Today, we’re sharing a really special session from last year’s Faith Matters gathering, Restore.

This conversation has really stayed with us, and we're so grateful we get to share it with you now. It begins with a short, beautiful film—we’d highly recommend heading to our YouTube channel if you’d like to watch it. You’ll hear John Gustav-Wrathall share his journey as a gay Latter-day Saint—a path shaped by deep spiritual seeking, a loving and enduring partnership with his husband Goran, and an eventual return to his ward family. John speaks with honesty and courage about learning to trust the quiet, steady voice of the Spirit in the midst of complexity. His story holds both deep pain and profound peace.

After John’s story, Allison Dayton joins him on stage for a powerful conversation. As a mother of a gay son, she brings deep empathy to this space. She is the founder of Lift+Love and helped create Gather—a Christ-centered conference for LGBTQ individuals and those who love them. You can find more details at liftandlove.org, along with John’s full story.

This session was a beautiful reminder of what it can look like to wrestle with faith and walk the path of love.

We’d love to invite you to join us for conversations like this in person at Restore, this year, which will be September 25–27 at UVU in Orem, Utah. It’s going to be an unforgettable weekend with incredible speakers including Sharon McMahon and Arthur Brooks, along with outstanding music, art, and community, all centered on restoring faith, belonging, and wholeness. Early bird pricing ends soon—now’s a great time to register. You can go to faithmatters.org for tickets.

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Use GATHERFAITH coupon code for 20% off Gather tickets: https://www.liftandlove.org/

Today we’re excited to share our conversation with Anna Lott, and we’re especially thinking of those who are walking—or have walked—the path of divorce.

Anna is the host of the Solo Saints podcast and retreats, and she’s become a thoughtful and compassionate voice in our community—especially for those who often feel like their experiences don’t quite fit the mold. As a divorced mother of four, Anna brings honesty, heart, and hard-won wisdom to conversations about faith, family, and belonging.

Today’s episode is for everyone though—whether you’ve experienced divorce yourself or love someone who has, we talk with Anna about what it feels like to show up at church when your life no longer fits the picture of how you thought things were “supposed” to look. She speaks candidly about the stigma and shame that so many experience around divorce in a family-centered church, —and about how we, as a community, can do better to create a softer place to land.

Anna also invites us to rethink and let go of some of the painful narratives many of us have inherited around marriage—that it should be preserved at all costs, or that staying married is always the most right choice. She shares the both-ands of her own story—the grief and the growth, the costs and the clarity—and how reclaiming and recentering her identity as a daughter of God has led to deeper joy, belonging, and renewed faith.

We’re so grateful to the many of you who shared your stories and questions ahead of this episode. Your voices shaped this conversation in meaningful ways. We’re grateful for your honesty and vulnerability and we hope you feel heard here.

And with that, here’s our conversation with Anna Lott.

This week—June 9th—marks the 47th anniversary of the 1978 revelation that ended the Church’s 126-year ban on Black members receiving the priesthood and entering the temple. It’s a moment we often point to with reverence and gratitude—but the story we’ve inherited about how it happened is, in many ways, incomplete.

To help us understand more fully what led to that pivotal moment, we’re joined by Dr. Matthew Harris, whose new book Second-Class Saints draws on previously unavailable documents—including the complete, unredacted journals from Pres. Spencer W. Kimball and private papers from several other apostles and prophets who were part of this story. What emerges is a story of complex revelation—one that didn’t arrive all at once, but unfolded slowly through conversation, persuasion, and deep personal growth.

We sometimes talk about the 1978 revelation as if it came out of nowhere—a sudden command from heaven. But Matt helps us see the reality that this was a process shaped by years of thoughtful wrestling and dialogue, by courageous individuals who quietly worked to open hearts and minds, and by the unwavering faith of Black members who carried impossible burdens with grace and conviction.

In our conversation today, we explored what it means to be part of a living church—one that’s capable of change because it’s built on continuing revelation. We talked about how “doctrine” has been defined and redefined across the Church’s history, the vital role each of us plays in the process of institutional revelation, because this isn’t just about the past—it’s about how we show up today: how we answer President Nelson’s call to root out racism and build a more inclusive future within the body of Christ.

We’re deeply grateful to Matt for his careful, bold work. And with that, we’ll jump right into our conversation with Matt Harris.

Buy the book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/45a7Ijl

Buy from Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/108982/9780197695715

Today, we’re so excited to share something brand new with you—the very first episode of a new podcast we’re launching here at Faith Matters. It’s called Article 13.

This new narrative podcast brings together cutting-edge research and spiritual wisdom to explore creative paths toward a more connected and compassionate world. As our society grows increasingly divided along political and cultural lines, Article 13—hosted by Zachary Davis—offers a hopeful and constructive alternative. Through deep dives into vital social issues, extraordinary guests, and beautiful sound design, the show models the kind of thoughtful, intelligent discourse our country needs—and offers practical ways each of us can make a difference, starting right where we are.

Today, we’re honored to share Episode 1 of Article 13 with you—it’s titled What We Owe Each Other.

In this episode, Zach is joined by voices like Cornel West, Shaylyn Romney Garrett, and Robert Putnam to explore what rebuilding trust really looks like—and why it matters now. They propose that real renewal begins from the inside out, as we recommit to the people we serve in the institutions we’re already part of—our families, schools, churches, and communities. When we view these roles as shared responsibilities, not personal platforms, we can begin to restore the trust and connection that hold us together.

It’s a thoughtful, timely conversation—and we’re so excited to share it with you. You can find Article 13 wherever you listen to podcasts.

This week, we got to sit down with someone we’ve long admired and are so thrilled to finally have on the podcast—Steven Sharp Nelson, known to millions around the world as “The Cello Guy” from The Piano Guys. He’s a creative force and a pioneer in "cello-percussion"—where rhythm, melody, and movement come together in such creative and beautiful ways.

