Content note: This episode includes frank discussion of sex, pornography, and religious control.

Author Ben Crawford spent decades inside a tight church network where life, money, and meaning were all centralized. When he started sharing his life on YouTube and telling the truth in 12-step rooms, the system pushed back. He lost community, business ties, and friends. He also found something bigger: a voice, a marriage that’s alive, and a way of connecting that doesn’t hide behind ideas. This is a conversation about escaping control, learning vulnerability, and why honesty beats “accountability” every time.

Topics we cover

• Preaching vs sharing: why ideas felt safe and intimacy didn’t

• The men’s “accountability” script and why it blocks connection

• What 12-step groups modeled: clear truth, no fixing, real safety

• The “cult continuum” and how control shows up in everyday church life

• Grading communities by behavior, not labels

• Choosing where to be authentic and where to hold boundaries

• Ben’s love story with Cami and the surprising payoff of telling the truth
  

Why listen

If you’ve felt the gap between what your community promised and what it delivered, or if you’ve tried to change people with ideas and missed the chance to actually bond, this episode gives language and practices for a different way forward.

About Ben

Ben Crawford is the author of the bestselling 2000 Miles Together: The Story of the Largest Family to Hike the Appalachian Trail and has been featured on Good Morning America and NPR’s This American Life. Formerly entrenched in fundamentalist religion and once at the helm of one of the world’s largest blackjack teams (profiled in the documentary Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians), Ben brings a singular perspective to faith, risk, and reinvention. Retired in his 30s, he’s a prolific YouTuber with 1,000+ uploads, and he now finds joy in poker and marathon running—with his six kids often along for the mile markers.

Links

• Ben’s book: The Courage to Share (affiliate link)

  Ben’s YouTube family channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FightforTogether

Community. It’s a word we throw around a lot, but what does it really mean? And what does it look like specially if you’re no longer part of a church or faith-based group?

In this episode, I talk with Sarah Wildeman, a leadership and relationship dynamics coach, community builder, and founder of Our Common. Sarah has spent years living in intentional communities, leading women’s circles, and guiding people through the art of authentic connection. Drawing from her background in forest ecology, permaculture, and a love for all things rooted in nature, she helps people grow relationships with the same care you’d give a thriving garden—intentionally, patiently, and with deep respect for what each season brings.

We explore:

• The difference between having friends and actually being part of a community.
• Why so many people are craving deeper connections right now.
• How shared values, rituals, and commitments create belonging.
• What we can learn from nature about building relationships that last.

• • The grief and longing that can come when we lose a sense of community.

  
  

• Sarah’s insights are practical, hopeful, and refreshingly honest about the effort it takes to create and sustain meaningful connection. Whether you’ve left a faith community or are simply hungry for more intentional relationships, this conversation offers both inspiration and tangible ideas for reimagining what community can look like.

  
  

  Connect with Sarah:

  • Website: our-common.com
  • Course: Our Common Life
  • Instagram: @our__common

What does it take to unlearn the shame of purity culture and begin to feel safe in your own body again?

In this episode, Josh Harris talks with writer, content creator, and podcast host Jubilee Dawn, a woman passionate about helping others heal out loud. Through her platforms Healed-ish and The Overshare Hour, Jubilee shares survivor stories ranging from domestic violence to religious trauma, with honesty, vulnerability, and humor.

This conversation centers around a deeply personal post Jubilee shared about how her relationship with her husband helped her heal from purity culture. In the interview we walk through it line by line, reflecting on what healing can look like when we’re met with tenderness instead of judgment.

In the original post Jubilee writes:

• He comforted me when I had a panic attack the first time we were intimate

• As I cried, I kept saying “I am a whore”

• He repeated over and over: “You are not a whore”

• We talked about our past relationships without shame

• He told me it was okay to disappoint others by going on a trip before marriage

• He told me God was not mad at me

• He helped me explore my sexuality

• He told me my ex was wrong about me

• (And we went back and got the burger that gave me freedom)

• He said these things over and over until… I believed him.

This is a tender, courageous conversation about shame, love, and what’s possible when we begin to write a new story.

Connect with Jubilee Dawn:

- @Jubileedawns on Tiktok, Instagram, & Youtube

- The Healed-ish Podcast on Spotify