Episodes

  • Episode 193: Lanta Davis-The Power of Your Imagination

    Episode 193: Lanta Davis-The Power of Your Imagination
    May 27 2026
    The truth is what our minds dwell on forms us. The stories and images we behold imprint themselves on us, shape who we become, and impact how we see the world. In this way, our imaginations are powerful. In today’s episode, Lanta Davis helps us better understand the power of our imaginations and how what we dwell on forms who are becoming.

    Lanta Davis is professor of humanities and literature in the John Wesley Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan University and the author of Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation. Her writing has appeared in Christianity Today, the Christian Century, Smithsonian Magazine, Plough, and Christ and Pop Culture. In my time with Lanta, she discusses the importance of training our imaginations, why the imagination is a ‘stamp for the soul,’ and how and why it’s important to allow beauty to shape our imaginations.

    Lanta’s insights are fascinating and formational; I can’t wait for you to listen to our conversation.

    Buy Melissa L. Johnson's book, Soul-Deep Beauty: Fighting for Our True Worth in a World Demanding Flawless, here. Learn more about Impossible Beauty and join the community here.
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    46 mins
  • Episode 192: Kelsey McGinnis-The Dangers of Christian Diet and Wellness Culture

    Episode 192: Kelsey McGinnis-The Dangers of Christian Diet and Wellness Culture
    May 12 2026
    It seems like wellness influencers are everywhere these days: often touting diet and exercise habits, alongside a certain aesthetic, as the pathway to health and self-optimization. But what happens when this cultural trend gets conflated with Christian ideas, or as Kelsey McGinnis says it, when such ideas get “faith washed”?

    Kelsey Kramer McGinnis is a writer, musicologist, and the co-author of The Myth of Good Christian Parenting: How False Promises Failed a Generation of Evangelicals. Kelsey is also a regular contributor to Christianity Today, where she reports on worship practices, the music industry, and church culture. She also teaches music, theology, and social justice as a lecturer at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa.

    In my time with Kelsey, she shares research from her upcoming book, including what Christian diet and wellness culture is, its history, and how it can become problematic. We also discuss the rising prevalence of the fixation on ‘healthy eating,’ how certain Christian subcultures have adopted this trend, and when such a fixation might not be so healthy.This is such an important episode. I can’t wait for you to listen.

    Buy Melissa L. Johnson's book, Soul-Deep Beauty: Fighting for Our True Worth in a World Demanding Flawless, here. Learn more about Impossible Beauty and join the community here.
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    54 mins
  • Episode 191: Emma Ward, LCMFT- Love as the Path to Emotional Healing

    Episode 191: Emma Ward, LCMFT- Love as the Path to Emotional Healing
    Apr 28 2026
    Emma Ward is a licensed marriage and family therapist who specializes in trauma and relationships, helping people name what they feel so they can heal what they carry.

    Emma is an Irish immigrant, living in the U.S. for 12 years, who integrates theological depth into her clinical work. She helps clients move from emotional suppression to emotional honesty, all grounded in the transformative power of God’s love.

    In my time with Emma, she shares how we are so often taught to fear, suppress, or spiritualize away emotions and how learning to feel is one of the most courageous things we can do. She also discusses why naming our emotions is so important, where she sees beauty in the work of emotional healing, and how love is central to all of it.

    *Learn more about E-motion Monsters here.

    Buy Melissa L. Johnson's book, Soul-Deep Beauty: Fighting for Our True Worth in a World Demanding Flawless, here. Learn more about Impossible Beauty and join the community here.
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    41 mins
  • Episode 190: Deb Benfield- Unapologetic Aging

    Episode 190: Deb Benfield- Unapologetic Aging
    Apr 14 2026
    After turning 60, Deb Benfield began questioning societal messages around aging, vitality, and beauty, and quickly realized how many resources still centered weight loss and youth as ultimate goals. In response, she created what she couldn’t find: a framework for nourishing the body that honors inner wisdom, prioritizes quality of life, and embraces the full spectrum of aging.

    Deb Benfield, M.Ed., RDN, LDN, RYT is a Nutrition Therapist, Registered Dietitian, and Body Image Coach with 40 years of experience helping people heal their relationship with food, movement, and their bodies.

    In my time with Deb, we discuss her book, Unapologetic Aging: How to Mend and Nourish Your Relationship with Your Body. Specifically, she discusses harmful trends and limiting beliefs regarding ageism, diet and wellness culture, and body shame. She also shares recommendations for caring for our bodies in in this important life stage and reminds us that midlife and beyond holds the opportunity to emerge as your most authentic self.

    Buy Melissa L. Johnson's book, Soul-Deep Beauty: Fighting for Our True Worth in a World Demanding Flawless, here. Learn more about Impossible Beauty and join the community here.
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    55 mins
  • Episode 189: Donnie Berry-What is the Glory of God?

