For audio drama creator Lizzie Goldsmith, her faith deconstruction experience started on the floor of a church in England during her Youth with a Mission trip. For When We Were on Fire author Addie Zierman, it came from a deep feeling of never belonging. Lizzie and Addie are joined by voice actor Aria Sivick to talk about community, their fraught relationships with church, and the riskiest creative choice Lizzie made in episode two.

We mentioned the Amazon docuseries Shiny Happy People (particularly its season 1 focus on Bill Gothard and the IBLP), as well as the hymn “It Is Well” and previous episodes of this podcast.

This full-cast audio drama is based on the book When We Were on Fire: A Memoir of Consuming Faith, Tangled Love, and Starting Over by Addie Zierman, and was dramatized, directed, produced, and sound designed by Lizzie Goldsmith. You can reach Lizzie at [email protected]

Original music was composed by Frank Sheffield. Podcast cover art by Skylar White. Full credits for this podcast are here.

Episode 2 clips feature Aria Sivick, Josh Pitta, Jenny Jian, and others. Levingston Lewis, Tamar Turner, Aria Sivick, Ashleigh Carter, Tina Perkins, and Jonathan Schaefer can be heard in the episode 3 sneak peek. Episode 3 comes out on Oct. 22!

You can find out more about this production and the cast and crew at whenwewereonfirepodcast.com, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Follow Addie’s work at addiezierman.com and addiezierman.substack.com.

Special thanks to Addie Zierman, Aria Sivick, Miranda Gardner, and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.