Come honor the journey of Tripp Fuller with us today! Tripp is a self-proclaimed "Theology Nerd" but he's so much more! He is an Open and Relational Theologian, Author of several books, including co-author with Tom Oord of the new book God After Deconstruction, and he's the one who started Theology Beer Camp several years ago! His journey has been one of absolute curiosity, questioning and finding peace with his faith while also helping countless others along the way. Oh...and apparently, he made a movie?! Listen and learn all about it!
Want to learn more about Tripp? Check out his website!
Listen to Tripp's podcast, Homebrewed Christianity.
Want to check out his movie, Return to Edmond? Here it is right here!
Meet Tripp at Theology Beer Camp October 17-19! Here is the link to register! And make sure you use code JOURNEY2024 to save $50 off the registration fee!
Let Leslie know if you want to be on the Wait List for Religious Rehab, a Group Coaching Experience for those going through Deconstruction! Find out more here! And send Leslie an email at leslienease@gmail.com to let her know if you'd like to be on the Wait List!
Honoring the Journey is hosted, produced and edited by Leslie Nease and the artwork for the show is also created by Leslie Nease.
Interested in working with Leslie as your Life/Faith Transitions Coach? Check out her website and learn more about what she offers! https://www.leslieneasecoaching.com
If you are looking for community as you deconstruct or just a place to go and enjoy the company of people who are seekers, learners and who are looking to connect with the Divine without religious baggage, please join the Private Facebook Community! Leslie is very passionate about connection and community, so if that sounds like you, please come join us!
This choir cast podcast is brought to you by the book too much and not enough. Sacred Thoughts Set Out Loud by Karen Shock. This book is for anyone who has big questions about God and is feeling like a misfit among the people who seem to have it all figured out. Journey with me as we dive into the hard stuff and ask the questions no one else seems to want to ask available now on Amazon. The day we're honoring the journey of Trip Fuller you may know him from home brewed Christianity podcast or perhaps one of the many books that he's written or maybe you've been to theology beer camp. Perhaps you met him there. His journey is so powerful and he's so much fun I can't wait for you to meet him in just a couple minutes but first I just wanted to remind you that religious rehab is coming up this fall so if you want to join this group coaching experience with me and some other people from around the world there is still time to get on the wait list. I'm going to be sending out an email on August 15th with details of when it starts how long it is all the good things so just try to sign up before then. All you need to do is shoot me an email Leslie Mies at gmail.com and just say that you want to be on the wait list for the next religious rehab. I'll make sure you get that email in August and of course theology beer camp is coming up in October and we're going to talk about that here with this podcast with Trip but if you want to attend this is going to be the biggest year ever over 400 people already have registered and if you're interested in registering and saving some money you can save 50 bucks by using my code journey 2024 when you register. Theology beer camp is basically a unique three day conference that happens near Denver Colorado this year. It's going to be bringing together theology nerds from around the world craft beer and a blend of intellectual engagement community building and a ton of fun. I'm going to be there with my guest Kelly Strickland and we can't wait to meet you face to face if you're coming. You're going to meet so many great people though a lot of people you probably follow right here on the internet so check it out there's a link in the show notes for theology beer camp. Okay, journeyers it's time let's go honor the journey of Trip Fuller. Welcome back to honoring the journey I'm Leslie Easter host and today I am here with none other than Trip Fuller who if you are in the deconstruction community probably know a little bit about him he is on that homebrewed Christianity podcast and he's also really active in the open and relational theology arena helping teach people and help people along the way it's funny I actually was talking to my coach one day I have a coach I'm a coach but I also am coached and her name is Sarah you know Sarah and she she said Leslie I think I think you may be open and relational theology you need to check out this website and she sent me your website trip but I was like oh my gosh this is exactly what I believe so it was kind of cool how I found you and he's here on the show today just to kind of share his journey and give us some encouragement how you doing today trip I'm doing good I uh all the people Sarah's introduced me to I like so there's a high likelihood this would go well it's not it's probably my fault no I'm sure it'll be great I'm sure it'll be fun yes there is pretty great we had her on the podcast already season one so I couldn't wait to hear her story and celebrate her journey and today we get to do that about you but before we get started trip I've been asking a random question so I did not prepare you I did not tell you I was gonna do this this is something so that I can get to know trip not trip the theologian your theologian or the you know minister or the podcast but just trip fuller I want to know who you are so my question for you is what is your biggest pet peeve oh oh yeah you can think it's okay you can think my biggest pet peeve so when you're in conversations with people especially the kinds that you know you end up if you're me a lot of times people make declarative statements about something where you just say to yourself I don't think they have thought much about this or it's something that includes like an empirical statement that okay isn't you know being thought about give me an example I hear family in the background and I want you to know that's totally okay with me well the dog is running around I'm a family girl so I get it and you'll hear my dogs they're my co-host so we're well we got it we adopted a dog maybe like five or six months ago who is was living in a hoarders home and he's got his own own vibe okay that's fun I love that yeah yeah but yeah I get I get frustrated when people make make statements that I go like well if you're going to state it that