Burning Butterflies
Two women share their story of escaping spiritual abuse and toxicity while finding hope in Christ!
Episodes
Chapter 7, Episode 18
We've brought you full circle in the podcast to where we began, but there's one last story we need to tell. Throughout this podcast we have hinted at the fact that Melissa is divorced from Froggy, but we've never told the story of the divorce. And in true Burning Butterflies fashion, it's a doozy!
Chapter 7, Episode 17
Well, we have come full circle! We're bringing you right back to where we started this story - with Melissa and Amanda sitting in a hotel room, taking an online quiz, looking at each other in stunned disbelief and the phrase "Holy shit, we were in a cult!" being uttered!
Our ladies have all left the church and are all on their healing and deconstruction journeys. But an accident from the past comes back to haunt Tom and leads to a lawsuit, affidavits and depositions. But this time, a few of the people being asked the hard questions are no longer drinking the koolaid!
Chapter 7, Episode 15
What happens when Brandi decides to leave the church? Well in true Come As You Are Fashion, it involves a ton of gaslighting and narrative shifting! How did we go from Brandi is amazing and we're throwing her a going away party and giving her an envelope full of cash to she's awful and we are not to talk about her ever again to Brandi receiving a phone call from the person who took her place at Come As You Are...
Chapter 7, Episode 14
TW: abuse, DV, threatening murder
For nine years, Melissa has tried her very best to be the wife that God is calling her to be; even through Froggy's abuse, anger and addiction. So what was the straw that broke this camel's back and finally rid Melissa from his reign of terror?
This episode contains descriptions of domestic violence. If that is too much for you, please skip this episode and just know Froggy f...
Chapter 7, Episode 13
Melissa is one of the main leaders of women's retreat, giving the inspiration for the theme for the year. But little did she know that not only would this all go down the drain, but this would be her last experience with women's retreat ever.
Burning Butterflies is a listener supported podcast. Please check out our Patreon to learn...
Chapter 7, Episode 12
Amanda is pushed over the edge and finally comes to the realization that Tom was lying about Barry the entire time. Meanwhile, Melissa finds the confidence within herself to push back against Froggy's controlling nature.
Burning Butterflies is a listener supported podcast. Please check out our Patreon to learn more about how you to...
With Amanda out of the office and Melissa distancing herself from the church in preparation to leave Froggy, Miss America is getting closer and closer to Charlotte. In this episode, Melissa and Amanda discuss the visits they made to Miss America's house - Amanda thinking she wanted to discuss church marketing and Melissa being ordered to go by Charlotte.
Chapter 7, Episode 10
Amanda finally has had enough and quits her job (for real this time) and it occurs to her that Tom has had a plan to put Miss America in her job position all along. But still, Amanda is devoted to this church family and is wanting to stay even though she is stepping down from ministry and her job in the office. But when her son has a medical emergency, the support and love that she was expecting from her churc...
Chapter 7, Episode 9
Under women's ministry, the ladies took a bold turn during Covid and started Facebook lives that turned into a Sally Jessy Raphael fever dream. Ladies were loving it and Charlotte signed off on it. So when Tom randomly shows up one recording day, the gals think he will love it. But oh how wrong they were!
In this episode, the ladies discuss how Tom passive aggressively attempted to shut them down, but the magi...
Chapter 7, Episode 8
Amanda has been struggling with her place at the church for a while, so she finally makes the decision that if she can't see the vision for Come As You Are that God has given Tom, then she needs to step down from her position in the church. As she puts things in place to step away from ministry, she has her second meeting with Barry. And let's just say, things don't go very well.
Chapter 7, Episode 7
Charlette is on a mission to make Miss America likeable to the masses right in the middle of Amanda's crusade to make Come As You Are Great Again! These two fronts converge with the push for Miss America to lead a women's ministry event.
For years, the qualifications of what is expected of leaders at Come As You Are have been pushed down the body's throats. Masterlife, Next Steps, serving to the death. The pro...
Chapter 7, Episode 6
Thursday Night Service has been nothing but worship and small groups for a few weeks now and Melissa and Froggy are leading a study. Their plan? Read through the Bible as married couples. A plan that is simple in premise, but difficult in execution. Froggy's grandparents continually try to have deep discussions on Biblical marriage (which is not what the study is about). And Froggy who is supposed to be the lea...
Chapter 7, Episode 5
The men have completed the eldership training and are ready to be presented to the body as elders. But there's one glaring issue. There is a clear difference between the men that serve the body that will become elders and those that will become elders that don't serve the body. Also, Tom wasn't planning on seeking the input of the entire church family. In a prayer meeting, Amanda speaks up to bring up red flags...
Chapter 7, Episode 4
With the pandemic, the ladies can't travel up the mountain for retreat in 2020. With many women having pre-paid, Come As You Are needs to come up with something quick before ladies start asking for refunds. The solution? A conference! This will be Melissa's women's ministry debut, leading along side Brandi and Amanda will not be involved at all. Well, at least that was the plan.
Chapter 7, Episode 3
Join Melissa and Amanda as they discuss Melissa's marriage after Froggy returned from helping his brother during COVID. The time away gives Melissa clarity and she begins to plot her escape. However, she still has to "do church."
Burning Butterflies is a listener supported podcast. Please check out our Patreon to learn more about ho...
Chapter 7, Episode 2
Tom thought forming an eldership would solve his leadership problems—but instead, it created new ones. These men are about to complete their eldership training and will become official leaders in the church. The problem? Ministries already have leaders. People who’ve been doing the work faithfully for years are now being told they have to answer to someone else.
Enter Tom’s brilliant solution: the Color Levels....
Chapter 7, Episode 1
In the debut episode of our final chapter, the ladies pick up where they left off in chapter 6. Amanda was yelled at and called inept for not sending Tom's mother in law a text message. Amanda intends to confront Tom, pointing out that he has lost his way and Come As You Are isn't living up to it's purposes. But Tom takes Amanda's words as "affirmation" that he has heard from the Lord.
This is it! The final chapter! In this last "minisode," Melissa and Amanda talk about how they have changed over the course of the podcast and what they are most looking forward to in this final chapter.
The first episode of Chapter 7 will drop on Thursday, August 21st at 6:30pm
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