Latter Day Bridge Builders

Ben Schilaty is a gay, active Latter-day Saint, a social work professor at UVU, a therapist, and the author of A Walk in My Shoes. Jules and Ashton sit down with him to talk about coming out while staying in the church, why "the rules are the same" for gay and straight single members misses the point, what church leaders actually need to know, and why the most helpful thing you can say to someone who's struggling is "tell me more." Plus social safety, coming home early from a mission, and what it looks like to hold up the welcome home sign for the people you love.Ben's Gather conference for LGBTQ Latter-day Saints and those who love them is November 13-14 in Provo. Details at liftandlove.orgBuy Ben's Book "A Walk in My Shoes" here: https://www.deseretbook.com/product/P5246287.html?srsltid=AYCX9vK12TcNcVw5NZguxC4SBLbC6gX-JhjRlE_o1xXwYzwTkd_Fllzlhttps://a.co/d/04gblYEi🌐 More episodes & links: https://linktr.ee/latterdaybridgebuilders📸 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latterdaybridgebuilders🎥 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@latterdaybridgebuilders☕ Support the podcast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LDSBridgebuilders👕 Merch Store: https://ldbb-shop.fourthwall.com

St. George radio host and comedian Mikey (Mikey and the Mrs on Planet 105.1) joins us to talk about how humor can get active and former Latter-day Saints laughing at the same thing. He explains why he never tells his audience whose side he's on, where he draws the line between poking at the culture and mocking what's sacred, and why he won't punch down at ex-Mormons going through the angry phase. We also get into his mission, why every member is really a PR rep, coffee vs. heroin, knee-length jean shorts, and why we're all a bunch of phonies whether we're at church or Costco.🌐 More episodes & links: https://linktr.ee/latterdaybridgebuilders📸 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latterdaybridgebuilders🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@latterdaybridgebuilders☕ Support the podcast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LDSBridgebuilders👕 Merch Store: https://ldbb-shop.fourthwall.com

Batchlor Johnson IV started posting about his faith back when hardly anyone was sharing testimony online. He went to the temple every week for two years, posted about it, and his following took off. Now he says the pushback he gets doesn’t come from ex-Mormons. It comes from other members.Juliet and Ashton sit down with Batchlor (former college football player, musician, U of U econ grad, BYU mass comm master’s) to talk about what it’s like to be openly LDS online. We get into why the algorithm rewards division, how control usually comes from fear, the difference between culture and doctrine, and why he tells people with questions to work through them instead of staying or leaving blindly.We also cover holy envy, letting each other worship “how, where, or what they may” inside the church, and his advice for anyone who wants to share their faith online but is nervous about the backlash.Find Batchlor: @batchloriv🌐 More episodes & links: https://linktr.ee/latterdaybridgebuilders📸 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latterdaybridgebuilders 🎥 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@latterdaybridgebuilders☕ Support the podcast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LDSBridgebuilders👕 Merch Store: https://ldbb-shop.fourthwall.com

Content note: this episode discusses death in detail, including infant and perinatal loss and a reference to suicide. Listener discretion advised.In this episode of Latter Day Bridge Builders, Mitch, Juliet, and Ashton sit down for one of their most personal conversations yet: death. What did they each believe happened after we die, back when they were fully believing? How has that changed, and did losing that belief change how they grieve?Juliet shares the experience of caring for her mother through six weeks of home hospice, and her work in high-risk obstetrics, where she cares for grieving families after perinatal loss. Mitch talks about his years working in healthcare, seeing death up close for the first time, and his own daughter processing her grandfather's death. Ashton, still active in the church, brings the believer's perspective on grief, hope, and the framing that a good, long life is "graduating" rather than something to mourn.We dig into questions like:- Is it possible to stay connected to someone who died without believing they're literally still somewhere? - Does something have to last forever to matter? - If there's no afterlife, what actually remains?🌐 More episodes & links: https://linktr.ee/latterdaybridgebuilders📸 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latterdaybridgebuilders 🎥 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@latterdaybridgebuilders☕ Support the podcast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LDSBridgebuilders👕 Merch Store:https://ldbb-shop.fourthwall.com

Ashton returns for a deep, personal follow-up to our episode on his unique mission call to the Family and Church History Headquarters mission in Salt Lake, a mission staffed almost entirely by young elders with anxiety, autism, bipolar disorder, and other conditions.He opens up about the good: lifelong friendships, a moving story about scripture memorization, and discovering a long-lost aunt through Ancestry DNA. He also gets into the complicated, including the church's $60 million data deal with Ancestry.com and questions about who really benefits from missionary labor.Ashton shares two regrets he still carries: moments where his authority as a leader shut down a companion's doubts instead of making room for them. Juliet pushes back with sharp questions throughout.The conversation lands on a reflection from Elder Bednar: don't be a specialist, be a generalist, and what that means for building bridges across belief.🌐 More episodes & links: https://linktr.ee/latterdaybridgebuilders📸 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latterdaybridgebuilders 🎥 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@latterdaybridgebuilders☕ Support the podcast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LDSBridgebuilders👕 Merch Store:https://ldbb-shop.fourthwall.com