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In this week’s episode of Faithful Dissent, we run through the crazy start to 2026. We talk through the ICE shooting in Minnesota, Gunboat diplomacy in Latin America and its broader implications, and a larger pattern we keep bumping up against: how Christian leaders across contexts sometimes fall short of the moral clarity they’re called to embody.

It's not been an easy start to the New Year, but we're here to talk it out with each other and we're glad you're hanging out with us on the ride.

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In this New Year’s grab bag episode of Faithful Dissent, James and Brian look back on 2025 and talk through the moments that shaped it—personally, politically, and spiritually. From dogs at Barnes & Noble and surfing lessons to sports rivalries, holiday traditions, AI anxiety, and the ongoing unraveling of American evangelical politics, this conversation moves where real life tends to move: between the meaningful and the mundane.

Along the way, they reflect on:

• What brought joy and surprise this year—and what simply helped them survive it
• Why politics feels exhausting, confusing, and unavoidable
• How AI is reshaping truth, trust, and daily life (for better and worse)
• What faith looks like in a culture obsessed with success, wealth, and certainty
• Why slow practices, embodied life, and attention to what really matters still matter

This episode isn’t a manifesto or a hot take—it’s a year-end table conversation about what we’re carrying with us into the new year, what we’re trying to let go of, and why hope still feels possible.

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What do people actually mean when they talk about “deconstruction”?

In this laid-back, unscripted conversation, James and Brian sit down to talk honestly about doubt, faith, abuse, certainty, and why so many people feel like the version of Christianity they inherited no longer works.

They trace how “deconstruction” has shifted over time—from backsliding, to honest questioning, to full-blown internet industry—and ask what healthy deconstruction might actually look like. Along the way, they wrestle with church hurt, certainty culture, conspiracy thinking, power, leadership failure, and why Christianity keeps confusing confidence with faith.

This isn’t a takedown and it isn’t a defense. It’s a conversation about staying honest, staying human, and figuring out what faith looks like when easy answers stop working.