Zach Malm Podcasts

Film critic Josh Larsen (Filmspotting, Think Christian) joins us to discuss his new book Fear Not! A Christian Appreciation of Horror Movies. We discuss frightful movies which have left a lasting impression and given him a deeper understanding of spirituality and human nature, covering multiple subgenres of horror, including slashers, psychological…

Zach and Dave are changing lightbulbs and deep cleaning the carpets of the VCW Hall, getting it ready for the new season. They talk about trips they took this summer (including Zach's visit to a naked spa and the body positivity/body neutrality/embodiment stuff that involves), while also discussing Zach's recent realization that after 41 years of n…

Podcaster and social media star Tim Whitaker, with The New Evangelicals, expands on his story with Evangelical Christianity including his process of becoming LGBTQIA affirming. He discusses attending the Asbury Revival and also going to Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA conference. We also talk about where we think Evangelicalism is headed in the fu…

Religion News Service national reporter Jack Jenkins joins the VCW to talk about his most recent book "American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country". We contrast the religious right and the religious left and discuss progressive political movements of the last 20 years and how they…

DL "DisneyLand" Mayfield (at least for the purposes of this episode) and Krispin "Krispin" Mayfield join the show to talk about Disneyland, which Zach recently visited and is very excited to discuss and use as a jumping off point for talking about embodiment, being present, time and growth, our evangelical childhoods, neurodivergent experiences, fe…

Author and film lover, Elijah Davidson, joins the VCW hall to share his Evangelical story and also talk about his new book "Come & See: A Christian Guide to the Greatest Films of All Time". We discuss some of these historic films and also chat about the Christian movie industry. Pick up the book right here: https://elijahdavidson.com/books/come-see…

Dr. Marcia Pally (author of White Evangelicals and Right-Wing Populism: How Did We Get Here?) returns to the VCW hall with her friend, Dr. Pamela Cooper- White. We discuss Dr. Cooper-White's new book, "The Psychology of Christian Nationalism: Why People Are Drawn In And How to Talk Across the Divide". Buy Dr. Pamela Cooper-White's book right here: …

Writer, advocate and teacher Billie Hoard joins the VCW to share her story within Evangelicalism, her exit from those spaces and finding herself in a Mennonite church as an anarcho-pacifist. She also discusses coming out as trans to her family and school where she teaches. We also talk about how trans people have become targets in the ferocity of t…

Writer and podcaster R. Scott Okamoto returns to the VCW hall to talk about his new memoir Asian-American Apostate: Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University (out on April 18th, 2023). He discusses the process of getting it published, responds to some of the early reviews, and we of course talk about the book itself, which chr…

Former pastor for 15 years and former employee at Seattle's Union Gospel Mission (UGM), Kyle Reynolds comes by the VCW hall to share his Evangelical story and faith journey. We discuss how he became LGBTQ affirming as a straight pastor then talk about his work at UGM as well as the work that UGM does in Seattle. Within that work at UGM, we discuss …

Jeff Bettger (AKA Jeff Suffering) stops by to talk about his recently reformed 1990s Tooth and Nail band Ninety Pound Wuss, as well as his time playing music and being a pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. We talk about his musical history, including Raft of Dead Monkeys, Suffering and the Hideous Thieves, and Team Strike Force, an early and ver…

Religion reporter and book author Jonathan Merritt joins the VCW to share his Evangelical story that includes the trauma of being outed in 2012. We also discuss the ethics of publicly outing people (who are harmful to the LGBTQ community), death anxiety from certain religious backgrounds, and his fascinating *newest* book "Learning to Speak God fro…

The VCW hall was honored to host author and journalist Katherine Stewart to talk about her religious background and how she fell down the rabbit hole of covering Christian Nationalism specifically through the religious right's attempts to radically alter or eliminate public education. She also talks about being trained in journalism craft by Wayne …

Every year, around this time, Jeffrey Overstreet joins us to talk about our favorite movies of the preceding year. This year we are very happy to have Sarah Welch-Larson joining the discussion as well. On part 2 of our Best Movies of 2022 mega-episode, we talk about our personal top 10 movies from 2022. Connect with Sarah Welch-Larson on Twitter: @…

Every year, around this time, Jeffrey Overstreet joins us to talk about our favorite movies of the preceding year, the Oscar nominees, and so forth. This year we are very happy to have Sarah Welch-Larson joining the discussion as well. On part 1 of our Best Movies of 2022 mega-episode, we talk about the Academy Award nominees for Best Picture and s…

Podcast host and writer Amy Fritz joins us to talk about her Evangelical story and how her family moved from Minnesota to Tennessee as her husband Nathan took a job at Ramsey Solutions. She talks about how she came to realize that Ramsey Solutions was a toxic environment and that led her to thinking about untangling her faith from other unhealthy p…

Professor and author Dr. David Dark joins the VCW hall to talk about his reframed and expanded new book "Life's Too Short to Pretend You're Not Religious". We discuss the definition of "religious" vs "spiritual but not religious", Hollywood's portrayal of Christians and/or religious people, why to "love a person is to love a process" and also that …

