We’re excited to bring you another episode of Vacation Bible School–Sunday School Dropouts edition! This month we are joined by our favorite podcast editor, Kevin Crowe (@jesusunfollower on social media) to talk about the story of Job. And let us tell ya, this is *not* the story you heard in VBS! We’ll also be talking about some of the latest things going on in the world during our “Sanctified Gossip” segment and you won’t want to miss our Silly Songs and Arts & Crafts time either!

If you’re looking for support to help with the increased stress and anxiety of the election cycle, we are offering a self-led course that is filled with resources, lectures, skills and practices to help you navigate this chaotic time. Find out more information here and use the code ELECTIONS to get $15 off!

This podcast is brought to you by the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery: an online trauma coaching company whose practitioners are trauma informed and trauma trained to work with individuals, couples and families who have experienced high control religion, cults, and religious trauma. For more information on the support that CTRR provides, for resources–including courses, workshops, and more–head to traumaresolutionandrecovery.com or follow us on Instagram: @traumaresolutionandrecovery

The views and opinions expressed by Sunday School Dropouts are those of the hosts and not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery. Any of the content provided by our guests, sponsors, authors, or bloggers are their own ideas and opinions.

The Sunday School Dropouts podcast is not anti-religion but it is anti -harm, -power and control, -oppression and, -abuse and will speak to the harmful practices and messaging of fundamentalist groups.

Follow Andrew on Instagram and TikTok @deconstruct_everything

Follow Laura on Instagram and TikTok @drlauraeanderson or on her website: www.drlauraeanderson.com

Hosts:

Laura Anderson and Andrew Kerbs

Music by Benjamin Faye Music @heytherebenji

Editing and Production by Kevin Crowe and can be found at www.kevincrowe.co

It’s summer and that means it’s time for Vacation Bible School–Sunday School Dropouts Edition! This month we’re letting you in on all the church-sanctified gossip that all the moms are talking about as their kiddos are doing arts and crafts like Carl Lenz’s new podcast, Robert Morris’ “affair, and more. And during our Bible story time we’ll be talking about the Apostle Paul–the OG Grifter. It’s definitely not the stories you heard when you were at VBS, but you’ll surely learn something!

And this month we are joined by the fabulous Janice Lagata, otherwise known as @godhasnotgiven on Instagram. Janice brings to us her knowledge, humor, and passion for all things deconstruction, and reminding others that they can believe better things–that your thoughts about God are just as valid as anyone from the Bible. Make sure to give Janice a follow on socials and check out her podcast, God Has Not Given, wherever you stream podcasts! To find out more about Janice’s work, to support her, read her substack, or sign up for her workshop, head to her website: janicelagata.com

If you’re interested in the Religious Trauma and the Elections Course you can sign up here and use the code ELECTIONS for $15 off!

Resources discussed in this episode:

Zealot by Reza Aslan

The Politics of Jesus by Obrey Hendricks

Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman and Rev. Dr. Kelly Douglas

This podcast is brought to you by the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery: an online trauma coaching company whose practitioners are trauma informed and trauma trained to work with individuals, couples and families who have experienced high control religion, cults, and religious trauma. For more information on the support that CTRR provides, for resources–including courses, workshops, and more–head to traumaresolutionandrecovery.com or follow us on Instagram: @traumaresolutionandrecovery

The views and opinions expressed by Sunday School Dropouts are those of the hosts and not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery. Any of the content provided by our guests, sponsors, authors, or bloggers are their own ideas and opinions.

The Sunday School Dropouts podcast is not anti-religion but it is anti -harm, -power and control, -oppression and, -abuse and will speak to the harmful practices and messaging of fundamentalist groups.

Follow Andrew on Instagram and TikTok @deconstruct_everything

Follow Laura on Instagram and TikTok @drlauraeanderson or on her website: www.drlauraeanderson.com

Hosts:

Laura Anderson and Andrew Kerbs

Music by Benjamin Faye Music @heytherebenji

Editing and Production by Kevin Crowe and can be found at www.kevincrowe.co

This is our final episode of season one and Andrew and Laura are back to talk about men and bears, lift up John MacArthur in prayer, to quite literally celebrate the United Methodist church’s repeal of their declaration that did not allow LGBTQ+ clergy members and more. We’ll also be reflecting on some of our favorite moments from the season and sharing about our summer episodes because you can’t have Sunday School Dropouts without Vacation Bible School! We’re dropping some hints about what’s to come in those episodes and talking a little bit about Season 2 which will start in the fall!

More than anything, we just want to say a big thank you to all of our fellow dropouts for supporting us! We have loved doing this podcast and are so excited for Vacation Bible School this summer and Season 2!

This podcast is brought to you by the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery: an online trauma coaching company whose practitioners are trauma informed and trauma trained to work with individuals, couples and families who have experienced high control religion, cults, and religious trauma. For more information on the support that CTRR provides, for resources–including courses, workshops, and more–head to traumaresolutionandrecovery.com or follow us on Instagram: @traumaresolutionandrecovery

The views and opinions expressed by Sunday School Dropouts are those of the hosts and not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery. Any of the content provided by our guests, sponsors, authors, or bloggers are their own ideas and opinions.

