Religion ChristianAF Review

Religion: Christian AF Review

SPEAKERS
Timothy, Jen, Jessie

Timothy  00:01
You're listening to find a podcast about. Hey, thank you for hitting play on your podcast app. I'm your host, Timothy Kimo, Brian. And I bring my experience with podcasting since 2006, as a listener, and a podcaster. I'm here to help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge worthy podcast. Here's how the show works. I comb through millions of podcasts currently available for free on various platforms. And then I come back to you with what I've found. Sure, you can use search engines for recommendations from many podcast apps. But I feel that getting a personal recommendation from a real live breathing person is still the best way to find the gems that are out there. The show is broken up into three halves. Yeah, I'm a huge fan of Car Talk. So bear with me. The first half is the status of the show being reviewed, gives you all the details about where to find the show how many episodes who's hosting the show, basically, that part is just for those that want the stats. The second half of the show, I dig deeper into the show, and letting you know how well hosts interact, talk about their audio quality a bit, and then I'll let you know what I think the show is about. Now the last half of the show is where I talk about why the show is binge worthy. You know where to start your journey with the show being reviewed. And I'll be reaching out to the host to see if they'd like to discuss their show and talk about their podcast journey. So let's get going. In this episode, I'll be reviewing a podcast that I found based in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois. It's called Christian AF. The genre of this podcast is in the religion, spirituality, Christian area. You can find them at Christian af podcast.com. And their email address is Christian af podcast@gmail.com. They are on Facebook and Instagram at Christian AF Podcast and Twitter at Christian AF pod. Now your hosts for this podcast are Evan Savage, Jen Gorman and Jessie Fox. And at the time I recorded this episode. They have 41 episodes, averaging about an hour each. And they put them out bi weekly. And they've been putting them out since April the first of 2020. According to listen notes, they are ranked in the top 10% of their category. So that's fantastic. There is a way to support the podcast through PayPal, links will be provided in the show notes for you so that way, if that's something you'd like to do, go right for it. According to their Apple podcast description, they describe their podcast as and I quote, a pastor, a musician and a photographer walk into a bar and left with a podcast. Christian AF was born after a few long conversations over good beers. We realized that life and faith aren't as simple as we grew up believing. We started wondering why asking questions was frowned upon, or why we had to accept what we've always been told as the truth. Maybe some things aren't as black and white as we'd like to think. So we set out to create a space to have an honest dialogue that welcomes questions, doubts and fears about faith, church culture, and everything in between. The three of us behind the mics are no experts. But our goal is to help listeners start asking questions or maybe even find some answers. Christian AF is a podcast for people that are over church, have been burned by the church don't get church or have been told not to question their faith. So as we like to say kick back, grab a drink, and start questioning. Also let you know too. There are some swear words sprinkled in throughout their episodes. But this is not a show that drops the F bomb every other word. Just fair warning on that part of it. I don't think it detracts from the show. It actually helps with the show are you happy with your podcast app? I know hard question to answer. But let me ask you this. Does your app allow you to rate the podcast that you're listening to, great if it does, but does it allow you to rate every episode you listen to? Does it allow you to join a community of other listeners, and share and comment on your favorite podcasts? If you're a podcaster, does the app that your listeners are using give you a tip jar where they can support your show directly, instead of paying fees to somebody else? Well, good pods allows you as a listener, and as a podcaster. to rate and review all the episodes of a podcast, as well as joining a community of other podcast enthusiasts to discuss that thing that we all love podcasts, give it a shot, you may not want to go back to your old app, and you might find a community that is engaged and excited about the same things you are grabbing on Google Play or the Apple Store today. Okay, let's get down to the nitty gritty. This podcast is based in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois. And when I was looking for the first podcast review, I looked for a podcast based in my own town. And this one caught my eye naturally from the title, they were doing something right off in the naming of the podcast because it grabbed me immediately I had to listen to this, a typical episode starts off with one of the hosts letting us know what the topic of the show is going to be about. And they do have catchy episode titles like did Mary smash and God behaving badly. After they tell us what the title is, then there's some theme music and the host start talking about what they're drinking. Or if they have a grape. They do that for about seven to 10 minutes. And that's where they're getting warmed up to actually discuss the topic. Now I do prefer getting right to the top again, yes, my bar podcast app of choice, I can fast forward in 32nd, increments, and pass over all that stuff. I do think however, initially, it really it kind of turned me off. But when I was thinking about it, you know, this gives the show a little less formal feel, and makes me think that these people would be great to have a drink with and talk about Christianity. If you don't mind that type of interaction for about seven to 10 minutes, go for it. Otherwise, I'd say just go ahead and skip it for about five to seven minutes. In most episodes, they're going to warm up and get right to the discussion at hand. Now as for sound quality goes. Like I said, there's three hosts. And guess what they're all really well, Mike and they know how to use their mics to be heard. There's an occasional cross talk a few times that does get a little bit of annoying. But that's kind of the