strongly have you thought about it before like investigated it about like either say where they it's a statement about how humans work but they haven't thought about well what do the psychological sciences say about this or they make a statement about like well this is just obviously what the Bible teaches and you're like have you what does that mean I know that's what you think it says but you haven't thought about this that that tends to get me irritated but not in like a it's like a the pet peeve part is because I don't experience it like they have genuine interest or curiosity or open to learning it's a more of a conversation stopper where they're letting you know like I'm only hoping to hear from you assuming you're going to see what I want yeah and and maybe I had to pet peeve just because I used to do that I was gonna say usually the thing that bothers us the most about other people is something we've either come from or are wrestling with but I will tell you think about it trip you've been in the evangelical space for a while and so you know that when they teach us about apologetics like the bottom line is if you just leave them with the scripture they can't argue because it's God's word and it's over you just you can have the last word if you just use a scripture do you remember that didn't you get taught I so so the I was a Baptist preachers kid but we were like edgy badness yeah like they're there's like this certain parts of what people assume if you're like oh you're bad is kid that just weren't mine like I mean even about the Bible stuff I remember in it was fourth grade and we were in you know I was doing what Baptists are supposed to do you're supposed to read the Bible and pray every day and and it was getting there Eastern I read all four of the gospels a passion there it was like you know the last week of Jesus life and I made a chart which is one thing which you didn't have foreign policy on it so you know that's how you know you're an edgy Baptist is it your Bible chart isn't about foreign policy and and I call my parents you know to my room and I'm like I believe you gave me a broken Bible and they're like why and I'm like look I can mark Jesus a sweat and blood let this cup pass me in John he's in charge of the whole thing they come to arrest him they're like where's Jesus and he goes I am and they fall over right I can and sometimes he's freaking out on the cross my god why have you abandoned me the other times he's like it is finished there's zombies and Matthew they all get up no any of the others why do we not talk about the zombies more often I yeah I'm I'm like I think that that's such that can hook so many middle schoolers why would you not put it all four gospels absolutely yeah we need to put that on that where it's like not even dying on the same day a Passover in all four gospels so yeah and you know and in my parents like no that's how it is it's not broken and and and I and that after that was kind of like when I became a nerd where they would just if you ask good questions my parents would give me a book and like well we'll talk about it after you read this and so the I I guess part of my frustration around those kind of answers is where if I started figuring this out before puberty yeah then you were one of those kids yeah you were asking questions you were upsetting your Sunday school teachers weren't you trip yeah I think that was the the nightmare for youth ministers I'm like why are we playing these cheesy games can we get to the Bible study part this is I'm sure they loved you I'm sure that all your friends all your peers were like yeah trips here we had a question we were gonna play hide-and-seek and he raised a question again oh my gosh I love it well that's fun I love that you were that way you were so you were a precocious kid and you had a lot of questions and it sounds to me like in reading your bios and hearing you on podcasts and everything like you love the Star Wars sort of idea like tell me about where did this come from was this something you saw it like an impressionable age what was the deal oh well I so from middle school on I was in a art school for theater and such and you know that that sets you up to have friends that when they re-released yeah all the Star Wars the original trilogy and theaters in the 90s that you're gonna go camp out you know get pizza ordered people that are young don't know this like you used to have to get tickets at the movie theater right and then you had to get there early enough if you want to sit together yeah so that's you know that like going I mean I'd we would watch them every Christmas and and such but then getting to see them in the theater I was like oh this is amazing and so those kind of stories I'm in middle school I started reading Lord of the Rings I've read it a lot yeah any of the kind of like big stories where epic heroes journey yeah we're in and I find them helpful because you know in some sense most of Western history the big story everyone shared was the biblical one and then like even all the big theology debates are like ways you tell that story and such and the the further we got into modernity it wasn't like human stopped asking questions it required big stories to then wrestle with it and think about it it's just we ended up with a lot more stories and so when you're in a kind of multi-religious space and things everyone may have their own sacred texts and stuff but the if you're with a bunch of people that all know Star Wars you can have a lot of the same conversations or you all know Lord of the Rings and yeah that kind of thing so the pop culture stuff you know started just because I liked it and then when I got older I realized that you know there's a certain dignity human beings have I think is it we ask certain questions that at least the other species we've interacted with so far don't yeah I'm not gonna speak for other solar systems but the and so those stories like yeah there's some of it's the spectacle of seeing it or reading it but the other is their stories that you kind of find yourself in and it helps you think about meaning and truth and value and goodness and justice and friendship and all these other kind of things that that humans like is part of the either like dignity or the burden of being a finite person that knows you're going to die is like what do you do with your existence and shared stories or places you kind of wrestle with it well you'll love this trip the first time I saw Star Wars I was in eighth grade when it came out I think seventh or eighth grade and