About the Author

Hello! My name is Jesse Hayden, and Words for Wayfarers is a record of my reflections on life after religion. When I created this blog in 2018, I had recently graduated from a Christian liberal arts college, and my essays examined religious themes in contemporary literature, cinema, and music. I had grown up as a missionary kid in a devout evangelical family, and my relationship with Jesus Christ was central to everything I did. In November of 2022, after a prolonged and painful crisis of faith, I left the church of my upbringing. The years that followed were incredibly disorienting. Desperate for guidance, I found many resources that critiqued religion, but few that explored the process of rebuilding one’s worldview in the aftermath of deconversion. My current writing attempts to fill that gap, and I hope it encourages you on your journey.