The Sunday School Dropouts podcast is not anti-religion but it is anti -harm, -power and control, -oppression and, -abuse and will speak to the harmful practices and messaging of fundamentalist groups.

Follow Andrew on Instagram and TikTok @deconstruct_everything

Follow Laura on Instagram and TikTok @drlauraeanderson or on her website: www.drlauraeanderson.com

Hosts:

Laura Anderson and Andrew Kerbs

Music by Benjamin Faye Music @heytherebenji

Editing and Production by Kevin Crowe and can be found at www.kevincrowe.co

This week we will be talking to a notorious former pastor about their experience growing up inside high control religion, becoming a poster child for purity culture, being set up to take over for a large church and ultimately giving it all up, deconstructing his faith and leaving the church. If you grew up in evangelicalism, and likely even if you didn’t, you’re sure to be familiar with Joshua Harris, author of the wildly popular Christian dating, ahem, courting, book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye. He’s here to share with us about his time inside of high control religion, what opened his eyes to the unhealthy dynamics inside the church and his process of healing after leaving. It’s an episode that all of our younger selves never saw coming and definitely one you won’t want to miss!

We’ll also be squeezing in some prayer requests as Andrew is back to lift up those “unspokens” and you may have heard Laura say a couple weeks ago that our last episode of season 1 would be after this episode, but fear not, we’ll be back in a couple weeks with a new episode and are excited to share the fun things we have coming in store for you this summer…because what’s a Sunday School Dropout without Vacation Bible School?

This podcast is brought to you by the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery: an online trauma coaching company whose practitioners are trauma informed and trauma trained to work with individuals, couples and families who have experienced high control religion, cults, and religious trauma. For more information on the support that CTRR provides, for resources–including courses, workshops, and more–head to traumaresolutionandrecovery.com or follow us on Instagram: @traumaresolutionandrecovery

The views and opinions expressed by Sunday School Dropouts are those of the hosts and not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery. Any of the content provided by our guests, sponsors, authors, or bloggers are their own ideas and opinions.

The Sunday School Dropouts podcast is not anti-religion but it is anti -harm, -power and control, -oppression and, -abuse and will speak to the harmful practices and messaging of fundamentalist groups.

Follow Andrew on Instagram and TikTok @deconstruct_everything

Follow Laura on Instagram and TikTok @drlauraeanderson or on her website: www.drlauraeanderson.com

Hosts:

Laura Anderson and Andrew Kerbs

Music by Benjamin Faye Music @heytherebenji

Editing and Production by Kevin Crowe and can be found at www.kevincrowe.co

How do you heal from religious trauma when you were both the victim and perpetrator of high control religion? Dan Miller joins us today to discuss his work with clients who are healing from religious trauma and adverse religious experiences that were in positions of ministry leadership, including the unpaid labor of volunteers (which many of us called: servants). In this episode we talk about some of the unique aspects of healing that former ministry leaders face, steps to re-build your life after leaving ministry positions, feeling burned out after volunteering, and building self-compassion.

Guest: Dan Miller

Website: www.straightwhiteamericanjesus.com

Work with Dan: dan@traumaresolutionandrecovery.com

This podcast is brought to you by the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery: an online trauma coaching company whose practitioners are trauma informed and trauma trained to work with individuals, couples and families who have experienced high control religion, cults, and religious trauma. For more information on the support that CTRR provides, for resources–including courses, workshops, and more–head to traumaresolutionandrecovery.com or follow us on Instagram: @traumaresolutionandrecovery

The views and opinions expressed by Sunday School Dropouts are those of the hosts and not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery. Any of the content provided by our guests, sponsors, authors, or bloggers are their own ideas and opinions.

The Sunday School Dropouts podcast is not anti-religion but it is anti -harm, -power and control, -oppression and, -abuse and will speak to the harmful practices and messaging of fundamentalist groups.

Follow Andrew on Instagram and TikTok @deconstruct_everything

Follow Laura on Instagram and TikTok @drlauraeanderson or on her website: www.drlauraeanderson.com

Hosts:

Laura Anderson and Andrew Kerbs

Music by Benjamin Faye Music @heytherebenji

Editing and Production by Kevin Crowe and can be found at www.kevincrowe.co

We are excited to be talking today with April Ajoy and Beecher Reuning! They are sharing with the Sunday School Dropouts crew their story of growing up in fundamentalism and purity culture, meeting and getting married under those systems and then navigating their way through discarding those doctrines and theology to find their way into the relationship they have today. It’s an episode you won’t want to miss!

Religious Trauma + the Elections Course - use code ELECTIONS for $15 off

Guests:

April Ajoy can be found on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook @aprilajoy and on X at @aprilajoyr

Beecher Reuning can be found Instagram, TikTok and X @hellobeecher and on Facebook @beecher

Their podcast "The Non-Binary Marriage" can be found here.

