Provocative, non-religious conversations about life, love and God.
Hosted by Jonathan Puddle and Tryphena Perumalla-Gagnon.
Text transcriptions are available for most episodes.
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Just in time for Christmas comes a wild ride of a B-Side. Looking back at our interview with Lisa Sharon Harper, Tryphena and I reflected on themes of forgiveness and reparations, the gift of tongues as Indigenous celebration, how the monarcy dehumanizes people, the emotional impact on Europeans of that dehumanization, the myth of an American Christian nation and more. We were both deeply impacted by Lisa’s book Fortune and so we sounded off, big time.
Read MoreAcclaimed speaker, activist, playwright, and the author of several books, Lisa Sharon Harper is on The Puddcast! Recognized as one of the most important and powerful voices speaking to matters of justice and religion today, Lisa joined us to talk about her latest book Fortune: How Race Broke my Family and the World - and How to Repair it All. Blending fascinating ancestry research, family biography and memoir with a detailed history of race law in the United States, Fortune moved me profoundly. In this interview we discuss colonialism, radical re-connection to our stories and land; we explore shalom, confession, and the rehumanizing process of forgiveness. We talk about the lies of European supremacy and the greatness of pre-colonial African nations. There is some heavy content within, but it’s also full of hope and wisdom.
Read MoreSociologist and author Dr. Katie Gaddini joins us to talk about the factors forcing single evangelical women out of the church. Rather than a focus on faith deconstruction, we talked about power structures and cultural norms, such as “the ideal Christian woman,” how such stereotypes develop, and how they alienate people who don’t fit them. We touched on sexuality, purity culture, whiteness, patriarchy, affluence, wealth, and more in a quest to understand why the largest group currently leaving the church is women.
Read MoreThis week on The Puddcast we welcome hip-hop artist, poet and hope-activist, Propaganda. We discussed his debut book Terraform: Building a Better World, which is a collection of poetry and prose designed to jolt your imagination and get you thinking about injustices that we all take for granted. Prop can flip between talking hip-hop, politics, coffee, church history and science fiction at will… so we had a fun time calling out things that we want to see change in the world.
Read MoreThis week I am joined by my friend Lisa Colón DeLay to talk about the healing power of spiritual practices. Lisa begins by explaining why we should acknowledge that we live in a white-dominant culture and the importance of learning about non-white spiritual practices, especially embodiment. We discussed a rubric for identifying our core areas of trauma as well as how to move them from areas of non-awareness into conscious awareness, through spiritual practices led by the Holy Spirit. Lisa unpacks many themes from her excellent book, The Wild Land Within: Cultivating Wholeness Through Spiritual Practice, which is an excellent discipleship resource.
Read MoreThis week on The Puddcast, author, speaker and podcaster Tiffany Bluhm joins us to discuss why we silence women. She unpacked the imbalance of power exposed during sexual misconduct allegations, why men are excused for their behaviour and women are blamed for it. We explored the reasons women don’t always speak up and what often happens when they do. Tiffany explained why we don’t believe those women who do speak up.
Read MoreThis week, my guest is Melinda Estabrooks. Melinda is a Canadian television host, conference speaker and editor of the new book, “Always Know.” Melinda’s career in Canadian broadcast TV and radio spans over 20 years and while we had interacted at industry events in the past, this was the first time we really got to actually talk with one another. I asked her to share her story of being abandoned as a baby, then adopted by a Canadian family, experiencing racism growing up, depression and mental health difficulties, and even walking through a divorce while in public Christian ministry. If you’ve ever felt like God and everyone else doesn’t see you… then Melinda’s story is for you.
Read MoreThis week we dive into the 2nd half of our panel discussion on Jesus & Trauma. Once again, my guests are Wm. Paul Young, Alison Cook, Ph.D, Dr. Jerome D. Lubbe and Ahmeda Mansaray-Richardson. Building on the discussion in the first half, where the lenses of psychology, neurology, theology, and cultural studies were applied to matters of identity, brokenness, colonialism, institutional religious structures, diversity and more, we went after forgiveness and reconciliation next. The conversation is shorter but no less robust.
