Created in the Image of God

Gregory Coles is a writer, speaker, and language scholar whose life sits at the crossroads of faith, identity, and words. The author of Single, Gay, Christian, No Longer Strangers, The Limits of My World, and the forthcoming Sexuality Beyond Sex (IVP, 2026), Greg has spent years asking what it means to follow Jesus as a single, gay Christian who loves the church and takes Scripture seriously.In this episode, we talk about why language matters so much—how the labels we choose can shape our sense of self, our expectations of God, and even who feels welcome in the body of Christ. Greg shares how his own story has been formed by Scripture, prayer, and community, and why surrendering our desires and identities to God doesn’t mean pretending our questions or longings don’t exist.From memoir to theology to literary scholarship, this conversation invites us into a more honest, nuanced way of talking about sexuality, discipleship, and the image of God in every person—especially those who don’t fit our assumptions. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

On paper, Steven Ferrara had the kind of life many people dream about. Born into a poor but tightly knit Italian family in Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood, he grew up surrounded by Sunday dinners, grandparents in the basement kitchen, and a home full of love. A spiritual seeker from his teens—studying universal principles, practicing Transcendental Meditation, and devouring teachings on consciousness—he went straight into business at 18, eventually building one of the largest privately held financial services firms in the Northeast. By mid‑life he had a thriving career, a beautiful home, a loving wife, and three children.Then, in 2004, his world collapsed. His 23‑year‑old son Christopher, with whom he shared an unusually deep bond as both father and business partner, died suddenly in a car accident. Five years later, his wife—the emotional cornerstone of their family—was diagnosed with a rapid illness and passed away within weeks. Despite decades of spiritual practice, Steven found himself undone: running through his neighborhood shouting at God, questioning everything he had ever believed, and wondering how life could possibly go on.In this episode, Steven shares how his long habit of journaling—begun the day after his son’s death and continued for twenty years—became the unlikely container for his healing. Only after retiring and handing his firm to a successor team did he begin to reread the shelves of journals he had filled. As he did, he started to see the quiet “life lessons” that had been forming in the middle of his pain: invitations to accept what he could not control, to see death through a different lens, and to discover that gratitude and grief can coexist. Those insights eventually became his book From Grief to Gratitude: A New Paradigm on Death, a roadmap for others walking through loss.Drawing on spiritual influences from his Catholic childhood to universalist teachings, contemplative authors, and his own direct experience with God, Steven talks about what it has meant to move beyond fear, anger, and guilt into a genuine, hard‑earned gratitude—for his parents, his children, his late wife, and even the “curve balls” he would never have chosen. He speaks candidly about parenting his daughters through the loss of their mother, the ongoing nature of grief, and how he now understands death not as the end of relationship, but as a change of form within a larger, loving reality.For anyone who has lost a child, a spouse, or simply finds themselves afraid of death and undone by sorrow, this conversation offers no clichés—only the voice of someone who has lived through the fire and found a deeper peace on the other side. Steven’s story is an invitation to consider that even in life’s hardest seasons, a grateful heart is still possible. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

