Speaker #0Have you ever taken a step of faith and it paid off, just not the way you expected? That's exactly where I find myself today with this podcast and its future. I'm Anna Murby, and this is Honest Christian Conversations. If this is your first time here, welcome. I'm really glad you're here. And if you're coming back, thank you for sticking with me. Today's episode serves a few purposes. I want to share some personal discoveries, offer a bit of encouragement, and give you a few updates about the podcast, including a pretty special one toward the end, so stick around. When I decided to step out of my comfort zone and start having conversations with people who think differently from me, I honestly didn't know what to expect. But two things surprised me. First, I didn't realize how hard it would be to find people willing to come on the show and talk openly about our differences. And second, I definitely didn't expect how deeply these conversations would change me. My prayer is that these conversations transformed you too, and that you feel a little more equipped and encouraged to go out and be the hands and feet of Jesus in your everyday life. If you haven't listened to any of Season 6's content, The link will be in the show notes to check out the episodes. Before we talk about what's changing for the podcast, I want to honor the people who showed up this season because every one of these conversations stretched me in a different way. These are only snippets of what I learned from these guests. For the more detailed reflections, I'd encourage you to go back and listen to the mini-sodes that dropped on Fridays after each episode. The link is in the show notes. For now, I just want to reflect briefly on these conversations in hopes of encouraging you, and then we'll get into the meat and potatoes of this episode, the changes coming to the podcast. If you've walked with God for more than a minute, you know He loves to keep us on our toes. And lately, He's reminded me of something I needed to hear. He is the host of this podcast. I'm not. So stick around. These updates are worth hearing. So what did I learn from my guests? Well, Scott Mocha reminded me that faith lived out in real life isn't neat and polished. It's messy, relational, and slow. And that it's okay to still be learning how to walk faithfully in the middle of complexity. West and Brandon opened my eyes to the reality that we all grieve, regardless of our beliefs. And even across those differences, we can still relate. to one another, show up for each other, and listen, encourage, and spur one another toward healing. John Dedeikis pushed me to think more carefully about how politics, media, and faith intersect, not with easy answers, but with a reminder of the importance of thinking critically, not just emotionally. Anne A.M. Giever reminded me how powerful a story is, how lived experience shapes theology, and how listening to someone's journey doesn't mean I have to adopt all their conclusions in order to love them well. And lastly, talking with James Moffitt both convicted and encouraged me. It confronted some of the lies I believed about why I can't share my faith, and it reminded me that there isn't just one quote-unquote right way to share the gospel. If you've listened to any of these episodes and felt uncomfortable at times, I just want to say you aren't alone. I was right there with you, and I think that discomfort has been a gift. It's been sanctifying in ways I didn't expect. Now let's talk changes to the podcast. Without getting into too much details here, There was a situation with the community that honestly felt discouraging at first. Several months ago, I had it on my heart that I wanted to move the community that I had created on Facebook off of Facebook so people who aren't doing social media would be able to engage and have community as well. I found a perfect platform. I updated it, made it the brand colors, put everything together, was just about to start sharing it with everyone. And then I got the email from the platform. They were going to be discontinuing the free accounts, which means that if you didn't choose one of their premium paid ones, which was way out of my price range, you would lose your community. To say I was frustrated would be an understatement. I was thinking, God, I'm trying to build something for you here. What are you doing? But what? I've been sensing is that he is minimizing things on purpose right now. It's not a punishment, but it's as protection. It's almost like he's saying, let's simplify, let's quiet the noise, let's tend to the roots instead of trying to grow the branches too fast. And honestly, I think I needed that. I had been feeling stretched thin. I'd been feeling confused on directions, on what to do with the community, with the podcast, with the flow of it for the next season coming up. All these different things that I had on my mind, these ideas that I had for the podcast, I just needed to slow down and allow God to sift through what he really wants to do for the podcast, because the podcast is not mine. It's his and it's for you. So it didn't matter what I wanted to do. I needed to do what God wanted to do. What would be best for you, the listener? So for now, the community will stay on Facebook. And as time goes on, I'll be making changes to improve it for you. So if you have any ideas, I genuinely love to hear them. The contact link is in the show notes. Now let's get to the... biggest changes that are happening to the podcast. Honest Christian Conversations will be shifting to a monthly release rhythm, which means they are no longer going to be weekly. That means that the last two weeks of March, there will not be an episode. The next one coming out will be April 1st. Moving to monthly was not about doing less. It was about creating space to do things more intentionally, prayerfully, and sustainably. I don't want to rush the conversations that deserve care. The things I'm going to be talking about are going to stretch us. They are going to equip us. They are going to give us deeper discernment and direction. So these things deserve time. And I didn't want to feel rushed. I didn't want you to feel rushed. that you had to get through one before the next one comes out. Now, another thing that I'm going to be doing that is a little different from what I've done before, since I'm doing deeper dives into things, I'm going to be breaking them up into different mini series, I guess is what we'll call them. So in between those topic series that I do, I am going to be adding in music breaks. These will be episodes where we look at one problematic worship song, what makes it problematic, and follow it up with a more spiritually grounded alternative. This isn't about having it out for the artists or for certain types of music. It's about practicing discernment with love, humility, and care. And I want to thank one of my friends for giving me this idea. This was something that's been on my heart for a while, hers as well. And she just nonchalantly brought it up one time that I should make this part of the podcast. And it's finally happening. So it's going to be amazing. And it's definitely going to be an encouragement to your walk with God. You might have noticed the show now has a tagline, Finding Truth in the Noise. It really reflects the heart behind. where God has been leading this podcast over the last year. The heart of Honest Christian Conversations isn't changing, but the clarity around its mission is. So what else will be changing in this upcoming season and beyond? Well, that's going to bring me to a few other things. As you know, if you've been listening for a time, I have... been doing mini-sodes after every episode since season five started. I'm not quite going to be doing the weekly ones. What it's going to be now will be mid-month reflections. So the third Friday of the month will be a mid-month reflection. They're going to be the same minisodes that you've known and you love in the moment reflections, what stood out to me emotionally or spiritually while recording or listening back to that monthly episode. Another thing that's going to be changing, you might actually not know about this because I haven't exactly promoted it well. I have a blog and I'm going to be changing how I use it. Instead of regular posts about the episodes with some probing questions, I'm going to write when I feel led by the Holy Spirit to write. These will be slower, more thoughtful reflections, sometimes going deeper into themes from the podcast, or sometimes just processing honestly in writing. They're going to live on my website for now, and maybe in the future, I'll put them on Substack. Now, here is the special update that I mentioned I had for you at the beginning of the episode. Before I wrap up, I wanted to give you a tiny glimpse of what's coming next season. Here's a short teaser from the first three episodes of our first topic series. Enjoy.