appeal to the show. You know, it's a very informal conversation. One thing that I would like to see more of is, you know, a way to welcome newcomers to the show, they do give their first names, but unless you go to the website and find out who these people are, you're not going to know that one of them is actually a pastor of the church that they all attend. Now, here's where I can see that there's an argument for not introducing yourself as a pastor, some people may instantly get turned off. And, you know, they don't want to have church while they're listening to their podcasts or they don't want to have somebody preaching to them. Also, it keeps the informality of the show. So I can see why they don't, you know, start off by saying Hi, my name is Pastor even. That being said, if I didn't know he was a pastor, I might not think that what he has to say, is serious. Rather, I think, oh, there's just another drinker who has an opinion on religion. So it's kind of a catch 22 thing here. Do you introduce yourself as a pastor or not? I can see both sides of the argument. It is their podcast, I let them decide. But I can see you know, if you want to keep that informality if you want to keep an honest discussion going on. Then you don't introduce yourself as a pastor because some people are going to get turned off by that. Now once the conversation gets rolling, all three hosts do stay on topic pretty well and stick to the point. You know there's occasional segues to nowhere inside jokes that we the listener and somebody who doesn't attend their church wouldn't get. But these are few and far between. In the first half of the show. I told you about their description in Apple podcast. Now here's what I think about it. This is a conversation for millennials and Gen Xers, who are disillusioned with what the church has become, and they're trying to explore, and question things that happen in the church. Now, it's a very honest look. And something that is clearly needed in today's world. When many times we're told not to question but simply trust what somebody says, if and when I head back to my hometown, I would definitely look these folks up and possibly attend to service at the church just to meet them. When you listen to the show, you do get to know these people pretty well, although I haven't met them in person, I already do like them and what their message is. Now, if you don't share the views of the American Christian church, and its many denominations, I still think you would get something out of the show. You know, if you have a different belief system or a religion, and I never felt preached that by the hosts, they're proud of their beliefs. And they're more than willing to question those beliefs. You know, in the church in whatnot, which for me, is a sign of strength and commitment to their cause. It does help if you have a familiarity with basic tenants of Christianity, when listening to the show. Now the production value of the show is excellent. They do have the same format for each show. And each show follows a theme, which is an honest conversation about the topic that they have chosen. Now, if you're looking for a show, that's not your typical church service, this is definitely the show for you. If you've liked what you've heard so far, then I'd like to ask you to reach out you can email me directly Timothy, at Find a podcast about XYZ or you can leave a voicemail at the website, find a podcast about that XYZ, I want to help you find your next binge worthy podcast. And if you want me to find a podcast in any category that you're interested in, let me know if you're a podcaster and feel that your podcast would be served by appearing on the show. I want to talk with you to use the same methods to reach out. I'm on Twitter at Find a pod about Instagram and Facebook at Find a podcast about another thing I'd like to ask is if you find value in this podcast, pass it along to a friend. Lastly, doing this podcast is a labor of love, but loving cheap. So consider donating to my buy me a coffee find right on the website, or go to buy me a coffee calm slash find a podcast about each episode usually takes about five to seven hours of research. And then about two to three hours of production time. That's about seven, that's about 10 hours per episode. That is a lot of coffee. Like I said earlier, the best recommendations come from a real person. Let's outsmart the algorithm together. And while I'm on the topic about supporting the show, our first supporter ever, you're Campbell from the poetic earthlings podcast, you can find him at poetic earthlings.com has become our first sponsor for our show. So a big shout out to York Campbell, check out his podcast, it might even be reviewed on this show. Thank you so much York. And now, here's where I turned you from a listener to this show to a listener of Christian AF. The topics they talk about in this podcast really hit home with me as a former Christian. I really liked their honest discussions and the way they go about tackling their topics. Most people say don't discuss politics or religion. But the host here have thrown caution to the wind and get down and dirty with their faith and beliefs and really get at the heart of what they believe. Is it a perfect show? Now, there is no perfect show out there. But these folks really make an effort to put out their ideas in a way that people can understand and relate with. I say the best show to start your journey with for Christian AF is episode 30 where they have a guest on and that guest is a pastor that has been fired. This episode really locked in the show for me and the host seem to have really caught their stride by episode 30. Throughout the whole episode, I was cheering on the guest and really really cared about what happened to him and I couldn't turn off the show. So start with episode 30. And then look through their catalog and see if there's a topic that grabs your eye, dive right into it. If it does, be prepared to fast forward, about five to seven minutes to get through the small talk. But even then, some of that small talk is pretty funny. And it'll put you in a good mood. These are real people discussing what they love and believe. And you can feel it through your speakers. Give Christian AF a chance. And you can thank me later folks today, I have with me here, Jen and Jesse of Christian AF Podcast. They've decided to take some time out of their busy schedule to talk to you specifically about their podcast. Jen, Jessie, how are you this fine, fine day? 

