Anonymous wrote:I wish Jen could humble herself enough to rejoin a church and have true fellowship. Learn from other, wiser believers. Get knocked down and amazed by deep, expository Bible study. Get a true partner in life and reestablish those comforting rhythms of life, local life, not frenetic trips to NYC with your long-distance "boyfriend."

She won’t because she needs to be the main character. There are churches she could join that align with her beliefs but she won’t be “special.”

Anonymous wrote:"Lent became a balm in midlife while searching for solid food having been malnourished on contemporary western pop-church fare. I craved something ancient, sprinting as far as possible from quippy sermon series unanchored to the global church."

Ummm... so you started your very own church. If all of those things were so upsetting to you, then why didn't you create a church that met these new qualifications that you "craved"?

From a liturgical church here......Lent is a period of intense self reflection, and penance. Some self denial.

Honestly, her book "Seven" was far more in the spirit of Lent than the persona she is currently pursuing. Cruises, me-camps, trips to NYC, endless hair dyings, selling endless things, a boyfriend that does not cherish her but posts he wants to "eat her meat". Redoing parts of her home, that were already remodeled, (weird 1/2 bath, and bird wallpaper) and stating she is turning all of her kids' old bedrooms into "boutique hotel guestrooms". I used to be a fan, back when she was writing 7, and was opening questioning the International Adoption market, and trying to find better ways to support these kids - by keeping their families together. Even though I was not an Evangelical Christian, I appreciated her. She seemed to be sincere, and not "malnourished". I was more liberal than she was at that time, but appreciated what felt like her authenticity. I see issues (gay marriage from a Christian perspective, divorce, abortion, whether or not people go to hell, social justice, etc) as separate things with their own arguements and nuances, not a line you just tow in one fell swoop. Now she is far more liberal than I ever was, and I wonder if the whole on fire for Jesus was some sort of act? How could you go from "7" to shrilling, and glorifying all these trips, purchases, remodels, and make it look like some sort of spiritual progress????? For me, it's not any one thing that she does, it is all of it together. Like I don't want to judge anyone's harmless little luxury, but as a package? I do not understand at all. Certainly do not understand how she is drawn to Lent, of all things.

I wish Jen could humble herself enough to rejoin a church and have true fellowship. Learn from other, wiser believers. Get knocked down and amazed by deep, expository Bible study. Get a true partner in life and reestablish those comforting rhythms of life, local life, not frenetic trips to NYC with your long-distance "boyfriend."

I am thrilled for Jen. This first grandbaby is just the shot of hope she needs in her life.
But can we (and by we I mean Sarah Bessey) stop with the "we are pregnant!" comments? Good night, woman. Why are you unfailingly strange at every turn?

Anonymous wrote:What happened to the podcast sidekick, Amy?

Witchy Quiet Homeschool Amy is still there. She’s never seen in the promos because the camera must always be featuring Sis. (Or at least, that’s my guess.) And I doubt she’s allowed to talk to the guests.

But in the “witty banter” of the latest episode, Amy explains that her personal way of fighting the power during these horrible, tumultuous, constitutional crisis(!) times is to purchase a car sticker. It’s a picture of a bird that says “I poop on fascists.”

So brave.

What happened to the podcast sidekick, Amy?

She doesn’t give AF. She just wants the $$. And don’t think she’s really a good person.

I actually realized that at one of the Easter Cookouts for the homeless that ANC did down by the ARCH homeless on the empty vacant lot. This was probably the 2nd or 3rd one, maybe 2009 or 2010. May have the year wrong. Anyway, they’d adopted Ben and Remy now. There was a porta potty in a kind of nook area away from the rest of the crowd, and she was taking Remy (who must have been 6ish?). I was walking my child around and we ended up in the same general area. Jen didn’t really know I was there I guess. Anyway, as you can imagine, the porta potty was not pleasant and Remy was grossed out and a little upset by it. Jen was just almost cruel about it. She was mean in the way she spoke to Remy- like she was bothered that she had to deal with a whiny child at a stinky porta potty, at this cookout on a Sunday Afternoon with a bunch of people she really didn’t like. I get it. Kids can my exhausting, but her attitude was really off putting. It was probably the 1st time Remy had been somewhere like that and Jen is talking to her very sternly— something to the effect “Suck it up and go. You had to go to the bathroom. This is what you got.” To a 6 yo girl. No empahty or help whatsoever. She just stood beside it and barked at her. I found it disturbing and thought how sad. Like I said, Jen didn’t see me or realize anyone was in earshot.

She does church on the porch swing - wine and sarcasm for Jesus.

Yes.
I didn’t “deconstruct.” I looked at my faith and my church, and wanted to dive further in. Deep-dived the early church.

A few years of that, and I’m converting to Catholicism. (And it doesn’t make me look down on or lecture my evangelical friends and family.)

Anonymous wrote:"Lent became a balm in midlife while searching for solid food having been malnourished on contemporary western pop-church fare. I craved something ancient, sprinting as far as possible from quippy sermon series unanchored to the global church."

Ummm... so you started your very own church. If all of those things were so upsetting to you, then why didn't you create a church that met these new qualifications that you "craved"?

Eye roll to the heavens over that line. I don't think Jen even goes to church anymore. Not even the one she created that's right down the road. Now she's longing deeply for an ancient religious practice steeped in tradition, ritual, and transcendence? Didn't this woman write A Modern Girl's Guide to Bible Study? Is there anything more "pop-church" than that? She might consider becoming Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. Lots of ancient ritual and practices over there. Incense and Latin. Of course, they aren't very LGTBQ+ affirming. That's probably a no go.

"Lent became a balm in midlife while searching for solid food having been malnourished on contemporary western pop-church fare. I craved something ancient, sprinting as far as possible from quippy sermon series unanchored to the global church."

Ummm... so you started your very own church. If all of those things were so upsetting to you, then why didn't you create a church that met these new qualifications that you "craved"?

The most galling thing is that ANC was a church built in Jen's own image. Don't think that it was Brandon. It was Jen from the get go. And the way they left their previous church was obnoxious too. They said that everything there was fake and surface and they were too materialistic and not into missions enough blah blah blah and of course Jen and Brandon were the true good ones only wanting to build up a better, healthier church in Jesus' true spirit! So they started ANC. And then a few years later, after building up a career and making a lot of $ as a Bible mommy blogger just into Jesus, after she gave an interview about her new position on gay marriage that no one was ready for at ANC mind you because of some push back from the evangelical church and some book pulls from Lifeway Jen's now too wounded from it all. She built a career on Christians and the Gospel. She owes whatever platform she has to all of that. Now she's pivoted away from all of that like she's embarrassed and ashamed and above it all now and oh so enlightened.

Jen, in your quiet moments, in the still of the night when you can't sleep, does it ever trouble you what you did?

As an atheist, I agree. Sh!t or get off the pot.

Their “deconstruction” often means they’ve found fame or money or attention or gotten a glimpse of a lifestyle that doesn’t mesh with their faith or Bible or church tenets. So which one gets tossed? They either ditch their faith completely, or try to bend it to fit the new lifestyle they want.

But they still can’t quite give up their faith, either for sincere or financial reasons, so they play both sides of the road, throwing in an occasional God or Jesus or Bible verse, while at the same touting their new found freedom and growth, and justifying it by saying they were misled and the church has it all wrong.

“Come conform to the pattern of this world, beloveds! Everyone is doing it!”