The BETWEEN Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

This episode features an amazing new author, Jenai Auman having a beautiful and sacred conversation with host, Matt Mattson. Her new book, Othered is for anyone who has felt left out or pushed out of the church, Othered is your invitation to find spiritual rest and belonging in a God who loves, restores, and blesses the outcast and the marginalized.

Jenai Auman draws on her experience growing up as a biracial kid in the American South as well as working within toxic ministry environments to reveal a hopeful, trauma-informed way forward. Her book illuminates how hurt and betrayal in the church are longstanding problems that God neither sanctions nor tolerates. It offers holistic responses to the grief, anger, and trauma that come with being ostracized or oppressed by the church. And it shows how God provides shelter and provision in the midst of the wilderness. Buy the book: https://www.jenaiauman.com/otheredbook

Learn More about Jenai: https://www.jenaiauman.com/about-jenai

Subscribe to Jenai's Substack newsletter: https://jenaiauman.substack.com/

MaryB Safrit is a NYC-based relationship coach, an author, the host of the Found Family podcast, and she also makes and sells some pretty fun and empowering clothing and merch. She’s also your friendly neighborhood bisexual, recovering people-pleaser, and current goblin obsessed with all things relationship-building, hospitality, spirituality, and culture. (We talk about those obsessions in this episode). This episode is a truly sacred conversation about the idea of found family, about the idea of "church" in the modern world, about the idea of singleness within the weight of marriage culture, and about the idea of hospitality as a way to think about our cultures and organizations.

Learn all about MaryB at https://www.marybsafrit.com/

What if loneliness isn't the boogeyman we've made it out to be? What if in our pursuit of belonging we skipped self-worth and it has left us feeling inauthentic? What if God showed up in a hotel lobby, would you recognize God?

This episode of The BETWEEN Podcast features a wonderfully sacred conversation between host Matt Mattson and our special guest, Dr. Kelly Flanagan.

Dr. Kelly Flanagan is an author, speaker, relationship coach, and licensed clinical psychologist. He writes regularly at drkellyflanagan.substack.com. His writing has been featured in Reader's Digest, Christianity Today, and The 5 Love Languages, and he has appeared on the TODAY Show with his daughter. Kelly’s two non-fiction books—Loveable and True Companions—both debuted as a #1 New Releases in Interpersonal Relations on Amazon. His first novel, The Unhiding of Elijah Campbell was an ECPA bestseller and has won multiple literary awards. Kelly is married to another clinical psychologist named Kelly, and they have three children who are twenty, sixteen, and fourteen years old. They live in a small town outside of Chicago.

• Kelly's website: https://drkellyflanagan.com/
• Kelly's Substack: https://drkellyflanagan.substack.com/ 
  

Lizz Enns Petters and Esther Joy Goetz are our special guests on this episode of The BETWEEN Podcast. Lizz and Esther host The Deconstructing Mamas Podcast and... If you are trying to figure out how to navigate the tricky tightrope of parenting while you have questions, doubts and wonderings about your spiritual journey, their podcast is for you (and so is this episode of our podcast!)

Lizz Enns Petters is a passionate voice for so many people out there... she encourages her readers and listeners around the themes of MOTHERHOOD, MENTAL HEALTH, and MINDFUL CHRISTIANITY. Her father is biblical scholar Pete Enns and she's a chip off the old block (as they say). Lizz is deeply passionate about creating a space for spiritual misfits so that they can find a sense of safety and belonging on their faith journeys... and she's especially passionate about empowering young moms and parents who are doing the hard work of healing themselves while raising kids. Lizz has young kids of her own and so much of her fantastic online content is about the exciting, beautiful, sometimes difficult, and often hilarious life of a mother with little ones... Lizz was diagnosed with anxiety, OCD, and a panic disorder at a young age and those diagnoses have been a big part of her life.

Esther Joy Goetz was born and grew up as an evangelical missionary kid ... Esther has written that her parents' mission was to keep the people they encountered in war-torn Ethiopia from going to Hell. She lives in rural New Jersey and loves the outdoors. Esther's kids are grown now and she has a grandson and a granddaughter on the way. She has a fierce passion for helping people uncover what's been hidden, discover what's been lost, recover what's been wounded in their lives, and know and love their truest and most healed selves. She does this through her books, her spiritual direction practice, the podcast that she shares with Lizz, and hopefully just by being a sanctuary (a safe place) for any and all who come across her path.

LEARN MORE

• Deconstructing Mamas Website
• Lizz Enns Petter's Website
• Esther Joy Goetz's Website
• Lizz's BETWEEN 5(ish)-Minute Sermon
• Esther's BETWEEN 5(ish)-Minute Sermon

This episode features host Matt Mattson and special guest, Nicole Mason. This slightly longer and deeply sacred episode is somehow about the future of faith communities, the heavy weight carried by so many women within the context of religious institutions, innovative church life, and really so much more...

