This week, we’re so glad to be sharing a conversation with our friend Chad Ford.

Chad is a conflict mediator, peace educator, and associate professor of religious studies at Utah State University. He’s spent decades working in some of the most entrenched conflict zones in the world—from the Middle East to South Africa to Northern Ireland. He’s also the author of a new book called Seventy Times Seven: Jesus’s Path to Conflict Transformation, published by Deseret Book. The book explores a question that feels more urgent than ever: how do we follow Jesus as peacemakers in a world so often shaped by fear, division, and violence?

Our conversation with Chad moved from the personal to the global—from tensions in families and faith communities to the devastating conflicts we see on the world stage. And through all of it, Chad points back to Jesus as a radical model for how to live, engage, and help transform the world around us.

Chad reminds us that Jesus’s path is anything but passive. It doesn’t mean disengaging or avoiding hard conversations. It means choosing to engage with both courage and compassion. It means refusing to meet harm with more harm, and instead walking a path that invites healing, reconciliation, and transformation.

That kind of peace doesn’t come quickly—or easily—but it’s the kind of peace that can change lives and communities. Chad offers a vision of Christianity rooted in Jesus’ ministry of reconciliation—not in dominance or defensiveness, but in the slow, often difficult work of restoring wholeness.

He helped us see that the peace Jesus offers isn’t always the peace we want—but it’s the peace we need. And when the way forward feels impossible, he reminds us that part of discipleship is learning to make a way out of no way.

And with that, here’s our conversation with Chad

Seventy Time Seven

With Easter just a few days away, we’re so excited to share this conversation with Amanda Suarez and Jon Ogden.

Amanda and Jon are two of the co-founders of Uplift Kids, a lesson library and curriculum that helps families explore spirituality, values, and emotional health together. Amanda is a school psychologist and certified conscious parenting coach, and Jon is a writer, curriculum creator, and author of When Mormons Doubt.

In this conversation, Amanda and Jon offer a beautiful vision of Easter through the lens of what Brian McLaren calls the “harmony” stage of faith—a perspective they also bring to their work with Uplift Kids. They paint a picture of Easter made more meaningful—not less—by welcoming it all: the story of Jesus’ resurrection, the chocolate bunnies, the deep questions, and the simple joy.

It’s an approach that honors the unique developmental stage of each child and the evolving faith of each adult, making room for everyone to show up just as they are. And for many families gathering this time of year, that kind of spaciousness matters—especially when there are likely a variety of beliefs around the table and a wide range of needs, from toddlers to teens to adults.

Rather than avoiding depth or walking on eggshells around belief, Amanda and Jon invite us to embrace the richness that comes from letting all the layers belong. That richness can become an opening—for deeper connection, for real growth, and for the kind of transformation that Easter is all about.

At its heart, this conversation invites us to let go of pressure and agendas, to lean into love and presence, and to trust that what’s needed will rise naturally in its own time. Easter, after all, is a story of life, death and rebirth—and that same pattern is quietly at work in our lives and families too.

We hope this conversation fills you with the peace this Easter season brings and with that, here’s our conversation with Amanda Suarez and Jon Ogden.

https://upliftkids.org/

When Mormons Doubt

Bookshop affiliate link: https://bookshop.org/a/108982/9781535350372

This week, we’re so excited to welcome Adam Miller and Rosalynde Welch to talk about their brand-new book, Seven Visions. This book is an exploration of seven visionary experiences in the Doctrine and Covenants—moments where heaven and earth meet in powerful and sometimes surprising ways. Through these visions, Adam and Rosalynde invite us to consider how we engage with scripture and revelation in our own lives.

In this conversation, we explore what it means to truly see God’s face and hear god's voice and that so often, revelation comes by paying attention to what is closest to us—the relationships and experiences that challenge us, stretch us, and ultimately transform us.

Adam and Rosalynde suggest that rather than treating scripture as something fixed and unchanging, we can approach it as an active, unfolding conversation. As Rosalynde put it, “The meaning of scripture is not fixed inside the covers of the book, but it unfolds in the space between the reader and the text.” We love their insights about passages of scripture that feel unsettling. Could our discomfort itself be a catalyst for revelation? And could the very questions we feel most compelled to ask be what expands our capacity to recognize Christ as He truly is—and to see the world more as He sees it?

