Holy Ghosting Lindsay, Meg & Sarai

Ahoy, Ghosties! Set sail with us on the turbulent waters of YWAM's Mercy Ships as Karen Alea, from the Deconversion Therapy podcast, joins us for a deep-sea adventure into religious deconstruction. From the highs of missionary zeal to the lows of financial strain and the choppy waves of communal living, Karen shares her journey of finding land after leaving the evangelical archipelago.

In this episode:

🌍 Travel Bugs and Belonging: Karen dives into why YWAM's promise of adventure lured her in.
💸 Financial Storms: Unpack the dicey ethics of fundraising in missionary work.
🙏 Deconstruction Lifelines: How humor can be your life jacket when navigating the heavy currents of faith questioning.
Grab your life vests and join our crew as we explore how to keep your head above water in the sea of spiritual uncertainty.

👻 Support the Journey: Like what you hear? Show your support by subscribing, sharing this episode, and dropping us a review. Every bit helps us keep the conversation flowing and the community growing.



Find Karen on the Deconversion Therapy Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deconversion-therapy/id1438032991

In this episode Karen shared about a 10-step prayer ritual she had to go through every time she prayed. The same person who came up with the Plumb Line made this gem. Enjoy!

https://ywam.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/PrinciplesForEffectiveIntercession-JoyDawson.pdf?lang=en

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/holy-ghosting/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Protect your peace: CW: Suicide, Depression, dark thoughts, religious ocd

Anna Gazmarian shares her spiritual and mental health journey with Lindsay and Meg.

Get Anna's book out now! Devout: A Memoir of Doubt
https://bookshop.org/p/books/devout-a-memoir-of-doubt-anna-gazmarian/20165565?ean=9781668004036

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/holy-ghosting/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Meg opens up about her experiences in YWAM. You don't want to miss this episode in our Youth With A Mission series.


Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/holy-ghosting/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, we dive into the not-so-wonderful world of Youth With a Mission, aka YWAM. We chat with our pal (and Lindsay’s sister), D.L. Mayfield about the history and horrors of the cult-like organization that began with one white guy's vision of young people sweeping the globe for Jesus. (Totally not creepy, right?)

Fast forward a few decades and YWAM is one of the largest missions organizations on the planet, with 1100 locations in 180+ countries and over 18,000 (unpaid!) staff.

It should come as no surprise to our listeners that YWAM is super problematic.. We get into all the cultiest aspects of this organization - from their Discipleship Training School to the forced trauma bonding that they call “Plumbline”. YWAM’s entire model is recruiting young people - before their prefrontal cortexes are fully formed - and they make it VERY hard to leave. If you do manage to escape the cult of YWAM, chances are you’ll be left with zero real-life skills with a side of religious trauma.



We’ll be back in a few weeks with a part 2 where we hear from friends and listeners about their about their firsthand encounters with YWAM. (Spoiler alert: the reviews aren't exactly glowing.)



Links

-Check out DL and Krispin Mayfield’s brand new project, Strong Willed (all about recovering from religious authoritarian parenting) - https://strongwilled.substack.com/

-DL Mayfield on Instagram - @d_l_mayfield

-Tiktok - @dlmayfield

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/holy-ghosting/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In our latest episode we jump into the turbulent waters of gendered messages and purity culture with a critical eye on the Christian advice book, 'For Young Women Only'—or as we like to call it, “How to NOT Cause a Guy to Stumble.” Published in the early 2000s, this book perpetuates harmful beliefs about gender, sexuality, and the role of women in the church, echoing through youth groups and beyond.
We dissect the enforced performance of masculinity, the unjust objectification of women's bodies, and the dangerous overlap of rape and purity cultures that unjustly places blame on women. Our discussion goes deeper, challenging the control exerted over thoughts and visuals, the male gaze, and the relentless standards set by modesty teachings and visual temptations, all underscored by eyebrow-raising survey results from teenage boys.
This episode is an unflinching conversation about the impacts of sexual assault and harassment, underscoring the urgent need for autonomy, consent education, and a seismic shift in attitudes toward women's bodies and choices.
Get ready, Ghosties, to break free from the shackles of high-control religion. It's time to unravel the mess, advocate for bodily autonomy, and maybe, just maybe, start healing.



Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/holy-ghosting/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

What happens when a homeschooled horse girl feels “god put Africa on her heart?” Well. It could be a lot of things. In fact, your own fave Ghostie Hostie, Lindsay, was exactly this kind of girlie. And yet! Just as two paths diverge in a yellow wood, so do our choices take us to different places. Lindsay, for one, went on a medical mission to Uganda, wore scrubs, and - shockingly - didn’t perform a single medical intervention that would require training, certification, or licensure.

For Renee Bach, the white missionary who is the subject of Savior Complex an HBO Original Documentary Series, she chose a path (hopefully) less taken and went full speed ahead providing services that were way beyond her training and competency - with dire results.

Join your thrilling throuple, Lindsay, Meg, and Sarai, as they discuss the second half of the Max docuseries, Savior Complex.

Listen to Part One of our Recap Here https://open.spotify.com/episode/70ycXZYsU72AtCR4Lv6q8t?si=3724aa0d27c542f6

They get down and dirty into the accusations surrounding Renee as No White Saviors picks up momentum online, talk a whole load of shit about Renee’s doting mother, Laurie Bach, and wrestle with the centering of white voices and behaviors that are rife within this story (including ours!)

While it’s useful, at times, to wrap our minds around something by defaulting to narratives with good guys and bad guys (or…good homeschool horse girls vs bad ones?), real life is much more complicated than all that. What we end up with is a very gray story with a lot of problematic white women centering themselves in it. Which you can hear more of while your ghostie hosts do a little of that too, hopefully in a helpful way.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/holy-ghosting/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy