The ProGrace Podcast

Kaitlyn Schiess, author and speaker on how prioritizing Biblical theology and spiritual formation helps us engage politically

 In this episode, author and Holy Post co-host Kaitlyn Schiess breaks down what it means to be a politically responsible Christian. As a theologian, Kaitlyn understands both the Biblical importance and limitations of legislation to solve the problems we are faced with, as well as the fine line we must walk between the two. In this conversation, she and Angela break down the questions that many of us have about how to be politically active in a way that respects and reflects our fait...

Andrea Leigh Capuyan, ED of Laurel Pregnancy Center, on how grace and her experience shape her work with people during and after unintended pregnancy

Andrea Leigh Capuyan, Executive Director of the LPC in the Baltimore/Washington DC metro area and ProGrace Equip learning community member, discusses how her life experience and grace changed how she and her organization operate. Rejecting industry norms and standards, Andrea has allowed her own experience and faith, as well as the ProGrace community and resources, to guide her toward a more empathetic and loving standard of care in her organization. Andrea faced an unintended preg...

Kristen Lonberger, COO of Living Alternatives, on Valuing Women Within a Christian Pregnancy Center

In this episode, Angela talks to Christian Pregnancy Center COO Kristen Lonberger of Living Alternatives about their center’s desire to treat their clients in a way that is congruent with their faith. They discuss how the practices of traditional pregnancy centers can make women feel shame and guilt, and how the staff at Living Alternatives has worked to ensure that their practices are both ethical and representative of Jesus.  Guest Bio Kristen Lonberger is Chief Operations Office...

Why I Have Hope for 2024

In this episode, Angela discusses her recent experience participating in the National Day of Dialogue (NDOD) 2024. The event taught practical tools for having more constructive conversations. She explains the ABCs of Constructive Dialogue and how she learned to use them to increase understanding. She also recounts a time she used these skills in conversation with someone who held opposing views and how the conversation resulted in understanding, empathy, and even friendship. This ep...

Dr. Amy Peeler: Celebrating God’s Affirmation of Women in the Advent Story

Guest: Dr. Amy Peeler To have new conversations about abortion, we need to step inside people’s stories. Women specifically can sometimes wonder where they can find their place in the story of God's family. We’re celebrating this season of Advent by exploring how the coming of Jesus to reconcile God and humanity begins with a pregnancy story. Join Angela and her guest, Dr. Amy Peeler, the Kenneth T. Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College, a priest in the Episcopal Chu...

Celebrating God’s Affirmation of Women in the Advent Story

Guest: Dr. Amy Peeler To have new conversations about abortion, we need to step inside people’s stories. Women specifically can sometimes wonder where they can find their place in the story of God's family. We’re celebrating this season of Advent by exploring how the coming of Jesus to reconcile God and humanity begins with a pregnancy story. Join Angela and her guest, Dr. Amy Peeler, the Kenneth T. Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College, a priest in the Episcopal Chu...

How Theology Can Lead to Grace-filled Conversations Across Divides

Guest: Lisa Fields, Founder and CEO Jude 3 Project Experiences, hurt, and trauma always filter how we receive information. So, if we ignore people's lived experiences, we miss the opportunity for connection that leads to transformation. In this episode, Angela sits with Lisa Fields, Founder and CEO of The Jude 3 Project, about the importance of having conversations around divisive issues like abortion and racial divides in the church. They discuss the need for Christians to model t...

Lisa Fields: How Theology Can Lead to Grace-filled Conversations Across Divides

Guest: Lisa Fields, Founder and CEO Jude 3 Project Experiences, hurt, and trauma always filter how we receive information. So, if we ignore people's lived experiences, we miss the opportunity for connection that leads to transformation. In this episode, Angela sits with Lisa Fields, Founder and CEO of The Jude 3 Project, about the importance of having conversations around divisive issues like abortion and racial divides in the church. They discuss the need for Christians to model t...