Jessie  16:00
We're doing good. 

Jen  16:01
Great. 

Jessie  16:01
Yeah, Jen's getting over a cold. She's so she hacks into the microphone. 

Jen  16:06
I'm not going to hack

Jessie  16:08
 We'll edit that. I say that we it's not you'll edit that.

Timothy  16:12
Well, I might hire you guys on to do this podcast.

Jen  16:18
Jessie  he does all the editing so I can. 

Jessie  16:20
You can tell when I get lazy because those are the ones we'll keep Evans burps.

Timothy  16:26
Excellent. Well, I'll make sure you get half of my salary to go ahead and edit. 

Jessie  16:31
That works. Perfect. 

Jen  16:32
Perfect.

Timothy  16:34
 So I want to ask you guys, how did you get into podcasting? You know, you podcasting has obviously been around since 2004. But how do you guys get into this? 

Jessie  16:46
I would say we're we, we came fairly late to the game. We were always podcast listeners, and Evan, who joins us on the podcast as well. He's one of our the third voice on there. He's not here today. But he and I had been chatting a little bit about the idea of making a podcast having to do with church stuff. And we're like, Well, how do we make it a little bit, you know, catching you know, because there's so many random churches that do podcasts that are a little, a little boring sometimes. But um, I think we we were talking about it for a while, and it just never really came to fruition until COVID hit. And this is probably the answer for so many podcasts out there. And now, we're like, Well, what do we do? Let's just start this podcast we've been talking about for a while. So basically, I think was it April, March, April, somewhere in there was our first episode. And, you know, like most people, we just been feeling it out as we go figure out the technology buy stuff as we need it. But I think for the most part, I think our big thing was making sure quality was was up there and too many too many podcasts out there with terrible sound all that 

Jen  17:56
W hen you listen to a lot of podcasts, you know that you and then you think you're going to start one it's like, okay, I need the audio to be halfway decent, 

Jessie  18:04
 what do I hate about other podcasts

Jen  18:05
That stops you from listening to people regularly, so just wanted to make sure we were doing it well, but also something that was approachable and something that we didn't feel like there was a ton of as far as like, people actually questioning their faith in a way  that is more conversational. Instead of like being told how to feel or like what all the answers are. So that's kind of where it came from. Yeah. Yeah. 

Timothy  18:32
Excellent. Yeah. rolling into that, you know, with your podcast because it is different because yeah, like we were we were talking earlier before we hit the record button I found you guys by putting in you know my hometown in Rockford Illinois in the search bar. And I saw a lot of church podcasts and yours you know, the title itself will grab you grab me but you know with a lot of the I saw  a lot of other church podcasts like what you're talking about that had horrible sound and, and they were, you know, telling you how you should live your life and in you know, spoon feeding it to your force feeding it to you. What do you feel your podcast is about? In your own words? 

