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Cotton Candy and Revolutionary Rides: The Moth Radio Hour

Explore episode Jun 30, 2026
Religion & Spirituality
Why Nadia Bolz-Weber Started a Church in a Bar Basement

Cotton Candy and Revolutionary Rides: The Moth Radio Hour · Jun 30, 2026 Religion & Spirituality

Nadia Bolz-Weber grew up in a strict conservative church with too many rules and no room to be herself. So she founded House for All Sinners and Saints in 2008, a congregation designed around minimal rules, maximum fun, and radical inclusion — complete with a velvet Elvis at the door and a minister of fabulousness.

Where this was said

Host Introduction: Sarah Austin Jenness Opens the Hour

At 3:24 · chapter starts 2:46

Sarah Austin Jenness steps in as host of The Moth Radio Hour, warmly framing the three stories listeners are about to hear: Bushra Al-Fusail's bike ride during wartime Yemen, Audrey Pleasant's dance hall transformation in Harlem, and the main event — Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber. Jenness notes that Nadia told her story at a sold-out Moth Mainstage in Oregon, in partnership with Portland Literary Arts, before a crowd of 2,700. This brief orientation primes the audience for a deeply human hour of storytelling about courage, failure, and unexpected grace.

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