Rev. Dr. Alvin Sanders: The Urban Church as a Place of Healing and Impact

“We’re in a time where people need healing, and the Church is the answer for that. Jesus is the answer, but [knowing] Jesus through the Church is critical. [If pastors only] knew how much people needed the Church—not the politics of the Church, not all of the theology of the Church, but just the Church in action.” Thoughts on Mission & Ministry FROM LEADERS IN URBAN CHURCHES & COMMUNITIES, Page 12 Pastors have a God-given opportunity to lead their church to impact communities for ...

The Urban Church as a Place of Healing and Impact with Rev. Dr. Alvin Sanders, World Impact

“We’re in a time where people need healing, and the Church is the answer for that. Jesus is the answer, but [knowing] Jesus through the Church is critical. [If pastors only] knew how much people needed the Church—not the politics of the Church, not all of the theology of the Church, but just the Church in action.” Thoughts on Mission & Ministry FROM LEADERS IN URBAN CHURCHES & COMMUNITIES, Page 12 Pastors have a God-given opportunity to lead their church to impact communities for ...

Can We Be Honest? Creating an Environment of Safety in Our Churches

Research shows that many people in our culture have positive personal experiences with individual Christians in their lives but a negative perception of Christian institutions and how they interact in the public square. How do we bridge that gap and show up differently on contentious issues like abortion, especially after the overturn of Roe v. Wade? In this episode, Angela welcomes her friend, noted author, speaker, former pastor, and host of the Holy Post Podcast, Skye Jethani. Li...

Skye Jethani: Can We Be Honest? Creating an Environment of Safety in Our Churches

Research shows that many people in our culture have positive personal experiences with individual Christians in their lives but a negative perception of Christian institutions and how they interact in the public square. How do we bridge that gap and show up differently on contentious issues like abortion, especially after the overturn of Roe v. Wade? In this episode, Angela welcomes her friend, noted author, speaker, former pastor, and host of the Holy Post Podcast, Skye Jethani. Li...

Visiting Barbieland, part 2 - Grace: The Common Theme for Reconciliation

Angela interviews Rev. Dr. Darice Wright, Associate Pastor of Life Church in suburban Chicago, for an eye-opening conversation on her work to help pastors disciple people in racial reconciliation - and how she discovered that extending grace is essential to healing. They discuss how we can apply grace to discussions on gender, the political divide, and how we, the Church, show up for those who experience unintended pregnancy and abortion. Together they go back to Barbieland to uncov...

Rev. Dr. Darice Wright: Visiting Barbieland, part 2 - Grace: The Common Theme for Reconciliation

Angela interviews Rev. Dr. Darice Wright, Associate Pastor of Life Church in suburban Chicago, for an eye-opening conversation on her work to help pastors disciple people in racial reconciliation - and how she discovered that extending grace is essential to healing. They discuss how we can apply grace to discussions on gender, the political divide, and how we, the Church, show up for those who experience unintended pregnancy and abortion. Together they go back to Barbieland to uncov...

Simone Halpin: Visiting Barbieland – Is the Barbie Movie Political or a Story About Bridge Building?

A nonpolitical discussion about the Barbie movie is important because it touches many people. It's sparking a cultural conversation about how women and men relate to each other, which must be healthy if we're going to have conversations that lead to empathy and understanding of divisive social issues like abortion that the Church is called to address.   Listen in as Angela and her special guest Simone Halpin, CEO of Naomi House, unpack their takeaways from the Barbie Movie and conn...

Visiting Barbieland – Is the Barbie Movie Political or a Story About Bridge Building?

A nonpolitical discussion about the Barbie movie is important because it touches many people. It's sparking a cultural conversation about how women and men relate to each other, which must be healthy if we're going to have conversations that lead to empathy and understanding of divisive social issues like abortion that the Church is called to address.   Listen in as Angela and her special guest Simone Halpin, CEO of Naomi House, unpack their takeaways from the Barbie Movie and conn...