For years, many knew Michael Gungor as a worship leader and the creative force behind the band Gungor. Today, he’s just as likely to call himself a “creative mystic,” experimenting with ambient soundscapes, podcasts, and a forthcoming book, The Shape of Things. Underneath the changing forms, one question has stayed constant: What is the real shape of reality—and how do you live in tune with it?In this episode, Michael reflects on a theme he sees running through Jesus’ teaching and the wider mystical tradition: “You’ve seen it this way, but it’s actually upside down.” For him, the shape of things is bent toward love, being, and a deep “yes” at the heart of existence, not the anxiety, division, or fear we often assume is normal. He uses the image of a bonsai artist working with a tree’s natural growth—observing the flow of life and then gently cooperating with it—as a picture of what he’s trying to do with music, words, and art.The conversation also touches the “tortured artist” stereotype. Michael talks about the real tension and pain that can come with creating—birth pangs, dissonance, the gap between what exists and what you sense is possible—while questioning whether suffering has to come from isolation and ego. He explores a both/and path where creating is simultaneously for the joy of others and for his own joy, collapsing the false divide between giving and receiving. Throughout, he and Wade circle around the trees in Genesis, non‑dual spirituality, and how art can carry spiritual insight without being trapped in old religious boxes or in shallow self‑expression.For listeners who have deconstructed, feel caught between faith and doubt, or simply sense there is “more” than the usual religious arguments, this episode offers an honest, imaginative window into one artist’s attempt to cooperate with the shape of love at the center of things. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Public debates about Islam and Muslims in America are usually loud, shallow, and short on facts. Dalia Mogahed has spent much of her life trying to change that. Born in Cairo and raised in the United States, she grew up in a family where high-level scholarship and deep devotion were normal: a grandfather who taught at Al‑Azhar—the “Harvard” of the Muslim world—training women in theology, and a mother who was the only woman in her rocket‑engineering class at Cairo University. As a child, Dalia spent weekdays sleeping at her grandparents’ home while her mother commuted two hours each way to teach, absorbing the Qur’an as the literal “soundtrack” of her days as her grandfather recited whenever he was home.At five, her life shifted dramatically when her parents moved to Madison, Wisconsin on a peace‑grant scholarship that was itself a little‑known clause in the Camp David accords. Suddenly the little girl steeped in Cairo’s rhythms was learning English, trying to fit in, and navigating public schools. In elementary school, international backgrounds were celebrated; by middle and high school, “foreign” started to feel like “other.” The pivot came at fifteen, when she stumbled across The Autobiography of Malcolm X in her school library. Reading it, she discovered that Islam was not an alien presence in America but had helped shape its story, that Muslims had been here since the nation’s beginning, and that there was such a thing as being American Muslim. Malcolm gave her language for an identity she’d been living but couldn’t yet name.From that foundation, Dalia went on to combine her love of faith with a talent for data. As executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies and co‑author of Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, she helped bring rigorous polling and analysis to a conversation too often driven by fear and speculation. Today, as head of Mogahed Consulting and a scholar with the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, she advises governments, media, and corporations on Muslim communities and religion in public life—work that has taken her from the Obama White House to testimony before the U.S. Senate and countless media appearances.In this episode, she and Wade return to her story as a lens on bigger questions: how American Muslims actually see themselves; why it matters that Islam has a long history of coexistence with Jews and Christians; how policies, prejudice, and global events have shaped Muslim experience in the U.S.; and what it means, in Islam, to surrender to God’s will while engaging fully in a democratic, pluralistic society. Throughout, Dalia brings the same combination of personal warmth, scholarly depth, and moral clarity that has made her one of the most trusted voices on these issues.For listeners confused by headlines, curious about their Muslim neighbors, or wrestling with how faith fits into a divided public square, this conversation offers something rare: careful facts, lived experience, and a vision of pluralism rooted not in vague tolerance, but in genuine understanding and shared responsibility before God. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Most people hear “Christianity” and think of their own congregation, country, or a handful of familiar headlines. Gina Zurlo spends her days looking at the whole picture. A Senior Researcher and Lecturer in World Christianity at Harvard Divinity School, editor of the World Christian Database, and co‑editor of the third edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia (which she personally presented to Pope Francis), she tracks how religious and non‑religious affiliation is changing in every country on earth—past, present, and projected into the future.In this episode, Gina pulls back the curtain on how that work is done. She describes what it means to maintain a database that follows nearly every world religion and tens of thousands of Christian denominations, why she might be working on Burkina Faso one day and Brazil the next, and how raw numbers get turned into a coherent story. Along the way, she tackles common misunderstandings about “the rise of the non‑religious,” the shifting center of gravity of Christianity toward the Global South, and the surprisingly important role that gender plays in global religious life.One of Gina’s central passions is what she calls the “female future” of faith—the fact that women make up the majority of Christian believers worldwide, yet are often underrepresented in leadership and in how we tell the story of the church. Drawing on her background in history, sociology, and demography, she explains why paying attention to women’s religious lives is key to understanding where Christianity is actually headed. Throughout the conversation, she keeps bringing the data back to everyday questions: What does this mean for local churches? For mission and evangelism? For how believers relate to their secular neighbors?For anyone curious about what Christianity really looks like beyond their own country—or wondering how numbers and faith can speak to each other without flattening the mystery—this episode offers a clear, accessible guide. Gina’s work invites listeners to see global Christianity as a living, changing mosaic—and to consider their own place within it. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Many people are raised on a simple script: work hard, get a stable job, stay loyal to one institution, and security will follow. For Lela Tuhtan, that script shaped her early life and career—and then became the very story she had to unlearn. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area by second‑generation immigrant parents—an electrician father and a teacher mother—she grew up in a home where diligence, sacrifice, and external security were non‑negotiables. You found a job, ideally in a union, and you stayed. That was the American dream.Yet even as those values took root, something else was happening. At ten, Lela was hit head‑on by a car while riding her bike. She survived with a fractured skull, broken bones, and months of rehab. When she finally returned to school, she was met not with compassion but mockery; classmates held up the newspaper photo of her injured face and called her ugly. In that moment, Lela describes feeling a physical fork in the road: she could let their words become her identity, or she could transmute the pain into something else. Without having the language for it yet, she chose to “compost” the trauma—turning it into the raw material for resilience and a different kind of self‑story.For years, she still followed the expected path, earning degrees (including a master’s from Columbia), teaching in classrooms, and pursuing the kind of career her parents could easily understand. But around 2018–2019, right before COVID, a quiet dissonance grew too loud to ignore. Training in Co‑Active Coaching and eco‑psychology opened her eyes to a different way of working—one that honored her love for literature, story, and the inner lives of people. She began coaching other educators and high‑impact professionals, realizing she was, as she puts it, the “black sheep” in her family: wired not for one institution and a retirement watch, but for entrepreneurial, narrative‑driven work that helps others reclaim their own agency.In this episode, Lela and Wade explore what it means to move from survival‑based scripts to sovereignty—without abandoning community or responsibility. They talk about how stories we inherit about safety, success, and belonging can quietly imprison us, why so many people have outsourced security to institutions that no longer feel trustworthy, and how practices as simple as gardening—literally getting your hands in the soil—can reconnect a person to their own capacity, creativity, and interdependence with others. Lela shares practical examples from her coaching: how she helps clients notice the “second arrow” of self‑judgment after hardship, reframe limiting beliefs, and build lives and businesses that are both aligned and generous, rooted in mutual support rather than isolation.For anyone sensing that the life they’re living doesn’t match who they really are—or who feels torn between the stability their family prized and the freedom their soul longs for—this conversation offers both clarity and encouragement. Lela’s story is a living illustration that you can honor where you come from, compost what has harmed you, and still grow into a life that feels deeply, authentically your own. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Abdu Murray grew up certain Islam was true. The son of Lebanese immigrants in southeast Michigan, he was raised in a serious Shia Muslim home where faith wasn’t just cultural; it shaped his identity and his arguments. From an early age he absorbed both apologetics (why Islam is true) and polemics (why Christianity is false), and in 1980s–90s America—when it was fashionable to call yourself “Christian” with little thought—he found Christians easy targets. He would ask classmates why they were Christians and usually got answers like “tradition” or “we go to church on Christmas and Easter.” For Abdu, that wasn’t good enough. “Why,” he’d ask, “would you trust the destiny of your eternal soul to a system of belief someone else thought through?”Underneath the jock exterior (a 6'7"" athlete who played Division I basketball and trained in martial arts), Abdu was a natural advocate. He loved philosophy, logic, and evidence, studied psychology in college, and later earned a law degree from the University of Michigan. Questions about truth weren’t abstract; they were everything. He believed that what is true excludes its opposite, and that relativism—“what’s true for you is true for you, what’s true for me is true for me”—simply didn’t work. Islam, he thought, was that truth, and Christianity was a corrupted, lower‑grade version of original revelation. Like many Muslims, he saw Islam as “college” to Judaism’s “grade school” and Christianity’s “high school.”In this episode, Abdu tells the story of how that certainty was slowly unsettled. What began as an effort to “knock over” other people’s faiths turned into a nearly decade‑long investigation of Christianity’s historical, philosophical, theological, and scientific claims. Along the way he had to grapple with uncomfortable questions: Why does the Qur’an speak positively about the Torah and the Gospel in the present tense, yet deny the central claims those texts make about Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection? If Jesus didn’t die on a cross and rise from the dead, what do His own words about giving His life “as a ransom for many” mean? Is Christianity really a regression from pure monotheism—or the fulfillment of the story the Hebrew Scriptures have been telling from the beginning?Abdu describes the moment he realized the faith he was trying so hard not to have was the one he desperately needed—that the Trinity, the incarnation, and the cross were not insults to God’s greatness but the clearest demonstrations of it. He also talks about how his twin loves—understanding how people think (psychology) and how to marshal evidence (law)—shaped his calling as a Christian apologist and evangelist. Now president of Embrace the Truth and author of books like Saving Truth, More Than a White Man’s Religion, and his latest, Fake ID: How A.I. and Identity Ideology Are Collapsing Reality—And What to Do About It, he spends his life helping people see that questions need more than slogans, and that real freedom requires real truth.The conversation ranges from Islam and Christianity’s different views of revelation, to how identity politics and artificial intelligence are distorting our sense of what’s real, to why arguments should always be aimed at people, not just positions. For anyone wrestling with doubt, curious about Islam and Christianity, or simply feeling disoriented in a world where reality itself seems up for grabs, this episode offers both intellectual rigor and pastoral warmth—an invitation to test the big claims and, in the process, meet the One who calls Himself “the way, the truth, and the life. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Most conversations about peace stay either abstract and idealistic, or narrowly focused on the latest crisis. Robert Atkinson’s work refuses that split. An award‑winning author, developmental psychologist, and pioneer in life storytelling, he has spent decades helping people understand their own journeys as part of a much larger story — one in which human oneness is not a wishful slogan, but the deeper reality we are slowly waking up to. In The Way of Unity: Essential Principles and Preconditions for Peace, he brings that vision into sharp focus, asking what kind of religion and spirituality our time truly requires.In this episode, Robert explains how the original sense of religio — to bind together — offers a corrective to the fragmented way faith often functions today. Drawing on themes from The Story of Our Time and A New Story of Wholeness, he outlines a “way of knowing, being, and doing” in which religion, spirituality, social action, community building, and peacebuilding are not separate projects but facets of the same calling. Unity, in his view, must be cultivated on multiple levels: within the self, between people and communities, and across nations — especially in moments of acute tension, like the current conflicts in the Middle East.Robert also shares how his work with initiatives such as One Planet Peace Forum and StoryCommons, and his involvement with the Evolutionary Leaders Circle, have convinced him that we are living through a critical transition point. Old stories of separation are breaking down, while new, more inclusive narratives are emerging — if we are willing to embrace them. Throughout the conversation, he invites listeners to see their own lives as threads in a much larger tapestry of oneness and responsibility, and to consider what it might mean to practice a “religion for our time” that truly binds rather than divides.For anyone wrestling with polarization, longing for a faith that heals instead of harms, or simply trying to locate their personal story within a hopeful future, this episode offers a thoughtful, grounded guide into the way of unity. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Some dads pass on a lifetime of memories; John Fela’s father handed him two words: “Don’t panic.” Growing up on the north side of Chicago in a stereotypical blue‑collar Catholic home—with a truck‑driver dad who drank every day and a mom holding the family together—John watched a man he loved slowly check out of his own life, yet still show up for work and provide. As a teenager, he wrote his father off as “a drunken fool,” only to realize years later that those two words would become some of the best advice he’d ever received—especially once he became the dad of a son with severe autism.In this episode, John traces how his parents’ messy faithfulness gave him the fortitude he needed for his own journey. He talks candidly about growing up around alcoholism, late‑night medical crises, and parents who could stay strangely calm when everything was on the line. Those experiences, he says, trained him to handle big emergencies even if the “little things” still get under his skin. When his son Chris was born and later diagnosed with nonverbal autism, that training—and a later‑in‑life encounter with Christ—shaped how he chose to show up: not panicking, not walking away, but learning to love and advocate with persistence.Out of that has come John’s work as a “Swiss Army knife of disability advocacy,” with a Master’s in Education, years in the classroom, and national advocacy roles, including time with Joni and Friends. Drawing from his book Faith Like My Father, he shares what he’s learned about co‑parenting after divorce, supporting special‑needs families in the church, and helping dads move beyond shame or helplessness into real engagement with their kids. Through it all, he circles back to a simple conviction: you don’t give up on the people you love—and you learn to trust a Father whose plan is bigger than your pain.For parents raising kids with disabilities, pastors wondering how to do more than “mention inclusion,” or anyone still sorting out a complicated relationship with their own dad, this conversation offers honesty, hard‑won wisdom, and hope grounded in a God who never panics and never walks away. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Healthcare conversations easily drift into policy, budgets, and systems. Constantine “Kosti” Psimopoulos insists the place to begin is with a wounded traveler on the side of the road. An Orthodox Christian, Harvard‑trained kinesiologist, and bioethicist, Kosti works at the intersection of medicine, spirituality, disability, and ethics—shaping training for scientists and clinicians at Harvard Medical School and the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and directing the Division of Bioethics at the Orthodox Academy of Crete. For him, Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan is not just a Sunday‑school story; it’s a template for reimagining what medicine and public health are for.In this episode, Kosti unpacks why that parable is, in his words, “the crux of all medicine and healthcare.” Jesus answers the question “Who is my neighbor?” by centering the one who stops, sees, and attends to the injured man’s full humanity—body and soul—at personal cost. Kosti contrasts this with modern tendencies to reduce patients to data points, time slots, or cost–effectiveness calculations. Drawing on the legacy of his mentor, the late Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners In Health, he argues that any ethic of care that does not begin with the person in front of us—especially the poorest and most vulnerable—is already off course, no matter how efficient it looks on paper.From there, the conversation widens to global questions of access, AI in medicine, and how disability justice reshapes the way we think about “flourishing.” As a disability advocate and director on the board of the Harvard Alumni Disability Alliance, Kosti emphasizes the principle “nothing about us without us,” insisting that those most affected by medical and technological decisions must have a voice in shaping them. Throughout, he returns to a simple, demanding conviction: if every human being is created in the image (and, in Orthodox language, called to the likeness) of God, then bioethics cannot remain an abstract discipline. It must become a lived, hopeful vision of care that honors dignity, resists dehumanizing systems, and takes seriously Jesus’ call to love our neighbor—whoever is in front of us—well. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Before she held titles like “executive director,” “chair,” or “professor,” Najeeba Syeed was a little Muslim girl on a school bus in southern Indiana whose family simply needed halal meat. Her father, a grad student at Indiana University, struck up an unlikely partnership with her Christian bus driver, Mrs. Anderson, who invited him to her farm so he could perform ritual slaughter in line with Islamic dietary law. For Najeeba, that story has become a lens on what real interfaith life often looks like: not lofty dialogue in conference halls, but neighbors quietly meeting each other’s needs out of ordinary kindness.In this episode, Najeeba traces the deeper roots of her peacemaking vocation—from being naturalized as an American and raised to see this country as a place “welcoming to all religions,” to the first time she returned to Kashmir as a teenager. Stepping off the plane in Srinagar, she wept as she recognized her mother’s features in a relative’s arms for the first time—only to notice, moments later, armed soldiers posted every few dozen feet along the road. Confronted with the beauty of belonging and the reality of militarized conflict, she found herself praying that her Muslim faith would make her an agent of peace. That prayer eventually led her to choose a Quaker college, drawn by a tradition known for its consistent witness against violence and its role in movements for abolition, human rights, and reconciliation.From there, Najeeba’s path has woven together scholarship, mediation, and grassroots practice. As a professor and as the inaugural El‑Hibri Endowed Chair and Executive Director of Interfaith at Augsburg University, she has designed and led initiatives that reduce school violence, address interracial and gang conflict, and strengthen Muslim–Christian partnerships. Yet throughout the conversation, she keeps returning to the same core: neighborliness, courageous listening, and a refusal to let any one community’s story stand alone. For listeners weary of polarization but unsure what peacemaking looks like beyond slogans, this episode offers a grounded, hopeful picture of justice‑rooted interfaith work—born not in theory, but in the everyday crossings of real lives. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