Jessie  19:20
Yeah, so touching on the the name, we kind of wanted to go about it. Like Jen said earlier, being conversational, very relaxed feeling and the best way to do that is just do this with friends and have no filters on it. Right. So Christian AF Podcast, we want it to be a little shocking. 

Jen  19:37
A little tongue and cheek, for sure. 

Jessie  19:39
We are not clean cut. We swear we drink. We do all this stuff on the podcast and that's how we are in real life. So you know why why mask it I think there's too much of that in churches it is anyway butfor us, I think we're all kind of in that weird 30 Something deconstruction of our faith kind of a moment And it's kind of a fun topic to just sit down with people and tear into some questions that we've always kind of wondered or never even thought to question about Christianity, or what we've always been told. In doing that kind of live in on a mic in, in probably, sometimes putting out things we shouldn't put.

Jen  20:22
I always save that, and I'm like, it's never that bad, it's fine. 

Jessie  20:25
There's a few. 

Jen  20:26
I think of like, a, you know, you're, you're in your friend's kitchen, everybody's got a drink in their head. And that's when you have like, the best conversations, or you're out at the bar, and you're all having a drink, you know, like, just the the honesty that people can have. And that's really what we want. It was like an honest dialogue about faith, in particular, because it's, so often people aren't given an opportunity to do that, like, we're kind of told how to what we should believe how we should be acting, how to be a good Christian, how to be a good air quotes there, but this is not a video. But uh, but so like, we're kind of constantly told all those things that we're not really allowed to ask questions with it. It's just us. But I grew up Catholic. So that was especially true for me. Like you were in a pretty conservative household, that was true for you as well. And so our whole goal was to just open people's minds up to asking questions that they've ever felt like they really could. Because like, ultimately, faith in believing in something is sometimes really weird, right? Like, it can be really easy to doubt it. And I think that can be healthy. And that's what we're trying to talk about, 

Jessie  21:37
 I think the hard part to we've noticed, I mean, you can't be blind to the fact that so many people start going through heavy doubts, especially in our age group and other things and start leaving the church just because there's a misunderstanding or misrepresentation of the faith. And I think a lot of that stuff is is worth pointing out for sure. I think it's just trying to realize maybe that's not a reason to leave the church, maybe that's another reason to push and harder to say, like, Hey, these are problems that we need to deal with their systemic problems that we've grown up learning. Like, to me, Christianity has become kind of a big game of telephone, where people are just, you know, you start with one message, right? It's a good message, and then you pass it on to another person, another person, another person. And eventually that message gets weird and broken down and misrepresented. And eventually you have this kind of faith in and religion that you're trying to talk to somebody about, that you don't really understand yourself. And then they question you, and then it all crumbles give you like a while I don't really I hadn't thought about that, you know, maybe maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. And I think there's too much of that going on nowadays, where there's been such a mass exodus from the church, that there. I think people leave for the wrong reasons. And I think that's one thing that made me want to kind of pour into these questions and say, like, hey, you know, let's talk about these things. Do they matter in Christianity doesn't matter in the Christian faith? Yeah, we can argue about it all day long. That's what is fun, I guess. But, you know, people pour too hard into some things. And but yeah, I mean, for me, like Jen said, we, we kind of started this doing what we called doubt nights at our church where we go to a bar. And they've turned into theology pubs now as what we call them, and then bring up one one random question, that is just like a usually like, a very taboo topic, you know, sexuality or things like that. And it's open forum, we're here, let's talk about this. Why do we believe this? And then we kind of as a group, say, Well, I grew up this way and thinking this and that and is it wrong? Is it that and then exploring the faith together over beers and usually that helps break down some walls and and you know, defenses about some things. And to me, those were the most honest conversations about Christianity I ever had, you know, it was always at a bar or with a probably one drink too many. And it's kind of our idea to recreate that a little bit in the podcast, which can get insane and crazy sometimes when we talk over each other, like are arguing fools appoints but uh, but you know, it's it's kind of a friends group, where we just sit there and talk honestly, with each other and the guests that we have on, 

