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Clemenz With a ”Z” Podcast, 243 episodes. Page 1 of 3.

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EP 243 More Than One Truth: Dena Schusterman on family stories, inherited patterns, and holding the good alongside the hard

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EP 242: Wait, You Know That Too? Finding recognition and connection across different high-control religious worlds

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EP 241: We Were In a Cult? Kristin's Story

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EP 240 Her Favorite Kind of Pie: Audra Phelps on leaving Mormonism and learning to choose herself

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EP 239 The Other Half of the Story: How an Instagram reel and Toy Story 5 reminded me that deconstruction is only half the story

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EP 238 HE RAN: The Father's Day sermon I want to tell

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EP 237 The Space Between the Notes: What music taught me about mystery, meaning, and being human

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EP 236 The Question In The Backseat: On Sacred Questions, Small Hands, and the Emotional World We Build Around Faith

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EP 235 The Messy Middle: On Certainty, Complexity, and the Strange Freedom of Not Having It All Figured Out

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EP 234 The Sting in the Hug: What Happens When Men Are Taught to Fear Tenderness

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EP 233 Not Back. Somewhere New: On Reconstruction, Permission, and the Wreckage We Leave Behind

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EP 232 The Six Questions: What third graders know about reading that most Bible readers were never taught

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EP 231: Big Ideas, Small Readings: What a single verse, a men's ministry book, and your Instagram feed have in common

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EP 230: We Were In a Cult? Sara and Lauren's Story

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EP 229 Ten Extra Steps: A grocery store parking lot and the weight of small choices

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EP 228 Jesus Rode a Donkey (2026 Re-Release): Two parades entered Jerusalem, power from the west, peace from the east. We’re still choosing between them.

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EP 227 The Happiness I Don’t Believe In: On Chasing, Conditioning, and the Fear of What’s Already Here

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Ep 226: We Were In a Cult? Katja's Story

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EP 225 Legacy or Leverage: A Sunday morning, a second bucket, and the long shadow of how we learned to give

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EP 224 Yesterday’s Answers: How the past shapes us and how it sometimes limits us

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EP 223 Essence Isn’t the Same as Capacity: On Original Sin, Children, and the Cost of Starting with Shame

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EP 222 Higher Ways? Rethinking Mystery, Justice, and the God We Inherited

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EP 221 Scars Don’t Shout: On Integration, Memory, and the Hum of Healing

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EP 220 Yard Signs: Purpose, Dignity, and the Paths We Call “Less”

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EP 219: We Were In a Cult? Stef's Story

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EP 218 Raised in the Kingdom: Growing Up Inside the Place and Learning to Trust Myself Again

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EP 217: Gentle vs. Godly? Why Parenting Isn’t an Either/Or Choice

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EP 216 Critique Is Not Persecution: Why pushback isn’t proof you’re right

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EP 215 Hot Wheels at 2am: Access, fear, and how children learn they belong

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EP 214 Asking the Wrong Questions: Why our debates keep dividing us and how Jesus kept redirecting the conversation

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EP 213 Let It Breathe: Choosing silence in a world that never stops talking

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EP 212 Boxes, Beginnings, and Becoming

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Ep 211 Every Hero Has a Conflict: What Katt Williams, Donald Miller, and the Hero’s Journey taught me about resilience.

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EP 210 Coffee Mug Theology: How we turned ancient hope into a slogan and what we lost along the way.

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EP 209 Slaying Dragons, Finding Bliss: Rethinking the dragon, the prize, and what it means to follow your bliss.

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EP 208 Into the Void: What Thunderbolts, Robin Williams, and Jesus Teach Us About Empathy

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EP 207 Golden Buzzer Gospel: Finding Joy, Awe, and Belonging in the Most Unexpected Places

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EP 206 The Village Is Sick: Grief, Belonging, and the Possibility of Healing Together

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EP 205 Comfort, Not Bruises: God’s Discipline, Parenting, and Why Spanking Only Breeds Domestication

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EP 204 Off the Island: Thomas Merton, Mirrors, and Learning to Affirm Others

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EP 203 Sanitizing Our Heroes: What We Lose When We File Down the Edges of Truth

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EP 202: Who’s Right? And is that even the right question anymore?

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EP 201 Speaking to the Human: The Radical Act of Seeing the Person Before the Problem

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EP 200 Looking Past the Finger: How Marvel, the Bible, and Gollum Teach Us the Power of Metaphor

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EP 199 Be Suspicious of Simple Answers: Punk Rock, Jesus, and Why the Best Truths Live in the Messy Middle

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EP 198 The Whole Elephant: What if no one sees the full picture and that’s the point?

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Glue, Guitars, and the Gospel of Fear: Deconstructing the “Divine Truths” of a Marriage Retreat Sermon

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EP 196 We Are the Problem, We Are the Solution: On wolves, gardens, and the mirror we avoid.