Christy Vines: How to Move from Debate to Dialogue Through the Power of Stories

What’s in a story? We all have one. Hearing a person’s story requires listening to understand and identify the connecting points. What if we stopped the back and forth in the abortion debate to emphatically listen to the other side?  In this episode, Angela sits down with Christy Vines, President and CEO of Ideos Institute, who introduces us to how she and her team use Empathic Intelligence (EmQ) to transform spaces of division. The results advance empathy, transform systems, and in...

How to Move from Debate to Dialogue Through the Power of Stories

What’s in a story? We all have one. Hearing a person’s story requires listening to understand and identify the connecting points. What if we stopped the back and forth in the abortion debate to emphatically listen to the other side?  In this episode, Angela sits down with Christy Vines, President and CEO of Ideos Institute, who introduces us to how she and her team use Empathic Intelligence (EmQ) to transform spaces of division. The results advance empathy, transform systems, and in...

Meeting at A Place of Empathy in Abortion Conversations

Are you a person who wrestles with how conversations about abortion are happening (or not happening) in our churches? If so, listen as Angela unpacks how Christians can find common ground aside from political binary views and meet from a place of empathy based on her journey. If we believe that God loves the woman and the child equally, how can we focus on what we agree on, position the Church as the solution, and open safe spaces to meet people where they are? Resources: Barna G...

Abortion Conversations Without Politics: Now is the time to reimagine how Christians respond to abortion.

If you don't feel at home in either Pro-Life or Pro-Choice, welcome to the ProGrace podcast. Angela Weszely, CEO and co-founder of ProGrace invites you into a conversation on how to rise above the political divide and develop a compassionate approach. She founded ProGrace to equip Christians with a new way to think, talk, and engage around abortion so we can create safe spaces for conversations. Let's model our approach after Jesus, not politics. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen o...

#25, How pregnancy organizations can change the conversation

Denise and Angie talk with Anne Waddell, former Executive Director of Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre in Canada and current Director of Outreach with ProGrace. Anne has an incredible passion to have conversations not only with Christians but throughout our communities. When she talks, people are inspired to look at the issue of abortion in a new way - you will be. too! 

#24, Responses to Holy Post video on abortion

Skye Jethani created a video on abortion and politics for the Holy Post podcast which came out a month before the November 2020 election and received 1 million views. Angie asks him about the responses to his video from Christians, and what that means for us moving forward. You can watch Skye's video here: https://www.holypost.com/post/but-what-about-abortion  

#23, What if Roe vs. Wade is overturned?

In the midst of the debate around how Supreme Court Justices and the President impact abortion laws, Angie, Denise, Lacey, and Krysta talk about what it would mean for Christians if Roe vs. Wade was overturned and abortion was suddenly illegal. To do this, we unpack the questions: What is our primary responsibility as followers of Christ? What is Jesus calling us to do? And what's going to bring the most positive change? 

#22, Exhaustion around abortion conversations during election season

Angie and Denise are joined by Lacey Mason and Krysta Masciale, our new ProGrace team members. We talk about how exhausting it can feel to be passionate about new conversations around abortion during a divisive election season. And we talk about how we've been navigating that.

#21 - Angie and Denise with thoughts on Season 2 episodes

#20 - Pastors Tim Ahlman and Jake Boessling on changing the conversation in their church

Tim Ahlman and Jake Boessling pastor Christ's Greenfield Lutheran Church in Gilbert, AZ. They want to reflect the heart of Jesus in how they address abortion in their church, and talk about the journey they have been on to do that. They also host their own podcast, Lead Time, so we talk about leadership practices that help us all enter into difficult topics and try to engage them like Jesus would. 

#19 - Jeff Logsdon on how a pastor's transparency and humility creates safety

Jeff Logsdon is lead pastor of Hope City Church in Tucson, AZ. He has been on this ProGrace journey with us for the past 2 years, and we are inspired by how he is making his church a safe place for anyone during an unintended pregnancy or after an abortion.  And his journey starts with being honest about his own experience. We were blown away by the way he freely shared his story with us, and we know you will be, too! Jeff shows us what can happen when we have the courage to look inside fi...