Read MoreWelcome to the 100th episode of The Puddcast! As I looked back over the first 3 years I realized that the intersection of Jesus & trauma formed a throughline across many conversations. I wanted to do something special and so I assembled a panel to discuss this subject. My guests are Wm. Paul Young, Alison Cook, Ph.D, Dr. Jerome D. Lubbe and Ahmeda Mansaray-Richardson. Using the lenses of psychology, neurology, theology, cultural studies, and more we look at identity, brokenness, colonialism, institutional religious structures, diversity and more. If you’ve ever wished to know precisely why it’s so hard to believe that God loves you, if you’ve wanted to understand yourself better, to know why our societies are so busted right now, why we struggle to put ourselves in other’s shoes, and more… then this is the discussion for you.
Read MoreIt’s a great honour to welcome multi Grammy award-winning, platinum-selling artist, Lecrae, to the show. We discussed his journey of learning to live authentically as his true self within a culture that didn’t celebrate him for who he was. That journey affected his relationships, his faith, his music and more. Lecrae shared vulnerably about things the evangelical church has been unwilling to discuss, to the pain and devastation of those seeking to live whole lives with robust faith. He also explained how deeply objectification is built into Christian culture. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him and hope that you’ll check out the interview. Much more in the show notes below.
Read MoreThis week we are joined once more by Max Lucado, one of the most prolific Christian authors of our time. Max and I briefly discussed some themes from his new book, You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God's Presence and Power before we moved on to examining the intensity and pain of the moment we find ourselves in, how so many of our systems are failing us and how we desperately need help from the Holy Spirit. There’s a little something in here for everyone.
Read MoreTo celebrate my book launch in a few days, you get a very special edition of The Puddcast this week where my friend Anthony McLean hosts the show and interviews me! We talked about trauma, vulnerability, courage, blackness, the importance of embodiment in our spiritual practice, performance vs identity, challenges Enneagram type 2s tend to experience, and we practiced some self-compassionate meditation together.
Read MoreOn The Puddcast this week is Derwin L. Gray, pastor of Transformation Church in South Carolina, and author of The Good Life: What Jesus Teaches about Finding True Happiness. We discussed the Beatitudes as an invitation to a life of meaning and purpose, how that intersects with racial justice, how the prosperity message has crippled our witness, and our great need for leadership from those who have pastored on the margins.
Read MoreI’m joined this week by my good friends Marc & Tryphena Gagnon, who share their story so far raising their multiracial family. Marc is of French Canadian heritage and Tryphena’s family is from India, and they have learned a lot about one another and themselves as they raise their mixed-race children to understand and own their racial identities and engage with the world around them in compassion and love.
Read MoreCara Meredith, author of The Color of Life, joined me on the show this week to talk about the unique role white people can play in racial justice and reconciliation work. Cara is a former high school English teacher and used to work in the non-profit outreach sector before focusing on speaking and writing. We talked all about how to have our eyes and ears opened to the realities of injustice and how to start feeling the pain of it ourselves, as a way to enter the conversation holistically and with integrity.
Read MoreMy guest this week is Pastor Gricel Medina. Serving in the Evangelical Covenant Church, Gricel has been involved in planting and mentoring multi-ethnic church congregations and has served on a number of boards and committees for racial gender equity, among many other things. She shared her powerful life story and we discussed the problems of a white-centric and male-centric church leadership culture. Get ready!
Read MoreOur series for pastors and church leaders continues with Rohadi, a Canadian church planter, entrepreneur, author and speaker hailing from Calgary. We discussed the importance of creating safe spaces for people to live out the gospel in their unique racial, cultural and neighbourhood contexts. Rohadi argues that the church has not been marginalized by anyone in particular but by its own failure to act.
Read MoreDr. Christena Cleveland is the Director of the Center for Justice + Renewal, and a social psychologist, public theologian, author and professor. Christena joined me on the show to discuss her exploration of the social location of God and concepts of the divine. She helped me understand the damage that the vision of God as a powerful white man has done to people of colour for centuries, and how we can repurpose metaphors to enable us to enter into forgiveness and compassion.
Read MorePriscilla Shirer is a phenomenal teacher, author, actress, wife, and mother (though she wouldn't list them in that order herself). Having previously starred in War Room, she plays a small role in I Can Only Imagine, the film which tells the story all about MercyMe's hit song. Priscilla and I discussed minority representation in film and ministry, balancing your career and family goals, and the importance of both excellence and spiritual passion.
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