For many Christians, Purim is a minor feast attached to a familiar children’s story about Esther. For Jennifer Rosner—and for Jewish communities around the world this year—it became something far more immediate. As Jews read again about a plot to annihilate their people in ancient Persia, they did so while watching breaking news from modern‑day Iran: the Ayatollah, a declared enemy of Israel, killed just days before the holiday. The overlap was hard to ignore. Jen, a theologian who has spent years studying and teaching at the intersection of Judaism and Christianity, helps make sense of that convergence.In this episode, she walks through the story of Esther as Jews experience it: not only as history, but as a pattern of threat, vulnerability, and unexpected deliverance that has replayed across centuries. She explains how Purim invites Jews to “remember and relive” God’s hidden work on their behalf—and why, this year, many saw eerie parallels between Haman’s ancient plot in Persia and the rhetoric and ambitions of modern leaders in the same region. From there, Jen widens the lens, showing how these connections highlight the ongoing relationship between the Jewish people, the state of Israel, and the Christian church watching from a distance, often with incomplete understanding.Drawing on her time living in Jerusalem and her work in both seminaries and Messianic Jewish contexts, Jen invites Christians to recover the Jewish roots of their own faith and to read Scripture with fresh attentiveness to Israel’s story. Rather than reducing current events to simple fulfillments of prophecy or ideological talking points, she encourages listeners to see them through the lived experience of a people whose holidays, like Purim, sit at the intersection of memory, identity, and survival. For anyone trying to connect the Bible’s ancient narratives with today’s headlines—and to understand how Jews and Christians might move toward deeper dialogue and reconciliation—this conversation offers nuance, humility, and a grounded, Jewish‑aware perspective. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Dan Nichols has lived both sides of the modern church story. On one hand, he planted Restored Church in Wilkes‑Barre, PA from the ground up, started the Northeast Leadership Summit, and launched the Northeast Collaborative to equip churches across a region often described as “spiritually hard soil.” On the other, he now serves as pastor of Grace Christian Fellowship in Cortland, NY—a 225‑year‑old church founded when Thomas Jefferson was president. Moving from entrepreneurial church planting to shepherding a historic congregation has given him a rare view of how Jesus can stay at the center across wildly different eras and expectations.In this episode, Dan talks about that journey and the deeper story underneath it: his family’s walk through their son Landon’s life‑threatening heart condition. Landon has now survived three open‑heart surgeries, and through those years Dan and his wife Joy learned, in their words, that “God’s grace is never premature”—it arrives exactly when it is needed, even if it doesn’t come early or in the ways they would choose. When Landon later began wrestling with his own faith at just eight years old, asking honest questions about God, Scripture, and what he truly believed, those conversations became the seed of the Making Scripture Simple series—books designed to help upper‑elementary kids understand the Bible for themselves.Dan shares how that project, together with his “hope dealer” work through preaching, podcasting, and networking, flows from a single desire: to point people to Jesus and make God’s Word clear, not complicated. He speaks candidly about ministry, marriage, parenting through pain, and following Jesus in a changing church landscape—where historic institutions and new plants alike are being called back to the same center. For anyone spending Easter in a place of questions, transition, or quiet discouragement, this conversation offers a grounded reminder that the risen Christ still meets people on the road—and that Scripture, handled simply and honestly, can be a living guide for children and adults alike. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

What happens when the life you built around love, faith, and routine suddenly falls apart—and the country outside your front door feels just as fractured? In The Salt and Light Express, Lee Ann Walling follows an older woman who sets out alone in a small RV after the death of her long‑time partner. The journey takes her through the physical landscape of a divided America and the inner terrain of grief, anger, and spiritual disorientation. Along the way, she revisits Episcopal congregations from her past, lands in the hill country of Texas with an evangelical family unsure she should even be a Christian, and finds herself unexpectedly in conversation with a Baptist preacher whose kindness doesn’t fit her assumptions.In this episode, Lee Ann shares how the novel emerged during her MFA program at Drexel—nothing like the book she first imagined, yet deeply rooted in her own path through Methodism, Baptism, atheism, and an eventual home in the Episcopal Church. She describes her protagonist’s sharp, sometimes elitist judgments softening as she encounters ordinary people who complicate the culture‑war caricatures: a pastor willing to risk his position by preaching from Matthew 22 about loving God and neighbor in a hostile climate, relatives who wound and yet reveal their own fears, and strangers whose small acts of grace reopen the possibility of faith. Threaded through is a quiet attempt to strip religion back to “the teachings of Jesus” and ask what a simple, lived‑out faith might look like for someone who has lost trust in institutions but still longs for God.More than a theological treatise, The Salt and Light Express is a road story, a love story, and a meditation on aging, loneliness, and belonging. For readers and listeners—older women, spiritual seekers, LGBTQ believers, or anyone who has gone “to look for America” and found more division than unity—this conversation offers a tender, honest look at how stories can help us keep traveling toward meaning, reconciliation, and a faith that is both humble and real. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