If you’ve ever seen Steve perform, you know the energy he brings to music is unlike anything else—it’s vibrant, joyful, and instantly captivating. And we felt all of that in this conversation.

But this episode isn’t just about music. Today we got to talk with Steve about ADHD—his diagnosis as a child, and the way he’s come to understand it not as a disorder, but a spiritual gift that has shaped his creativity, deepened his connection to God, and is helping him live into his divine purpose. Though ADHD began as a source of confusion and shame, he’s come to see it as one of the greatest blessings of his life.

In this conversation, Steve shares what that transformation has looked like—what it means to live with “attention abundance,” how this overflow of energy, sensitivity, and ideas have become the place where God meets him—again and again. And how, when we offer our weaknesses to God, the burdens begin to lift and the blessings blossom.

Steve reminds us that God works with our particular brains, capacities, and quirks, speaking to each of us in the language we understand best. And that sometimes, what we once thought was a weakness might actually be the key to our calling.

This episode is full of honesty, humor, and deep spiritual wisdom. We’re so excited to share this one with you—here’s our conversation with Steven Sharp Nelson.

This week, we’re sharing a conversation with Phil Barlow about his new book, published by Faith Matters, called A Thoughtful Faith for the 21st Century. If that sounds familiar, it may be because Phil published the first volume back in 1986. That original collection included essays by Eugene England, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Francine Bennion, Richard Bushman, and others—each exploring what it means to live a spiritually and intellectually honest life within the Latter-day Saint tradition.

As Phil points out, challenges to faith are not new. Thoughtful people were wrestling with difficult questions decades ago in ways that still have power today. But, as he says, “the world has turned some” since then. The 2025 edition brings in a new generation of scholars and voices—Thomas McConkie, Melissa Inouye, Fiona Givens, Ben Schilaty, among others—who speak to today’s distinctive challenges while honoring the wisdom and foundation of those who came before.

At the heart of both volumes is an urgent and beautiful question: How can we hold together the integrities of our minds and our hearts and our spirits? That question—its weight, complexity, and quiet hope—sits at the center of this conversation today.

Phil brings so much humility and clarity, and in this episode we get to hear a little about what’s changed in his own faith, about the wisdom of surrendering the need to know, and why he still finds the Latter-day Saint tradition compelling, human, and a spiritual home he continues to choose with both heart and mind.

We’re so grateful to Phil for this conversation, and we hope you love it as much as we did. With that, here’s Phil Barlow.

Links for the show notes:

Purchase the book through Bookshop.org (https://bookshop.org/a/108982/9781953677242) Amazon (https://amzn.to/4mgJsCf) or anywhere you get your books.

Get a free look inside the book on our website: https://www.faithmatters.org/s/a-thoughtful-faith-vol-2

This week, we’re excited to share a special live episode recorded at the Compass Gallery in Provo, as part of our Big Questions series with Terryl Givens. Each month, Terryl is joined by a guest for a conversation about some of our biggest theological and historical questions.

In this episode, he’s joined by scholar and teacher Jared Halverson. Together, Terryl and Jared explore the question: can doubt be a spiritual gift? They consider how doubt might play a meaningful role in our spiritual development, and ask whether we can reclaim faith as something relational, built on loyalty, trust, and love — rather than a list of things we intellectually agree to.

One of the most powerful ideas that emerges is that faith and doubt aren’t opposites — in fact, they may need to coexist. It’s often in the tension between the two that deeper discipleship takes root. Terryl and Jared also explore how the Restoration, at its core, invites us into a life of ongoing seeking and expanding, not one of perfect certainty.

So if you’ve ever felt some fear, guilt, or shame around your questions — or worried that doubt means you’re falling behind, out of reach, or off the path, this conversation is for you. We hope it offers a hopeful reframe: that the wrestle is sacred, that you’re in good company, and that sometimes, this is exactly what spiritual growth looks like.

And with that, here’s Terryl Givens and Jared Halverson.

With Mother’s Day coming up, we’re so honored to bring you this conversation with McArthur Krishna about her new book, Mother in Heaven: A Gospel Topics Essay Study Guide.

The doctrine of Heavenly Mother is one of the most beautiful and distinctive Latter-Day Saint teachings—but for many, it’s still unfamiliar territory. McArthur and her co-authors created this study guide as an invitation to engage with this doctrine more deeply. Drawing on the church’s Gospel Topics essay, the book explores each point through art, rich personal reflections, and theological insights with contributions from many people whose names you may recognize- Patrick and Melissa Mason, Tom Christofferson, and Bethany Brady Spalding to name a few. What emerges is a beautiful tapestry of reverence, curiosity, and lived faith.

In this conversation, we explore how the simple truth that we are “beloved spirit children of Heavenly Parents” carries profound implications for how we understand the nature of God. It suggests that divinity isn’t solitary or hierarchical—it’s relational, that we’re not subjects of a distant king but members of a divine family. And that shift transforms the way we see God, one another, and ourselves.

McArthur highlights how essential it is for women to have a divine role model and that becoming like Her means learning to use our agency with wisdom and courage. It means aligning with God, trusting the revelation we receive, and standing by it—even when it’s hard. As McArthur puts it, “sovereignty is how we begin to practice godhood.”

We hope that as you celebrate Mother’s Day this year, this conversation invites you to remember and honor our Heavenly Mother and embrace the truth that we are Her daughters and sons too, born with the divine potential to become like Her.

We’re so grateful to McArthur for her courage, vision, and voice. And with that, here’s our conversation with McArthur Krishna.

https://bookshop.org/a/108982/9781734228724

https://amzn.to/3RG0USG