Show Notes
In this “At the Bus Stop” episode, Dr. Jared Stacy, a theologian and ethicist, joins Johnna and Jay to unpack the link between conspiracy theories, Christian nationalism, and the culture of abuse within white evangelical spaces. Drawing from his personal experience and academic research, Jared explores how storytelling shapes power, how conspiracy theories thrive in religious communities, and why many churches prioritize maintaining societal structures over faithful witness. The conversation ...
More from Bodies Behind The Bus
In this episode, we continue our Youth With A Mission (YWAM) series with Amanda. At 18, a back injury ended her basketball dreams, so she joined a YWAM program hoping to grow her faith. Instead, she found strict rules, constant control, and a culture that pushed her to doubt herself. Amanda shares what her training looked like day to day, and then walks us through NICO, a five-day wilderness program in Costa Rica that left her and others deeply harmed. This is a hard story, but it is also one...
Sarah's story continues. She returns to a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base in the States, where a car accident leaves her hurt and exhausted. Instead of rest, she faces pressure to keep working and leading. In this episode, she describes a base culture built on strict molds, spiritual bypassing, and misogyny. When women disclose sexual assaults to her, leaders defend the men and dismiss the victims. Sarah then walks through her own relationship with Junior, which turned controlling and violen...
Sarah joined Youth With A Mission (YWAM) at 22 and did her training school in Samoa. In this episode, she shares what happened on outreach in the Solomon Islands, where a fellow student assaulted her. When she told leaders, they blamed her, called it her sin, and separated her from the team while her abuser stayed. Sarah walks through the harm that followed and the few people who finally believed her. This is part one of two. Support the show
Jamie joins Youth With A Mission (YWAM) at 17 and stays 25 years, from 1994 to 2020. Jamie describes how YWAM's Founders Circle holds authority without accountability. After the Pulse nightclub shooting, Jamie, speaks out publicly as an affirming Christian. He recounts two years of meetings with international leaders and a talk in which founder Loren Cunningham tells of praying judgment on a man who died the next day. Jamie shares why he and his wife walk away, what they lose, and the communi...
Skyla shares her story of serving on a team called End Bible Poverty Now at Youth With A Mission's (YWAM) Kona campus in Hawaii, where she pushed leadership to support outreach to deaf communities. When she raised the issue, she was accused of being rude for crying and told she needed more discipleship. Skyla describes being tested, gaslit, and slowly pushed off her team, all while a separate clergy sexual abuse case was being quietly managed on campus. After she was let go, campus security p...