For many believers, “church” has become the measure of spiritual life: the services attended, the prayers repeated, the doctrines affirmed. Don Britton’s story cuts across that assumption. After decades as a businessman and church‑going Christian, his life fell apart when adultery led to the end of his second marriage. Broken and out of answers, he turned to God not for another religious routine, but with a desperate question: what does Scripture actually require of me? That search led him and his wife into nearly half a century of intensive Bible study outside denominational structures, and eventually to his books The Great Deception of American Christianity Without Christ and Quit Church, Now What?In this episode, Don lays out the core concerns that emerged from that long journey. He challenges popular teachings around “worship services” that never become a way of life, a sinner’s prayer that appears nowhere in Scripture, and a view of grace that erases any call to works of righteousness. Most urgently, he warns against the comfort of unconditional eternal security in the face of a Bible filled with conditions and warnings about the narrow way. Yet behind the strong language is not a desire to condemn, but to invite: away from borrowed assurance and toward a personal, intimate, wholehearted relationship with God that brings real peace and hope.The conversation is frank and sobering, but also deeply focused on love—God’s love for people, and the love that leads to repentance, self‑denial, and genuine discipleship. For anyone uneasy with “easy believism” or sensing a gap between church culture and Jesus’ own words about sin and salvation, this episode offers a serious, scripture‑saturated call to return to Christ Himself. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Ask what Latinos in the United States believe, and you’ll often hear quick answers: “mostly Catholic,” “becoming more evangelical,” “socially conservative but….” Arlene Sánchez‑Walsh has spent her career showing why those shortcuts miss the story. As a historian of Latino/a religion and author of Latino Pentecostal Identity, she has traced how faith, migration, race, class, and culture combine to produce a landscape where people can believe “nothing and everything” at once.In this episode, Arlene explains why religious identity among Latinos/as is best understood as fluid. Yes, many still identify with Christian traditions—but not all as Catholic, not all as evangelical, and not all as anything in particular. She highlights the growing number of secular and non‑affiliated Latinos/as, especially younger generations who reject labels like atheist or agnostic yet simply choose not to believe in the ways previous generations did. Her work explores what those shifts say about institutions, authority, and the search for meaning in a changing America.The conversation also touches on her recent writing about theological education for Latino/a communities—what was promised, what has actually happened, and whether current models are serving people well. Throughout, Arlene invites listeners to see both ethnic and religious identity as dynamic, evolving realities, and to approach Latino/a faith with more curiosity and fewer assumptions. For anyone interested in where the church is headed, how culture shapes belief, or why “Latino religion” can’t be reduced to one story, this episode offers clarity, nuance, and a wider frame. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

From the outside, Shea Odom’s story could be summarized as “a heart patient who survived.” Born with a congenital heart defect, undiagnosed until heart failure at six weeks old, she underwent her first open‑heart surgery as an infant in Atlanta. Childhood took her from a German compound in Saudi Arabia—playing with neighbors from Pakistan, Austria, and beyond—back to North Florida, where cardiology checkups, growth‑hormone studies, and the watchful eye of specialists became a normal part of life. As she grew, doctors repaired and then eventually replaced both her aortic and mitral valves, while atrial fibrillation and repeat procedures kept pulling her back into the medical world just as she was trying to step into adulthood.But the deeper story was happening in her inner life. By her teens and twenties, Shea wasn’t just tired physically; she was discouraged and quietly afraid, wondering what would happen when medicine ran out of options. It was in that space that God began to draw her closer. Through a friend’s invitation to a Bible study, the stories and humanity of Jesus moved from abstract to personal—no longer just “God out there,” but Someone who suffered, surrendered, and trusted the Father in His own Gethsemane. As Shea entered counseling and “heart healing” work of her own, she reached a point of true surrender: admitting she could not fix her heart, could not save herself, and entrusting her story to Jesus in a way that went beyond words.In this episode, she shares how that surrender changed everything—not by erasing trouble, but by rooting her identity in the love and security of a good Father. She talks about how her physical heart surgeries paralleled a spiritual heart restoration, how she came to see Jesus as the forerunner of mental and emotional health, and how that journey led her into writing, speaking, and leading gentle “heart healing” sessions for children and their parents. Using story, prayer, and practical tools, she now helps young hearts name their fear, pain, and confusion and bring it into the light of God’s love.For anyone walking a child through illness, anxiety, or grief—or carrying their own unspoken scars from earlier years—this conversation offers both comfort and direction. Shea’s life is a living reminder that Jesus does not only heal bodies; He heals hearts, teaching us to live from a place of peace and belonging even when our stories are complicated. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

For many people, “secular” and “Jesus” sound like opposites. Tom Krattenmaker’s life doesn’t fit that script. Raised in a Catholic context in Minnesota, he never really took to church life—but the stories and teachings of Jesus stayed with him. The teenager who sat restlessly through Mass found himself captivated by a figure who measured character by how we treat those with the least, and who chose suffering, not domination, at the decisive moment of his story. Over time, that fascination led Tom into journalism and a career spent examining religion in public life, and eventually to his book Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower, which the Religion News Association named one of the top religion books of the year.In this episode, Tom traces how his respect for Jesus grew alongside a candid, secular outlook that no longer affirmed Christ’s divinity in traditional terms. He talks about the paradox of writing a “religion book” from a secular standpoint, why so many nonreligious people still wrestle with questions of meaning, purpose, and ethics, and how he now focuses on articulating a positive secular vision rooted in moral seriousness and the natural world. Along the way, he and Wade explore the tensions built into America’s founding ideals of religious freedom and pluralism, the gap between institutional religion and lived faith, and what it might look like to seek the “moral high ground” without turning every difference into a culture‑war battlefield.This conversation does not try to collapse the differences between believer and nonbeliever. Instead, it asks what can be learned in the space between—about Jesus, about conscience, and about how people with divergent convictions might still work toward a more just and humane society. For anyone curious about secular perspectives on Jesus, or wrestling with faith in a post‑Christian culture, this episode offers nuance, honesty, and a wider frame for the questions so many are quietly asking. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Some stories feel almost too heavy to tell. Avonley Lightstone’s childhood was one of them: a house fire at age three, the loss of her mother, and years of abuse that followed after adoption. The pain did not come in a single moment, but in waves that seemed determined to erase any sense of safety, belonging, or worth. Yet even in those dark years, Avonley carried a fragile but persistent sense that God was with her—and that somehow, there was more to her story than what others had done.In this episode, Avonley shares how she moved from surviving to healing, and how that journey eventually became her book, Strength of Scars. She describes waking in the early morning hours, not as a trained writer, but as someone willing to let God lead the process—praying that the words on the page would be written “His way,” not hers, so they could truly help others. The result is a testimony that does not gloss over pain, but also refuses to let trauma have the final word.For anyone carrying old wounds, wondering if hope is still possible, this conversation offers both honesty and light. Avonley’s story is not about pretending the past didn’t happen. It’s about discovering that, with God, even the deepest scars can become a source of strength—for yourself and for those who read, listen, and recognize their own story in yours. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

When the apostle Paul gathered collections for the poor saints in Jerusalem, he described it as a matter of “fairness”—those with plenty supplying the needs of those in want. Roger Wheeler has taken that vision to heart in a very specific way. A real estate agent and missionary, he founded Shoulder 2 Shoulder to help address food insecurity in Zambia, a nation of roughly 20 million people where an estimated five million live with some level of starvation or malnutrition. For Roger, Zambia is not just another project field; it is a Christian nation where believers are caught in a deficit that the Western church, living in surplus, is called to help meet.In this episode, Roger explains how Shoulder 2 Shoulder works entirely through a network of about 135 Zambian churches—their pastors and deacons forming the distribution system for relief (food), development (water), and sustainable farming. There is no government involvement and no American overhead; funds raised here flow directly to needs there. Alongside the logistics, he talks about two kinds of poverty he sees: the obvious physical hunger of those in Zambia, and the less visible spiritual poverty of Christians in wealthy contexts who struggle to recognize their responsibility—or to trust that their giving will reach the right people.The conversation is practical and searching. It invites listeners to rethink wealth, generosity, and what it means to belong to a global body of Christ where “their” need and “our” surplus are part of the same story. For anyone wrestling with how to respond to global injustice without naivety or cynicism, Roger’s work offers a concrete, church‑based model and a gentle but firm reminder: trust is a currency, and it is meant to be invested in the service of the poor and the saints across the ocean. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

