A Church By the Side of the Road
We are a Jesuit-inspired sanctuary for human beings seeking spiritual connection beyond traditional boundaries. Through our digital ministry "A Captain and His Compass," we create sacred space where fellow travelers share their stories under protective "Gentleman Pirate" personas—allowing for exploration without exposure to the elements. Here, fiction trumps truth, questions are more sacred than answers, and the divine is discovered through lived experience rather than doctrine.
We meet people exactly where they are, honoring both ancient wisdom and innovative expression as we build genuine faith community for the spiritually curious.
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Mission
A Church by the Side of the Road exists to create sacred space for Vibrant spiritual conversation and storytelling. Through the persona of 'Gentleman Pirates' and the vessel of 'A Captain and His Compass,' we invite humans to explore their Holy Work, heartbreak, and the shiver of being alive. We sail the ocean of reality together, building ports for those at the edge of oblivion, connecting hearts to the divine through fiction, not truth.
Vision
Imagine a weathered captain standing at the bow of his ship, watching the horizon where digital waves meet ancient shores. This is the vision of A Church by the Side of the Road—a revolutionary spiritual voyage that begins in the vast ocean of story, where Gentleman Pirates dock their ships under fictional flags to share their most Vibrant stories. But this digital sanctuary is only the beginning. Captain Six Igsby, Ed.D. dreams of a day when these fellow travelers who've found each other through "A Captain and His Compass" will gather on actual land—a lighthouse community where the same radical Vibrancy that flourishes in recorded conversations can take root in gardens, workshops, and evening fires. Here, the church that started as whispered stories between strangers becomes a living testament that sacred community can emerge from the margins, that those wounded by traditional routine can find Aliveness through narrative, and that the "shiver of being alive" can be celebrated in digital storytelling, analog storytelling, shared meals, and shared campfires. It's a vision of transformation and a way to surpass the given: from podcast to property, from individual Aliveness to collective flourishing, from being lost at sea to building ports for others "at the edge of oblivion"—all while maintaining the fierce independence of Gentleman Pirates who've learned to navigate with their own compass while prioritizeing the well-being of their crew.

A Captain and His Compass
Curiosity Based
Six Igsby uses his framework of Curiosity Archetypes to explore who these fictional Captains long to become. This approach is rooted in his doctoral research, which suggests that most adults were never taught how to truly connect with their own curiosity. Put simply, Captain Igsby argues that we don’t lose our ability to be curious—we simply never learned how to recharge the batteries that power exploration.
Fictional Storytelling
All guests are invited to arrive as a fictional character, bringing their own navigation styles, narrative voices, and interpretations of what it means to be a “Gentleman Pirate.” While we do not condone illegal activity, we do encourage participants to question their own programming while exploring what "Aliveness in all things" or sailing the open ocean might symbolize in their budding lives.
Inclusivity
While A Captain and His Compass uses male-specific language, it isn’t meant to exclude anyone. The language is chosen for texture—for a particular flavor of relationshipping. Put another way: Captain Six adores the feeling of “guys being guys,” because in those spaces, the pressure to perform perfectly dissolves, and what remains is the freedom to perform freely.

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Help Build Grace's Harbor
Grace's Harbor is more than a destination—it is the beating heart of everything we do. Each podcast conversation, every story shared, every moment of raw aliveness becomes both anchor and sail in this sacred port we are building together.
Here, the full spectrum of human experience finds sanctuary: your deepest agony and your highest ecstasy are equally welcome, equally holy. This harbor arises wherever radical storytelling meets divine grace—where the brutal beauty of being human is not sanitized, but celebrated.
Whether you arrive digitally through our stories or one day dock physically on the land we are acquiring, Grace's Harbor stands as a beacon for those ready to abandon the shallow waters of performance and sail into the transformative depths of Vibrancy and Aliveness.
In these waters, breakdown becomes breakthrough, wounds become wisdom, and the shiver of being alive becomes the compass pointing us toward who we are determined to become.