Mormon Stories Podcast

In these episodes of Mormon Stories, we interview former LDS Stake President and LDS Chief Architect Laurie Lee Hall. Laurie Lee’s story is fascinating on many levels: Laurie Lee worked for 20 years as Chief Architect for the LDS Church and as Director of Design and/or Construction for around 40 LDS temples. She served as Stake President of the Tooele Utah Valley View Stake in Tooele, Utah for 8 years. While she remembers identifying internally as a woman from a very young age, she began to experience intense pressure to transition to female while serving as an LDS Stake President. This ultimately led to her being released as stake president after 8 years of service. About two months ago Laurie Lee was excommunicated stemming from her decision to transition gender presentation while living in her home ward/stake. Laurie Lee and her spouse have been married 32 years this month and are the parents of five children and 11 grandchildren. Laurie Lee remains a believer in many of the core tenets of Mormonism (e.g., Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the atonement), and reads the Book of Mormon daily.

In this episode recorded for use on Bart Campolo's "Humanize Me" podcast, John and Bart interview each other on their experience at building communities post religion

In these episodes of Mormon Stories, John and Margi interview Carol Lynn Pearson, Jana Riess, and Jana Johnson Spangler to explore their experiences as they navigate progressive Mormonism. We cover important topics such as: *Each panelist’s experience when their faith became more complex and whether they would self-describe as a Mormon *What made them choose to remain engaged in the Church *What the most valuable aspects of the faith are to each of them, and how they inform and impact their life *Their social experience in their wards and whether they feel alone or among many others who are navigating a middle-way *How they approach Sundays and whether they have supplemented their Sunday experience with anything that would be helpful to share with our audience *Whether they observe a decline in the health and vitality of the Church

In these episodes of Mormon Stories, John and Margi interview Carol Lynn Pearson, Jana Riess, and Jana Johnson Spangler to explore their experiences as they navigate progressive Mormonism. We cover important topics such as: *Each panelist’s experience when their faith became more complex and whether they would self-describe as a Mormon *What made them choose to remain engaged in the Church *What the most valuable aspects of the faith are to each of them, and how they inform and impact their life *Their social experience in their wards and whether they feel alone or among many others who are navigating a middle-way *How they approach Sundays and whether they have supplemented their Sunday experience with anything that would be helpful to share with our audience *Whether they observe a decline in the health and vitality of the Church

In these episodes of Mormon Stories, John and Margi interview 3 of the hard-working moderators of the “A Thoughtful Faith” Facebook group.  The group comprises LDS members who are working to stay engaged in constructive ways within Mormonism and offers a safe space to ask faith-challenging questions. Mark Crego, Jeralee Renshaw, and Dan Wotherspoon answer questions about the purpose of the group, but also embark on a very interesting conversation about how they each are able to remain happily involved in the Church despite being aware of the faith-challenging aspects of the Mormon faith.

In these episodes of Mormon Stories, John and Margi interview 3 of the hard-working moderators of the “A Thoughtful Faith” Facebook group.  The group comprises LDS members who are working to stay engaged in constructive ways within Mormonism and offers a safe space to ask faith-challenging questions. Mark Crego, Jeralee Renshaw, and Dan Wotherspoon answer questions about the purpose of the group, but also embark on a very interesting conversation about how they each are able to remain happily involved in the Church despite being aware of the faith-challenging aspects of the Mormon faith.

In this series on Mormon Stories, we interview the fabulous Natasha Helfer Parker, MFT, CST — moderator of the Mormon Mental Health podcast — to finally hear her “Mormon story.” This interview covers: *Being raised in the Church with convert parents in Spain and her eventual move to the US *Natasha and her family’s concerns about the practice of polygamy and frustration that their questions never seemed to be answered, yet remaining true-believers *The impact of being a victim of sexual abuse as a child and teenager and how it influenced her experiences exploring her sexuality as a teenager and young adult *Her removal from BYU because of her sexual experiences and her thoughts now about the unintended consequences of honor code enforcement *How she met her husband and disclosed her sexual past in an act of transparency, and how it affected the first years of their marriage *Her thoughts now about the difference between behavior and self-worth within the Church, especially as it relates to sexual behavior *Her decision to become a sex therapist and how her move to the Midwest became an impetus to develop a wider online presence *How being a believer in the faith, but having a nuanced view of sexuality led her to being widely known as the “Mormon Sex Therapist” *How cracks developed in her Orthodox faith foundation *Her feeling of being in a continuing faith transition for much of the 20+ years of her practice http://www.mormonmentalhealth.org https://www.symmetrysols.com

In this series on Mormon Stories, we interview the fabulous Natasha Helfer Parker, MFT, CST — moderator of the Mormon Mental Health podcast — to finally hear her “Mormon story.” This interview covers: *Being raised in the Church with convert parents in Spain and her eventual move to the US *Natasha and her family’s concerns about the practice of polygamy and frustration that their questions never seemed to be answered, yet remaining true-believers *The impact of being a victim of sexual abuse as a child and teenager and how it influenced her experiences exploring her sexuality as a teenager and young adult *Her removal from BYU because of her sexual experiences and her thoughts now about the unintended consequences of honor code enforcement *How she met her husband and disclosed her sexual past in an act of transparency, and how it affected the first years of their marriage *Her thoughts now about the difference between behavior and self-worth within the Church, especially as it relates to sexual behavior *Her decision to become a sex therapist and how her move to the Midwest became an impetus to develop a wider online presence *How being a believer in the faith, but having a nuanced view of sexuality led her to being widely known as the “Mormon Sex Therapist” *How cracks developed in her Orthodox faith foundation *Her feeling of being in a continuing faith transition for much of the 20+ years of her practice http://www.mormonmentalhealth.org https://www.symmetrysols.com

In this series on Mormon Stories, we interview the fabulous Natasha Helfer Parker, MFT, CST — moderator of the Mormon Mental Health podcast — to finally hear her “Mormon story.” This interview covers: *Being raised in the Church with convert parents in Spain and her eventual move to the US *Natasha and her family’s concerns about the practice of polygamy and frustration that their questions never seemed to be answered, yet remaining true-believers *The impact of being a victim of sexual abuse as a child and teenager and how it influenced her experiences exploring her sexuality as a teenager and young adult *Her removal from BYU because of her sexual experiences and her thoughts now about the unintended consequences of honor code enforcement *How she met her husband and disclosed her sexual past in an act of transparency, and how it affected the first years of their marriage *Her thoughts now about the difference between behavior and self-worth within the Church, especially as it relates to sexual behavior *Her decision to become a sex therapist and how her move to the Midwest became an impetus to develop a wider online presence *How being a believer in the faith, but having a nuanced view of sexuality led her to being widely known as the “Mormon Sex Therapist” *How cracks developed in her Orthodox faith foundation *Her feeling of being in a continuing faith transition for much of the 20+ years of her practice http://www.mormonmentalhealth.org https://www.symmetrysols.com

In this episode, we interview Brynne Thomas Gant -- the author of "They Can Leave the Church, But They Can't Leave the Church Alone"