For years, Derwin Gray went by “Dewey,” the kid from San Antonio whose sanctuary was a football field. Growing up around violence, substance abuse, and unspoken trauma, he learned early to stay on high alert. Football promised a different world: clear rules, hard work, and a sense of control his home life never gave. By high school he had transformed his undersized frame into a recruitable body; by college he was an All‑American at BYU; by his mid‑twenties he was a team captain in the NFL. But along the way, something subtle and dangerous happened—his identity fused with his performance. If football disappeared, who would he be?In this episode, Derwin tells the story of how that false god finally cracked. From the outside, he had made it. Inside, he was still carrying father wounds, pressure from family expectations, and a heart that went to worst‑case scenarios every time something went wrong. A miserable rookie year, injuries, and a night spent drunk and ashamed on the floor—vomit at his pregnant wife’s feet—forced a hard confession: “Something’s wrong with you, man.” Into that moment walked the memory of a teammate nicknamed “The Naked Preacher,” who had once asked him, “Do you know Jesus?” and challenged his assumption that being “a good person” was enough.Derwin describes the day in 1997 when he finally surrendered—calling his wife from training camp to say he wanted to be committed to her and to Jesus—and the tangible sense of love that broke over him. Tears, Scripture, and a growing hunger to share what he was learning led him from the league into ministry, seminary, and eventually into planting Transformation Church, a multiethnic, multigenerational community centered on the reconciling work of Christ. Along the way, his own experiences with race, class, and suffering shaped a deep conviction that the gospel is not just about individual salvation, but about healing divides in the church and society.This conversation offers an honest look at idolatry, identity, and what it means to follow Jesus from the locker room to the pulpit and beyond. For anyone wrestling with performance‑based worth, painful family histories, or the fractures of our cultural moment, Derwin’s story is a living reminder that in Christ, it really is possible to become a new creation. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Many Christians talk about the body as “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” but few know what it looks like to live that out in the middle of trauma, addiction, and everyday stress. Matthew Headden’s story brings the language down to ground level. Raised in a loving Southern Baptist home but never quite fitting the mold, he bounced between church leadership and rebellion—kicked out of school even as he led worship and graduated valedictorian. After enlisting in the military just days before 9/11, he spent years in combat, burying friends, taking lives, and watching others lose limbs and loved ones. The cost was deep: survivor’s guilt, hyper‑vigilance, and a growing conviction that he was a monster who didn’t matter.Back home, that identity played out in brutal alcoholism, drug abuse, infidelity, obesity, and even a failed suicide attempt. Success on the outside—a six‑figure income in the fitness world, promotions, relationships—masked a man who hated himself. The turning point came one early morning drive, after yet another night of drinking, when Matthew finally prayed for a sign and, within hours, learned that a very real DUI case had been dismissed. For him, it was too specific to be coincidence. Dropping to his knees, he surrendered—“never again”—and began the slow work of letting God change not just his habits, but his core beliefs about who he was.In this episode, Matthew and his wife Leah share how that surrender grew into Temple Keepers, a ministry that helps believers treat health as an act of worship and stewardship. They walk through four pillars—nutrition grounded in God’s design, daily movement, real rest, and stress management rooted in Scripture—and explain why identity in Christ is at the center of lasting change. Leah speaks candidly as a mom of three about releasing worldly body ideals and finding freedom in caring for herself so she can serve others well. Together, they challenge churches and pastors to move beyond “I’m praying about it” toward disciplined, grace‑filled action.For anyone battling food, weight, addiction, exhaustion, or quiet self‑contempt, this conversation offers both conviction and hope. Temple Keepers isn’t about chasing a perfect image; it’s about learning to live strong, clear‑minded, and present for the people and purposes God has entrusted to you. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Joy can feel like a luxury when life is heavy. For Wanda Thibodeaux, it became a lifeline. Growing up in a small rural community in Michigan, she walked through trauma, confusion about her worth, and seasons where the loudest messages around her were anything but kind. That journey pushed her into psychology, music, and writing—eventually becoming a Christian author, ghostwriter, and host of the Faithful on the Clock podcast.In this episode, Wanda talks candidly about how words—both spoken and unspoken—can shape a person’s sense of identity, and how the enemy uses those lies to drain joy and distance people from God. She unpacks her conviction that “if we can be joyless, we can be godless,” and explains why fighting for joy is not denial but spiritual resistance: a refusal to agree with darkness about who God is and who we are. Along the way, she reflects on themes from her new devotional, Grace in the Grind, and how daily practices can reconnect work, faith, and emotional health.The conversation is grounded and hopeful, offering clear encouragement for anyone who feels stuck in discouragement, burnout, or old stories about their value. Wanda’s mix of warmth, insight, and practical wisdom invites listeners to see joy not as something reserved for “after” the struggle, but as a way of backhanding the devil right in the middle of it. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Most believers know the warning about serving two masters—God and Mammon—but few have traced how closely those two have traveled together in Western history. In this episode, Dr. Devin Singh, associate professor of religion at Dartmouth College, unpacks the long, complicated relationship between Christian theology and economic life. From early doctrines of debt and sacrifice to modern ideas about markets, value, and sovereignty, he shows how religious concepts have quietly shaped the financial systems people now take for granted.Drawing on his books Divine Currency and Economy and Modern Christian Thought, as well as his current research for Sacred Debt on the economic vision of the Torah, Devin explains how images of God, judgment, and salvation have influenced the way societies think about money, credit, and obligation. He also names the hard truth: Christian teaching has not only tried to correct economic injustice; at times, it has helped reinforce it. By surfacing this history, he opens space to ask what a more faithful ethic of exchange might look like.For viewers who sense that personal stewardship is only part of the story, this conversation widens the lens. It invites a fresh look at how belief and economics intertwine, and how ancient wisdom about jubilee, debt release, and shared flourishing might speak into today’s global economy. If you’ve ever wondered how to follow Jesus in a world built around money, this episode offers both challenge and clarity. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Many faith conversations stay abstract, far from the messy places where people actually live. Lorraine Hess and Erica Strong are trying to close that gap. As co-hosts of the Beloved podcast, they sit down each week to talk about the things most people are really dealing with—loss, gratitude, parenting, calling, discouragement—and then ask what those stories look like when seen through the eyes of faith.In this episode, Lorraine and Erica reflect on how two women from different backgrounds—a Catholic musician and ministry leader from New Orleans and a writer and spiritual mentor passionate about women’s healing—discovered just how much they share. They describe the joy and vulnerability of swapping stories on air: the triumphs, the falls, and the quiet moments when God’s presence shows up in unexpected ways. What began as friendship has become a space where listeners are reminded they are never alone, and that even ordinary days can hold traces of grace.The conversation is warm, honest, and deeply relational. It invites anyone who has felt isolated in their faith journey to consider the power of shared stories and spiritual friendship. At its heart is a simple reminder: beneath all our differences, every person is seen, known, and loved by God—we are, each of us, truly beloved. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

In a moment when nearly every issue becomes a battlefield, Marlena Graves offers a different starting point: we belong to each other. Drawing on the Southern African concept of Ubuntu—“I am because we are”—and the teachings of Jesus, she argues that genuine spiritual formation cannot be separated from the pursuit of justice. Our well-being, she insists, is tied to the flourishing of those we might be tempted to ignore: the poor, the immigrant, those outside our tribe, and even those we see as enemies.In this episode, Marlena traces how segments of American Christianity, especially white evangelical culture, have often lost sight of that interconnectedness. She names the “fruit of bad theology”—a selective compassion that treats some neighbors as optional—and contrasts it with Jesus’ command to love without exception. Along the way, she weaves in her own pastoral and academic experience, stories of polarization, and the quiet, patient work of building relationships across political, racial, and religious lines.The conversation is honest about harm yet grounded in hope. Marlena speaks about holding space for growth, refusing to cancel people who are just waking up, and remembering that each of us is still on a journey. For anyone weary of culture wars but longing for a faith that looks like Jesus in public as well as in private, this episode offers a thoughtful, courageous vision of what it means to live Ubuntu in everyday life. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