Dr. Matthew Taylor joins us to discuss his recent podcast series Charismatic Revival Fury, released through the Straight White American Jesus podcast. We talk about central figures of the New Apostolic Reformation like C Peter Wagner and Che Ahn, the connection to the "signs and wonders" charismatic movement led by John Wimber, Matthew's concept of…

We talk with Mitchell Kezin, director of the documentary Jingle Bell Rocks!, which is about primarily left-of-center Christmas music, and features interviews with Reverend Run of Run-DMC, John Waters, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, Low, and others. We talk about Christmas music as part of the rituals that people create to give extra meaning to th…

Film critic and author Alonso Duralde talks about Christmas movies, Hallmark Christmas movies, and that time Hallmark aired a commercial featuring a lesbian couple that caused so much chaos that a whole new network was created to make exclusive content for people who get the vapors at the idea of a Christmas movie featuring a same-sex (or interraci…

Co-host of the podcast, Straight White American Jesus, Brad Onishi returns to the VCW hall to talk about his forthcoming book (January 6, 2023) "Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism- And What Comes Next". While we are all seeing a rise in Christian Nationalism in our present political moment, Brad traces the histo…

From Concordia University in Montreal, Dr. Andre Gagne joins the VCW hall to share his story with Evangelicalism which included being a pastor for 10 years. We define Christian Nationalism and discuss the growing movement in America. Then we take a deeper dive into the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), the 7 Mountain Mandate, some of the personaliti…

Rapture and hellfire and influencers, oh my! Prepare to be terrified by the spookiest episode of the year. The shadowy figure behind the Christian Nightmares social media accounts joins us to talk about the things that traumatized him as an evangelical kid, and the things that scare, amuse, and confound him now about contemporary evangelical cultur…

Author, Podcaster, Communications Professor and interdenominational speaker Dr. Heather Thompson Day joins the VCW hall to share her story with Evangelicalism and talk about her new book (written with her husband Seth Day) "I'll See you Tomorrow". Dr. Day discusses how lonely and disconnected our society is and how we can have meaningful friendship…

Matt Johnson, former Mars Hill elder and drummer in the "Christians in a band not Christian Band" bands Roadside Monument, Blenderhead, and Raft of Dead Monkeys talks with us about the pre-Mars Hill 1990s Seattle Christian punk community, centered around Calvary Chapel in the University District, where Damien Jurado, Dave Bazan and many others also…

In this special and occasionally heavy episode, we were honored to have Alan Sparhawk from the band Low visit the VCW hall to chat about his music, his religious journey with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and faith and hope. We discuss how faith and hope are different but play together, moments of transcendence, and the feeling o…

Trigger warning: In this episode, we discuss sexual abuse toward minors. Dr. Paul Hoard joins the VCW hall to discuss his journey with Evangelicalism and how Evangelicals have interacted with psychology. We chat about cheap forgiveness vs true forgiveness, Sigmund Freud and Jesus casting out demons. Connect with Dr. Paul Hoard on Twitter: @Hoardpau…

Podcaster and soon-to-be-author Tori Williams Douglass joins the VCW hall for a wide-ranging discussion of her own story of being homeschooled in a fundamentalist Christian environment and going to Northwest College. She traces her journey to becoming an anti-racist educator working with businesses, churches and other organizations. We talk in deta…

Note: Listening to this episode will not count toward your required chapel credits. Host of the Chapel Probation Podcast and soon-to-be author R. Scott Okamoto stops by the VCW hall to share his Evangelical story including his years teaching, deconstructing, and encountering racism at Azusa Pacific University, a school that claims to be "God First"…

Grief coach, author, and founder of the Restorative Grief Project, Mandy Capehart joins the VCW hall as we talk all about grief in its many forms, including anticipatory and disenfranchised/ambiguous grief, grief guilt, grief brain, grief as a non-linear experience, why the "5 stages" aren't helpful for understanding grief, and how churches often f…

Matt Zoller Seitz, Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, joins the VCW hall to talk about "The Deadwood Bible: A Lie Agreed Upon", his new book on the HBO series Deadwood, as well as its fascinating and complex creator David Milch. We talk about grief, addiction, recovery, certainty, Terrence Malick, and Matt shares his changing thoughts on spirituali…

Managing editor of Religion News Service and co-host of the award-winning podcast Saved By the City, Roxanne Stone joins the VCW to talk about her Evangelical story, how the last 5 years have affected her faith, the urban/rural divide in America including on faith issues, how she broke the news about Hillsong NYC Pastor Carl Lentz's resignation bec…

Author George Azar joins the VCW hall to talk about "My Gay Church Days", his self-published memoir of converting to evangelicalism as a teenager, becoming a pastor and thinking of himself as "struggling with same-sex attraction", his experience at Exodus International (the most notorious gay conversion organization in the world before it disbanded…

