By Andy Hale
This week on the CBF Podcast Conversation, we welcome writer, podcaster, and spiritual truth-teller Erin Hicks Moon, cohost of the Faith Adjacent podcast and author of the brand-new book I’ve Got Questions: The Spiritual Practice of Having It Out with God. Erin invites us into something many of us were never taught in church—that wrestling with God is not rebellion but relationship. “Having it out with God is your spiritual heritage. The wrestling is not the problem—it’s the point,” she writes. In this episode, Erin shares how growing up in American Christianity planted in her “altars to legalism, tabernacles to purity culture… vines of smug superiority,” and how she began the hard work of pulling those weeds to uncover a more honest, embodied faith. With humor, wisdom, and deep vulnerability, she tackles the tension of loving Jesus while being exhausted by what people have done with his name.
This conversation isn’t about abandoning faith—it’s about making space for a truer one. Erin reflects on the difference between performing Christianity and actually communing with God, and why questions are not a threat but a doorway to deeper spiritual formation. She reminds us that God doesn’t roll divine eyes at our doubts or pain. Instead, like Jacob, we are met by a God who respects the struggle. As she says in the book, “Yes, the idea of Jesus is excellent, no notes—but the reality of following Jesus is a cluster of epic proportions.” Whether you’re deconstructing, rebuilding, or just trying to hold onto hope, this episode offers permission to bring your whole self—questions, humor, exhaustion, and all—into the presence of a God who can take it.
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Sponsorship
This podcast is presented by:
- Baylor’s Garland School of Social Work: Social workers can be found addressing the full scope of the human experience in churches, schools, prisons, government agencies, senior living centers, nonprofits, and Fortune 500 companies.
- Baptist Seminary of Kentucky: BSK equips leaders through their Homegrown Initiative, offering ministry leaders training and growth that fits into their busy schedules.
- The Gardner-Webb School of Divinity: The Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity aims to equip, nurture, encourage, and support men and women for their very best service in the Kingdom of God.
- The Center for Congregational Health: Strengthening congregations through consulting, leadership coaching, and intentional ministry.
- The Baptist House of Studies at Union Presbyterian Seminary: Exists by God’s grace to educate, inspire, and support generations of bold, faithful servant leaders as they seek actively to participate in God’s mission in the world.
- Community Transformation Center: Through educational opportunities, community conversations, and research initiatives in collaboration with universities and local leaders, PBACTC is at the forefront of integrating spiritual care into holistic community development.
- Creation Justice Ministries: Creation Justice Ministries equips churches to turn conviction into faithful action with Scripture-based resources, worship guides, and community support to pursue environmental justice and care for God’s creation.
- Dawnings: Through prayerful discernment, storytelling, and collaborative visioning, Dawnings helps churches rediscover their calling and imagine their next chapter—guided by trained facilitators and grounded in God’s ongoing story.
- Congregational Ministries Team of CBF Global: Through coaching, resources, and collaborative support, CBF’s Congregational Ministries Team helps churches and ministers cultivate the five traits of thriving—Rooted Relationships, Compelling Clarity, Holy Tenacity, Strategic Agility, and Dynamic Collaboration—for faithful and flourishing ministry.
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Andy Hale is the creator and host of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Podcast. Hale is the Associate Executive Coordinator of CBF North Carolina. He’s also served as CBF’s Church Start Specialist, the founding pastor of Mosaic Church of Clayton, and the senior pastor of University Baptist Church of Baton Rouge. Follow on Twitter @haleandy.