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Thank you Newsstand Studio at 1 Rockefeller Plaza for providing a place for me to record this episode for y’all! No more Brooklyn closet recording!!!

Today marks a first on The Refined Collective Podcast… I have three guests on at the same time. Why? Because I just needed to talk to all of the hosts of the Nights at the Round Table Podcast. My guests are actress/comedian, Anjelah Johnson; singer/songwriter/producer, Manwell Reyes; and story-teller/preacher Brandon Smith. In this episode of TRC, we talk a lot about deconstruction, sex, and doubts. All four of us love God but have a different spiritual journey with God— and that is okay. 

Manwell’s Deconstruction

• Manwell shares where his own spiritual journey began and how he began to question the black and white and step into the grey.

• “I find myself more on the sides of people questioning than the people who swear to the good Lord Jesus that they’re correct.” -Manwell Reyes

Brandon’s Deconstruction

• Brandon opens up about how reading Brian Zhar’s From Water to Wine marked a transformation in his spiritual journey.

• “I’m allowed to have doubts and that is perfectly okay. I believe more in Jesus today than I did when I thought I had it all figured out.” -Brandon Smith

Anjelah’s Deconstruction

• Anjelah reflects on entering the church as a child and shares her experience with purity culture. Her deconstruction didn’t start until after her marriage when she started questioning the views the church has towards the LGBTQ community.

• “Something is not sitting right about being a Christian if that is what being a Christian is.” -Anjelah Johnson

Resources

• For all things Manwell’s music, go to ManwellReyes.com.

• For all things Anjelah, go to Anjelah.com.

• Check out Laugh on Beat to keep up with all things NATRT here.

• Check out Nights at the Round Table on iTunes here.

• Listen to my episode on Nights at the Round Table here.

• Buy Brian Zahnd’s Water to Wine: Some of My Story here.

• Buy John Stott’s book Your Mind Matters here.

What came up for you today?

What questions are you afraid of asking?

Why aren’t you asking them?

What things have you accepted as true without doing your own research?

Next week, the hosts of the Nights at the Round Table Podcast are back for part two of our conversation where we talk all about sex. Specifically, if they had to do it all over again, would they still wait until marriage to have sex?

The countdown is ON for my book, Sexless in the City: A Sometimes Sassy, Sometimes Painful, Always Honest Look at Dating, Desire, and Sex. It’s coming out in just over a month and you can still pre-order! It would mean so much to me if you did. Head over to sexlessinthecitybook.com to grab your copy!

Real talk… After spending a whole pandemic in sweatpants, I decided to freshen up my wardrobe so I have been shopping and selling on Curtsy. I love it because they have the coolest pieces at thrift store prices. It has my favorite brands like Lululemon, Zara, and Levi’s at up to 70% off. If you want a sustainable way to get your favorite brands delivered to your door, download the Curtsy app and use promo code REFINED for 15% off your first order.

We invest large amounts of money into our careers. But with things like love, we think “It’ll happen when it happens,” and with things like kids, we think “I’ll think about that down the road.” What if we were just as intentional about our reproductive health as we are our careers? Modern Fertility is an easy way to test your fertility with an at-home test at a fraction of the cost. Go to ModernFertility.com/refined for $20 off your fertility test.