Our first international interview with guest Dr. Marcia Pally as we talk about her book "White Evangelicalism and Right Wing Populism: How Did We Get Here?". We discuss the duresses that white Evangelicals perceive themselves to be under, a history of how those perceived stressors and "us vs them" thinking inflames right wing populism. We also disc…

From the popular leftist podcast "Know Your Enemy", Matt Sitman joins the VCW hall to share his story about being raised in fundamentalist Christianity and experiencing culture shock when he attended Grove City College while moving into an Evangelical culture. He discusses being a part of the historic Falls Church in Virginia in 2006 when there was…

Seattle Pacific University, an evangelical school affiliated with the Free Methodist Church since 1891, is in a fight over LGBTQIA+ inclusion and equality. This came to a head on May 23rd when the board rejected proposed changes supported by an overwhelming majority of students and faculty, following a threat of disassociation by the Free Methodist…

From the podcast "You Have Permission", Dan Koch stops by the VCW hall to share his Evangelical story and talk about the Southern Baptist (Guidepost Solutions) Abuse report that was released a few weeks ago. Also, we discuss spiritual abuse both defining the term and giving information on how to identify if this has happened to you. Connect with Da…

Dr. Kait Dugan returns to the VCW hall to talk about death, apocalypse and her expertise, Karl Barth. She talks about getting her doctorate, how thinking a lot about death has helped her in life and Pauline views of the apocalypse. Finally, as the managing director at the Center for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, she discusses Kar…

Author Shannon TL Kearns returns to the VCW hall to discuss his new memoir, "In the Margins: A Transgender Man's Journey with Scripture" which is coming out August 9th, 2022. We discuss Shannon's story and how his relationship with Scripture changed over time. We chat about some of the Biblical accounts that have meant a lot to him as he transition…

Russia expert and trans activist Chrissy Stroop joins the VCW hall to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin's religious and ethno-nationalist mindset, the connections between the Kremlin and some on the American right and the various anti-trans state laws that are being proposed in red states around our country. She also shares her Evangelica…

The return of author and professor Joel Heng Hartse to the VCW Hall! He talks about his new book Dancing About Architecture is a Reasonable Thing to Do, the process of writing about music, discussing Hillsong with a punk icon, and the joy of "fucking shit up for the Lord". Plus, Weezer. Get Joel's book Dancing About Architecture is a Reasonable Thi…

VCW listener Jon Smart joins us to discuss his Evangelical story including his time in YWAM. Zach and Dave conducted an experiment when a guest had to postpone a returning appearance on our show. We tweeted out an invitation for someone who has been listening to the show to come on and talk to us. Our new friend, Jon Smart, answered that call. Foll…

Writer, film critic and professor Alissa Wilkinson joins the VCW pod to talk about her new book "Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women"! She shares her Evangelical story, discusses her jobs which include being a professor at King's College, a film critic at Vox and an author. Finally, we talk about her favorite fil…

No relation to Bill Nye the Science Guy, Kevin Nye joins the VCW podcast to talk about his new book "Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness" (out on August 9th, 2022). We discuss the causes of homelessness, the myths about people without homes, some solutions to this crisis in our society, safe injection sites and more. Pre-or…

Professor, writer, and podcaster (Straight White American Jesus) Bradley Onishi joins us to talk about White Christian Nationalism, Christofascism, purity culture and how those things relate to current events in Russia and Ukraine. Follow Bradley on Twitter: @bradleyonishi Listen to Bradley on Straight White American Jesus: https://straightwhiteame…

From the Ravel podcast, fellow Seattle-ite Josh Lieuallen joins the VCW hall to talk about his Evangelical story, his work on the Ravel Podcast, and deconstructing/reconstructing faith. Check out the Ravel Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ravel/id1528109104 Follow Josh Lieuallen on Twitter: @joshlieuallen -Check out Zach's music by go…

Co-host of the Thereafter podcast, Meghan Crozier visits the VCW hall to talk about her evangelical story, purity culture, purity culture 2.0, exvangelical CCM karaoke, and more. Mentioned on the pod: "The Djembe Thread" - https://twitter.com/thepursuinglife/status/1486759817565794307 Resources Meghan Crozier recommends on the topic of Purity Cultu…

For this episode, we took a break from talking about Evangelicalism. Jeffrey Overstreet returns to the VCW hall to talk movies from 2021, which we all agreed was a diverse and eclectic year at the cinema, despite the year starting with theaters still closed. We talk about the Oscar nominees, our own personal top 10 films of the year, what he's been…

Author and Podcaster Krispin Mayfield joined the VCW hall to discuss his new book "Attached to God: A Practical Guide to Deeper Spiritual Experience" (out on 2/22/2022 from Zondervan). He writes (and talks on the show) about people being able to have a more secure attachment with God by recognizing their own styles based on Attachment Theory. Krisp…

Jazz Robertson (co-host of Multiple Sources Podcast) joins the VCW hall for a wide ranging discussion about playing music in and outside of church, letting go of certainty, Alan Watts, Britney Spears' conservatorship, the problem of white supremacy in evangelicalism, and her 5 favorite drummers of all time. Listen to Multiple Sources Podcast: https…