. He lives in Seattle. Connect with  Matthias on Instagram

Andy Stanley's megachurch, North Point, held a conference to equip parents of LGBTQ+ youth and young adults to love and accept their kids, and soon after conservative gatekeepers accused Stanley of abandoning historic Christian doctrine. This episode discusses North Point's method and asks the question: Is it a blueprint for churches to follow? We consider: North Point's engagement with the LGBTQ+ community for the past 10 years an affirming pastor's perspective on the conference will evangelicals handle LGBTQ+ affirmation eventually the way they deal with divorce today  a Side B perspective on Stanley's sermon "slippery slopes" Full episode show notes here (interview transcripts as well). Connect with us on Instagram and Twitter. Partner with us to hear the uncut interview with David Bennett. Plus you'll get News & Views and a chance to chat about this episode on Zoom at the end of the month.  Zach W. Lambert is the Lead Pastor and founder of Restore Austin, a church in urban Austin, Texas. He is also the co-founder of the Post Evangelical Collective--a group of pastors, artists, and leaders committed to full inclusion, holistic justice, deep and wide formation, a gracious posture, and the Way of Jesus. Additionally, Zach serves on the boards of Restore Houston (a church plant he helped launch), Hub Garage (a non-profit for single moms), the Austin Church Planting Network, and the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network. Connect with Zach on Twitter and Instagram. You can connect with Restore Austin on TikTok and Youtube. Dr. David Bennett is a visiting theologian at Reality San Francisco, a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s College of Evangelists and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Faculty of Theology and Religion. David is a graduand and recently completed his DPhil (2023), entitled ‘Queering the Queer: An Exploration of How Gay Celibate Asceticism Can Renew and Inform the Role of Desire in Contemporary Anglican Theology.’ From Sydney, Australia originally, he has lived in Oxford for the last decade. Author of the memoir, A War of Loves: The Unexpected Story of a Gay Activist Discovering Jesus (Zondervan, 2018). Connect with David on Instagram and Twitter.

Annie Parsons is having a baby, and she's an unpartnered, 41-year-old woman in middle America who grew up in Purity Culture. Yes, we have questions. Her answers tell a complex, beautiful story about what it's like to gain agency, build community, and the dare to hope for a miracle. We talk about: ditching dating and pursuing motherhood "insurance against regret" gaining financial stability as a single woman the long road of navigating fertility questions Partner with us to hear a fresh Purity Culture News & Views episode this week. $3/month (USD) gets you in and there are romcom recaps plus a monthly zoom call with other partners. Connect with us on Instagram and Twitter.  Full transcript here Annie Parsons is a single woman in Kansas City who, after years of dating and hoping for marriage, decided to pursue having a child on her own. Many twists and turns later, through a fertility process, she is now expecting a baby boy any day now. This is obviously a non-traditional path to motherhood, especially for one who grew up immersed in the purity culture of the 90s, so she wanted to have a conversation about what it took to make this decision, from the practical to the spiritual. Connect with her on Instagram.

Anna McGahan is an Australian actress and storyteller who found God in the most radical of ways. Baptised into the Pentecostal tradition, she gave up everything to follow Jesus only to find that life in the church wasn't quite what it seemed.  In this episode we discuss: meeting God and meeting the church, it's not the same finding agency in celibacy losing queerness to find God recovering a sense of equilibrium and self Partner with us to hear The Jess & Devi Show and our take on the 1999 romcom She's All That (spoiler: it's not all that). Join for $3/month (USD).  Anna McGahan is an actor, author, screenwriter, playwright and poet. Anna's work prioritises a defiant female gaze to explore experiences of embodiment, motherhood, sexuality and spirituality. She is the author of the Vogel Prize-winning novel, Immaculate, a book of poetry about motherhood, Skin, and the memoir, Metanoia. She lives in Meanjin (Brisbane), with her two young daughters. Subscribe to her Substack here.

The evangelical message for girls was all about virginity, naivete, and silence, and millenial women are paying the price for it. "She Deserves Better" gets into what went wrong but also gives us a playbook for how to do better.  We talk about: the impact of modesty teaching what happens when girls are told they talk too much the importance of sex ed Full show notes here Partner with us to hear Jess and Devi's trip to a sex shop in Melbourne. We read out product descriptions and give our honest opinion about a (surprising) number of sea creature-like devices. Get it for $3/month (USD). Sheila Wray Gregoire is the face behind BareMarrige.com, the largest single-blogger marriage blog. She's also an award-winning author of nine books, including The Great Sex Rescue, and a sought-after speaker. Connect with Sheila on Instagram. Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach is a psychology graduate, Sheila's daughter, and the author of Why I Didn't Rebel. Working alongside her husband, Connor, she develops websites focusing on building Jesus-centered marriages and families. Connect with Rebecca on Instagram.

We're mixing faith and friskiness and spilling divine secrets on tasteful toys. Get ready to bless your bedside drawer with a touch of sex-educator-approved delights. Dr. Celeste Holbrook is back with the the quality sex education we need after purity culture life.  Partner with us to hear our thoughts on the Barbie movie, plus you'll get a ticket to The Big Debrief at the end of the month and more!  Full shown notes here (including a transcript of our interview wit Celeste) Dr. Celeste Holbrook is a sexologist and speaker who helps her clients evolve into the people they were created to be, in and outside of the bedroom. She speaks on a variety of topics from sex drive and sexual shame to painful intercourse, purity culture and more. Her mission is to provide safe spaces for people to talk about sex Dr. Celeste has been featured in Women’s Health Magazine, Mothers of Preschoolers, Reader's Digest and more. Connect with Celeste on Instagram and take her classes online.