Hey, my guest today, Jen Hatmaker.
She grew up in the church surrounded by family and community, eventually rising up to become a central figure.
But over the years, she became increasingly uncomfortable with not so much the core tenets or teachings, but rather the trappings and limitations of the institution.
And she struggled with what she saw as a a stifling of power and expression and contribution and inclusion in the context of women and the exclusion of LGBTQ community and genderfluid or non conforming people and more.
And she did something she knew would leave her labeled a pariah and an outcast by many.
Still, it was the thing she couldnt not do.
She left the church, and Jen had no idea what was next or even if faith or any approach to organized religion would play a role in her life, let alone her vocation, from that moment forward.
But over time, she came back to those same core tenets that just never let go, but in a way that felt more expansive and equitable and inclusive and built a new community that welcomed all.
She has since written numerous books, including New York Times bestsellers for the Love and of Mess and Moxie.
She hosts the for the Love podcast speaks and created the Jen Hatmaker Book Club, where, in her words, she nerds out every month with thousands of women who believe good books are everything and stories still matter.
And she leads an online community of millions of women.
And her latest book, simple and Free, is this fascinating take on excess, bundled with a series of experiments that really invite us to explore what happens when we strip down the key parts of life to their essentials.
So excited to share this conversation with you.
I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is good life project.
I know.
I want to take a little bit of a step back in time and kind of work our way back to the present Texas person in your blood and also really grew up in the church, but in a very different way than you have come to know the practice, the community now in a very much more conservative, evangelical approach, where it sounds like it wasn't really a choice for you, this was just the life that you knew from the earliest days.
Yeah, I think my story, you could swap out a handful of the details, and it's fairly common that a lot of us were raised in a certain spiritual construct, whatever that is.
You can fill in the blank.
For me, it was pretty traditional, conservative, southern baptist culture.
That was really all I ever knew growing up.