Gather Round

Surprise! Today we are premiering the third season of our Gather Round podcast! In this season's premiere episode, pastors Russ and Joel rehash the purpose of this podcast and celebrate Mosaic's ten-year anniversary together by looking back and looking forward at our story. We are looking forward to another exciting season of content and we hope that it will be a source of encouragement, equipping, and, yes, maybe some laughter too!

On this episode of Gather Round, we feature a beloved member of our church community: Dr. Cheryl Jacobs. In this amazing Call A Congregant segment, we discuss Cheryl's life as a scientist, the history of Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cells, navigating life as a woman with disabilities, and the Lord's faithfulness in the midst of suffering and trial. This is a profound interview that you do not want to miss!

On this episode of Gather Round, we feature Dr. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt's “Art and the Prophetic Imagination,” a lecture given to our Grace DC Network in early March. She mentions a couple of handouts and artworks linked below:Redeeming Vision HandoutMatthias Grünewald, “Isenheim Altarpiece,” 1513Carrie Mae Weems, “From Here I Saw What Happened And I Cried,” 1995-96Sam Gilliam, Relative, 1968

On this Call A Congregant episode, Ashley and Joel welcome in Dr. Kenny Gibbs, a beloved elder of the Grace Mosaic community.

Pastors Russ and Joel are joined by DPP Co-Director Ashley Williams and art curator Victoria Emily Jones to discuss the current Lent edition of the Living Prayer Periodical.

After a mid-season break, Pastors Russ and Joel are back with an intro in Ash Wednesday and our movement into the downward rhythms of the Lenten season. Listen in!

Join us for this special mid-season finale of Gather Round season two! Before we take our production break for the Winter, Pastor Joel and Ashley had the pleasure of welcoming in several congregants of Mosaic who work in the field of education. We discuss the journey into education, the highs and lows of working in this field, and the ways that the whole church community can support the many educators in our midst. Give it a listen! We also invite you to use this Winter break time to catch up on the first half of season two.

On this special Advent edition episode of Gather Round, the pastors do a formation segment about the season, the liturgical journey of the church, and practices for this time of year. This corresponds to our Advent 2022 blog post! We invite you to listen, read, and practice with us to prepare for this season.

On this Formation episode of Gather Round, Pastors Russ and Joel recap the 2022 Grace Mosaic Fall Retreat that featured Rev. Dr. Abe Cho. We have also put together an outline of the three sessions that feature key quotes, questions, content, and practices! If you missed the Fall Retreat, you can listen to those three sessions on the members-only section of the website or email info@gracemosaic.org.

On this next episode of Gather Round, the pastors welcome Melissa Littlepage into the studio for an illuminating conversation about her life story, music, intercultural competence, community organizing, and much more! Check it out!

On this special episode of Gather Round, the pastors welcome Dr. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt for an Ask a Scholar segment! Dr. Weichbrodt is an associate professor of art at Covenant College and author of the forthcoming book Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking At and Learning From Art, coming in March 2023. In this conversation, we discuss visual art, the incarnation, Generation Z, and much more!

On this episode of Gather Round, we introduce a new segment, “Let's Work Together,” where we spotlight one of our community partners. This week Pastor Joel and Ashley kick it with the RUF Howard Crew: Latasha Allston, Rev. Cyril Chavis, Jason Francoeur, and Chris Reed!

On this episode of Gather Round, Pastor Joel and Ashley review John Mark Comer's book "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" and rap about the practice of Sabbath and ways to contextualize and implement it in our modern lives.

On this special episode of Gather Round, the pastors welcome into the studio Dr. George Derek Musgrove, Associate Professor of History at University of Maryland Baltimore County and co-author of the critically acclaimed Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's CapitalThis is our premiere Ask A Scholar segment and you don't want to miss it!

On this second episode of season two, Pastors Russ and Joel welcome sister Anne Davis into the studio for a beautiful Call A Congregant section. Tune in!

In this season two premiere episode, Pastors Russ and Joel talk about the new Fall ministry season and provide a helpful introduction to the Ten Commandments series that we will be journeying through together!

