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67. Thanksgiving** - The Tim & April Show | Wave AI Podcast Notes

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67. Thanksgiving**

The Tim & April Show

Thu Nov 27 2025

Summary

The Tim & April Show — Episode 67: “Thanksgiving”

Podcast: The Tim & April Show
Hosts: Tim Whitaker & April Ajoy
Network: The New Evangelicals
Date: November 27, 2025
Theme: Gratitude, Navigating Holidays, and Reflections on Faith, Politics & Community

Episode Overview

In this short, pre-recorded Thanksgiving episode, Tim and April reflect on the journey and growth of their show, share gratitude for their audience, and offer thoughtful discussion for those navigating difficult family gatherings during the holidays—especially for listeners engaged in faith deconstruction, political divides, or the progressive Christian community. The episode features personal stories, behind-the-scenes show history, and encouragement for building healthy boundaries and finding community.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. A Year of Growth & Gratitude

[03:35-04:26] Tim introduces the episode as a brief message of thanks, noting how the show evolved from a segment under The New Evangelicals podcast to its own successful entity in less than a year.
April comments on how much they've experimented with formats: “We've kind of thrown a bunch of noodles at the wall to see what sticks… We’re still figuring out what works best for us and for everybody.” (05:04)
Audience feedback is encouraged via comments and email.

2. Embracing Community Feedback

[05:53-06:39] Tim acknowledges expanding their audience through a recent partnership with Lincoln Square Media, seeking perspectives from those outside their usual “bubble.”
April suggests a future episode defining “Christianese 101” to break down common evangelical terminology.
- April: “Like, give it to God. What does that mean? What that means? Ignore your problem.” (06:39)

3. Navigating Family and Boundaries at Thanksgiving

[06:55-10:06] Both hosts discuss the complexities of holidays for those with family members having starkly different political or religious beliefs.
- Tim: “You are allowed to enforce boundaries and not have conversations that you don’t want to have.” (07:38)
- April shares her personal journey of moving from a Republican family background to a more progressive one, emphasizing that change can happen over time.
April’s Advice for Dialogue:
- Ask questions to family, especially rooted in faith (“How do you reconcile Jesus saying ‘I was a stranger and you did not welcome me’ with what ICE is doing?”) to prompt reflection, even if minds don’t change in the moment.
- “You plant those little seeds. I kind of feel like I’m a missionary to Christian nationalists.” (10:46)

4. Safety and Self-Care for the Holidays

[10:46-11:54] Tim stresses the importance of personal safety, affirming those who may need to completely avoid unsafe family situations.
- Tim: “You have to use wisdom and discernment. We don’t know your situation.”
They both stress that change—personal and familial—is possible, but often slow and complex.

5. Hosts Expressing Gratitude for Each Other and the Show

[12:22-13:08] Tim turns heartfelt:
- “I am really grateful for doing this show with you... Out of all the people in the world, I can’t think of a better co-host.”
April reciprocates, noting how the show has been “therapeutic” for processing heavy topics.

6. Mental Health, Balance, and Family Life

[13:14-15:09] Tim explains how he’s carved out clear boundaries between work and home for better mental health, especially since the organization has grown.
- He lauds Melinda Hale’s leadership and mentions the supportive (and now larger) New Evangelicals team.
April shares her practices for staying centered: prioritizing her children and “reading a lot of fantasy books… so I disassociate.” (15:36)

7. Origin Story: How The Tim & April Show Began

[19:59-29:40] The hosts tell the story of how their partnership started:
- They first met in person at a live event in Chattanooga in December 2022, forming instant rapport.
- April’s spouse Beecher immediately saw the chemistry and encouraged the pair to collaborate.
- The first version was as a “recap” segment on The New Evangelicals podcast; it later spun off into their independent show.
- “We hit 10,000 subs on YouTube… our show at one point hit number four in the podcast charts for religion/spirituality, which was amazing.” (29:46)