it was at the drive-in theater and it was a double feature and the first one was money Python oh that's epic it was I don't it was the one where he says it's just a flesh wound oh yeah question for the Holy Grail I think it's not a said but all his limbs are like cut off you know it was hell but but I'm in like I'm thinking this is such a stupid movie when I'm in the eighth grade I just want Star Wars right but I had to watch money Python first before I can watch Star Wars so I just always remember that it was just an odd I probably watched that many times of what Star Wars it I'm not surprised and I did like it when I watched it when I was older but I think a little bit of the comedy was like way over my head when I was in eighth grade so and well in British comedy is its own thing and money Python like dials it up to 11 oh yeah totally comedy yeah when they the art theater like not like theater theater but like movie theater near where I went to college was showing the Holy Grail and my wife and I were dating and I'm like you got to come see this movie she'd never seen it because she grew up in such a fundamentalist place she didn't watch worldly movies and so we go with a bunch of my theater friends and we are rolling laughing and she's like you all know all the jokes are saying it with them she why is this funny right and in the middle of the film there's a bit where it goes to a cartoon of the writer writing the story and he has a heart attack and dies and that's the only time she laughed the whole film and it's it's like a it's not even in the top 20 jokes in it and she's just laughing it's like the only time none of us laughed and she's like oh my god that was funny and I don't think she's his own I don't think she's yeah she didn't want it again it's just played in the car while driving you know we're in the front seat and our oldest will pick that on road trips to be the old how many kids you have three three three three and how old are they 16 10 and 7 it's a big oldest the oldest is a free PhD kid oh yes okay all right so they grew up a little different huh yes yeah I have that I have that situation we have two younger ones well they're like not young anymore they're 23 and 25 but then I also have 32 and 34 so we had two sets and the first two grew up you know we were heathens we were like you know partying and all that and then the second two grew up and we were like super into like evangelicalism and like quick drinking and quit all the things and so they had a very different upbringing so it was interesting so tell me about okay so you were very inquisitive as a young man I take it and your dad's a Baptist preacher how did it go when you started kind of veering away from what you were taught and understanding the Bible in a more open and relational way how did that go yeah well I like when we my family started church planting in 5th grade in Raleigh North Carolina and that's when I started going to the art magnet schools which if you move from a rural part of North Carolina where like the religious diversity is the kind of Baptist you are to all of a sudden you're in a you know a theater program where being in evangelicals a minority then your world just kind of gets bigger because of your friends experiences so encountering people in multiple religious traditions or none that have beautiful lives raises questions having good friends that are in the queer community does the same and so I never like felt like this big I don't know like dramatic shift it seemed like the the the God revealed in Christ like what what does that look like in this context and so there's kind of like a I don't know a general evolution of sorts the the when it goes to questions around open relational stuff my family were what called particular Baptist which are like the reformed ones so that was like the bigger argument among but I say only one my parents said I won you know now you know interesting but so so growing up there seem to be like a kind of natural growth through learning and expanding through experiences and learning new things and like in middle school I read all the like CS Lewis books and started reading Bonhoeffer and things and then in high school got into like Paul Tilick and historical Jesus stuff and all that so the and that was always like encourage like those were like gifts you know like oh you're into this we bought you book kind of thing I remember in college when my when my dad was like oh I think you're right about omnipotence and and I was like I finally won one right and then when they switched worship you know for gender inclusive language and things at church and stuff but none of it seemed kind of like rupturous and I think that's just because changing your mind like in growing and all those those kind of things were seen as virtues that my parents had so then me doing it even if we didn't end up in the same space wasn't a weird thing it's like oh that's nice but gave you freedom yeah that's awesome the big usual yeah no I found that out when I got yeah that's very unusual but the other thing when I got to college I went to a Baptist school as I realized that my family were not normal for Baptist you know I remember I I called dad after like one of the first classes a religion class and I was like you wouldn't believe this just some of the pastor's kids in here they don't even think women could be ministers like you know and he's like yep yeah because if you're if your family or church function only go to churches they work at yeah exactly yeah so then you're in so then you know you're like look at this is wild but my like big breakup with like and from that point I don't think I ended up ever I only worked in kind of like liberal mainline places after that was kind of after 9/11 all the Islamophobia kind of evangelicals cheering on war and stuff I I was kind of out after that like when when your peers and stuff or like with a straight face explaining the guy that said turn the other cheek and pray for your enemies is like no let's bomb Iraq and I ran and I don't know let's go attack these other countries and stuff it did in in the the experience of having and I imagine a lot of there'll be people in college that have had this feeling during Black Lives Matter I know I've heard from people about that and might be having it now with all the protests around Israel and Palestine where you're like why are the people most vocal about obviously immoral ugly things also like the ones most confident that they're on God's side and is that a tribe I want to relate to and so yeah after that