The Expansionist Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Prayer can feel hollow or difficult when our lives get real. When grief lingers, desire stays unmet, or the words you used to say no longer ring true, you can start to wonder whether you’ve lost your way spiritually. We sit down with Colette Lafia, a creative and spiritual writer, retreat leader, and longtime school librarian, to offer another path: poetry as prayer, and prayer as a way of living from the inside of your own story. Colette shares how her book Leaving the Shor...

Send us Fan Mail A grandmother takes a door off its hinges to make the table longer. That simple act becomes our compass for a bold claim: hospitality isn’t a niche talent—it’s a spiritual practice that can transform how we love, listen, and live together. We trace radical hospitality from the kitchen table to the inner life, challenging the idea that it belongs only to those with perfect homes or to women trained to “host.” Instead, we make room for a fuller story where the feminine and masc...

Send us Fan Mail Changing your mind might be the most revolutionary spiritual practice available to you right now. Heather and Shelly dive deep into the transformative power of mental flexibility and how it connects to the core teachings of Jesus. What happens when we allow ourselves to consider that our perspective might be incomplete? The hosts explore how Jesus repeatedly invited his followers to "repent" – literally to change their minds – and how this practice creates pathways for authe...

Send us Fan Mail Mary Magdalene beckons us beyond the twelve verses that mention her in scripture, inviting us into a profound reimagining of what it means to witness the divine. Shelley Shepard and Heather Drake explore this sacred friendship during Mary's feast week, diving into the transformative power of seeing resurrection through feminine eyes. What makes Mary's witness unique? The hosts suggest that witnessing isn't merely observing or repeating stories—it's embodying presence in vuln...

Send us Fan Mail Could Mary Magdalene be a missing part of the Christ story? This question forms the heart of our exploration as we approach her feast day on July 22nd. While neither of us come from Catholic traditions, we recognize the profound wisdom in celebrating feast days that awaken our consciousness to spiritual truth—and Mary Magdalene holds truths too long overlooked. Mary represents a pathway to transformation that embraces feminine wisdom and embodied spirituality. When the...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when we expand our vision of God beyond Father to include Mother? Shelley Shepard and I journey into territory many find unfamiliar yet deeply healing as we explore divine motherhood and its transformative potential. This conversation travels through personal stories of our relationships with our mothers and how these experiences have colored our spiritual understanding. We examine how limiting God to masculine imagery creates barriers for many who've experience...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when the sacred spaces of our childhood reveal themselves to be breeding grounds for exclusion? Cara Meredith joins us to unpack her three-decade journey through evangelical church camp culture and the awakening that led to her powerful new book. From her first experience as a 9-year-old camper in 1988 to her final speaking engagement at a family camp in 2018, Cara's relationship with Christian camping environments evolved from wholehearted participation to thou...