Real Good Drugs: Molly Baskette on Psychedelics, Calling, and Leaving Church Well

Molly Baskette has spent decades helping progressive churches come alive. A longtime UCC minister, preacher, author of Real Good Church, and self-described transformation junkie, Molly has recently made a major vocational turn: leaving parish ministry and stepping into work as a psychedelically assisted spiritual care provider. That's plenty to talk about right there! But we also discuss calling, burn out, and leaving church well: not in bitterness or collapse, but with loads of gratitude, honesty, grief work, and devotion. We also reflect on the gifts and limits of the church, the pastoral persona, depression as a spiritual signal, and why direct encounters with God, with the body, with nature, and with non-ordinary states of consciousness may be exactly what many Christians are hungry for. Find Molly: https://www.mollybaskette.com/ https://mollybaskette.substack.com/ Episode Highlights [00:00] PART 1: Introducing Molly PART 2: Psychedelics [03:39] Outside Approved Channels Molly and Michael discuss why psychedelics and other mystical experiences often feel off-limits in church culture. Molly traces her psychedlic path from its vanilla origins to her most recent powerful encounter. [14:20] Real Good Drugs Molly describes her call to support psychedelic journeys as a form of spiritual midwifery. [17:08] Here's the Next Call Molly reflects on depression, microdosing, and the slow unfolding of a new call beyond parish ministry. PART 3: An Exit Interview for the Christian Church [21:00] Gratitude Molly reflects on leaving church well—with gratitude and a desire to end before burnout became collapse. [26:40] The Pastoral Persona Jeff, Molly, and Michael reflect on the pastoral persona: the useful, powerful self ministers create to serve others, and the inner work of recognizing it without letting it consume the whole soul. [36:01] Smallatics and the Cutting Edge Molly names the exhaustion of church administration and the relief of moving toward work where more energy goes directly to liberation, transformation, and helping people come alive. [39:05] Contact with Spirit Jeff, Michael, and Molly wonder whether the church's hunger for justice also needs a deeper hunger for direct contact with Spirit. [47:58] Devotional Revolution? Molly reflects on the shift from discipline to devotion, and Michael wonders what it would mean for a whole culture to be broken open and reassembled by love. Continue the Conversation What did you think about this conversation? Tell us at [email protected] or reach out at: https://www.gospelofdirectexperience.com/#contact.