#18 - Tammy Abernethy on breaking barriers down in the church

Tammy Abernethy is the Executive Director/CEO of Hope Women's Center, a Christian non-profit organization in the Phoenix area that provides vulnerable women and teen girls with education, mentoring, and support.  Tammy has a lot of discussion with church leaders, and sees what keep Christians from engaging in conversations about unintended pregnancy and abortion. Can "grace go too far?" Do we need to focus on "sin" and "brokenness"? Are we the ones who are to judge? And what about people w...

#17 - Laura McAlpine wants to know the stereotypes Christians have of pro-choice people

We're back with Laura McAlpine! Because she asked us at the end of Episode 4, "why don't you ever ask me the hard questions?" So we did. We tell Laura the number one stereotype we hear from Christians about folks who are pro-choice. She is surprised, and takes us on her journey of being a doula, leading a women's health center, and a self-described "birth junkie."

#16 - Laura McAlpine on how Christian conversations trigger the pro-choice community

Laura McAlpine is Principal of McAlpine Consulting for Growth, and works with us to build bridges in the abortion conversation. She is pro-choice and doesn't identify as Christian. Denise and Angie are Christians creating this new space of ProGrace. Laura listened to all our Season 1 podcasts to see where pro-choice and/or people not of the Christian tradition would be triggered by those conversations. And she tells us in this podcast! 

#15 - Amy Ford on the power of forgiveness

Amy is the Co-Founder and President of Embrace Grace, a non-profit that inspires and equips the church to love on single and pregnant young women and their families. When Amy became pregnant at 19, her boyfriend Ryan approached his mentor, but he refused to marry them because "they had sinned." They continued going to church after getting married, but felt alone in a crowd of people because no one knew what to say.  Years later, Ryan's mentor approached them asking for forgiveness. It's ...

#14 - Tray and Jea on racism and the abortion conversation

Tracey Laroche and Jeanelle Drysdale Miller are the hosts of the web series, Life with Tray and Jea. They are both Caribbean African American and from Brooklyn - Denise and Angie are white and from Illinois. So we asked them to be really honest with us about what would make it hard for Christians from different ethnic backgrounds to work together to have new conversations about abortion. We know this won't be the last time we have a conversation about this! It's SO important, and we gave...

#13 - Jonathan Merritt on listening, language and truth

Jonathan Merritt is an award-winning writer on religion, culture, and politics. He also describes himself as a Christian mystic, so we loved this thoughtful conversation about: - How a white man can have a humble posture in the abortion conversation - Asking questions like Jesus did - Walking with people who are facing an abortion decision -Why the words pro-life and pro-choice are effective but not precise - How something being a "fact" is different than it being the "whole truth"

Bonus episode - Dr. Juli Slattery interviews Angie on recent abortion laws and the movie "Unplanned"

Dr. Juli Slattery, founder of Authentic Intimacy and host of the Java with Juli podcast, interviews Angie on current events. We talk about the recent abortion laws, both pro-life and pro-choice, wrestling through how much of our Christian response to abortion has been political. We also talk about the movie, "Unplanned." 

#11 - Talking about sexuality so we can talk about abortion

Dr. Juli Slattery is founder of Authentic Intimacy and host of the Java with Juli podcast. Angie asks her the tough questions around why we are mostly silent on sexuality in the church - until a woman faces an unintended pregnancy. Juli has such a rich perspective on grace, God's intentionality for sex, and how we can all move toward wholeness - together. It's not us vs. them. It's us. When we can admit that we all face sexual brokenness on some level, we can begin to journey together. 

#10 - Brian Kruckenberg & JJ Spreitzer on their journey to have new conversations at New City Church

Brian Kruckenberg is Lead Pastor and JJ Spreitzer is Family Ministries Director at New City Church in Phoenix. They are on a journey of asking questions, listening, helping their congregation process the abortion issue, and changing the conversation in their church. We talk about grace, mistakes, labels and God's transformational journey for all of us. 