I had a hard time I've worked at disciples of Christ and UCC churches and and academic spaces and things because I didn't feel like muting myself or tolerating like in a congregation all sorts of stuff where you're like no that's just not cool in Divinity School when we found out we were gonna be parents after that we kind of that was when we said okay well we're not gonna work at churches where you debate whether you welcome everyone care about the planet and justice you know it's one thing if you're an adult and they know who you are and you're allowed to be one of the voices right being present especially when you're working with students being knowing you're there and if someone else is there who knows what they'll say if they come out to their youth minister and this kind of thing but once once we knew we were gonna be parents it's like we don't want them picking up theologically by theological osmosis yeah you know it's real cool we debate whether everyone's welcome and not like whether divorce sees are that's right when Jesus said something about that we're gonna talk about these other issues and right so do you ever find a church that does that or where you like I mean so in when I'm we moved we moved to Los Angeles where I was doing my PhD and worked at a UCC church there United Church of Christ which is very progressive mainline denomination there I I think I was the token straight guy with a high Christology on stage and then worked with the disciples of Christ church I mean they're both mainline Protestant denominations we moved back from Scotland I was at I was teaching at the University of Edinburgh for three years in religion and science and we moved back to the states about a year and a half ago and you know not having been a in the South for so long and with kids that grew up in Los Angeles and a European capital they they're foreigners even though my wife and I are from here right and not going to a church because they hired you makes finding a church quite a chore I'll just say that oh yeah I I have lots of thoughts of what I would do differently if I was in charge of churches now especially in in areas where there just aren't options for families that want their kids being put in not just families I think the other the biggest thing is most churches haven't adopted the reality of like longer single adults right almost everything at churches are geared towards families and and so like on top of like theological issues on top of that like every other place you take your kids cares about kids experience like schools are so much better now and thinking about how kids interact how they learn how they build community and most churches still run like it was in 1940s my husband oh has said that for so long he said I feel like the Christian community is like 25 to 30 years behind like the world like they just can't catch up because they are afraid to change even though they are full of school teachers I know I know it's the same I when I was in charge of Christian Ed stuff and I and you know you're sitting there you're theoretically in charge but you're looking at people who who are twice your age and work with children and have changed how they do less than planes and everything to like adopt the different learning styles like like all these kind of things I'm like yeah like take our curriculum as a suggestion like I've no problem talking about content things or thinking about it where you feel like why don't know Christianity as well just like working with kids that's fine but they we're not the institution to tell you how their spiritual themes and these but when it goes actually working with kids you'll do it all day like your teachers this is you were called this is your vocation you're good at it like and you're deciding to spend a whole nother day working with children like yeah and it was it was wild like hearing what actual school teachers the suggestions they make and how they're rather simple things but the experience for kids families goes up because you know actual humans that this is their life long investment give input yeah yeah so you guys at this point where are you still in LA or did you guys know we're in Greensboro North Carolina now so we've been here about a year and a half being back in the States and you're back in the Bible Belt kind of how's that it's something yeah it got it's funny we moved we moved in '08 like yeah so we moved between voting for Obama and him getting inaugurated and I think that sent off a series of changes in southern religion that I am certain yeah I'm not I'm not sure we're helpful yeah I like to think of it kind of like through all the different series of people deconstructing there's like this big it's like a giant stew of just like white evangelical religion and it's simmering and the more it simmers every time something happens there's like a whole group of people who leave yeah and but the ones that stay it gets thicker and denser and now it's just like glop and so like people that are escaping recently you know they like they weren't even allowed to read Shane Clayboarding College you know like where like because so many people have been invited to leave or shown the door or told the silence themselves or not say something the the diversity even of just theological options in those spaces has gotten more and more concentrated with the parts that I find most repulsing and so yeah like when you hear people you know in the questions and stories and experiences they had now so many of them just seem from a much uglier version of faith than the one I had when I was you know younger before I just ended up in other spaces yeah yeah I feel like the I we saw a big crop of people I guess come out of the stew in 2016 and then 2020 I think you know and I think we're probably about to get another round of people who are like okay all right I dealt with it twice before but I can't do it again and so yeah we all need to get ready to just love on some people who are gonna be hurting you know what I mean that's just that's how I feel I sense it I mean it's very predictable and unfortunately I think when evangelicalism got into bed with politics we lost our voice as you know what I mean and and I it's okay though because like we're all kind of like trying to heal and I think it's better to speak from that place of healing anyway if you're gonna speak about Christ because he was pro healing and pro people oh no that sounds like part of a communist agenda there Leslie I know I know I'm in big trouble pro healing yeah well depends on who well that's