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The Desert Sanctuary

Be Where You Are - Be Who You Are - Be at Peace

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343 – Christa Brown – You Matter

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/07/05

Christa Brown has been described as “the public face” of Baptist clergy sex abuse survivors. She talks openly about the minister who molested and raped her when she was a kid. She wrote about her experience in her book, Baptistland: A Memoir of Abuse, Betrayal, and Transformation. She was the first Baptist clergy sex abuse survivor […]

Recommended Reading for The Days We Live In

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/07/04

We decided to set the month of July aside to interview authors that we found interesting and compelling in one way or another. Some of these were recommendations from other people, but we were extremely pleased with the final eight that made the cut. Once most of them were recorded, I could look at them […]

342 – Brittney Hartley – we Seem to be Bad at This

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/07/01

Brittney Hartley is an Atheist Spiritual Director, Author of No Nonsense Spirituality, and has a Masters Degree in Theology with a focus on the Future of American Religion. https://nononsensespirituality.com/ Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward, Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the […]

341 – Karl & Laura – Pride Month Wrap-up

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/27

Pride month finale’. Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward, Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, The Tea Shop and Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity. He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast and community. He is […]

Parenting in the Desert – Part 2 of 2

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/26

Parenting in the Desert – Part 2 (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th) Listen to this blog – AI-Generated Laura Validating Our Child’s Emotions I started teaching later in life, but I have refined my classroom management skills, so I always feel like I am in control and moving towards valuable objectives. […]

A Prescription for Healing

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/24

A Prescription for Healing When we decide to question our beliefs and explore what’s beyond Christianity or our established worldview, it can seem like we are wandering out into the desert. To make matters worse, sometimes we experience PTSD from the trauma we experienced earlier in life, and it didn’t get better in organized religion. […]

Parenting in the Desert – Part 1 of 2 – Karl

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/24

Parenting in the Desert – Part 1 (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th) Listen to this blog – AI-Generated Karl Parenting is a daunting endeavor. I always felt like it was the most monumental task I ever attempted, yet I had the least training of anything else. There were classes and books […]

340 – Susan and Rob Cottrell – Upstander or Bystander

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/23

SUSAN COTTRELL is an international speaker whose TEDx talk has 1.6 million views. OutSmart magazine called her “The Mother of All MamaBears.” The Advocate dubbed her “our favorite affirming matriarch.” She is a prominent voice for the LGBTQ community and their faith parents who has been featured on ABC’s 20/20, Nightline and Good Morning America, on NBC News Out, and as a contributor on the Our Bible app. She […]

Thriving Outside Religion

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/17

Thriving Outside Religion (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th) I went to church for most of my life. Much of that was in conservative, evangelical congregations. There were some positive aspects of being in a community with loving people. But I also understand that there are deep, systemic problems with religious organizations. […]

Why Taylor is Better than Trump

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/15

Why Taylor is Better than Trump In this enlightened age, most of us would probably hope that we don’t have to follow anyone. We are enlightened and empowered, and we can make our own decisions, so we assume that we are independent and don’t need leaders anymore. A couple of days ago, we interviewed Derek […]

Darkness and Shadow – Part 2 of 2 – Laura

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/12

Darkness and Shadow – Part 2 (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th)) Listen to Audio – AI-Generated Laura Leaving organized religion has opened many opportunities to heal that were not encouraged inside the church. Do not get me wrong, when I was hurting inside the church, people offered some ideas to help […]

338 – Flamy Grant – Make Space to Celebrate

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/10

Award-winning and Billboard-charting artist Flamy Grant is a shame-slaying, hip-swaying, singing-songwriting drag queen from Asheville, North Carolina. Her 2022 debut record, Bible Belt Baby, reached the #1 spot on the iTunes Christian Charts (the first drag performer to achieve this feat), was nominated for Best Pop Album at the San Diego Music Awards, and was […]

Darkness and Shadow – Part 1 of 2 – Karl

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/10

Darkness and Shadow – Part 1 – Karl (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th)) Listen to Audio – AI-Generated Karl In 2021, I worked on an assembly line. To get Saturday off, I had to take ½ of Friday off to ensure they didn’t schedule me for Saturday. It is a clever […]

A Book Banning Gone Good

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/06

A Book Banning Gone Goodby Karl Forehand I must say, I’m almost glad a group of over-zealous religious people are trying to ban this book in St. Joseph, MO because it made me want to buy it and read it! So many times in recent years, my friends who are black and/or marginalized have tried […]

Going Inside & Trusting Myself – Part 2 of 2 – Laura

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/05

Going Inside & Trusting Myself (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th)) Listen to Audio – AI-Generated Laura There are two reasons that my portion of this chapter may not be exceptionally long: 1) I said most of what I wanted to say on the topic of this chapter in the last chapter, […]

Being and Becoming – Part 2 – Laura

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/05

Being and Becoming – Part 2 From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th) Listen to this blog – AI-Generated Laura IMPOSTER SYNDROME!! Sitting down to write this chapter seems to be more challenging than the rest. Karl and I have been going back and forth discussing my feelings on “being and becoming.” I […]

Going Inside & Trusting Myself – Part 1 of 2 – Karl

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/03

Going Inside & Trusting Myself (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th)) Listen to Audio – AI-Generated Karl For most of my life, religion told me not to trust myself, especially my feelings. We were taught what to believe based on the accepted belief systems and encouraged to trust that we were correct […]

337 – Rick Gregory

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/03

Rick Gregory is a former pastor turned spiritual life coach after experiencing a spiritual awakening. Through battling years of active alcoholism and undergoing a process of religious deconstruction, Rick has arrived at a profound realization: that the essence of truth, power, and the Kingdom of God—by whatever name one chooses to call God—resides within each […]

Why Trump is in Our Deconstruction Stories

The Desert Sanctuary ·

2024/06/01

Why Trump is in Our Deconstruction Stories Listen to this blog – AI-Generated In the 2016 election, I couldn’t vote for either candidate, Hillary or Trump. So, I voted for the third party, and I can’t even remember his name. I was following my convictions that there had to be a better person to be […]

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