Sold-out crowd of 2,700
Nadia Bolz-Weber told her story to a sold-out crowd of 2,700 at a Moth Mainstage in Oregon, in partnership with Portland Literary Arts.
Snapshot · The Moth
Cotton Candy and Revolutionary Rides: The Moth Radio Hour
Explore episode
Jun 30, 2026
Where this was said
Host Introduction: Sarah Austin Jenness Opens the Hour
At 2:50 · 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.
Why Nadia Bolz-Weber Started a Church in a Bar Basement
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.
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