[6][7] Born in Boise, Idaho, and raised in Katy, Texas,[8] he attended Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah.

[11] After graduation, Dehlin worked for five years in software and as a consultant for Bain & Company, Arthur Andersen, Citicorp, Heidrick & Struggles, and the LDS Church.

[12] During Dehlin's early career, he developed massive open online courses (MOOCs) and branched into Latter-day Saint-themed new media.

[15] In that role, he increased organizational focus on its longstanding motto, "faith seeking understanding," and worked to attract new and younger membership.

[17] In September 2005, after experiencing doubts in his faith and subsequently finding reasons to remain a member of the LDS Church, Dehlin created the Mormon Stories podcast as an open discussion of Latter-day Saint issues, intending to give listeners reasons to remain in the church.

[23][24] Two other regular hosts joined Dehlin in conducting interviews for the podcast: Dan Wotherspoon, former editor of Sunstone magazine; and Natasha Helfer Parker, a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist.

[25] Dehlin has been criticized for the lack of financial transparency and oversight in his nonprofit umbrella organization, Open Stories Foundation.

[32] In early 2008, Dehlin converted Mormon Matters into a group blog and lessened emphasis on new podcast episodes.

[33] Dehlin resumed the Mormon Matters podcast on March 5, 2011, with Dan Wotherspoon as the host and Joanna Brooks as a frequent co-host.

[36] Dehlin briefly blogged at a non-partisan religion website, Patheos.com, in a current-issues/events dialogue format with Mormon studies scholar Patrick Q.

[18] In the Spring of 2011, Dehlin stated he had become inactive in the church (i.e., not attending weekly services), citing an inability to believe some of its claims.