Buzzfeed article about April can be found here

This podcast is brought to you by the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery: an online trauma coaching company whose practitioners are trauma informed and trauma trained to work with individuals, couples and families who have experienced high control religion, cults, and religious trauma. For more information on the support that CTRR provides, for resources–including courses, workshops, and more–head to traumaresolutionandrecovery.com or follow us on Instagram: @traumaresolutionandrecovery

The views and opinions expressed by Sunday School Dropouts are those of the hosts and not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery. Any of the content provided by our guests, sponsors, authors, or bloggers are their own ideas and opinions.

The Sunday School Dropouts podcast is not anti-religion but it is anti -harm, -power and control, -oppression and, -abuse and will speak to the harmful practices and messaging of fundamentalist groups.

Follow Andrew on Instagram and TikTok @deconstruct_everything

Follow Laura on Instagram and TikTok @drlauraeanderson or on her website: www.drlauraeanderson.com

Hosts:

Laura Anderson and Andrew Kerbs

Music by Benjamin Faye Music @heytherebenji

Editing and Production by Kevin Crowe and can be found at www.kevincrowe.co

Today we are excited to have the Sexvangelicals, that is Julia Postema and Jeremiah Gibson, on our podcast! Julia and Jeremiah are licensed and AASECT certified psychotherapists who use their personal and professional lives and experience to work with relationships where at least one partner has been a part of high control religion, fundamentalism or purity culture.

Resources

Developmental Model - Ellen Bater

AASECT.org - finding a sex therapist

Six Steps for a structured question

1. Decide on specific topic - key word SPECIFIC! (Ex: what are my favorite places to be touched, to be kissed, preferences around initiation)

2. Agenda - (not rigid) what is the purpose of this conversation? Eg. understanding each other better, resolving conflict

3. Choose a time and location that will set you up for success (beginning and end) - try to make it outside the house

4. Set a timer based on the topic, level of vulnerability and your level of experience in these conversations

5. Stay on topic! Once you’ve decided what the topic is, write it on a sticky note or card what the topic is so you can refer to it later to help you stay on topic!

6. Aftercare - sometimes these conversations can be going or vulnerable so how can you come back together with your partner *(e.g. a game, going out to eat, cuddling)
   

This podcast is brought to you by the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery: an online trauma coaching company whose practitioners are trauma informed and trauma trained to work with individuals, couples and families who have experienced high control religion, cults, and religious trauma. For more information on the support that CTRR provides, for resources–including courses, workshops, and more–head to traumaresolutionandrecovery.com or follow us on Instagram: @traumaresolutionandrecovery

The views and opinions expressed by Sunday School Dropouts are those of the hosts and not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery. Any of the content provided by our guests, sponsors, authors, or bloggers are their own ideas and opinions.

The Sunday School Dropouts podcast is not anti-religion but it is anti -harm, -power and control, -oppression and, -abuse and will speak to the harmful practices and messaging of fundamentalist groups.

Follow Andrew on Instagram and TikTok @deconstruct_everything

Follow Laura on Instagram and TikTok @drlauraeanderson or on her website: www.drlauraeanderson.com

Hosts:

Laura Anderson and Andrew Kerbs

Music by Benjamin Faye Music @heytherebenji

Editing and Production by Kevin Crowe and can be found at www.kevincrowe.co

We are thrilled today to be talking with Rachel Overvoll! Rachel herself grew up in purity culture and high control religion. We discuss her experiences inside purity culture, the impact of it and her healing journey. We then get into how Rachel has used her personal story to inspire her professional life as a Somatic Sex Coach who works with clients focusing on finding sexual freedom after purity culture.

We’ll also be answering a listener question and a special prayer partner guest will be joining us for this episode’s segment of prayer requests!

The Religious Trauma + Elections course is now available for sign up! Find out more information and register for the course here!

Resources from today

The Purity Myth by Jessica Valenti

Better Sex Through Mindfulness by Lori Brotto

Pleasure Activism by Adrian Maree Brown

She Comes First by Ian Kerner

Rachel Overvoll Somatic Sex Coach

@rachelovervoll on IG and TikTok

Find out more about the work Rachel does or book a session with her at: www.modernintimacy.com

This podcast is brought to you by the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery: an online trauma coaching company whose practitioners are trauma informed and trauma trained to work with individuals, couples and families who have experienced high control religion, cults, and religious trauma. For more information on the support that CTRR provides, for resources–including courses, workshops, and more–head to traumaresolutionandrecovery.com or follow us on Instagram: @traumaresolutionandrecovery

The views and opinions expressed by Sunday School Dropouts are those of the hosts and not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery. Any of the content provided by our guests, sponsors, authors, or bloggers are their own ideas and opinions.

The Sunday School Dropouts podcast is not anti-religion but it is anti -harm, -power and control, -oppression and, -abuse and will speak to the harmful practices and messaging of fundamentalist groups.

Follow Andrew on Instagram and TikTok @deconstruct_everything

Follow Laura on Instagram and TikTok @drlauraeanderson or on her website: www.drlauraeanderson.com

Hosts:

Laura Anderson and Andrew Kerbs

Music by Benjamin Faye Music @heytherebenji

Editing and Production by Kevin Crowe and can be found at www.kevincrowe.co