Timothy  24:23
I and I and I like, one of the things I really liked about it is the conversational tone with it. And if you have somebody you know, talking over, that happens in a bar, I mean, you know, it's been probably two years since most of us have been out to a bar. But folks, it Yeah, it really does.So, yeah, talking about the audience that you have their who is your target audience, so yeah, I mean, if you had a avatar and I'm not talking about the 2000 film Avatar, or this anime avatar, who is your target? Audience who are you trying to reach with your message? Because I can tell you from my experience, I used to attend church, I used to attend church a god. And we did that for a while. And then I questioned my beliefs and all that. And now I consider myself a, a backslidden Taoist, which is kind of like Buddhist light. But, you know, when I'm listening to your show, I do feel engaged. I don't know if I'm your target audience. But I know from somebody that is kind of, I don't wanna say outside of the faith. But I, you know, I don't ascribe to everything that you guys subscribe to that audience that you have. They're who you're trying to, who are you trying to reach? Yeah. And maybe it is me? I don't know. 

Jen  25:56
Yeah, I don't think that we I don't think we set out to say like, okay, we're trying to reach all of the 20 to 40 somethings that are questioning their faith, I think we just want people to know that. I am so stuffy, like, the words that there there are people who, especially Christians who get a really bad rap a lot of the time, and I think what I hope is that people listen to us who maybe think poorly of Christians, but they could get a better viewpoint, or they can, or they're people who grew up with the church and got really hurt. And they can hear people say like, that's that, okay, here's like, here's what the church should look like, in an ideal world. I think just really, anybody who has any questions about Christianity, it could be really good for, we're not, we're not what we aren't good at, as we know, we can't be all things for everybody. And so I think we are just who we are. And if people are attracted to that, that's great. I don't think we have like a, we haven't made ourselves. 

Jessie  27:01
I think, like the real the closest thing to a demographic would be people probably that have left or been burned at some point by the church. And I think that's, unfortunately, a very wide audience. And I think, again, that's a big push for why we do this is because there's been such a burnout from a lot of people in churches is using abuse people and spit them out. And unfortunately, it happens in a lot of big churches, too. And a lot of things like that, where people just feel unseen unnoticed, and then leave because they tried to follow this thing that is called Christianity, and then it turns into a business and a use of people's time and energies and then an uncaring, and then then they disappear from it. And I think that's a huge audience for us to hit. I would say that, that would probably connect with a lot of what we're saying and saying, Yeah, I've definitely been through that. That was pretty shitty. And that was one once where, sorry, no. You know, that's what but that's what it is. Is that that kind of broken Christianity. And I think a lot of people that have experienced that would probably, at least, like a thing or two that we say, I would hope. But uh, that that Yeah, as far as the audience goes, that's probably our most direct, I would say. 

Timothy  28:21
Perfect. Perfect. Yeah. Well, I You got an audience member out here in Fredericksburg, Virginia. So you're doing something right. That's for sure. All right. This is going to be the toughest question I'm going to ask you today. It's probably the most controversial question. I'm going to ask you today. 

Jen  28:38
Oh, boy. 

Timothy  28:40
All right. What's your favorite and your least favorite beer or adult beverage? 

Jessie  28:47
There you go. 

Timothy  28:48
And you can you can you can you can use brand names for this as well. They're not sponsors of this show yet. Yeah. 

Jen  28:55
Okay. 

Jessie  28:56
If we say it right. Um, that is probably one of the most difficult questions we drink so many things. For me, I would say the almost always go to that I will never feel like not having his wine. I am a wino, I I drink most everything else anywhere from whiskies, whiskeys, bourbons, or big beers are slowing down because I'm getting older. My gut doesn't like it.

Jen  29:26
It's deadly bloat. 

Jessie  29:27
Yeah, instead I was like, ah, but I'd really do love beers. Um, but wine. Yeah, wine is my nice cabpesah roleplays or Napa Valley cab? That's That's my go to.

Jen  29:40
I drink like I'm 80 so either a Manhattan or an old fashion is my my happy place with a cocktail. A good beer. I like beer like dark beers and stuff. It just, if I'm going to choose a favorite is going to be an old fashioned or a Manhattan. Yeah. least favorite is gin 

Jessie  30:02
how's that word? 

