Well, the word is out: I am in the process of writing a book for Convergent!


The book will demonstrate how the explosion of exvangelical/post-evangelical content and perspectives in the last 5 years is part of a longer history of people leaving white evangelicalism, why new technologies like social media have been both instrumental and inflammatory, and how a post-Trump, post-Jan 6th environment demands the end of white evangelical hegemony.
Iβm extremely grateful to Convergent for helping me make this project a reality. Publishing a book has been a lifelong dream, and a privilege I do not take for granted.
People have been leaving white evangelicalism for yearsβdecades, even. Todayβs exvangelicals/post-evangelicals/post-Christians come from a long line of leavers.1 What feels different about this moment is the access we have to one another, and the ability to share our stories and find communities of people who relate to our experience.
At the same time, these personal experiences do not happen in a vacuum. Especially here in the US, we are embedded in social structures and cultural norms that are dictated by white evangelicalism and other factions of the Christian nationalist religious right. Todayβs white evangelical institutions & their apologists present themselves as the direct recipients of an eternal and immutable gospel, but this account is fictional, ahistorical, and prejudicial. The modern evangelical βbubbleβ has been built up for well over a century, expanding and encroaching upon more and more of peopleβs lives, allowing them to live an alternative lifestyle wholly separate from the rest of society.
That bubble has burst, in large part because of the groundswell of people talking publicly about their lives in ways that cannot be easily countered.
Those who left evangelicalism are graduates, not drop-outs as Caitlin Stout said so beautifully.

These are early days. Weβre just now seeing the first fruits of an Exvangelical Dispersal, as people form new communities or find existing ones online and elsewhere, and explore more expansive visions of identity, society, and religion.
This historical moment is precarious yet full of potential. Iβm grateful for the opportunity to take part in that conversation.
This turn of phrase itself is from an old Caedmonβs Call song.
Fantastic! Iβm looking forward to it.
Congrats!
Why I left the LCMS:
https://labyrinth.church/assets/ron-williams-suspended-sentence.pdf
https://labyrinth.church/assets/tom-speed.pdf
https://www.thenorthwestern.com/story/news/crime/2016/09/29/former-pastor-gets-prison-child-enticement/91264412/
https://www.newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/former-church-employee-charged-with-sexual-assault/article_21dd5f9c-bde1-54f9-b631-137453e41c86.html
https://www.fox6now.com/news/west-allis-man-pleads-guilty-to-child-sexual-exploitation-possession-of-child-porn
https://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/2016-nr-056.aspx
https://mynewsla.com/orange-county/2015/09/16/o-c-english-teacher-pleads-guilty-to-sexting-student/
https://journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/former-waterford-teacher-sentenced-to-months-for-receiving-child-porn/article_090fffc4-2ce9-11e3-ad8f-001a4bcf887a.html
https://www.qchron.com/editions/central/maspeth-hs-teacher-admits-to-affair-with-student-avoids-jail/article_3d9499d3-5073-587f-a977-2e8a53ac2d82.html
https://www.thegazette.com/2010/12/20/former-pastor-to-serve-20-years-for-sexual-abuse/
https://qctimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/trinity-lutheran-faces-second-lawsuit-over-s-sexual-abuse/article_2b992c76-b2f6-11de-98d6-001cc4c002e0.html
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2016/12/02/teacher-gets-prison-sex-student/94740308/
https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/01/22/private-christian-school-sued-over-teacher-sex-scandal/
https://archive.ph/oW9f0#selection-4229.297-4233.243
https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/local/2014/07/10/victims-possible-teacher-sex-assault-case/12479353/
https://www.dl-online.com/news/567778-sex-charges-against-ex-pastor-stir-online-controversy-minnesota-missouri-synod-lutherans
https://hoiabc.com/2021/09/15/new-details-emerge-in-police-investigation-of-washington-pastor/
https://www.cbs58.com/news/new-allegations-of-dehumanizing-incidents-spark-more-calls-for-change-at-racine-lutheran-high-school
https://www.wisn.com/article/racine-students-say-lutheran-school-officials-fail-to-act-on-racist-behaviors/37893942
https://www.courthousenews.com/parents-say-school-had-kids-write-to-child-molester/
https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/pastor-accuses-the-lutheran-church-missouri-synod-of-institutional-mobbing/article_823a519a-a5a8-5397-bf23-628c92fa0623.html#:~:text=in%20North%20America.-,The%20Rev.,shrinking%20denomination%20until%20they%20quit.
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2012/03_04/2012_04_15_Smith_SexCharges.htm
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2012/03_04/2012_03_31_Smith_LakeGeorge.htm
In case you need more items to list why people leave their churchs