Spirit Outspoken - Spirit Outspoken

Latest Episodes:

How a Near-Death Experience Changed Everything He Believed About Heaven w/ Vinney Tolman Oct 21, 2026

Show notes

What if heaven isn’t a reward waiting at the end of your life, but something you can step into right now?

In this episode, Vinney Tolman, author of The Light After Death, shares the near-death experience that turned his understanding of Christianity upside down. Raised to see life as a courtroom where souls are sorted for heaven or hell, Vinney found himself watching his own death, then being met by a loving guide he later recognized in a family photo as one of his ancestors.

Jaisa and Rachael dig into what he saw on the other side, why he came back feeling more Christian than ever, and what he learned about fear, love and the teachings of Jesus, the one he calls Yeshua.

The ladies also explore whether heaven is a place, a choice or a state of being, why Vinney sees hell as fear we choose until it starts choosing us, and how reincarnation may have once been part of Christian thought.

This conversation is for anyone who was taught to fear the afterlife and is ready to imagine something far more loving.

Vinney Tolman:
Vincent “Vinney” Tolman is the author of The Light After Death: My Journey to Heaven and Back. Since his near-death experience, he has shared his story around the world, inviting people to see heaven, love and faith through a far more expansive lens.
Website: https://thelightafterdeath.com/
Instagram: @VinneyTolman

If you enjoyed this episode be sure to check out:
Episode 64 - Loved Ones Never Leave Us: A Psychic Medium on the After Life w/ Sean Collyns

Episode 67: Angels, Intuition & Divine Guidance w/ Kyle Gray

If this conversation lit something up for you, follow the show, leave a rating and share it with a friend who’s been wondering what really comes next.

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Minisode 10.16.26 "What are your favorite episodes?" Oct 16, 2026

Show notes

Which Spirit Outspoken episodes changed us the most? In this Ask Rach & Jais minisode, Rachael and Jaisa revisit the guests, conversations, and revelations that challenged everything they thought they knew about faith, feminism, and Christianity.

From Joash Thomas and Father Pete Nunnally to deep dives into Mary Magdalene, the Gnostic Gospels, Celtic Christianity, and the Bible's history, they share the moments that sparked some of their biggest spiritual shifts.

Expect laughs, honest reflections, and plenty of rabbit holes as they look back on two years of questioning, growing, and unlearning. Whether you're a longtime listener or new to Spirit Outspoken, this episode might inspire you to revisit a favorite, or discover one you missed.

If this conversation lit something up for you, give it a like, subscribe and share it with a friend who’s still searching for where they belong.

#deconstruction #exvangelical #christianity #spirituality

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Episode 103: Growing Up Gay in the Evangelical South and Healing Through Music w/ Garrison Starr Oct 14, 2026

Show notes

When the faith you were raised in no longer has room for who you are, where do you go next?

Singer-songwriter Garrison Starr joins Jaisa and Rachael to talk about growing up gay in an evangelical Mississippi community, losing friends and church family along the way, and grieving the beliefs she could no longer hold. It's an honest conversation filled with laughter, vulnerability, and moments that hit deep.

Garrison shares how songwriting became her path back to the sacred, including her new album, The Gospel Truth, which she describes as “swamp gospel hymns for humans.” Together, they explore learning to trust your own intuition, giving yourself permission to question, and discovering belonging on the other side of deconstruction.

For anyone who's ever felt like they had to choose between being true to themselves and belonging to their faith community.

Garrison Starr:
Garrison Starr is a singer, songwriter and Grammy-nominated record producer whose work spans Americana, indie folk and soul. Her new album, The Gospel Truth, continues her story of healing from an evangelical Christian upbringing.
Website: https://www.garrisonstarr.com/
Instagram: @GarrisonStarr https://www.instagram.com/garrisonstarr/

If you enjoyed this episode be sure to check out:
Episode 58 - The1946 Mistake That Changed Christianity: "How Homosexual Entered the Bible

Episode 59 - What We Got Wrong About Homosexuality (Culture, Politics & the Church)

If this conversation lit something up for you, give it a like, subscribe and share it with a friend who’s still searching for where they belong.

#deconstruction #exvangelical #lgbtqchristian #queerfaith #gospelmusic #christianity #spirituality

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Minisode 10.9.26: "How did you go from mom friends to spiritual gangsters?" Oct 09, 2026

Show notes

How did friendship, grief, faith, and unexpected intuitive experiences lead Rachael and Jaisa to start a podcast? They share the moments that brought them together, and why they’re not afraid to talk about the things others might shy away from.