On this long (and we do mean LONG) awaited Gather Round season one finale, Pastors Russ and Joel welcome the one and only DeAndrey Howard of Alice's Jazz & Cultural Society into the studio! It was an absolutely mind-blowing conversation about DeAndrey's life, music superstars, DC history, GoGo music, and so much more. Be sure to tune into this one. It was worth the wait.

On this second to last episode of Gather Round's inaugural season, we welcome the wonderful and faithful Grace Mosaic member Dr. Robert Henderson in an interesting Call A Congregant segment. Listen in to hear about Robert and Deidra's journey to DC and Brookland, Robert's work in advocacy and education, and much more. We also answer a Mailbox Question about the liturgical calendar and discuss a few Family Matters announcements so make sure to tune in!Ward 5 Education CommitteeThe Village of BrooklandOpEd on DC's Segregated Schools: https://thedcline.org/2019/05/23/robert-henderson-our-children-know-theyre-attending-segregated-schools-we-need-policies-that-will-bring-equitable-integration/An article from the HUD publication Evidence Matters written by Robert: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/Summer21/highlight1.html

On this episode of Gather Round, we have a fun Call A Congregant segment with Cyril Chavis, Campus Minister at Howard University. Listen in to hear about Cyril's story, how he found himself in the PCA, and his journey into campus ministry on historically Black colleges and universities!

In a What's Up Neighbor segment, pastors Russ and Joel welcome public servant and Ward 5 council candidate Dr. Faith Gibson Hubbard into the studio to have a wide-ranging conversation about Faith's story, education and neighboring in Ward 5, Law and Order SVU, Peloton hunks, and more.

On this post-Easter episode of Gather Round, we debrief the beautiful experience of this past Holy Week and Easter service and have a special call a congregant with our very own Ministry Coordinator, Ashley Williams!

On this week's episode of Gather Round, we feature a Book Review segment where we interviewed a special guest author, Alicia Akins, about her new book Invitations to Abundance. This in-depth interview about feasting will prepare us to enter into the great season of feasting that begins on Easter Sunday!

On our first Liturgy segment, Pastors Russ and Joel break down Holy Week: both its history and meaning in our lives.On our inaugural “You've Got Mail!” segment, we answer a question from the congregation about why we sing what we sing in worship. If you have a question that you'd like us to tackle on the podcast, simply email it to joel@gracemosaic.org!

On this episode of Gather Round, we've got a fun Call A Congregant section with our pastoral residents Caleb Jakana and Josh Putrasahan. Listen in to learn more about them and our vision for pastoral formation at Grace Mosaic!

On this special Formation episode, we welcome the team of the Daily Prayer Project to discuss the vision of the DPP and the visual art featured in the Lent 2022 Living Prayer Periodical. Special guests included Lauren Hofer of Atlas Minor Design Studio (designer of the DPP), Victoria Emily Jones of artandtheology.org (Curator and Copy Editor of the DPP), and our very own Ashley Williams (Co-Director of the DPP). Special note: if you are listening in and don't have a copy of the Lent edition, go to this page to purchase a digital edition!Also referenced: Prayer For The Life Of The World, a sermon by Pastor Russ.

First, we got a Formation segment where we check-in on Lent and talk about fasting.We referenced Pastor Joel's article “Fasting Before the Feast” and his sermon “Fasting for the Life of the World.”Second, we have our first Book Review segment to discuss Dr. Alan Noble's book You Are Not Your Own and Pastor Russ' published response to the book: Prodigal Hospitality. Check it out!

Family Conversations of Grace Mosaic Church in Northeast Washington, D.C.1) In our first-ever What's Up Neighbor segment, pastors Russ and Joel welcome Zachary Parker into the studio to have a wide-ranging conversation about Zachary's story, the vocation of public office, sweet potato pie, and all sorts of other beautiful things.2) In our Family Matters segment, we talk about our upcoming annual Spring BBQ on Saturday, April 9th, from 11-2pm!

The inaugural episode of the podcast Gather Round: Family Conversations of Grace Mosaic church in Northeast DC! www.gracemosaic.orgOn this first episode, premiering on Ash Wednesday, we dive into two segments:1) A Formation segment all about the season of Lent.Access Lent resources here.2) Our first Call A Congregant segment featuring Ryland Copeland, a beloved member and shepherdess of our community. Also joining in on that call was Ashley Williams, our ministry coordinator at Grace Mosaic.