Jen  30:03
Gin 

Jessie  30:04
Gin, there's an n on it I think.

Jen  30:08
Or Miller lite, 

Jessie  30:10
I can't drink most any like wheat style beers. I don't know why they just don't I look, I don't like them. Beyond that, I will avoid fireball I'm sorry fireball if you want to sponsor this but anything else? I lean heavy into what Jen drinks to bourbons and whiskeys. And that's yeah, we end up sharing most of the time. 

Jen  30:36
Yeah, if you listen to podcasts enough, we almost always have the same drink. 

Jessie  30:39
So yeah, Evan just gets beer from anywhere else. Yeah.

Timothy  30:44
Well, and that's why we have you guys on the show here today. Because you know, you guys are the, you know, are the attraction for the show, Evan, you know?

Jessie  30:55
That's right. That's right. Yeah, we make the show happen. It's really, yeah, we won't we won't show him this later. 

Timothy  31:02
No, no, this will never came out.

Jen  31:05
No, it's okay. You can leave that in there.

Jessie  31:09
We would say to his face, okay.

Timothy  31:12
With that question, we can all take a breath. And ah, that was the toughest question. 

Jessie  31:18
That was pretty rough. 

Timothy  31:19
That I know. I know. I know. And I'm a pinot noir guy, Bogle specifically that brand. I like that wine. I'm there with you on that. Can't do whiskey, I get to be really mean, we're just I can't do it.

Jen  31:35
That's how rum does that to him. 

Jessie  31:37
I either blackout or that. 

Jen  31:39
From like one drink i

Jessie  31:41
t's it got to a point I would drink spice from as many college kids do. And I like one drink, probably because I just mix mostly rum with a splash coke. But I feel ya that some stuff you gotta stay away from.

Timothy  31:57
So how is podcasting helped you get that message across? 

Jessie  32:02
I think, for me, I didn't, I don't know that we really had as much of a message. Initially, we just, you know, started this as a for fun. And it's kind of expanded a little bit. Now hearing people write to us and say stuff, I was like, Oh, hey, that episode really hit home for me like, and realizing there's it's not just us feeling these things. It's it's, it's nice, sad, but it's nice to know that there's other people out there that have gone through these experiences and, and are deconstructing with us a little bit. And I think doing the podcast, like kind of what we talked about earlier is seeing some of the places that are listening to us. It's just so bizarre to me. And in somebody in you know, in a different country even Are we even that relatable. But our message is still, I guess getting out there and people are listening to it, which is exciting. Yeah, you never really know what to do or with this when you start and you never know what it's going to turn into. You never know what the guests are going to be what people want to hear. Yeah, but I think it's just kind of been encouraging. The more we do this, to see the expanse of it, and in in the feedback from people listening, I think that's awesome. Yeah.

Jen  33:18
 And I think we've taken it, we take it for granted, because we kind of created a culture within our church and our community here that like, what you hear on the podcast is pretty true to our lifes regularly, like, well, we have our theology part of it, we, when our friends and us get together, like these are conversations we have in our normal life. And so I think if we could just use this podcast as a way to encourage people to do that with people around them. Yeah, that's how big I I think we thought of when we started this but the more we do it and the more we get like it email from Chad and where is he from? Our fan club guy, there's a guy from like Minnesota or something. And for just like if he can now have conversations like what he's listening to with his friends and family. I think that's that that reach of this is really what it's about for me. Yeah, we can hang out with Chad all we want. But if people if we can't encourage people to continue asking questions and asking questions with people around them, that I don't think it's worth us doing. 

Jessie  34:20
Yeah. And I think eventually, the more that happens, the more the the more we can help fix the Christian faith 

Jen  34:27
We are never gonna fix it. 

Jessie  34:29
It's never gonna fix there's a lot of problems but you know, I think there's a healthy push to say like, we we all can do that even in small parts of conversations, you know, over beers. And I think coming at it from the right way can can change people's lives really well. And to see again, see that happening slowly, just because we started a podcast has been kind of exciting to me, and it's that's one of those things I didn't expect to see. 