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Episode 102: The Divine Feminine, Mary Magdalene and Trusting Your Own Body w/ Chelsea Kim Long Oct 07, 2026

Show notes

The patriarchy didn’t just shape Christianity, it taught women to distrust their bodies, intuition, and spiritual knowing.
In this episode, Chelsea Kim Long, author of Faithfully Dissident Daughters, shares the awakening that led her to rethink purity culture, embodiment, church history, and the divine feminine. This episode provides a deep conversation about what women have been taught to fear, why pregnancy became a turning point in her faith, and what can happen when women begin trusting themselves again.
Chelsea explores how male-centered theology can make God feel distant, how biblical language around birth and being “born again” can open the door to a more feminine understanding of the divine, and why representation matters, in faith, community, and our understanding of God.
The ladies discuss Mary Magdalene, the women surrounding Jesus, and scholarship that questions whether their roles were minimized over time. Chelsea shares the theory that Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene may have been the same woman, why that possibility matters, and how scripture can look different when read through the lenses of mysticism, embodiment, and contemplative Christianity.
This conversation is for anyone deconstructing, reconstructing, or wondering whether a more expansive and life-giving Christianity has been there all along.
Our guest:
Chelsea Kim Long is the author of Faithfully Dissident Daughters and a writer, speaker, and spiritual seeker whose work explores Christianity through embodiment, mysticism, and the divine feminine. Her work invites people to approach progressive Christianity with greater honesty, curiosity, and freedom.
Website: https://www.chelseakimlong.com/
Instagram: @chelseakimlong
If you enjoyed this episode be sure to check out:

Episode 48: Banned from the Bible: The Hidden Gospel of Paul & Thecla w/ Meggan Watterson
Episode 91: Mysticism, Empire & Finding Our Way Back to Love w/ Joash P Thomas
If this conversation lit something up for you, give it a like, subscribe and share it with a friend who's searching for a faith that feels more whole.
#deconstruction #divinefeminine #marymagdalene #christianity #spirituality #exvangelical #christianmysticism

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Minisode 10.2.26: What happens when your spirituality is evolving, but your partner’s isn’t? Oct 02, 2026

Show notes

We are excited to launch our new minisode series "Ask Rach & Jais" dropping every Friday!

You send us your questions, and we’ll talk them through together. Love, life, spirituality, relationships… nothing is off limits (and we definitely don’t have all the answers, just honest thoughts and a little friend-to-friend perspective).

This week, we’re asking: What happens when your spirituality is evolving, but your partner’s isn’t?

Come hang out, join the conversation, and share what you’re navigating too.

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Join the Spirit 360! Online Community

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Episode 101: Taught to Question Everything Except Your Faith: A Baptist Preacher on Deconstruction w/ Kristian A. Smith Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

What happens when you're taught to think critically about everything except your faith? Kristian A. Smith, a pastor, author, public theologian and fifth-generation Baptist preacher, found out on day one of seminary, when a professor told his class the Bible is not the word of God.

In this episode, Jaisa and Rachael sit down with Kristian to talk deconstruction, fear-based religion and what changes when hell is no longer the thing keeping you in line. He shares why Jesus has become a mascot for Christian nationalism, why even Jesus had to evolve, and how honoring lived experience guides the faith community he pastors.

They also dig into his greatest commandment theology, the idea that loving God, loving your neighbor and loving yourself are a package deal, and sit with the big question underneath it all: who is Jesus beyond the way institutions have defined him?

If you've ever been told your questions were dangerous, this one is for you.

Our guest: Kristian A. Smith is a pastor, public theologian, and digital pastor of The Faith Community Virtual, an inclusive, justice-rooted online community where people from all backgrounds can gather, connect, learn, ask big questions, and explore faith together.

He is the author of Question Your Answers: A Deconstruction Survival Guide, a resource for anyone navigating the kinds of questions and shifts this episode explores, as well as his latest book, Breaking All the Rules: An Ancient Framework for Modern Faith, available on Audible and Amazon.

Kristian is also the host (and resident heretic) of Holy Smokes: Cigars & Spirituality, where cigars, laughter, theology, and honest conversation come together to deconstruct harmful beliefs and build beloved community, one cigar at a time.

