Joy and sorrow share a tenuous connection. We explore the presence of joy in our YOB community and why it wasn’t one of our original values. We bask in the joy of retreats past and explore the joy to be found in our lives and sexualities, looking to Jesus’ example as he took the cup from his Father, following the joy set before him. Join Tom, Ryan, and Will for their first joyful episode together!

We kick off a new year and a new era of YOB with an examination of YOB’s seven values! Starting with HOPE. Tom is joined by Ryan and Aaron to discuss the highs of hope and the lows of despair across the arenas of our masculinity, sexuality, and faith. Where has hoping in something or someone failed us? Where have we felt hope creep into entitlement? As sexual minorities where do we put our hope on this side of eternity?

It is our first episode of 2022 as we hit the year running with a self-examination of bitterness. What do we hold against God, against others, and against ourselves? As it relates to our sexuality, where have we grown bitter in these three areas, and where is the blessing? Join Tom, Ben, and Will as we share some of our descents into bitterness, as well as our climbs into the sweetness of this Christian journey.

As people of faith attracted to the same sex, we’ve learned to wait – and wait, and still wait. During this season of Advent, we connect our waiting for Christmas to our waiting for redemption, completeness, and peace. We share our histories with Advent, or lack thereof, both past and present, including our Christmas traditions. As we shift to our sexuality, we hold both our tension and our hope – our expectant waiting – with each hand.

Bridget Eileen Rivera (from Twitter!) joins us, along with her cat. She’s the author of the new book, Heavy Burdens: Seven Ways LGBTQ Christians Experience Harm in the Church (and just the second woman ever to appear on our show!). We discuss the burdens sexual minorities face regarding matters of so-called “clarity” in Scripture, stereotypical versions of masculinity/femininity, assumed pedophilia when working with children, and forced celibacy. Finally, we ask Bridget if her own choice to pursue celibacy stems from burdensome duty or life-giving joy?

"Don't call yourself gay"; "don't have gay friends"; "pray harder for God to change you"; "act more manly"; "keep dating women until you find the right one." As sexual minorities, we often face objections from within our own faith, from fellow believers -- be they peers, parents, or pastors. How do we respond when we face objections for our sexuality? How do we move forward through the resistance? Join Tom and YOBcast newcomers Pastor Ben and Pastor Will as we dive into some common "Side B" objections. And as we reaffirm to one another and to you that you are not alone in whatever spiritual objections you face.

Many folks in our community bear wounds and baggage from churches, be it local bodies or broader denominations. What do we do with our church angst? How should we rightly frame our motivations or expectations for attending church as gay or SSA-identifying folks? Join Tom, Ryan, and Aaron as he makes his YOBcast debut, as we share our journeys of finding, connecting, and serving in the local church – with all the hope and angst in between.

It's our last episode of 2020! AKA the most phenomenal year that ever was. Join Tom, Ryan, Jacob, and returning guest Nate for a fun, nonspecifically topical, yet holiday-themed episode with discussions like our favorite (and least favorite) Christmas carols and when is the proper time to start (and stop) playing Christmas music. We also dive a little deeper by determining the identities of our own personal ghosts of Christmases past, present, and future and what lessons we’d learn from them, along with our individual recaps of 2020 as we fill in the blank after the hashtag: #2020WasTheYear.

We're back to answer some amazing YOBBERS questions from our "Side A" Friends podcast from a few episodes back. Join Tom, Dean, and Matt for another deep dive into the world of "Side A" friendships: that is, those friendships with fellow LGBT+ believers who hold an affirming view of same-sex sexual relationships. Some questions we tackle in this follow-up episode include: Would you go to a Side A friend's gay wedding? How would you pursue Side B friendship if you were the one who is Side A? And how do we apply Paul's words on sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 5 to the modern church?

"Side A" people follow Jesus with an affirming position on same-sex sexual relationships. As Jesus-followers from a "Side B" (traditional) position on marriage and sexuality, is it difficult or effortless to forge friendships with folks who are Side A? Join Tom, Dean, and Matt for a discussion on their experiences with Side A friendships: both with friends who started out Side A and also with friends who started out Side B – only for them to change to Side A. Can Side B-turned-A friendships survive? How do we build healthy Side A friendships?

Have you ever felt lonely within your sexuality? Do you choose loneliness or does loneliness choose you? Extroverted or introverted, do you embrace regular solitude, treating it as a spiritual practice? Join Tom, Ryan, and Jacob for a discussion on the divergence of loneliness and solitude. We talk about the healthy and not-so-healthy ways we cope with loneliness and how we seek out solitude. Additionally, we talk about the dynamic of living alone or with others as single gay/SSA men, forecasting our living situations for the decades to come.

It's an undoubtedly difficult season for many in our community, and we talk about singleness during the holidays: the disconnect, the loneliness, and the finding of hope and joy when hope and joy may feel so far away. Tom, Ryan, and Jacob share their stories of holidays past and present, answering some listener questions along the way, including the concept of spending the holidays with chosen family versus blood family, and whether we've ever been asked if we've found that "special lady" yet.

Pull up a chair as Tom talks about the recent decision to remove our first 39 podcast episodes. Join Tom, Ryan, Jacob, and Dean for a vulnerable conversation on letting go. Letting go of people, letting go of the past, and letting go of the future. Because if we can't let go of old things, how can we ever let new things in? Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, we talk about Tom's Lenten "masturbation cleanse," his recent trip to a monastery, the "perfect friend date," and possibly rebranding our new hit intro segment, "The Brother Beat"?

What happens when intimacy with another fails to fulfill or runs out altogether? Can we ever ask for more intimacy? Can we trust again when intimacy is lost? Join Tom, Ryan, and Jacob in the second of our two-part discussion on intimacy. We share more of our most meaningful intimacy stories, including how one particular moment with Ryan and Jacob is one for Tom's intimacy "trophy case."

Intimacy is scary, and intimacy is vulnerable. Intimacy can be shared or rejected. Intimacy is special and sacred, and intimacy is everyday. Intimacy is sexual and emotional, physical and spiritual. Join Tom, Ryan, and Jacob in the first of a two-part deep dive into intimacy. The brothers define intimacy, likening it to a fire, discussing the differences and nuances between intimacy and vulnerability. They also talk about their first forays into intimacy many years ago and what the cornerstone of their most intimate relationships has been.