Timothy  34:55
And I think with with you guys kind of By normalizing the you can have these kinds of conversations over a beer. In a theology pub, I like that. You need to trademark that. Okay? Yeah, someone's gonna steal a lot of money. So now it's copyrighted officially copyrighted for you guys. So, you know, run with that T shirts. I'm thinking, there you go. But I'm gonna take 10% That's all I'm kidding. 

Jen  35:30
Okay, 

Jessie  35:31
that's, fair  yeah, we'll cut you a check. 

Jen  35:32
We'll just you could just pay Jesse forty percent, we'll call it good

Timothy  35:37
Done, and done but  that's one of the things I really liked about your guys's show is that you're normalizing these conversations, you're showing a way that, that Christians, people that ascribe to the Christian faith are human beings. They're just like, you know, everybody else. And they have the same questions. They have the same issues going on in their lives. And, and they have a beer or a whiskey or what have you to to do this. I know, for me, that's not how I was raised. And I kind of wish that, you know, yeah, I had this podcast when I was, you know, early 20s. That would have been fantastic. So your guys's message is really getting across. So that is fantastic. Speaking about fixing the Christian church? Where do you guys see yourself in about three to five years, I know, this whole podcasting thing is new to you. Because well, you know, we had that wonderful pandemic. But, you know, looking out, you know, three, five years from now, where do you Where would you like to take this?

Jessie  36:44
Oh, that might be as hard as the beverage question. Um, no, I think we've been playing this. So day to day when we do this stuff is that I don't know how much we thought about that. But, uh, I wouldn't for us, I think the more we can. I think our strong points are when we have interviews with people and have people on to share their message and to share the the downfalls they've experienced and things like that, I think that can be something that I'd like to push more into and, and get bigger names on and start questioning some of the things that we've all grown to, to just accept, you know, and from, from people that have the ability to change that, you know, and I think, you know, we, we've had a handful of bigger names than I ever expected in the first few episodes that we've had, um, and some of them may not be recognizable to people. But some, you know, some of the names that we've had are actually kind of large names in the church sphere. And the more we can do that, I think, the better it is, to be able to, to make a change as a whole. 

Jen  37:54
I'd like to see us to interview people of different faiths of just having like those types of conversations, it'd be more like inclusive, so other cultures, other ethnicities, like, We're three white people, and that's fine. But like, I love to hear voices, you know, get other voices, like I can't speak to certain types of church because I've never experienced it. So I think for us like the right now, obviously, we just do this on the side, like in our spare time. We all have an office in the same building, so we just record when we can. But as this grows, it moves forward, I think we'd all like to be able to just share more voices. So like, we talked about having these conversations in your kitchen with your friends. That's what we want to do. But we want to bring in different voices as much as we can. Yeah. 

Timothy  38:43
Excellent. Excellent. So all right. My last question for you can all take a breath, easy question easy.

Jen  38:52
Well, I can't breathe.

Jessie  38:58
You'll hear something weird, as Jen takes a drink. 

Timothy  39:01
So challenges you've faced, while podcasting. You know, we talked about the technical challenge of, you know, hooking up a microphone hooking up a mixer, what have you. What's some of the challenges that that that that you face, that somebody a listener may not realize that, you know, it is a little bit of a, of a heavy lift to put together a podcast. 

Jessie  39:27
Yeah, for? For me, I probably deal with a lot of it more than the other two, just because I generally do the production side of things. And for me, I'm a perfectionistic person and drives me crazy when I can't get it just right. And doing online ones drives me insane. Like there's always there's always a technical issue on mine. Yeah. interviews online. With the sound, and in sound quality drives me bonkers, 

Jen  39:57
well, you can't really control what you're interview  is using 

Jessie  40:02
Yeah. 

Jen  40:02
So for example, we did one with a Shay Clayboarne, what early episode. And he's super cool too. Everything you said was amazing, but he's using like, the mic on his pluggin Apple headphones. Yeah, like, it's so it was okay. But we just couldn't ever quite get the audio where we wanted. However, everything that came out of his mouth was more than worth it. Yeah, like everything you said, I don't think I hardly spoke in that episode, because it was just like, he was so good. He's. 

