Growing Up A Black Jehovah's Witness

Making friends can be very daunting, especially if you're an Ex-Jehovah's Witness. Hosts Ruben Ortiz and Joe Mitchell discuss their experiences on making new friends post the Jehovah's Witness experience. They also go over thoughts shared by listeners.  

On this episode we discuss the film "Witness Underground". The film's director Scott Homan and featured cast member Ryan Sutter joins us in a great conversation about the film and their involvement with the Jehovah's Witness religion. The conversation is followed by commentary by the hosts after watching the film at the NYC Independent Film Festival.

On this episode we interview Jeshanah NaraBemi. Jeshanah (aka MissOldSoul) is a feisty spirituality blogger whose mission is to bring joyful relief to those who are struggling on their path of self-actualization. She’s no stranger to the Jehovah’s Witness. Having been raised as a Jehovah’s Witness she was shunned by her family and friends when she decided she had a mind of her own. She joins Ruben Ortiz and Betsy Jael to share her story, and stay tuned to the very end for a special preview of some #woowoofuckery featuring host Joe Mitchell. 

Film critic and filmmaker Chris Stuckmann surprised his close to 1.9 million YouTube subscribers with his video, "How I left the Jehovah's Witnesses to pursue filmmaking." We have a great conversation with Chris about this video and delve further into his story.  From the elders telling him he can no longer pursue his dreams to Chris finding success in his passion, his story will remind you that you are not alone and that you can successfully break from the organization's grip. 

On this episode we have an engaging conversation with Cliff Henderson V aka Fifth. We discuss his new rap album "One Years Old." We also discuss his former affiliation with the Jehovah's Witness organization and his exodus from it. 

On this episode we have a conversation with  former Jehovah’s Witness Ministerial Servant, Laura Cornwell Engram. Yes, you read that correctly. She was a Ministerial Servant. Laura is a writer, a student, an advocate of free thought with intersectional love and reason, and she’s a mom. She’s the host of "That Other Laura Engram" Podcast.  She was also a former YouTube personality JWTgirl.

In this episode we explore what happens when black culture intersects with a religion that was created by American white men. This conversation will have you questioning the claim that the Jehovah’s Witness religion is the most racially inclusive. We discuss this with our host, Joe Mitchell and our guest for this episode, Karama Sadaka.  

If you were a Jehovah’s Witness, you believed many things that go way beyond the usual Christian narrative. On this episode we discuss a few of the strange beliefs and urban legends we were exposed to as Jehovah’s Witnesses. 

This week we interview Kevin Williams. We discuss with him what it was like being gay in the Jehovah's Witness organization, his family's reaction to his coming out, and what challenges he had to face. On our Now What? segment of the show, we speak with former Jehovah's Witness Gary Sanders, teacher at the Portland Insight Meditation Center. 

Jehovah's Witnesses see former members as people who decided to journey the broad road. Our journey away from this organization can be varied and not linear. In this episode we discuss some ways former members leave and discuss things we can do to make it better. Also stay tuned for our new segments "The Jehovah Quiz" and "Now What?" in which we invite former Jehovah's Witnesses to discuss their projects.