Faith Community Website
Faith Community You Tube Channel
E-book Link - Question your Answers
Amazon link for Breaking All the Rules
Patreon - Kristian A Smith
Patreon the Faith Community

Instagram @theKristianASmith
TikTok @theKristianASmith

If you enjoyed this episode be sure to check out:

Episode 92 - The 5 Stages of Deconstruction: What Happens When Faith Falls Apart and Comes Back Together

Episode 55 - Decolonizing the Church: The Justice of Jesus w/ Joash Thomas
If this conversation opened something up for you, give it a like, subscribe and share it with a friend who's asking big questions too.

#deconstruction #christianity #spirituality #exvangelical #progressivechristian #lgbtqchristian #christianmysticism

Support the show

Join the Spirit 360! Online Community

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Episode 100: Is Jesus Bigger Than Christianity? Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

If God isn't limited to Jesus, why is Jesus limited to Christianity? In the 100th episode, Jaisa and Rachael wrestle with the question that has shaped two years of Spirit Outspoken: can Jesus exist beyond the boundaries of Christianity?
They go back to the receipts. The light that existed before the sun in Genesis. John 1 and the true light that enlightens everyone. Theosis, and a goal of transformation, not just salvation. Justin Martyr calling Socrates a Christian before Christ. Paul and the altar to an unknown God. The Good Samaritan, theologically wrong and still the hero.
This isn't a finished answer. It's a working thesis, built out loud, and you're invited into it: Christ did not begin at Bethlehem, and wherever love is, God is there.
One hundred episodes in, and it feels like they're just getting started.
If you enjoyed this episode be sure to check out:
Episode 32 - The Voice They Tried to Bury: Mary Magdalene, the Hidden Apostle
Episode 34 - Power, Politics and the Bible
Follow the show and leave a review if this one landed for you. It is the single easiest way to help us reach more people.

Support the show

Join the Spirit 360! Online Community

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Episode 99: The Gospel According to Dolly Parton: Love, Judgment, and the God Spark Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

The flags are at half mast for a woman who never held office. That alone tells you something about who Dolly Parton was.
Jaisa and Rachael honor her, and sit with the thing that keeps surfacing as the tributes come in. Conservative Christians and drag queens. The LGBTQ community, the Black community, and the Pentecostal church that raised her. Almost nobody gets claimed by all of those rooms, and she managed it without softening who she was.
They walk through the one room cabin, the eleven siblings, the father who never learned to read. Then the part this show cares about most. Dolly believed there was a God spark in every person and made it her job to go looking for it. She called herself spiritual rather than religious, and refused, repeatedly and on the record, to judge anybody.
Hard to argue with love.
If you enjoyed this episode be sure to check out:
Episode 82: How to Love and Care for Every Enneagram Type w/ Abbey Howe
Episode 70: From Pews to Pines: God in the Wild w/ Pete Nunnally
Follow the show and leave a review if this one landed for you. It is the single easiest way to help us reach more people.

Support the show

Join the Spirit 360! Online Community

Spirit Outspoken Website for Events, Resources, and More Info

Follow Spirit Outspoken on Instagram

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Watch Episodes on YouTube

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Episode 98: Who Am I Now? Identity, Surrender and the End of an Eclipse Cycle Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

Jaisa and Rachael hit record on this one at the kitchen table, mid mental breakdown, on the theory that they could not possibly be the only ones.

August 27 was the lunar eclipse in Pisces, and it closed an eclipse cycle that opened in September 2024. Which happens to be the exact month Spirit Outspoken launched. Two years of the Virgo Pisces axis doing its work, and neither of them came out the other side as the same person.

In this episode they get into what that cycle has actually been asking. Virgo wants order and analysis and the reassurance that if you just get everything right, you will be safe. Pisces wants surrender, and faith in what cannot be proven or controlled. Sitting between those two is deeply uncomfortable, and this is an honest account of that discomfort from inside it.

Rachael talks about the chameleon years and what it costs to finally have a voice. Jaisa talks about grieving an identity she spent a career building, and the strange experience of feeling something in your body long before your mind catches up.

If you have mutable placements, or you have just felt unrecognizable to yourself lately, you are not alone. Come lament in the comments.

If you enjoyed this episode be sure to check out:

Episode 65: Created with Purpose - Faith & Astrology w/ Debra Silverman

Episode 80: Finding Her Voice: How Songwriting & Healing Led to True Faith w/ Alana Springsteen

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