Nicole and Grant share how their years of suffering—through chronic illness, profound loss, parenting challenges, and the pressures of life and faith—have dismantled old beliefs that pain is punishment or a sign of weak faith. Instead, they describe suffering as a universal human experience that invites honesty, lament, companionship, and radical self-compassion. Drawing from their own stories and the Emmaus narrative, they emphasize that God is present with us in the wilderness rather than controlling or preventing it, and that rebuilding faith doesn’t erase grief but carries it differently. Their message highlights the sacredness of walking with others in pain, the importance of avoiding platitudes, and the courage required to show up with gentleness, curiosity, and humility in the ongoing work of living and healing.

Garet’s message focused on identity, belonging, and the sacred work of inclusion. Through humor, storytelling, and personal reflection, he shared his journey from the “gay ’90s” to today—contrasting how culture and the church have treated LGBTQ+ people and calling for a faith rooted in genuine love and belonging. He spoke of friendships that expanded his understanding of God’s love, the harm caused by exclusionary theology, and the beauty of affirming spaces—both in faith and community. Grounded in Jesus’ simple command to love one another, Garet urged practical steps toward allyship, advocacy, and participation in local inclusion efforts, reminding listeners that true belonging must not only be known but felt.

Jordan’s message, *“Beyond the Sinner’s Prayer,”* challenged the idea of faith as a one-time event or a checklist of religious duties. He questioned the formulaic version of salvation often tied to the “sinner’s prayer,” suggesting that true faith is not about pressure, coercion, or meeting a prescribed standard but about presence, relationship, and freedom. Drawing from Jesus’ example, he emphasized that evangelism should come through compassion and authenticity, not superiority or fear. Ultimately, Jordan invited listeners to live out their faith with humility—allowing love, empathy, and daily life to be the truest expression of the gospel.

Ryan continues Holy Unraveling by naming Christian nationalism as a pursuit of power that harms both Christianity and the American experiment. He argues it is long embedded in culture and politics, contrary to the founders’ rejection of a state church, and at odds with Jesus’ way of humility, presence, and love. He urges the church to speak truth to power, resist baptizing the state, and ask two questions: am I seeking power or presence, and do my politics look like Jesus.

Josiah continues “Holy Unraveling” by tracing how the printing press and the Reformation moved Scripture from elite control to everyday access, then reflects on his shift from rigid, literal, power-protecting uses of the Bible to a humbler, ecumenical approach. He affirms the Bible as divinely inspired and final in matters of faith and conduct, but warns that translation and interpretation can distort it—so all reading should be filtered through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Emphasizing “in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity,” he invites curiosity over certainty, offers questions for self-examination, and prays for gracious, life-giving engagement with Scripture.

In part two of the Holy Unraveling series, Ryan continued exploring the ways faith can be distorted and reclaimed, focusing this message on unraveling the prosperity gospel. Speaking from personal experience within that movement, he traced its American origins through figures like E.W. Kenyon, Oral Roberts, and Kenneth Hagin, and described how its “give to get” message has shaped much of modern evangelical culture. Ryan exposed how the prosperity gospel manipulates fear and promises certainty in exchange for faith, turning generosity into a transaction rather than an act of trust. In contrast, he emphasized that the gospel of Jesus invites us to live from abundance, not scarcity—to give freely out of love, community, and grace. The prosperity gospel is transactional, he concluded, but the gospel of Jesus is transformational, leading us toward a life marked by mercy, justice, and shared care.

Jayme opened the “Holy Unraveling” series by inviting the community to explore the grace of unlearning as an essential part of spiritual growth. She reflected on how many of us have inherited beliefs or practices that once seemed helpful but may have limited our understanding of God’s love. Using passages from Romans, Ephesians, and Corinthians, Jayme emphasized that spiritual maturity is not about collecting more knowledge or rules but about transformation, allowing God to renew our minds and hearts. She encouraged listeners to see doubt not as the opposite of faith but as a doorway to deeper trust, reminding them that real faith lives in tension and humility rather than certainty or control. Through this lens, Jayme framed unlearning as an ongoing, lifelong process of pruning what no longer reflects Jesus so that something truer and freer can grow in its place.