#9 - Lacey Mason on how understanding a pregnant woman's reality changes our abortion conversations

Lacey Mason is a qualitative researcher and strategic consultant. She has conducted 6 research projects with women facing unintended pregnancy, even though she initially dreaded diving into the topic because of the political tension. Based on this research, she helps us process and more deeply understand a woman's reality. Understanding leads to empathy, and empathy changes how we think and talk about abortion. Which can ultimately elevate the conversation out of politics and into supporti...

#8 - Breaking down stereotypes so pro-life and pro-choice people can talk to each other (a 2nd conversation with Laura McAlpine)

This is the second part of our conversation with Laura McAlpine, where we talk about how we can shatter the pro-life and pro-choice stereotypes that keep us from talking to people who have differing views on abortion.  This is the journey we all have been on, so we know others can go on it, too!

# 7 - Our journey with Laura McAlpine shows that if we can find common ground, anyone can!

Laura is Principal of McAlpine Consulting for Growth in Chicago. We met her 8 years ago, when we were leading a Christian pregnancy organization. We quickly found out she was strongly pro-choice, disagreed with the practices of our organization, and had even tried to shut down our organization years before. Whaat?!  With a lot of laughter, we talk about how we met, why we kept on talking, what triggered us - and why we are now good friends who work together to help others find common groun...

#6 - Tyler Johnson and Dennae Pierre on humanizing the abortion issue in our churches

Dennae is Executive Director of Surge Network, Tyler is Lead Pastor of Redemption AZ, and they partner together to help pastors lead healthy churches.  We talk about why they want to have a new conversation in Arizona churches - one where we humanize the abortion issue by interacting with people who have different views and/or experiences than we have had. They also share how they have created a healthy working relationship amidst the current tensions around men and women working together ...

# 5 - Chris Whitford on the real human need revealed by the New York abortion law, and how Christians can respond

Chris is the CEO of Avail, an organization supporting women facing unintended pregnancy in New York City. We talk about her reaction to the abortion law passed in New York, and what it tells us about real human needs in our culture. And how Jesus responded when He encountered people in need.   

#4 - Scott Mehl and Talitha Phillips on how removing political language breaks the silence and increases compassion

Talitha Phillips is CEO of Claris Health LA (an organization that equips and cares for individuals and families before, during and after pregnancy or sexual-health choices), and Scott Mehl is Lead Pastor of Cornerstone Church West LA - and they have an amazing partnership. Scott has realized he can't stay silent and assume people will think the church has a holistic, nonpolitical view. But he has to present the complexity about all people involved in order to facilitate compassion. Talitha...

# 3 - Katelyn Beaty on how Christians can value the woman as much as the child

Katelyn Beaty is a writer, a book author and an editor at Brazos Press. We met several years ago when she was the managing editor at Christianity Today (youngest and first female to have that position!). Katelyn describes herself as committed to women's rights and pro-life at the same time, and we explore how we as Christians can understand and value the woman - with a special invitation for Christian men to respectfully engage. She also talks about her desire to have common ground conversat...

#2 - Skye Jethani asks if overturning Roe v. Wade should be top priority for Christians

We always appreciate Skye's ability to blend cultural and theological insight to address current issues - and he did not disappoint in this podcast! Drawing on Skye's knowledge of history, we talk about how outlawing something without addressing the true cause hasn't worked historically. And of course Skye blends that with a rich theological analysis of Jesus' ministry model, which we love, because who can argue with how Jesus did things?? We think you will love this conversation as much as ...

#1 - Angie & Denise on why they want to have new conversations about abortion

We talk about how we stumbled into the pro-life/pro-choice debate, were a bit shocked, made a lot of mistakes and eventually landed in a place of wanting to have new conversations. Our journey has been impacted by our experience, our faith, and lots of discussion. If you've ever felt like trying to talk about abortion is a no-win situation, we've got a fresh take!