This was such a rich and expansive conversation, and we hope it gives you a new lens for engaging with scripture and revelation. And with that, here’s our conversation with Adam Miller and Rosalynde Welch.

Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/44mK4Qa

This week, we’re really excited to share a conversation about a brand-new Children’s book called Changemakers by McArthur Krishna and Anne Pimentel, with beautiful artwork by Jessica Sarah Beach.

The book is a powerful and much-needed affirmation, especially in a moment when many women are quietly wondering where they fit. Through stories from scripture and the global history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it highlights women whose ideas, faith, and courage have helped shape the church in meaningful and lasting ways. Accessible to children, beautiful to look at and meaningful for readers of all ages.

Today, we’re joined by McArthur and Anne to explore some of these incredible stories. Both women are remarkable in their own right—McArthur is the author of several books, including A Girl’s Guide to Heavenly Mother and the Girls Who Choose God series. Anne is a founder of Meetinghouse Mosaic, an organization working to diversify Christian art and amplify voices that sometimes go unheard in our faith community.

In this conversation, we explore what it means to be a changemaker in a church that values both institutional authority and ongoing revelation. We talked about the tension many women are feeling right now—and how pain can become a catalyst for meaningful, needed transformation, and what true partnership between men and women might look like in that process.

McArthur and Anne remind us again and again that revelation doesn’t always start at the top—so often, it often rises from the margins, born of questions, connection, and listening with love.

We hope this conversation inspires you to trust your gifts, to share your voice, and to believe, deeply, that your contributions matter.

And with that, here’s our conversation with McArthur Krishna and Anne Pimentel.

Today we’re bringing you a special conversation hosted by Jared Halverson, who’s joined by three women—Bethany Brady Spalding, Kathryn Knight Sonntag, and me—who’ve been part of a larger, ongoing conversation sparked by one of Jared’s recent videos on social media.

If you haven’t seen the video, here’s the context: Jared highlighted the recent trend of women leaving the Church in greater numbers than men and encouraged women to stay, he connects this to D&C 25, highlighting how much depends on them. His message, meant to be supportive and hopeful, was heard by many as hurtful and dismissive—particularly by women who feel their voices and gifts are too often sidelined or unseen. The response was overwhelming. Thousands of women responded with honesty, vulnerability, and a shared sense of grief for the ways they’ve been asked to carry the Church while too often being denied a real seat at the table.

To his credit, Jared didn’t get defensive. Just a few days later, he posted a real, heartfelt apology, then did something even more rare and brave: he asked if he could sit down, ask questions, and just listen.

That’s what this episode is.

What unfolds is a conversation about pain, power, partnership, and the potential for something more whole. We talk about what “spiritual collaboration” might really look like—not just in our doctrine, which includes the radical and often untapped vision of Heavenly Parents—but in our lived experience. We ask what it means for women to be invited not just to support the work, but to shape it. And we explore what changes when women are actually believed—when their longing to be seen, to lead, and to offer their full selves to the body of Christ is not framed as rebellion, but as righteousness.

Jared holds this space with humility and openness, and Bethany, Kathryn, and I tried to speak from our own experiences—not as representatives of all women, but as people who love this tradition and believe it can do even more to reach its highest, holiest potential. We believe, as one commenter put it, that this isn’t a crisis of belief—it’s an opportunity for renewal.

This episode is tender, and we also think it’s hopeful. We hope it models the kind of listening and learning that we need more of—at home, in our wards, and across the Church.

And with that, we’ll jump right into the conversation.

Amy McPhie Allebest article

Sexual Violence in Utah

Best Practices for Collaborative Partnership

We have a really fun episode for you today—We’re talking with James Goldberg about his delightful book Tales of the Chelm First Ward, which he co-wrote with his, wife Nicole Wilkes Goldberg, and his brother, Mattathias Singh.

The book is a collection of fictional stories set in a Latter-day Saint ward in the imagined town of Chelm—a nod to Jewish folklore and the famous “village of fools.” The humor is wonderfully absurd but beneath the silliness is something powerful and profound.

In this conversation, we explore what might be called a theology of humor. James reflects on how laughter opens us. It softens the edges of our seriousness and rigidity, and draws us closer in shared connection.