From the outside, Megan Rosselot looked like a teenager who just wasn’t trying hard enough. Inside, she was fighting a very different battle. Undiagnosed learning disabilities turned school into a constant struggle; while her younger sisters seemed to glide through academics and activities, Megan failed tests, stumbled in sports, and absorbed the labels that came her way. Resentment and shame slowly deepened into anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts, all fed by a relentless inner voice telling her she had no purpose.In this episode, Megan reflects on the long process of resisting that voice and learning to hear another one—the patient, persistent voice of God. She talks about how getting curious about who God is, and how the Holy Spirit speaks, began to change the way she saw herself and others. That shift eventually led her into the world of behavioral therapy and the creation of The Behavior Project and The Behavior Collective, where she now helps families reframe “bad behavior” as a signal, not a verdict, and teaches them how to respond with both structure and compassion.The conversation offers grounded encouragement for anyone who has felt misunderstood, mislabeled, or unsure what to do with the difficult behaviors in their home or their own heart. Megan’s story is a reminder that God meets people in the middle of their confusion, and that with the right understanding and support, change is not only possible—it’s often where purpose begins to emerge. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

On the surface, many men look successful—solid job, decent income, life “under control.” Underneath, the story can be very different: numbness, quiet resentment, or the sense of living someone else’s script. Scorpio Lamonte calls this mediocrity a social disease, and he has built his life’s work around confronting it. As an identity mentor and founder of Hope Elevation, he helps men and young people turn back toward the person they were meant to be, rather than the role they’ve drifted into.In this episode, Scorpio breaks down what identity mentoring looks like in real life: helping people recognize where herd mentality and hurt mentality have shaped their choices, and guiding them to see hope as an active discipline. He describes hope as a decision and a muscle—something strengthened through small, consistent choices that honor the truth of who you are in God, not the lies spoken over you. Instead of outsourcing worth to other people’s opinions, he invites listeners to look within and discover that “His grace is sufficient” and “you are more than enough.”The conversation is energetic and practical, offering clear encouragement for anyone who feels stuck, overlooked, or unsure how to move forward. With a focus on mindset shifts, micro‑habits, and honest self‑definition, Scorpio’s message points to a simple but demanding invitation: start making hope‑filled decisions for your own life, and watch how purpose, resources, and relationships begin to align. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Wanting to quit and knowing how to quit are two very different things. Rose Ann Forte understands that gap from the inside. After years in corporate leadership and a private battle with alcohol, she reached a breaking point that became a turning point. What followed was a season of surrender, rebuilding, and discovering how Scripture and neuroscience together could support real, lasting transformation.In this episode, Rose Ann explains how her own experience led to the Choose Freedom® Program and a series of devotionals, books, and courses aimed at people who feel stuck in substances or life-interfering behaviors. She outlines the core ideas behind The Plans He Has for Me and Transformed by His Promises, showing how daily engagement with God’s word, paired with practical tools, helps rewire thought patterns and open the door to new choices. Rather than shame or quick fixes, her approach is rooted in grace, clarity, and small, steady steps.The conversation offers encouragement for anyone who has tried to change and slipped back, or who loves someone caught in a cycle they can’t seem to break. It’s a clear, compassionate look at how faith, honest preparation, and a renewed mind can work together to make freedom more than a wish—it can become a way of life. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Streaming platforms are filled with scripted drama, but some of the most gripping stories are the ones that actually happened. Mick Wienholt has built his life around listening to those real accounts—the moments when something unexplainable breaks into an ordinary day—and then helping people name what those experiences mean. As host of the When You Look show, he creates space for guests to ask a simple but demanding question: was that just coincidence, or was that God?In this episode, Mick reflects on his own journey through heartbreak, near-death, and unexpected grace, and how those seasons shaped his hunger to hear from others. He describes conversations with people who have come through grief, danger, or radical change, each standing at the same crossroads: dismiss the event as random, or recognize it as an invitation into a deeper relationship with Christ. Rather than forcing conclusions, Mick’s approach is to listen closely and let people discover, in their own words, what their stories reveal about faith, fear, and hope.For viewers who are tired of fictional escapes and ready for true stories with spiritual weight, this conversation offers a different kind of narrative—one that honors both mystery and honesty. It’s an episode for anyone who has ever wondered if something that happened “to them” might actually have been happening for them. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Some decisions make no sense on paper—and yet, in hindsight, they mark the beginning of an entirely new life. In this episode, Jonathan England tells the story of how he went from building community in Austin, Texas to founding Earthwaking Village in Costa Rica, guided by what he understands as a clear and urgent call from God. Along the way, he describes a shocking encounter with a prophet living in a storage shed, visions that unfolded over three days, and a promise that if he gave his life completely to God, he could never take credit for anything again.From there, the path only becomes more unlikely. Jonathan and his wife heard the words, “You have one hour—pack your bags and fly to Costa Rica.” They obeyed, arrived, and watched the world shut down as COVID hit and borders closed. Out of that disruption, a new experiment in community began to take shape: people gathering around Divine Law, releasing fear and control, and learning to live from a place of trust, purpose, and shared responsibility.This conversation explores what it means to “leave Babylon”—not just geographically, but spiritually and emotionally. Jonathan speaks candidly about surrender, the cost of obedience, and the joy of seeing lives transformed when people step into their true identity. For anyone sensing that the systems around them no longer fit, or wondering what it might look like to follow God into something radically different, this episode offers both challenge and hope. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Every day, headlines claim to tell “the truth,” while fiction invites readers into stories that never happened. John DeDakis has spent a lifetime moving between those worlds. As a former White House correspondent and CNN editor, he covered real events in real time during the Reagan years. As an award‑winning mystery‑thriller author, he now transforms that experience into stories that let readers feel the pressure, danger, and moral tension of life behind the scenes.In this episode, John unpacks the relationship between facts, narrative, and the search for truth. He describes daily journalism as a mosaic of “small t” truths—fragments of fact that never quite capture the full picture, yet point toward it. From there, he reflects on how fiction can sometimes reveal deeper realities by exploring motive, character, and consequence in ways a news story cannot. Along the way, he speaks candidly about objectivity, media bias, and the challenges of reporting in a polarized age.The conversation also follows his journey as a novelist and writing coach, including how personal loss and spiritual questions have shaped his work. For anyone wondering how to navigate the blur between news and narrative—or how writing can become a path toward healing and understanding—this episode offers a clear, thoughtful look at truth on the page and in public life. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Most people feel that something is broken in education, but struggle to name exactly what it is. Joseph Atman believes the problem goes deeper than test scores or funding—it reaches into how we form concepts, define our terms, and understand reality itself. As the founder of Middle Tree, a nonprofit committed to making education accessible to everyone, he has spent years building a system where students can learn at their own pace, in their own way, without being turned away for lack of resources. As a philosopher of religion, he has also been writing A Philosophical War, a trilogy that starts in the Garden of Eden and asks hard questions about good, evil, and consciousness.In this episode, Joseph explains why true philosophy begins by questioning everything—even our most familiar religious and moral categories. He describes how unexamined definitions of “good,” “evil,” or even “truth” can lock people into narrow frameworks that no longer match reality, and how revisiting those concepts can open new space for both faith and understanding. Drawing on imagery from Genesis, the tree in the middle of the garden, and Paul’s call to “exercise the senses to discern good and evil,” he connects the work of spiritual maturity with the work of education: learning to tune our senses and language to what is actually real.The conversation then turns concrete, as Joseph shares how Middle Tree’s model—“educate everyone”—puts these ideas into practice: unlimited time, individualized support, and new vocational programs, all designed to treat education as a right rather than a luxury. For anyone longing for a deeper, more coherent way to think about faith, knowledge, and how we teach the next generation, this episode offers a thoughtful, challenging, and hopeful path forward. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Conversations about nearly any topic in America today seem to turn political in seconds. Behind that tension is a long story about how religion has shaped public life—and how public life has shaped religion. In this episode, Mark Silk brings that story into focus. A historian by training and a journalist by vocation, he began his career studying the Middle Ages before turning his attention to contemporary America just as the Religious Right was taking shape in the late 1970s and early 1980s.Drawing on that dual lens, Mark explains how the United States moved from a largely Christian‑Jewish frame to a more visibly pluralistic society, increasingly open to a wide variety of faiths. He describes the hopeful expansion that took place in the late 20th century, then names the more recent pullback—where old patterns of hostility and suspicion are resurfacing in new forms. Using comparisons from medieval Christian and Jewish experience, he shows how organized power, fear, and religious identity have historically combined to both protect and endanger minorities, and asks whether similar dynamics are now returning.The result is a grounded, historically informed look at questions many people are feeling but struggle to articulate: Are we still moving toward greater openness, or sliding into something harsher and more closed? What can the past teach about navigating this present moment without repeating its worst mistakes? For anyone trying to make sense of religion’s role in today’s culture wars, this conversation offers clarity, context, and a wider frame of understanding. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