true only I know I was just talking to Tom or he was on the show not too long ago when we were talking about like you know as soon as I start talking about the love of God the relentless of you know people are like but what about the justice you know and it's like oh come on like can we just like chill for a second and like appreciate that God is love and you know yeah I mean we can recognize the justice part but I feel like I don't know I get I get frustrated I know you probably do too it's one of those things where people really aren't doing the research they're only looking at one view and it was the view that they were taught and and not thinking of the whole big picture of humanity so yeah but the like that is the view they were taught right and no one picked where they were born right right then I don't like I tried or remember that because like the more stories I hear who could have also been Baptist preachers kids that didn't have they would have had parents respond really differently or they didn't have the right youth minister or teacher at the right time to encourage something right like so the the I understand when people carry hurt and shame and and trauma and stuff like that the way it's impacted you makes it feel really really personal right but when that then becomes way like legitimates dehumanizing other people who happen to be thrown into the world and right from place where they just and they learned the world interpreted through the ideology where they were yeah and and in the first time you part with the lens it feels like the whole world comes apart where all of a sudden you go from having been born in a place where everything you encounter has already come interpreted through the way you understand language and the symbols and everything in the moment any of it starts breaking up and you can't figure out how to repair it there's a general anxiety of well then like where do I put my feet like where how do I understand so part of what the defensiveness and ugliness I I think is people that can't differentiate their encounter with God in their the place of origin from the reality of that love outside of it and so part of that defensiveness and ugliness is like no but I have experienced this and that if if all these ideas or assumptions or visions are required for the experience I've had of the divine to be true then I'm going to go defend it yeah and then the more stories you hear of people who are like well that the relationship with God didn't end the moment you know I admitted the question I had or you know whatever right yeah so yeah I try to give I try to remember that yeah because it plus it's it's a the number of people who've changed their mind because they were named called bullied yeah it doesn't doesn't work that way no and I have found the biggest healing for me has been in understanding Leslie that's who you used to be like you used to feel that way I know exactly how they feel and I completely understand whenever somebody comes up against me and they're frustrated and they don't like what I'm saying I get it a hundred percent and I think having empathy in that has helped heal my heart and like not to take it personal like I'm not they're not mad at me they're just mad because the world's being rocked their their worldview is being shaken a little bit and that's scary that's really scary when you find every bit of your identity every bit of your purpose every bit of sense of this world when you find it in that and somebody's shaken it a little bit yeah Gary I mean I get that I totally get it yeah well that image I think is helpful right like of remembering the different versions of you that have existed because they were all part of getting you to where you are now right and and so like trying to have a big enough vision where at least all the previous versions of you are welcome and that doesn't mean you haven't assessed them or judging like obviously you have like you don't people don't change your mind end up in other places you know by just happenstance but the all the places you've been are a part of where you are now and as we learn to tell those parts of our own story with the kind of grace we want to give ourselves as we go through it then hopefully they can be something we extend other people who are in similar places in the present totally agree I love that yeah I heard a teaching I think it was Rob Bell me 14 years ago or something where he talks about like you just got a love even though it may irritate you what you used to think or believe or teach or whatever you know when you think about you're like that's that was me that was you know it's not who I am anymore but it was a step towards who I am now and you know to appreciate me 14 years ago I love that I think it's so good and it's so healthy to remember you know compassion compassion because if God is all about love but we're on the other side of what we used to believe about God and we're not showing that love what good are we we're like a clinging symbol so very nice trip I love that well we're gonna take a quick break when we get back we have a couple of fun things to talk about I want to talk about your book that just came out that I'm super excited about it just I just read God after deconstruction and also we want to talk about theology beer camp because finally I get to go and I'm so excited so we'll talk about that in just a minute and we're back thank you so much for hanging out with us here on honoring the journey trip Fuller is here and we've been talking about his journey it's been really really cool hearing his perspectives and how he saw it and that's I think the beauty of listening to other people's stories is hearing like we can be in the same church and have a completely different experience and doesn't really sound like your experience growing up in a Baptist faith because of your parents it sounds like it was very healthy and very like you were encouraged to grow and that's just awesome it's not always the experience but it was yours and I love that but as we as we were talking before the break you and Tom or just wrote a book God after deconstruction and it just came out how it's probably doing really well I would imagine yeah I'm optimistic you're optimistic it's so good well it's kind of like a little handbook like if you are going through deconstruction maybe you've been going through it for a while I think it's and you just kind of want to make sense I don't know you want to make sense of where you're at you don't want to ditch you know some people going through deconstruction