A Messy Amen
A Messy Amen welcomes you into the conversations you might not be having on Sundays. Do you ever feel like you want to get to know people more but you get the weird sense that no one can relate to your struggle? You show up to church, sing, listen to the sermon, and go home feeling forgotten, isolated, and frustrated? Here we will be sharing stories that help women of faith feel less alone. We will be honest in ways that may normally feel foreign and share how we hold on to faith and trust God in the ups and downs.
Episodes
28 episodes
Joy, Sweat, and the Walls That Finally Came Down
What do you do when you have walked away, the door is shut, and you are sure there is no going back?My friend Mandy Shindorf has been teaching Zumba since 2012, and if you have ever been in her class, you know she prays over every single...
A Mackinac Mission Field
What does it look like to say yes to God when your life is already going really well?For our first ever episode outside the studio, I'm sitting on the back deck of a parsonage on Mackinac Island with Ken and Lori Straight, pastors of Mac...
Fortnite, Faith, and a Love Story Only God Could Write
What do you do when you've prayed the same prayer so many times you're not sure anyone is listening?This week I'm sitting down with Rae Brown, a friend from church and one of the newest faces in our Bible journaling small group. Rae grew...
From the Party House to the Front Porch
What do you do when the room you are standing in is loud, and God shows up in it anyway?This week I'm sitting down with Ashley Sprunger, someone I have known for almost twenty years through the Christian Motorcyclists Association. Ashley...
Watch Me: Faith, a Wheelchair, and the Joy of the Lord
What would you say if someone told you there was no way you could ever live on your own?My friend Rebekka Welsh has heard some version of that her whole life, and her answer has always been the same... watch me. Rebekka was born with arthro...
From Hurt to Heartfelt Worship
What do you do when the place that was supposed to heal you is the place that hurt you the worst?Monica Brown grew up a preacher's kid. Her mom was the Sunday school superintendent, she knew every Bible story by heart, and she remembers ...
I Need You to Survive: The Song That Stopped Everything
What do you do when you have been knocked down so many times that you stop expecting to get back up?Desirae Decena grew up sort of Catholic. Baptized as a baby, communion, reconciliation, all the boxes checked, and none of it ever became...
From Drug Dealing to Discipleship: A Story God Rewrote
What do you do when the people who knew you back then look at the person you are now and say, who even are you?Ben Reinhart grew up in Beecher, on the north end of Flint, and by 15 he was initiated into a gang. By 16 he had figured out h...
Faith, Fitness, Finding the Way Back to God
I met Ryan Hufford in the Dominican Republic on a mission trip, and it turned out he lives right here in Michigan. What are the odds, right? No coincidences with God.Ryan came into this one with a story most people would try to tidy up b...
Gaming for the Glory
Most of us have heard somebody say video games are a waste of time, or worse, that a grown man playing them just needs to grow up already. Dylan has heard all of it. He has also spent the last five years watching God use a game controller to br...
Big Family, Small Miracles, and Long Days
What do you do when the answer is not "she's healthy" and it's not "she's dying," but something in between that you have to live in every single day? Bonnie Jimenez grew up as number three of seven, the oldest of five girls, homeschooled and th...
Know Your Worth
Some friendships start with a duster and a mutual love of stationary. Pam Isom worked at the Faith Christian bookstore, and one day I walked in with my daughter having a very not okay moment. Pam asked if I needed help. I said she n...
You Are Not Unlovable
You Are Not UnlovableBefore we get into it, a gentle heads up. This conversation walks through some real dark places, thoughts of suicide, an abusive marriage, and a story of sexual assault that stayed buried for years. If any of ...
Unified, Not Alone
Season 2 is here, and I'm kicking it off with my friend Laura Snedeker, a mom of two (with her third on the way), a photographer, and someone whose writing I've admired on Facebook for years before I ever got the guts to ask her to sit down wit...
Season 1: The Good, the Bad, and the Holy
We made it through a whole season of A Messy Amen, and before we dive deeper into Season 2, we’re taking a minute to look back.Season 1 was thirteen episodes of real people telling the truth about the hard stuff. The stuff most of us only e...
Redirected, Not Rejected
Part Two with Sunni HenryMan, when Sunni told me part one didn't even scratch the surface, I believed her, but I was not ready for this one. We pick right back up and go deep, and I mean DEEP.Sunni walks us through the la...
Messy, Molded, and Made New
What do you do with a life that started in chaos and kept piling on? Abuse, addiction, broken marriages, eating disorders, children with rare diseases, open heart surgery, paralysis, and a moment where Sunni Henry literally died on the operatin...
Perfectionism, Pressure, and the 110% Problem
Some of the hardest stuff we carry, we carry quietly. We show up on Sunday, we smile, we serve, and nobody knows the candle is burning at both ends until it finally goes out.This week I sat down with Pastor Jim Westheim, who has spent 40...
Cancer, Calm, and Clinging to Christ
What do you do when the trial comes back... again?This week I'm sitting down with Holly Maltby, who has walked through cancer not once, not twice, but FOUR times since 2019. And just when she thought the hardest part was behind her, a th...
Scars, Surrender, and Starting Over
Michelle sits down with Nathanial Souder for one of the most raw and redemptive conversations the show has ever held. From a lonely childhood with no one to turn to, to a blood oath with an outlaw motorcycle club, to being kidnapped, tortured, ...
Ministry & Motherhood - On Mission Right Where God Places You
This week I'm sitting down with Savannah Mackie, and I have to be honest, when I first thought about having her on, she was one of those people I might have just assumed had it all together. Varsity volleyball, competitive dancer, president of ...
From Angry Child to Child of God
What do you do when the people who were supposed to point you to God... made you want to walk away from Him instead?That is exactly where Elizabeth Androl found herself. She grew up in church, loved it, had her name engraved on her very ...
Beauty Behind Bars - Bringing the Hope of the Gospel to Incarcerated Youth
What do you say to a kid sitting behind bars who believes the world has already written them off?In this moving and hope-filled episode, Michelle sits down with Mickey Holm, a passionate advocate and volunteer with Forgotten Youth Ministrie...
Pain Into Purpose - When Our Dreams Need to Pivot
In this deeply personal and powerful episode, Michelle sits down with motivational speaker, pastor, nonprofit founder, and former All-American running back Brian Pruitt for a conversation about identity, fatherhood, forgiveness, purpose, and wh...
God as Father - Healing the Wounds We Don't Talk About
This conversation is honest, a little messy, and full of hope.We’re talking about what it looks like to meet God in your brokenness, not once you’ve cleaned it all up. From wrestling with abandonment and feeling unlovable, to slowly lear...