He reminded us that not everything about “church culture” needs to be critiqued or stripped away—sometimes it can be embraced with lightness and joy, as part of what brings us together and helps us live in community.

The idea that stayed with us most was this: maybe what makes a ward great isn’t how aligned everyone is theologically or politically, or how smoothly things run, or how polished people are in their callings. Maybe it’s just about creating a group of people who are all rooting for each other—through the everyday moments, the imperfect efforts, and the callings that stretch us. It’s about showing up with love, having each other’s backs, and learning to see one another the way God does—with patience, grace, and deep affection.

We hope this episode might just help you love your ward a little more—with all its quirks and imperfections. We hope it helps you see the people around you with a little more grace, a little more humor, and a little more tenderness.

And with that, here’s our conversation with James Goldberg.

https://www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/tales-of-the-chelm-first-ward-introduction

Affiliate link for Chelm: https://bookshop.org/a/108982/9781961471030

This week, we’re joined by Mike Petrow, who serves as the Director of Formation, Faculty Relations, and Theological Foundations at the Center for Action and Contemplation. The CAC is a nonprofit founded by Father Richard Rohr that introduces seekers to the contemplative Christian path of transformation.

Mike is intimately involved with the CAC’s Living School, a core educational offering from the CAC that last year offered a course called Essentials of Engaged Contemplation that Tim and I participated in. Mike is one of the primary hosts in the conversations that make up much of the program, often conversing with people like Richard Rohr and our friend Brian McLaren. Frankly, we found the work that Mike and the rest of the CAC team did on this course to be truly life-changing, and engaging it has been one of the most uplifting and transformative spiritual experiences we’ve had in our lives. In addition to his work at the CAC, Mike holds degrees (including a PhD) in psychology, mythology, and religious studies.

This conversation is a sample of just how deeply insightful Mike is. He invited us to see curiosity as something “implanted in our hearts by God”—not as a threat to faith, but as an invitation to let the divine meet us in unexpected ways. He challenged the idea that “community is formed around uniformity of belief” and instead argued that real connection happens when we learn to be with each other, even in our differences — that everyone belongs even, or perhaps especially, when they fall somehow outside the norm. And he brought so much depth to the idea of the wounded healer —“if you deeply commit to your own healing,” Mike told us, “at a certain point you realize it’s not just for you.”

In one of the most powerful moments of this conversation, Mike describes a moment of profound loss—sitting at his mother’s bedside as she passed away—and then, just hours later, holding his newborn niece for the first time. These moments of symmetry revealed a truth that is at the heart of this entire conversation: that loss, and grief, and pain carve out a space in our hearts that can eventually be filled with love, joy and connection.

We hope this conversation offers the same sense of healing, hope, and clarity that it did for us. And with that, let’s jump into this beautiful conversation with Mike Petrow.

Thanks so much for listening, and we want to send a huge thanks to Mike for coming on. For those of you who might have been wondering more about the Living School, the Essentials of Engaged Contemplation that Aubrey and I participated in, the course is not currently open for enrollment, but if you’re interested in learning more or getting updates, you can head to cac.org.

And if Faith Matters content is resonating with you and you get a chance, we’d love for you to leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We love reading reviews and they definitely help get the word about about Faith Matters.

Thanks again for listening, and as always, you can check out more at faithmatters.org.

This week, we’re excited to share a conversation between Zach Davis and New York Times columnist and author David French.

David French began his career as a constitutional litigator, with a special focus on religious liberty. He has since become known for his thoughtful, principled political writing, having worked previously for The National Review, The Dispatch and The Atlantic.

In their conversation today, David emphasizes the need for Christians to move from a fear-based political culture to one centered on care and compassion for our neighbors—and that instead of seeking political control or domination, Christians should embrace equality for Americans of any or no religion.

David also addresses the rise in misinformation and distrust in institutions, highlighting the importance of truth-seeking and constructive political engagement. He concludes with a prayer that Christians will reject the politics of fear and help renew the world by living a counter-culture of love.

Wherever you find yourself across the political spectrum, we hope this conversation offers an empowering way forward—one grounded compassion. And with that, let’s jump into our conversation with David French.