they ditch their faith altogether I love you know whatever you believe what you got to believe but personally I don't want to give up my faith in God I don't want to give up Christ I don't even want to give up the Bible I just want to look at it in a healthy way and I think that's probably why you guys wrote this book yeah it was inspired by a Tom and I did a number of surveys and stuff on the reasons people would say they began faith transition deconstruction or whatever and in the book wants to both say like yeah there there's something to learn by the fact that large numbers of people ask particular questions or see particular challenges or struggles and I think when the when people raise those questions and are told that's not the correct answer now here it is repeat it till you believe it kind of thing that not wonderfully helpful but what happens if you take those questions as sites for theological reflection so in the book looking at the kind of the nine biggest reasons came up in surveys and such and then like what happens if those criticisms are actually helpful and what how do you understand God where your vision of God isn't just reintroducing the conclusion that generated the problem to begin with so and and doing it you know where it's not written in a way for our academic peers but for others and yeah stories and and quotes and stuff from people who filled out the surveys and things in it I think it it kind of we will have forced us to to write and articulate in a different way than normal and hopefully people are able to I guess part like in having so many different people's experiences in it not feel alone in it right that we've done a number of events and stuff around it and did a whole online class thing and stuff with it and the response has been very positive so yeah it's been great and I I think the underlying message is you know you're not alone like there are people who you can hang with that you can talk with that you can learn from and listen to but also share with and I think that we're learning that more and more I think it's hard but it's also thank God for the internet because I feel like a lot of us in this deconstruction community you know we it's hard to find people in your community you know like vicinity I know because I've tried to start groups before and people are afraid to come to them they're you know it's it's scary to do that but like it's so much easier to find people who are kind of where you're at on the internet and so this it's just a reminder I think this community is growing and I think it's good I think it's really important but one of the things I love about theology beer camp I've been listening you guys have been doing this how how long have you been doing it for a while I think the first one was in 2016 okay yeah I was gonna say because I since I've started deconstructing I've I just have heard of it it's been sort of there but then the last few years I was like oh and I've always wanted to go but it's like the weekend of my daughter's birthday and I was like oh I can't do that I can't do that but this year I was like alright Kennedy you're turning 26 like are you okay if I go to Denver she's like mom I don't care I was like okay good so I get to go this year I'm so excited I've always wanted to because I feel like this is a great opportunity again for people in this community who are asking the questions you know nerding out over theology and just a chance to get together with like-minded people I can't even tell you how excited I am so tell me about tell me about why you even started it well me the first year in 2016 it started with people so kind of early on I'd started doing live podcasts once a month at different breweries in LA when I lived there and then those some of those would end up on the internet and then or parts of it and then people are like well I want to go to this and occasionally I would get invited to go do them at conferences now a lot people do live podcasts this is before it was like a thing when you would have to explain to people what a podcast is you download it on your computer then you upload it to your iPod and then you listen to it and so the if you are a musical theater and philosophy major who did a PhD in philosophy and religion and our minister who also ran giant youth camps then that's kind of like beer camp is the adult version of all of the above yeah so I originally the first year I was like oh well I'll do an event where we go to multiple breweries and I'll sell like 30 tickets rent a van and then we'll do different events at breweries and then we sold way more tickets the first day and I was like well I guess we have to do it in one place so that that kind of initiated doing it then after that I would do it in different cities you know and you'll and always get a bunch of the local breweries to bring beer so you can if you go the beer nerds get to try lots of beer theology nerds meet lots of other the theologians come and hang out I try to only have everyone do like one thing so you're mostly hanging out and then I've always invited other podcasts and and stuff so yeah it grew over time and then the people that come the kind of different people that come has grown as well so early on like the audience is almost all really big theology nerds or their friends with one and they like beer and and then over time it kind of grew as more like you know in 2016's where you start this whole other wave of deconstruction that people then find the podcast realize their episodes all the way back to 08 and and things so over time it kind of took on a life of its own obviously in lockdown and all that stuff we didn't get to do it so two years ago I had emailed everyone because I was turning 40 and was like I'm gonna do beer camp and it's gonna be my 40th birthday party and I haven't seen anyone because we've been stuck in lockdown in Europe so yeah let's do this and then all my friends that I emailed said yes so then all of a sudden I'm like well now there's like 25 theologians and 25 podcasts coming how do I do this so then that involved a oh we're gonna have multiple stages we're gonna do this like it keeps growing yeah it's so rolled out because finding a church that's open and affirming let's you day drink yeah an airport like that is you know there's only so many of those so two years ago in Chapel Hill it sold out there's like 250 people then last year Springfield was 450 this year in Denver we're St. Andrew United methods which is has even a little more space so yeah it so it's grown with the new waves of deconstruction