Nicole Mason is a church planter. She is a writer. She is an innovative Christian. She spent 7 years in vocational ministry within complementarian spaces -- and then left that world. She now leads a non-traditional, non-Sunday-centric church community in Houston, Texas.

• Read Nicole's blog here: https://nicolemason.substack.com
• Follow Nicole on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_nicolemason_/
• Follow Nicole on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@_nicolemason_

What is a mystic? Can you be one? Is contemplative prayer something that might bring us closer to each other? Can a dirty diaper be a sacred thing?

Keith Kristich joins host Matt Mattson on this very contemplative episode of The BETWEEN Podcast. Keith Kristich is a writer, a retreat leader, a contemplative, a mystic... and the founder of the online contemplative community called Closer Than Breath. His mission is to help people unlearn rigid religion, reimagine what is divine, and see God everywhere.

Keith's work revolves around:

• deconstructing rigid religion
• practical mysticism and
• contemplative practice

Specifically, he teaches centering prayer as a way of embodying the way of unknowing and surrender.

He also makes some really cool digital art that helps people understand the divine in new and beautiful ways.

Subscribe to his newsletter here: https://keithkristich.com/newsletter/

• Keith's website: https://keithkristich.com/
• Closer Than Breath: https://closerthanbreath.com/
• Follow Keith on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithkristich/
• Closer Than Breath on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CloserThanBreath/

Our special guest Rev. Lindsey Turner (They/Them) joins host Matt Mattson on this celestial episode of The BETWEEN Podcast.

In 2018, Reverend Lindsey Turner who was a pastor at a church... was forced out of that church. In one swift and painful moment, Lindsey lost the house, career, and community they had built. After learning that Lindsey had offered a home to a young adult who was both trans and housing-insecure, a small group of church leaders demanded Lindsey's resignation in secret.

Lindsey, who is also known as Bad Pastor, is a consulting astrologer, community minister, and ritual arts specialist. They work at the intersections of liberationist theology, traditional astrology, and time magic. Lindsey offers one-on-one consultations and spiritual accompaniment, teaches theology-astrology classes, guides group development workshops, and hosts an online community called "Starpals," for people who find themselves at the intersections of queer/trans and Christian/post-Christian identity. Lindsey also travels around the country, speaking on ritual theory and praxis for chaplains and other faith leaders.

Learn all about Lindsey at https://badpastor.me/ and follow Lindsey on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/bad.pastor/

We're so excited to feature Sarah Bessey, author of Field Notes For The Wilderness: Practices for an Evolving Faith on this episode of The BETWEEN Podcast.

Listen in as host Matt Mattson and Sarah Bessey discuss faith deconstruction, reconstruction, and things that are helpful if you find yourself wandering out there in a spiritual wilderness.

Sarah Bessey is the author of the popular and critically acclaimed books, Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith, Jesus Feminist, and Miracles and Other Reasonable Things. This episode focuses on her newest book, Field Notes for The Wilderness. She is a sought-after speaker at churches, conferences, and universities all around the world. Sarah is also the cocurator and cohost of the annual Evolving Faith Conference and she serves as President of the Board for Heartline Ministries in Haiti. Sarah lives in Calgary with her husband and their children. Visit Sarah's website (buy her books, find her social media accounts, and sign up for her Substack newsletter!)

Join the Evolving Faith Community (discussed in this episode)

This episode of The BETWEEN Podcast features host Matt Mattson jumping into the "MESS" with special guest, Melissa Neeb. They discuss faith, deconstruction, parenting, mental health, addiction, and public speaking -- all within the context of building sacred moments of human connection in our lives. S

Melissa gives some powerful advice about showing up and creating "honest rooms" that could be transformative for listeners trying to bring more meaningful (and maybe even holy) connection into their lives.

You can find Melissa at the following:

Faith in The Mess ("love big, live kind")

Instagram: @faith_in_the_mess

Facebook: Faith in the Mess by Melissa Neeb

Never Empty Nest (how to mom teens)

Instagram: @never_empty_nest

Facebook: Never Empty Nest by Melissa Neeb

Join host Matt Mattson and special guest Pastor Justin Spurlock as they take a deep dive into the "unofficial sacrament of conversation." They discuss whether or not the "space between people" is actually sacred, they explore the importance of BELONGING in-depth, they talk about the challenges of faith-related language, and they share stories in an authentic exchange of real sacred conversation. Learn more about BETWEEN at ⁠our website⁠ and subscribe to our ⁠YouTube channel⁠. Don't forget to ⁠follow our Instagram account⁠ for daily prayers and fun content.