    Episode 189: Donnie Berry-What is the Glory of God?
    Mar 31 2026
    As we enter Holy Week, I can’t imagine a more appropriate conversation than the one I recently had with author and pastor, Donnie Berry. Donnie is an instructor of New Testament and biblical theology with Training Leaders International and the author of The Earth Will Be Filled: A Biblical Theology of the Glory of God.

    In our time together, Donnie discusses the glory of God; a topic I’ve heard about for years but have not felt confident I’ve ever understood what it means. Donnie shares how understanding God’s glory can change the way we live and how the life, death and resurrection of Jesus reveals God’s glory. He also highlights the depths of Jesus’ self-giving love displayed on the cross, taking the brokenness we experience on himself to restore us to God and to our true humanity.

    In my conversation with Donnie, I felt like I heard familiar topics in a new way, a way that spoke to areas of brokenness I’ve experienced recently. My hope is that the same might happen for you. May this conversation meet you where you’re at and may it bring you hope.

    Buy Melissa L. Johnson's book, Soul-Deep Beauty: Fighting for Our True Worth in a World Demanding Flawless, here. Learn more about Impossible Beauty and join the community here.
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    48 mins
  • Episode 188: Winfield Bevins-How Beauty Will Save the World

    Episode 188: Winfield Bevins-How Beauty Will Save the World
    Mar 17 2026
    It was an encounter with beauty that changed Windfield Bevins’ life. As a result, Winfield quit his job and founded Creo Arts, a non-profit that exists to bring beauty, goodness, and truth to the world through the arts.

    Dr. Winfield Bevins is an internationally recognized author and artist. He is also an affiliate professor at several academic institutions and artist-in-residence at Asbury Theological Seminary where he champions the integration of art, theology, and mission.

    In today’s episode, Winfield discusses his latest book, entitled How Beauty Will Save the World: Recovering the Power of the Arts for the Christian Life. Specifically, he highlights a renewed longing for beauty and transcendence he’s noticed recently, both inside and outside the church, as well as a Renaissance of the arts in communities of faith. Winfield also shares what art teaches all of us, how beauty brings hope into the world, and why we are all invited to be missionaries of beauty.


    Buy Melissa L. Johnson's book, Soul-Deep Beauty: Fighting for Our True Worth in a World Demanding Flawless, here. Learn more about Impossible Beauty and join the community here.
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    53 mins
  • Episode 187: Tara Beth Leach- Connecting with the Origin of Beauty

    Episode 187: Tara Beth Leach- Connecting with the Origin of Beauty
    Mar 3 2026
    How might our days and conception of beauty change, if we started our morning with God, the author and origin of beauty itself? This is the exact topic we tackle in today’s conversation with Tara Beth Leach.

    Tara Beth is an author, speaker, and the senior pastor at Good Shepherd Church in Naperville, Illinois. In today’s conversation, she shares about her latest book, The Great Morning Revolution: Daily Spiritual Practices for Meaningful Moments with God. Specifically, Tara Beth discusses how an invitation from God to connect with Him in the morning changed her life, rhythms, and perspectives amidst a desolate season of loss.

    She also shares how connecting with God in this daily rhythm not only can make us more attentive to God, but can help us live into a truer understanding and experience of beauty. As Tara Beth says, “We were made to be in relationship with the most beautiful one of all.” May our mornings be an opportunity to connect with the One our hearts are made for.

    Buy Melissa L. Johnson's book, Soul-Deep Beauty: Fighting for Our True Worth in a World Demanding Flawless, here. Learn more about Impossible Beauty and join the community here.
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    37 mins
  • Episode 186: Anna Rollins- Lent, Self-Control, & Diet Culture

    Episode 186: Anna Rollins- Lent, Self-Control, & Diet Culture
    Feb 17 2026
    Anna Rollins is the author of Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl. Anna’s debut memoir examines the rhyming scripts of diet culture and evangelical purity culture, both of which direct women to fear their own bodies and appetites.

    Anna is an award-winning instructor who taught English in higher education for nearly 15 years, and her writing has appeared in outlets like The New York Times, Slate, Electric Literature, Salon, Joyland, and more. In today’s episode, Anna shares how societal messages around beauty and body image contributed to her struggles with disordered eating. We also discuss Anna’s research on purity and diet culture’s impacts on women’s relationships with their bodies and food, as well as how the concept of self-control might be helpfully framed as we enter the season of Lent.

    My hope is that as we name and shed unhelpful theologies related to food and our bodies, we might find more freedom, healing, and wholeness.

    Buy Melissa L. Johnson's book, Soul-Deep Beauty: Fighting for Our True Worth in a World Demanding Flawless, here. Learn more about Impossible Beauty and join the community here.
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    42 mins