people in different spaces so in the at the event there's like multiple stages I mean obviously there's like the main stage stuff but yeah there's there's like music throughout and art and opportunities for like art and spiritual practice reflections discussion groups there's a stage it's like all nerd junk like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars and stuff and then there's one that's like the super theology nerd stage and there's one that's like not super nerdy and there's something everyone you say yeah and there's like weird stuff too like I think we're I'm I'm trying to find a revival tent that will hold 800 people for Friday night so we can do an October Fiesta tent revival there's fun there's lots of weird stuff that happens it's like group karaoke and music like it really is kind of like a theology nerd that was a youth minister for a long time and his kids told him he couldn't stay one watch me yeah so it's kind of built for people to be able to kind of choose their own adventure when it goes to the sessions you want to go to or skip lots of places to hang out like there'll be tons of breweries that are there and I mean there's other drinks and stuff too there's an in a group that meets and things so like I mean obviously like if you're new to that I wouldn't come but if you're like longtime and want to just know that there's peeps there there's that and so yeah it's it's a lot of fun and I think the the after after COVID the thing that's happened the last two is that there's a whole group new group of people deconstructing the end up there and then there's after COVID a whole group of people who go like I can't even go back to the church I was going to before lockdown for plenty of reasons and so they find connections online but they don't they haven't got to hang out with anyone that's me I mean honestly I cannot wait to meet all these people who I feel like I know yeah I hope they're you know I hope they're okay with me going oh my gosh and they're like who are you I mean I mean well you got on the call for being a podcaster for the first time that's like what we do with all the podcasts and theologians like yeah like you know like you may do little things or whatever but like the the real goal is everyone that comes meets feels like they're not alone they get the talk and hang out there's like no one cares if you barely attend anything and end up talking in the halls the whole time like it it is what it is because people I think are relationally starved when it goes to communities that share their values their faith that's open to the kind of questions and dreams they have so the the getting everyone together it's like yeah it's a event there's weird spectacle bits in it and weird stuff but you kind of like if you do youth group well like you do the kind of things that generate memories that then you retail with people you really care about and so over time people feel long they make connections there are people that met people that lived near them every beer camp they didn't know all that kind of stuff that to me that's the my my favorite part that and you know I as someone who started podcasting before anyone really knew what it was it's very it's very cool to have so many podcasts in a similar vein yeah I remember when I I would speak it stuff with like mainline Protestants they don't know what a podcast is till NPR started using them you know and I would go it's like internet radio and this kind of thing and mine is like the only one that likes gay people on the planet not anymore I know so to me like the other side of it right like is yeah yeah like I've been doing this over 16 years now and at beer camp I love helping people that are in that space meet each other because the podcasters become friends do cross over stuff like they meet other audience people may have only no one or two podcasts they come and they're like oh they're 10 others that I like and I hung out with them and they're cooler than Tripp is and so the community stuff is the it's like the main thing for me well I'm excited because I'm making it I made a friend Kelly Strickland I don't know me chitch at with Kelly she's so great so I made a friend we haven't met in person but we're doing a girls trip that weekend so she's coming with me we're gonna room up and it'll be fun I know so I can't wait to meet her in person it's funny we have we've been in the same places at times she used to listen to me on Christian radio and Charlotte you live in Charlotte now no I'm actually we moved from the Bible Belt about five and a half years ago to Utah so I live I live now where I am not the you know majority religion anymore but it kind of it was helpful it was great because it helped me kind of be I needed to get away from what I was in in order to be able to find who I really am you know what I mean it's hard when you're surrounded and you know I had this reputation they actually called me sister Christian I was on I don't know if you know this I was on survivor in 2007 and they voted me out sister Christian you know so I was very much the girl when it came to Christianity and so it was hard for me I was starting to go through deconstruction in that environment moving here to Utah gave me the freedom to do that just me and God and lots of podcasts and books and I just some quiet time for me and just getting close to God and yeah and it really helped and and also to be surrounded by another religion and you know what it marked Wayne my favorite quote is travel is fatal to prejudice because the minute you get out of your your bubble that is so familiar and so easy to believe you know everybody believes like you who thinks like you but once you get out of that you're like wait this world is huge are you telling me only Bible about Christians are going to heaven and everybody else like this makes no sense so it really was good I needed to get out but yeah so that's kind of mine what what role did the the pressure of expectations from others play in that was that part of like yes there like there's the traveling or like meeting others but also the there's this I mean and I've heard it from lots of clergy where it's like well you get part of the pressure is a bunch of people looking at you it's like the representative of all this thing and that just that comes with you know it comes with pressure it almost always shows up if you read biographies of presidents where you know where there's this the you're the stand-in for something so there's like all this pressure where you you may even want to acknowledge