Hello folks, this is Linda.  I’m a single mother of a brilliant high schooler and an institution survivor.  This page provides some info about me, but I want you to also know me.  I was writing commentaries on 1 and 2 Peter when I was 12. I lived and breathed church Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday nights. If the doors were open, our family was there. My summers were spent at a Christian camp in Wisconsin where I won trophies for Scripture memorization. I have attended some of the best Bible colleges in the country. It is at this point that I am compelled to write the words of Paul, who also listed his religious pedigree, after which he said; “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:8).  I woke-up from a long sleep; from under the spell of indoctrination.

It may seem odd, but I did not actually meet the living God until my early 20s. I knew all about Him, but my religion did not facilitate experiences with Him.  It was at this time that Christ began stripping away all the “knowledge” I had gained in order to show me Himself in a vibrant, and I might add, unnerving way. However, I soon discovered that the proponents of this more experiential Christianity were just as steeped in religious indoctrination as the conservative fundamentalists from whom I had escaped. Every where I looked I saw the Law from which Christ rescued us, cloaked in words like “Grace, Faith, and Hope.” I cycled from church to church desperately searching for something that made sense. Most of the time, these cycles were initiated by the leadership of these institutions who, quite frankly, had no tolerance for my questions. I was branded a Jezebel, an Ahab, a moral failure, and a danger to others.

Before long, I realized that my best chances of survival included keeping most of my questions to myself so that I could at least be a part of the really awesome stuff like teaching, singing, and playing on the worship team. Perhaps most tragically, I learned to keep my conscience private. I could never say what I really felt or believed without risking expulsion from the community of Christ. I was wedged between two commanding needs- the relentless surfacing of who I really was, clashing with my desperate need for belonging.

Then it finally happened. I was handed my hat for the last time, and as a result, I left the institution for good. That was nearly 10 years ago and I have never regretted leaving. For several years I enjoyed the freedom of meeting with Christian friends who had no need to enforce criteria for acceptance or to demand doctrinal agreement in order to embrace a common, spiritual fellowship. We began attracting others of like-mind, and by 2010 we were asking God if we should establish a consistent meeting time and place. The result was “Salt of the Earth Florida: A gathering place for the ir-religious.”

Chaplain Linda Spaulding, PhD

Linda's Story

Freedom from Religion

Linda is the pastor of Salt of the Earth Gathering in Lakeland, Florida. She earned her masters degree in Mental Health Counseling from the University of South Florida, and her PhD in Human Services from Walden University. Linda is an ordained Chaplain through the International Fellowship of Chaplains , as well as the founder and executive director of Salt of the Earth Internatonal (Formerly Levite Ministry and School of Worship, Inc.), established 1994.

An irr-religious gathering of Christians who need to make a difference.

Salt of the Earth International, Inc.

mission & vision

To know God through feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and offering an open and affirming place for all God-seekers to experience genuine Christian spirituality.