Inside Out with Jim Bennett and Ian Wilks

Send us Fan MailIn the second part of our conversation about Jeff Strong's book Torn, we move beyond identifying the challenges facing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to asking a more difficult question: What can we actually do about them?Jeff Strong and Greg Prince return to Inside Out with Ian and Jim to explore how fear shapes Church culture, leadership, and our relationships with one another. Jeff identifies four crucial tensions within the Church: standards versus acceptance, sanctuary versus transcendence, obedience versus agency, and unity versus harmony.

Send us Fan MailWhat happens when a deeply personal tragedy collides with the politics of abortion and the policies of your own church?Ian and Jim welcome Marissa Rasmussen, a lifelong Latter-day Saint whose experience losing her daughter, Emma, profoundly changed her understanding of abortion, reproductive rights, and religious authority. 

Send us Fan MailWhat does it take to cover one of the world's most influential religious organizations—and what happens when the stories get uncomfortable?Ian and Jim welcome Tamarra Kemsley, religion reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune, for a candid conversation about journalism, Mormonism, politics, and the challenges of reporting on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Tamarra takes us behind the scenes of the Tribune's religion coverage, discussing the church's involvement in abortion politics, the impact of Trumpism on Latter-day Saints, and the surprisingly cordial relationship between the Tribune and church leadership. She also explores why LDS apostles rarely grant interviews, whether greater transparency would benefit the church, and how professional journalism can maintain its credibility in an age of social media outrage and increasingly convincing AI-generated misinformation.

Send us Fan MailWhat does it mean to stay in a church when you don't agree with everything it teaches?Ian and Jim welcome Jaxon Washburn of Faith Matters for a thoughtful, candid conversation about faith, identity, and the complicated relationship between personal conviction and institutional religion.Jaxon shares his journey through Mormonism, his Armenian mission, his marriage to a woman who has left the Church, and his experience as an openly bisexual Latter-day Saint. Why does he choose to stay? What does he believe the Church gets right, and where does he hope it will change?

Send us Fan MailWhy are so many people leaving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—and why do so many faithful members misunderstand their reasons for leaving?In this episode of Inside Out, Ian and Jim welcome two influential voices in the conversation about Mormonism's future: historian Dr. Greg Prince and former mission president and business executive Jeff Strong, author of Torn: Why People We Love Are Leaving the Church and What We Can Learn From Them.Drawing on extensive research, decades of leadership experience, and a shared commitment to the people of the Church, Greg and Jeff explore the growing disconnect between institutional leadership and members experiencing crises of faith. They discuss the Church's response to their work, the cultural barriers to meaningful reform, and the difficult question of whether an institution that claims divine authority can acknowledge its mistakes and change course.

Send us Fan MailWhat happens when three former Mormon missionaries reunite nearly 40 years after serving together in Scotland? Plenty of nostalgia, a little irreverence, and some stories that have gotten considerably more outrageous with age.This week on Inside Out, Ian and Jim welcome their old friend and fellow missionary Steve Wrigley for a hilarious, heartfelt trip down memory lane. Together, they revisit their experiences in the Scotland Edinburgh Mission, from dreadful missionary apartments and eccentric companions to the challenges of navigating Scottish culture and the sometimes bewildering expectations of missionary life.

Send us Fan MailWhat happens when one of the world's most prominent biblical scholars unexpectedly drops into an Inside Out livestream? Fresh off his headline-making appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, biblical scholar and Data Over Dogma host Dan McClellan joins Ian and Jim for an unscheduled, wide-ranging conversation about faith, scholarship, and the controversy surrounding his identity as a believing Latter-day Saint.Dan responds candidly to critics who question his faith, explains why he deliberately separates his personal religious beliefs from his academic work, and reflects on the extraordinary response to his Joe Rogan appearance.But the conversation goes much deeper. Drawing on his decade working in scripture translation for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Dan offers fascinating behind-the-scenes insights into the Church's evolving approach to Bible translations, his own involvement in proposed policy changes, and why he believes significant revisions to Latter-day Saint scripture may well be inevitable.

Send us Fan MailFresh off the October 2026 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ian and Jim welcome back historian Greg Prince for a candid, wide-ranging discussion of what was said, what wasn't said, and what the Church could be doing better.Jim offers a firsthand perspective from his marathon weekend singing with the Tabernacle Choir, while Ian shares how General Conference looks and feels to someone who has left the Church. Greg brings his historical perspective to a conversation that celebrates some genuinely inspiring messages while challenging the institution to confront uncomfortable realities.

Send us Fan MailIan and Jim welcome Mariama Nadworna, a Black former member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to discuss race, racism, and the legacy of the Church’s priesthood and temple restrictions.Mariama shares her family’s journey from Sierra Leone to the United Kingdom, her mother’s conversion to the Church, and what it was like growing up as a Black Latter-day Saint in a predominantly white religious community. She reflects on discovering the history and teachings behind the racial restrictions, the impact those discoveries had on her faith, and why she ultimately left the Church.

Send us Fan MailJordan Broadbent returns to Inside Out to talk with Ian and Jim about his new role supporting Latter-day Saint missionary efforts across the UK, Europe, and beyond. Drawing on his experience in both humanitarian and missionary work, Jordan offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the Church is adapting missionary service to a rapidly changing world.The conversation ranges from the very different challenges facing missionaries in secular Europe and rapidly growing areas of Africa to mentorship, technology, changing approaches to proselyting, and the Church’s increasing emphasis on genuine conversion rather than baptism alone. Ian, Jim, and Jordan also tackle one of the Church’s most difficult questions: why so many members—particularly younger members and returned missionaries—struggle to stay, and what the Church can do differently to support them.It’s a candid, wide-ranging conversation about the future of missionary work, the challenge of retention, and Jordan’s conviction that ultimately the reason for staying isn’t a program, an institution, or even a community—it’s Jesus Christ.