yourself this question or this contradiction or this challenge but then there's the relational part where you're like I know how this could if I said this out loud or thought I know what's gonna happen it's gonna hurt these other people who are like but you Leslie but Leslie but Leslie your sister Christian what do you mean well and I think that that was what kept me quiet for so long I didn't want to speak out until I was confident in where I stood and it took me a really long time to get confident because I think the hardest part for me was when I started asking questions I realized I am literally I I can't I can't look at the Bible the way I used to and when I lost that it took me about a year to find my grounding again I was like this was every like everything I believed was like well it's in the Bible so that settles it you know and then when I realized you know did the research and saw the Christian history and saw you know who translated what and and like I was really hung up on the LGBTQ I was like I want to love these people I want to accept them I they should be the same I don't get it and I did the research I was like oh okay so wait if the Bible is wrong about this what else could I be taught that this could be wrong you know what I mean like yeah and it just kind of crumbled and and I needed to be alone in that me and God I just needed to wrestle I was like wrestling with God for years and that was hard and and the only reason I I mean not the only reason there's a couple of reasons I decided to get vocal I think one of them was because I felt like I was lying everybody who followed me on Facebook they don't follow me anymore but you know most of the people that followed me thought I was the same person and I wasn't saying anything different and I saw I felt like I was being do I had a duality that I didn't enjoy that's not who I am so I was like I'm sorry this is why I'm gonna have to speak out and so I started speaking out so people would hear like it's okay if you're having these doubts it's okay if you're struggling with this you're gonna be okay but in doing so of course I've severed lots of relationships I've lost my job you know all of it but it's you know you gotta do what you gotta do so that's where I'm at I don't know why I'm telling you all this sorry this is about you not me well well you asked yeah I'm also used to asking questions so that's true that's true it is weird it is weird but well thank you for for sharing your journey I want to respect your time I know you've you've probably got a busy busy day ahead but trip thank you so much for being a part of honoring the journey and sharing your journey also sharing a little bit about the book which I will put a link to in the show notes and also your oh my gosh the allergy beer camp and I'll finally get to hug your neck like it happened and everyone you got to give them your code oh yeah my code if you're gonna go the link will I keep the link in the show notes from here until it happens it'll be it you just click it you can sign up and you can save with journey 2024 and that is all caps no spaces journey 2020 for you and if they don't know how to spell journey you should look it up first because Jay oh you actually it's right here on the podcast you can see it and trip is there anything any way that they could if they wanted to get to know you a little better how can they do that oh the internet I mean if you just type my name in and come up but trip fuller with two-piece is my website but among most of the things not TikTok you're not a TikTok no no I'm well you know I don't want to have my brain washed by the Chinese government and yeah I don't know my neighbor was telling me about it he has got some theories and I was like wait there's theories are out there yeah there's a lot oh yeah I was like I don't so I got on I'm messing with that so don't look for him on TikTok I am a tiktok oh no I I hear about it yeah I have no you some of my best friends are on TikTok Leslie yeah that's cool all right well then you're sort of yeah and you're gonna be on TikTok I mean you know because I'm gonna put a clip a couple of clips from this so you actually be on there do you want me to not like say your name or anything so you it's fine it's fine yeah well I'll put some links that you can find his book you can you know register for theology beer camp I made a movie which people if they haven't seen it might not the lots of people have seen it might enjoy it's called the road to Edmund it's a buddy road trip comedy a youth minister gets in trouble for being welcoming to a girl that comes out and he has two weeks to reconsider his vocation and and he ends up on a road trip with me in the van I live in and all sorts of things ensue okay how can we find this I I actually just found out someone put the whole thing it's on Amazon streaming like you know if you have prime streaming I know it's there but it's now on YouTube okay what it's called again the road to Edmund the road to Edmund okay yeah I'll put a link so you can find it the second half is better than the first half because it was the second week I'd ever made a movie oh and you were way better at it yeah I'm sure yeah yeah it's funny like basic we were at we filmed it between beer camp so one summer we did multiple beer camps and so then the week during the weeks between them we filmed this movie so like almost everyone that's in it is like podcasts related or someone we talked into right yeah I was just trying to set expectations so so can I maybe be in your next movie trip oh you know you you have you know you have practice being I do so I don't know it might it might level it up too much we didn't get accepted into any any faith film festivals they found a content problematic but we did do well and you should try Sundance yeah you know it was an interesting experience see Sundance has real films this is you know I can't wait to see I'm gonna watch the I'm totally gonna watch that it's so fun it is it's entertaining we we did it we showed it the first time at beer camp and I think maybe it was 2018 and it worked you worked in that audience there's some where you know there's some there's some scenes where my certain members of my family thought I would go down trip puller yeah you're my end of it you're like I can't come to camp can you believe the crash yeah I'm not gonna say that anyway well thank you so much you been so much fun this has been great I can't wait to meet you in October if not before then but yeah thanks for being on the podcast trip awesome thank you Leslie
