Practicing Gospel Podcast

In this episode, Amy Cantrell returns to speak of her life's work and calling. Amy Cantrell lives in Asheville, North Carolina and is founder and Co-Director of BeLoved Asheville dedicated to creating home, health, equity, and opportunity for all.  BeLoved is a community of people putting love into action every day.  We bring people from all walks of life together to create innovative solutions to some of the most challenging problems of our time:  housing and food insecurity, poverty, lack of healthcare, systemic racism, and climate change. BeLoved's projects includes:  BeLoved Villages of deeply affordable homes; rapid relief, community health, and vaccination equity efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic; the first homeless/formerly homeless Street Medic Team in the nation; Racial Healing & Cultural Organizing; creating healthy food access through Free Farmers markets, Plants for the People  and community gardens; as well as advocacy campaigns around affordable housing, homelessness, food equity,  gentrification, and systemic racism. Our projects work at the intersections of community, creativity, and equity. Amy was school educated at Converse College (BA) and Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, GA (MDiv.) and was "street educated" at the Open Door Community in Atlanta and at BeLoved Asheville. In 2020, she passed the NASCLA national licensing exam and became a general contractor to help support BeLoved's project to build deeply affordable homes. She received the Western North Carolina Peacemaker of the Year in 2017 and was recently named one of the USA Today Network's Women of the Year, 2024.   Recently, she co-led BeLoved's response to Hurricane Helene serving 15,000 people daily across Western North Carolina's impacted zones in the aftermath of the storm. BeLoved became the largest local rapid response group in the wake of Helene supporting equitable responses including Well Check teams and Flush Brigades to support elders and people with disabilities. Hike teams hiking miles to remote areas. Creating temporary water infrastructure for communities, schools, and childcare centers. Sharing 67 tiny homes on wheels as immediate temporary shelter. Currently, BeLoved is doing 30 home repairs and has started their first whole home replacements as well as building a new BeLoved Village in Swannanoa. BeLoved has been featured in stories by ABC News/Good Morning America, PBS News Hour, CBS, NBC,MSN, Accuweather, the Washington Post, and People Magazine. She is married to Adrienne Sigmon and loves being mom to twin 11 year olds, Myla and Eleecia.  She loves the color purple, playing guitar, making art, and studying movement history.  Find her on Facebook and Instagram @Amy Cantrell and @BeLovedAsheville  For more information about BeLoved Asheville, visit www.belovedasheville.com.

At the age of 96, Luci Shaw is a prolific poet, writer, and editor as well as being a photographer. With 19 volumes of poetry and one on the way, 8 books, and two children's books, Luci has spent a lifetime sharing her gift and love of writing. Along with her first, now late, husband Harold Shaw, she was a co-founder of Harold Shaw Publishers where she was senior editor and eventually President. She has been an English stylist for the popular Biblical translations and paraphrases The Living Bible, The Message, and Today's New International Version. Luci has been an adjunct and summer faculty and a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities. In addition she has been a popular workshop leader. She is currently Writer in Residence at Regent College, Vancouver, Canada. Her work has appeared in many journals like The Christian Century, Christianity Today, and Sojourners. Luci describes herself as a Christian who is a poet and not a Christian poet. She was a long-time friend of, co-author with, and editor for Madeleine L'Engle. To learn more about Luci, go to her website at lucishaw.com The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My guests for this episode introduce us to an updated version a type of organization which has been around since the earl 1900s, but which most of us have never heard of or know anything about. The type of organization is a Settlement House. The updated version is modeled in a Settlement House one of my guests founded and the other has helped strengthen and maintain. It is called The Good Neighbor House and is located in Waco, Texas. As my guests will discuss, in its updated version, a Settlement House offers local communities, towns, and cities a resource to strengthen the peaceful bonds of it residence; it offers our nation a resource to strengthen the practice of our democracy; and it offers Christian churches a resource for fulfilling a key mission and mandate of the Church's work--that of showing hospitality to the stranger. In considering the current challenges of both our nation and the churches in the U.S., Settlement Houses can provide a relevant and needed contribution, and are thus something worth knowing more about and considering. The founder of the Good Neighbor House, Dr. Laine Scales, has been on this show before. Laine is Professor and PhD Program Co-Director for the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work. She completed 15 years as Associate Dean in Baylor's Graduate School from 2004-2019. Her scholarly work led to her appointment as co-director of Baptist Scholars International Roundtable (BSIR). Laine is the author of All That Fits a Woman: Training Southern Baptist Women for Charity and Mission, 1907-1926 and co-author/co-editor of several works, including the 6th Edition of Christianity and Social Work: Readings in the Integration of Christian Faith and Social Work Practice, and Christian Faith and University Life: Stewards of the Academy. Her research interests include doctoral education, history of Baptist women in social work and missions, and rural social work. Laine's research on historical settlement houses led her to establish Good Neighbor Settlement House in Waco Texas, a social innovation experiment in nurturing community through an intergenerational experience of the arts, music, education, recreation, and worship. Tyler Mowry is a PhD candidate and in the Department of Religion and a Content Specialist on the Learning Design team at Baylor University. He has participated in a number of community development efforts, including K–12 educational advocacy in Bogotá, Colombia and West Chicago, IL, and urban agricultural development in East Atlanta, GA. Tyler is a member of the board of trustees and the maintenance team at the Good Neighbor House, and his family and church are frequent users of the space. You can learn more about Good Neighbor House in an article title, "Good Neighbor House: Reimagining Settlement Houses as a Response to Contemporary Community Challenges," in Chapter 3 of Christianity and Social Work: Readings on the Integration of Christian Faith and Social Work Practice, Fifth Ed., by T. Laine Scales and Michael S. Kelly.  The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.  