For many Christians, horror movies sit on the edge of what seems acceptable, if not far beyond it. Josh Larsen believes that boundary is exactly where some of the most important questions can be asked. A veteran film critic and author of Fear Not! A Christian Appreciation of Horror, Josh has spent years considering how the genre grapples with fear, evil, and the human longing for deliverance—and why thoughtful engagement with these stories might matter for people of faith.In this episode, he explores the surprising ways horror can echo biblical images and themes, from the terror of the cross to the desperation of the demon‑possessed man called Legion. Rather than dismissing the genre outright, Josh suggests approaching it theologically: paying attention to what horror reveals about isolation, sin, sacrifice, judgment, and the hope of rescue. Along the way, he addresses common concerns believers have about watching horror and offers a framework for discernment rather than simple rejection.The result is a conversation that is both candid and deeply reflective. It invites listeners to reconsider where God might already be at work in the stories culture tells about fear and darkness—and how even the most unsettling images can send us back to the heart of the gospel with fresh eyes. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

For decades, evangelical Christianity shaped America’s spiritual landscape—but today, more and more people find themselves searching beyond the familiar labels. In this episode, Dr. David Gushee—author, ethicist, and trusted voice on faith—examines the rise and unraveling of a movement and the unexpected hope waiting on the other side.Drawing from his years of scholarship and experience, Gushee traces the path from passionate beginnings to painful disillusionment: how political entanglement and division have left many believers wondering if there’s anything left to reclaim. Yet within the loss, he sees signs of life—a post-evangelical movement rooted not in nostalgia, but in the genuine teachings of Jesus: humility, courage, and a deeper commitment to healing and inclusion.This conversation offers perspective for anyone sorting through old questions or longing for a more honest spiritual home. What if letting go is only the beginning? For those willing to start again, the future of faith may be wider, braver, and more connected than ever before. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Raised in the rituals of Catholicism, Julia Strukely found early meaning in scripture, teaching, and community life—yet her deepest growth came when she stepped outside the boundaries she’d always known. Her pursuit of media literacy, curiosity about pop culture, and experience in an ecumenical spiritual direction program taught her that God can’t be contained by any one tradition.In this episode, Julia reflects on what it means to guide others gently along their spiritual path, letting real listening and honest encounter lead the way. She explains how faith becomes more vibrant when it opens to questions, when classrooms turn into sacred spaces, and when each person’s background is an invitation to something deeper rather than a barrier.Her story is a reminder that there’s always room for another perspective, another story around the table—even (or especially) if it’s different from our own. For anyone hoping to widen their understanding of God, or simply to walk the road with greater compassion, Julia’s journey sparks encouragement to take the next step, wherever you are starting. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Most people admire heroic lives from a distance without ever imagining they could live one. Audrey Rindlisbacher began in that same place, reading The Hiding Place while raising small children and simply wanting to be “a family like that” without knowing how. What followed was a deep study of the lives of men and women who seemed extraordinary—and the surprising discovery that they all started as ordinary people with familiar struggles.In this episode, Audrey unpacks the 7 Laws of Life Mission that emerged from her research and experience. She explains why mission doesn’t begin with a grand vision, but with practicing true principles in the middle of everyday challenges: strengthening a marriage, being more present as a parent, facing personal weaknesses with honesty. Over time, those small but consistent choices create the character, clarity, and courage needed for larger impact.This conversation is both grounding and hopeful. It offers a clear path for anyone who senses there is “more” to their life but feels unsure where to begin. Step by step, Audrey shows how starting exactly where you are—doing the next right thing—can quietly lead to a mission‑driven life that blesses others far beyond what you might expect. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

For the first episode of 2025, Wade Fransson welcomes writer and pastor Morgan Guyton for a special New Year’s conversation that goes far beyond ordinary resolutions. Together, they chart a course into what Morgan calls a “New Year’s revolution”—rooted in mercy, courageously using privilege for the good of others, and forging authentic community in the face of division. Their discussion travels from the dynamics of privilege and the call to use our resources for solidarity and support, to the role of worship, the relationship between prophets and priests, and the irreplaceable value of real, personal relationships—especially in a digital age more accustomed to debates than dialogue. With trademark honesty and warmth, Morgan challenges the easy patterns of arguing with strangers online, and instead champions a faith that listens, shows up, and does the hard work of building a culture where people care for each other in tangible ways. Inspired by the wild ride of a true new beginning and laced with practical hope, this conversation invites listeners to make 2025 less about self-improvement and more about collective healing and bold, relational mercy. Whether you’re ready for new adventures or simply hoping to start the year with deeper meaning, Wade and Morgan’s dialogue is the beginning of something that just might last. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

What should we expect from science—and where must we look beyond it? In this episode, Wade Fransson welcomes Alan Lightman for an hour-long journey through the frontiers of knowledge, awe, and responsibility. Drawing on his years as a physicist, novelist, and teacher at MIT, Lightman opens up about the curious intersection where theoretical physics meets philosophy and the search for meaning.The conversation ranges from star-filled nights on a quiet boat to the realities of climate change and the pandemic, exploring how science approaches—and sometimes collides with—the big questions of human existence. Lightman shares candid thoughts about the limits of scientific inquiry: the kinds of questions data can answer, and the mysteries that remain stubbornly outside its grasp. He also addresses the public’s growing skepticism around scientific authority, pointing toward the importance of humility, clear communication, and an honest admission of what we simply don’t know.Listeners will find themselves challenged to rethink “certainty,” and inspired to reclaim a sense of wonder. Whether science is your daily work or a distant headline, Alan Lightman’s perspective offers a refreshing space for doubt, discovery, and genuine curiosity. This episode is a rare reminder that the most important answers start with a willingness to wrestle with questions we cannot solve. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

What if hell isn’t a place beneath our feet—but a metaphor for what we experience inside? In this episode, Wade sits down with David Langness, a Baha’i of 56 years and the editor of Baha’iTeachings.org, to unravel one of religion’s oldest—and most misunderstood—concepts.David explains how the idea of hell has often been used to frighten and control, but the Baha’i writings invite us to see it differently: as a condition of the soul, born from selfishness, ego, and the instincts that pull us away from our higher purpose. The conversation is an honest exploration of what it truly means to “conquer hell”—not by escaping punishment, but by facing our shortcomings, overcoming the animal side of our nature, and striving for something nobler.With wisdom drawn from decades of study and service, David offers a perspective that’s at once challenging and hopeful. Viewers will come away with a new understanding of character, the nature of the self, and the daily practices that enable us to move from darkness to light. If you’re looking for an uplifting yet grounded discussion about human potential and spiritual growth, this episode is not to be missed. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

What does it take for faith traditions with centuries of complicated history to move from uneasy armistice toward genuine peace? In this illuminating episode, theologian Ellen Charry—Emerita Professor of Theology at Princeton—reflects on a lifelong journey that began as a curious Jewish child and transformed her into a bridge-builder between worlds. Ellen is frank about her own story: growing up Jewish, marrying into a rabbinic family, converting to Christianity, and ultimately claiming a unique vantage point from which to sponsor dialogue few are willing to undertake.Now, in the face of rising antisemitism and renewed tensions worldwide, Ellen is working on a peace proposal that moves beyond polite tolerance. Her forthcoming book seeks to reimagine the relationship between Judaism and Christianity not as inherited rivalry, but as a partnership rooted in God’s desire for flourishing, mutual understanding, and shared purpose. She argues that the well-being of creation itself depends on such reconciliation—because wherever division lingers, “creation languishes.”Across this conversation, Ellen charitably examines what it would mean for traditions—not just individuals—to make peace and “share God.” The episode is a testament to hard-won wisdom, honest spirituality, and the hope that old enmities can give way to something radically new. If you care about faith, history, or practical peacemaking, this is a conversation you will not want to miss. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