8. Audience Appreciation & Community Impact

[30:20-33:02] The hosts repeatedly thank their listeners, attributing the show’s success to their engagement.
- April: “Truly, we would not have this show without you all.” (30:27)
- Tim: “We hear all the time—‘you make me feel not crazy or not alone.’ I’m so glad. Same, also. Same.” (31:30)
- Both hosts underscore the reciprocal nature of encouragement between themselves and the audience.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Navigating Difficult Family Gatherings:
- Tim: “Who wants to go to your family’s house and argue and bicker and fight over things that, you know they’re never going to change their mind on?” (07:45)
On Changing Minds:
- April: “People’s minds… it can happen. I changed my mind.” (09:19)
On Planting Seeds for Change:
- April: “You plant those little seeds. I kind of feel like I’m a missionary to Christian nationalists.” (10:46)
On Audience Support:
- Tim: “It is like the privilege of my life that I get the opportunity to do this for a living.” (32:12)
On the Show’s Title:
- April jokes about potential names: “A ‘Witta Bit of Joy’—like a wit (Whitaker) and a joy (Ajoy).” (29:03)
- Tim comments on the order of the show’s naming: “It just rolls off the tongue easier.” (29:06)
On Being Thankful Despite Complex Histories:
- April: “I don’t love Thanksgiving and the history of Thanksgiving for varying reasons... But I do believe in being thankful and finding time to say thanks.” (33:02)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Start | End | |----------------------------------------|----------|----------| | Host Banter & Show Introduction | 03:09 | 04:26 | | Reflections on the Show’s Growth | 04:26 | 05:53 | | Audience Feedback & Christianese 101 | 05:53 | 06:39 | | Holidays, Boundaries & Political Divides| 06:55 | 10:46 | | Advice on Changing Minds and Dialogue | 09:17 | 10:46 | | Appreciation Between Hosts | 12:22 | 13:07 | | Mental Health & Finding Balance | 13:14 | 15:09 | | The Origin Story of the Show | 19:59 | 29:40 | | Audience Appreciation & Closing Thanks | 30:20 | 33:37 |

Tone & Style

The hosts maintain a warm, candid tone—punctuated by humor, camaraderie, and sometimes irreverent in-jokes—grounded in genuine care for their community and listeners. The conversation is accessible, supportive, and rooted in the lived experience of progressive Christians navigating faith and politics in a polarized era.

Final Thoughts

This episode offers both a window into the behind-the-scenes evolution of The Tim & April Show and a source of encouragement and solidarity for listeners—especially those wrestling with deconstruction, Christian nationalism, and family dynamics during the holidays. Through gratitude, honesty, and humor, Tim and April reinforce the power of community and the importance of holding onto hope, boundaries, and each other.

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Transcript

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April Ajoy (1:26)

Hi, I'm here to pick up my son, Milo.

Sponsor/Ad Voice (1:28)

There's no Milo here who picked up.

April Ajoy (1:30)

My son from school.

Tim Whitaker (1:32)

Streaming only on Peacock. I'm gonna need the name of everyone that could have a connection.

April Ajoy (1:39)

You don't understand. It was just the five of us.

Sponsor/Ad Voice (1:42)

So this was all planned.

April Ajoy (1:43)

What are you gonna do? I will do whatever it takes to get my son back.

Tim Whitaker (1:47)

I honestly didn't see this coming. These nice people killing each other. All her fault. And new series streaming now only on Peacock.

Melinda Hale (1:55)

Hey everyone, Melinda Hale here, the executive director of the New Evangelicals. I just want to take a moment to say thank you for listening to the Tim and April show. This show and everything that we do at the New Evangelicals exists because of people like you. We can't do any of this without your support. Every conversation you hear, every resource we create, every piece of educational content that helps people rethink faith through the lens of love and justice is all made possible through our community. Now, if you believe in what we're building, a faith that unites instead of divides, I'd love to invite you to become a monthly supporter. Even just $5 a month helps us to continue to bring you shows like this one, expand our educational tools and create spaces for honest hope filled conversations. You can join us by going to thenewevangelicals.com support and becoming a monthly donor. Thanks for being a part of this movement and for building a better path forward together.

Tim Whitaker (13:14)

What? Mental health? No, I don't know what I do. I will say in all seriousness, doing the new evangelicals for five years, founding the organization, and really, like, you know, working as hard as I could as like, a solo entity for a long time with support, for sure, but kind of being like, like the main driver. I really have, over the past year, made intent. More intentional time to, like, not do work after 5 o' clock or, like, you know, I told myself, this can wait till tomorrow. I don't to be glued to my phone. It's not always easy. There are times where I don't succeed at that. But I have told myself, like, hey, you can let this go. Especially now. I mean, we have Melinda Hale as the executive director. She is, like, evolving the organization so beautifully, so well. Oh, it's amazing. I mean, I. I tell her all the time, I'm like, you are doing things that I knew the organization had to Do I just had no ability or skill set to do. Like, I am not an executive director. It's just the story of it just is what it is. I am a content creator. I like doing this kind of content. And so watching Melinda take the bare bones that I kind of laid down in the beginning and watching her just evolve it into all these different resources and tne connect our community space, that's totally off of the all seeing eye of the meta platform and all the resources and, and classes that we do and book club and all the content and the advocacy hour and all this stuff. It's been so great. So that's been helpful. But yeah, I think what I do for, for fun is, I mean, more and more it's family, you know, it's family. It's maybe watching a good TV show. It's things like that. My kids are getting older now. We're able, we're able to really interact with them and start some of those, you know, yearly traditions of, oh, we do this for Halloween. Oh, we do this for Thanksgiving. So that's been a lot of fun. But other than that, I mean, you know, this, this, if you can even call it a job, it's more like a passion project that we're fortunate enough to get paid for to do it in a full time capacity. But it's a passion. Like I. This is what I do for fun sometimes too. You know, it's this stuff.