Jessie  40:31
So between that and the, I guess, you know, setting up the episodes, I think that's the biggest part. Like, to be quite honest, we don't really have a lot of  pre-discussion to talk about, sometimes intentionally, because we want it to be very natural. Radio, radio, oh, my gosh. On the on the microphone. It's early still, I'm drinking coffee. Um, no, but we want it to be natural. You know, we don't want to regurgitate something we just already pre discussed about how we want the show to go. And sometimes it's like, this topic sounds like it's gonna be great. And then we get on the mic. And we're like, are you going? Anyone got anything to say? But okay, we're gonna pause this for a second and talk. You know, just trying to get things moving. It can be a little difficult as far as podcasting goes, especially when we always hang out with the three of us around each other all the time. So I'm always shocked when we still have lots of things to say. 

Jen  41:35
I think could like consistency is the hardest part, when you're doing this in a non monetized way. We're right, at least right now. Like, there's no income for us that we only spend money to make this podcast. And it's not it doesn't have to be a lot every month to put it out. But just for us to set aside the time, like we all have jobs we all have, they have family, boys have families and wives, and we just all have a lot going on. And so I think choosing to create something like this, I think people underestimate the time that it takes. And especially when we say like, we hold ourselves to two episodes a month, we just for the first time, technically missed a date a deadline for an episode because Jesse had been on tour. And we just couldn't, we literally did not have the space to record it. So I think for us, it's just making it a priority, even though like, their wives might not get that as priority because like, we're just spending time and money to do it. But we're all really passionate about it and believe like, we're putting something of value out there. And so I think that's the hardest part for us. Right? The biggest challenge right now is probably like, the commitment, the timing of things to be like prepared. There's also a fine line with podcasting. I think of like how far out you can record because you inevitably talk about current events, and especially us because we spent a few minutes, 

Timothy  42:55
you can say the word, we haven't hit our limit yet

Jen  43:02
 shooting the shit if you will, which some people like some people don't like, but it just kind of is part of what naturally happens. And so 

Jessie  43:10
And honestly, part of it's to warm up a little bit because like, sometimes you we we just we do this in our office and we step over from working into like that we have to be entertaining, entertaining Christian talk and like it. Some of that is a little bit of warm up. For our sake. And some people like it, some people can skip ahead. You know, that's, that's for us.

Timothy  43:36
Yeah,

Jessie  43:37
yes, nobody, you know, yeah, um, yeah. Yeah, 

Jen  43:41
I think that the the consistency like to put out a quality podcast twice a month. Doesn't probably seem like a lot to most people. And we don't even have to do a ton of research. And I feel like it takes a lot of our time. So I can't even imagine podcasts where they have,

Jessie  43:57
 I feel like we'd have to do a lot more research if Evan didn't have a lot of his brain. Was it calm? Because every time we talk about something I'm like, please say something please. No intellectual because I don't want to just be like usually know something. But you know, it's, this is why we balance each other out, though, you know?

Timothy  44:18
Well, Jen, Jessie, thank you so much for joining us here on find a podcast about you guys are an honor on in you guys. I'll bleep that out. In our inaugural episode, I'm probably not even going to say that when I edit this, it is so hard. Why do we do this to ourselves?So thank you guys so much for joining us here today. And is there one last thing that you'd like to let our audience know about Christian AF? Before we let you go today?

Jessie  44:51
 I would say just me, the way we sign off every week is the way we sign off every week is just we encourage you to Question your church your faith in your pastors and the people you you intake from. And don't just just don't just take it, you know? And that's, that's our big message is saying, keep asking questions, question your doubts and pour into those because doubting is not bad. It's okay. So that's that's perfect. Thank you both very much.

Timothy  45:24
You got it. 

Jessie  45:25
Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for having us. 

Jen  45:27
Thanks

Timothy  45:35
So that's the episode I want to thank you again for taking a listen. And if you want to outsmart the algorithm, and have me review a podcast, email me, Timothy at Find a podcast about XYZ or go to the website, find a podcast about that XYZ, where you can listen to the other episodes and leave me voicemail. I'm here to help you find your next binge worthy podcast. Thank you for listening to find a podcast about which is a production of GagglePod East studios. At gaggle pod. We've been helping creatives tell their story through podcasting since 2017. Look us up at gaggle pod.com and see all of the network shows and reach out to us so we can help you with telling your story to the world.