The call to “follow the science” has become a defining phrase of recent years—but what does it mean to investigate reality for ourselves when institutions, experts, and financial incentives all shape the story we’re told? In this episode, journalist and independent researcher Mehrtash Olson brings the Bahá’í principle of the independent investigation of reality into direct contact with today’s information climate.Drawing on several years of research into media trends, COVID-era messaging, and the growing influence of what some describe as a medical-industrial complex, Olson traces how deference to authority can quietly slide into a culture where honest questions are discouraged or punished. He highlights efforts to categorize dissent as misinformation or hate speech, and the way political and economic power can converge to manage what counts as acceptable opinion. Alongside these observations, he turns to Bahá’í teachings from Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi that affirm freedom of conscience, the right of self-expression, and the vital role of open consultation in social progress.The conversation does not promote cynicism for its own sake. Instead, it invites a more mature, spiritually grounded approach to truth-seeking, one that respects science and institutions while insisting that each person retains the duty to “see with [their] own eyes and not through the eyes of another.” For listeners unsettled by the current information landscape, this episode offers principles, language, and examples to support thoughtful, ethical discernment in a noisy age. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

What if faith and humor aren’t opposites, but companions on the road toward hope? In this episode, we sit down with Sy Hoekstra—a writer, editor, and podcaster whose story weaves together deep honesty and joyful perspective. Blind since birth, Sy brings firsthand insight into the realities of living with disability, but refuses to let hardship define the story. Instead, his writing explores faith in the language of humility, hospitality, and generous self-awareness, often delivered with a contagious sense of humor.Sy speaks candidly about choosing humor not as a coping mechanism for pain, but as a sign of spiritual and emotional health. Drawing from the words and actions of Jesus—especially those challenging self-importance and pride—Sy shares how laughter becomes an act of hope, inviting others into dialogue about awkward or misunderstood topics. Far from avoiding difficulty, his approach opens the door to real connection, helping friends and readers find clarity, grace, and even joy in unlikely places.Whether you’re navigating your own challenges, seeking a fresh take on faith in a broken world, or simply curious about humor as a tool for hospitality, you’ll find Sy’s approach both inviting and thought-provoking. This conversation is an honest exploration of humility, belonging, and how we care for each other by meeting awkwardness with kindness and wit. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Mark Vernon steps into the studio for an episode that faces our collective anxieties with honesty and depth. The conversation opens with the sense of collapse many feel today—a sense that familiar certainties are fading. Instead of offering quick fixes or retreating into platitudes, Mark explores what happens when we approach uncertainty as a call to discover deeper forms of truth and beauty.Drawing on his background as a psychotherapist, educator, and former vicar, Mark unpacks lessons from the Platonic and Christian traditions. He reflects on thinkers like Dante and William Blake, but also connects these traditions to the symbols and stories of modern culture—even Frankenstein and zombies become part of the journey.This episode asks: Can meaning and hope break through, even when everything feels unsettled? Mark suggests that wisdom is less about escaping difficulty and more about cultivating a way of seeing—a spiritual intelligence—that reveals goodness precisely in the moment of greatest uncertainty. Whether you’re drawn to philosophy, psychology, faith, or simply the yearning for deeper answers, this conversation offers a space to wrestle honestly with the questions of our age. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Shane Claiborne is neither content with ideas nor preoccupied with abstractions. His vision of peacemaking is urgent, tangible—and sometimes quite literally, forged in fire. In this episode, Shane shares the journey behind Raw Tools, where surrendered guns are melted and re-formed into gardening instruments, echoing the prophetic call to “beat swords into plowshares.” The work is as symbolic as it is practical, challenging both the weaponization of society and the ways Christians can drift from the teachings of Jesus.We go deeper than headlines or slogans. Shane speaks with candor and humility about learning from figures like Mother Teresa, collaborating with grassroots communities, and the struggles of being a “Red Letter Christian” when compassion means confronting systems—and ourselves. There is room here for laughter (yes, Dolly Parton makes an appearance), but also for reflective questions about what it means to love authentically, seek justice, and cultivate hope in broken places.This conversation will speak to anyone asking how faith can be lived in the real world—where change is hard, but redemption is always possible. Whether you’re passionate about justice, curious about social action, or simply searching for honest spiritual dialogue, you’ll find both challenge and inspiration in Shane’s story. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Michael Stone joins us again for a focused conversation on fear, trauma, and the quiet work of becoming whole. He explains how trauma forms early, how it influences our choices and relationships, and why fear often becomes the lens through which we interpret everything. His approach is steady, practical, and rooted in decades of lived experience.Building on his previous appearance, Michael reflects on the difference between coping mechanisms and true integration. For him, oneness isn’t an idea to believe in but a state that emerges when the body, mind, and heart are finally aligned. The conversation invites listeners to understand their fear with more compassion and to recognize the possibility of healing within their own story.This episode offers a calm, grounded perspective for anyone navigating unresolved pain or searching for a sense of inner steadiness. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Humanity is standing on the edge of a profound transition. In this episode, award-winning author and educator Dr. Scott Guerin joins us to unpack the central themes of his book Awkward Awakening—a call to recognize our divine nature, our expanding awareness, and the subtle shifts reshaping how we understand mind, body, and spirit. He outlines why the old boundaries between the physical and nonphysical are no longer holding, and how this realization is opening an entirely new landscape of experience.Dr. Guerin brings decades of work in human development and spiritual psychology to a conversation that bridges science, spirituality, and the unexplored dimensions of consciousness. From our “galactic heritage” to the rise of experiential spirituality, he explains how these emerging patterns are not fringe ideas but signals of a larger evolutionary moment. His perspective offers clarity without sensationalism—a grounded understanding of what many people are already feeling but haven’t been able to name.Together, we explore how to navigate this awakening with discernment and purpose. Dr. Guerin shares practical approaches, reflective tools, and the inner posture needed to engage this shift with integrity. Whether you approach this as a believer, a seeker, or simply someone sensing change on the horizon, this conversation offers a meaningful map for finding your way home. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Reynaldo Pareja joins the conversation to explore two questions that have defined much of his work: How does God communicate with humanity, and is there a single principle that holds the universe together? His perspective moves between the sweep of cosmic reality and the interior landscape of human consciousness, treating both as essential parts of the same search.He reflects on revelation as an ongoing, intentional process—one that invites humanity to understand the divine not as a distant abstraction but as a presence that unfolds across history. At the same time, he examines the astonishing coherence of creation, from the behavior of galaxies to the complexity of cells, suggesting that unity is not an ideal but a structural truth woven into existence itself.The result is an episode that brings science, spirituality, and human experience into the same frame, offering a grounded and expansive look at how we make sense of our place in a universe that is both immeasurable and intimately connected. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe

Facing nine federal indictments and a possible thirty-seven-year sentence, Daniel Gray did something few people in today’s outrage-driven culture ever do: he took responsibility for everything. Not only for January 6, but for the digital spiral that pulled him in — the doomscrolling, the toxic influencers, and the online ecosystem that blurred judgment and distorted truth. When he pleaded guilty, he wasn’t seeking leniency; he was seeking honesty. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ultimately sentenced him to thirty months. And as Daniel reflects, you cannot receive grace without accountability — and grace without repentance is a mockery of grace.In this rare, unfiltered conversation, Daniel opens a window into the psychology of radicalization and the cost of stepping back into the light. He examines the pressures of the algorithm, the moral vacuum of influencer culture, and the growing dissonance between truth and the digital personas we choose to believe. This episode is not about politics — it’s about the spiritual, moral, and human journey of a man who confronted his own failures and discovered that redemption begins where self-deception ends. Get full access to SOOPMedia on Substack at soopllc.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Created in the Image of God at wadefransson.substack.com/subscribe