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EP 195 Missing the Mark: Reframing Sin, Choice, and the Weight We Carry

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EP 194 Fear Wants Control. Boys Want More: Agency, Tenderness, and Raising Whole Humans

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EP 193 We Owe Thomas an Apology: The Gift of Doubt

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EP 192 Faith, Doubt, and the Space Between: A Conversation with "The Skeptic Pastor"

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EP 191 Kmart, Paintball, and the Gospel According to Pressure: A Chapter From This Was Supposed To Be The Place

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EP: 190 We Were In a Cult? Tara's Story

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EP 189 Cherry-Picked Manhood: On Warrior Sermons, Selective Literalism, and the Men We’re Actually Forming

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EP 188 This Isn’t the Hill: A straight man’s honest reflection on queerness, faith, and the battles that don’t need to be fought.

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Rooms We Rented, Stories We Kept: A chapter from This Was Supposed to Be the Place

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EP 186: The Weight Was Never Yours, A Father’s Day Rebellion Against Performed Masculinity

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EP 185: Paying Off the Debt of Idiots? A meditation on manhood, silence, and what it feels like to have emotions in a world built by louder men.

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EP 184 I Thought This Was the Thing (It Wasn’t): A love story with teaching—and a slow, messy breakup.

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EP 183 Pink, Part Deux: What I’m Still Thinking About After the Vans

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EP 182 You Are Not That Important: A Reflection on Humility, Interdependence, and True Significance

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EP 181 This Was Supposed To be The Place #9 The Swamp

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EP 180: The Pink Sparkly Vans & The Fear We Pass Down

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EP 179: If You’re All About the Destination… Reclaiming Presence in a Religion Obsessed with the End

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EP 178: I Inherited a Backpack

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EP 177: We Were In a Cult? Emma's Story

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EP 176: From Obedience to Ownership. Leaving a Cult and Finding Her Voice — with Ari from The Disallusioned Podcast

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EP 175 You Don’t Have to Chase It: Why the Kingdom of God Was Never Out There

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EP 174 This Was Supposed To Be the Place #9 "When the Bible Becomes an Idol"

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EP 173: God’s Design? Questioning Roles, Reclaiming Partnership, and Letting Love Be the Blueprint

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EP 172: We Were In a Cult? Eugene's Story

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EP 171 In a Cabin in the Woods: Tending the Fire, Facing the Fear, and Finally Getting Quiet

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EP 170: The Hard Work of Healing: A Deeper Conversation with Alan Allard

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EP 169 Backstage Coffee, Punk Rock Kindness, and Letting People Be People: The Quiet Gospel

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EP 168 This Was Supposed to Be the Place #8: The Cross, The Crowd, and the Line We Don't Talk about

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EP 167 This Was Supposed The Place #7: From Church to Cult of Personality: Pastor Worship and the Idolatry of Leadership

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EP 166 The Land Of "Should": The Nicely Packaged Pressure That Follows You Everywhere

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EP 165 This Was Supposed To Be The Place #6: We Dont Worship Idols, Just Everything About Church

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EP 164: We Were In a Cult? Greg's Story

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EP 163 This Was Supposed to Be the Place #5: From Shame to Something Sacred

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EP 162 A Tale of 2 Concerts: From the Church Stage to the Sticky Floor

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EP 161 The Truth About Control: A journal, a quote, and the quiet cracking underneath it all.

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EP 160 This Was Supposed To Be The Place #4: Faith, Fear, and the God I Was Taught to Obey Unpacking obedience, manipulation, and the slow work of healing.

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EP 159 We Were In a Cult? Sachiko's Story

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EP 158: A Skeptic's Heart: Faith, Healing, and the Courage to Keep Searching

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EP 157 Why Empathy, and Why compassion? Is Empathy Really Toxic Or Do you Just need an Excuse to Be a Jerk?

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EP 156 This Was Supposed To Be The Place #3: The Devil’s Doorstep, How Purity Culture Controlled Our Thoughts, Bodies, and Relationships

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EP 155 Everyone Wants the Lollipop: Faith, Certainty, and the Sweet, Sweet Taste of Belonging

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EP 154 We Were In a Cult? Ruthanna and Davis' Story

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EP 153 Love Ain’t Gonna Say Itself: The Power of Words in Parenting and Why It’s Worth It

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EP 152 THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE PLACE EP: 2 “THIRD TIMES THE CHARM: Finding Myself After Leaving (Again... and Again)”

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EP 151 Praise, Profit, and Pyrotechnics: The Manufactured Sound of Modern Worship

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EP 150 This Was Supposed To Be The Place #1: I was In a Cult

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EP 149 I asked my wife: "I was in a cult?"

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EP 148 Suppress, Explode, Repeat: How I Learned to Stop Fighting Anger and Start Listening to It

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EP 147 Juggling Glass Balls: What Are Your Priorities as a Parent?

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EP 146 Hold My Apple, I’m Finding Gratitude

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EP 145 Black Coffee, Camo Bibles, and Sissy Sticks: Faith, Fragile Manhood, and the Things That Shouldn’t Matter

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EP 144 We Were In a Cult? Ann's Story

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