This episode will be the first in a series that explores how the Church and the Christian faith is doing globally. In each episode I will have a guest from a different country or area to talk about the Christian experience and the Church's challenges in the place of my guest. My guest for this episode is Dr. Bennett Uche Enyioha. Dr. Enyioha is an experienced Baptist pastor, author, educator, and leader. He is an Associate Professor, having taught at various theological seminaries and colleges in Nigeria. For ten years he was the president of the Baptist Theological Seminary in Kaduna, Nigeria. He has served in leadership positions both in the Nigerian Baptist Convention and the Baptist World Alliance. Since his retirement, Dr. Enyioha has worked to establish the B. U. Enyioha Foundation for the purpose of assisting gifted students that need resources to make possible their education, helping hospital patients with their hospital expenses, and establishing a lectureship that will be a resource for educating the people and churches of Nigeria. For enquiries about the Foundation, its work, and how to contribute and donate to the foundation, contact Dr. Enyioha at either: buenyioha@yahoo.com buenyioha@gmail.com The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

As I did in my spoken intro to this episode, I want to begin this blogspot with a clarification. The interviews that have made the two parts and episodes with Dr. Lengnick were done in early June. You may know that beginning September 24 the rain from Hurricane Helene began to come through the area where I live, which is in Black Mountain, North Carolina, just east of Asheville, North Carolina. The primary impact of that event occurred on the night of September 26-27. It was devastating and in many places it was catastrophic. I posted Part 1 on September 24, the day the rain began. It is just now that I am able to post Part 2. My original intention was to post this episode a week after posting Part 1. Because both of these interviews on Resilient Agriculture directly speak to the issues that bear on the impact of Hurricane Helene, Dr. Lengnick wanted to make sure that you, my listeners, understood that these interview were made 3 months prior to the impact of the hurricane and not as a response to it. However, some reflection in light of the ideas and principles of Resilient Agriculture upon the event of Hurricane Helene needs be provided. Dr. Lengnick has graciously agree, when the time is more appropriate, to return for a third interview, especially to speak about her understanding of the idea of bouncing forward rather than bouncing back. We will look forward to that interview. In this episode, Laura talks about her experiences in having be active in promoting Resilient Agriculture for a while now, she speaks about the importance of stories to the promotion of Resilient Agriculture and tells us some stories, and she provides a very helpful list of things we non-agricultural folks can do to participate with and in Resilient Agriculture. Dr. Lengnick is the author of Resilient Agriculture: Expanded and Updated Second Edition: Cultivating Foods Systems for a Changing Climate. This book will be the basis for these interviews. Laura is the founder and principal of Cultivating Resilience which works with organizations of all kinds to integrate resilience thinking into assessment, operations and strategic planning. Trained as a soil scientist, Laura has 30 years of experience as a researcher, policymaker, educator, activist, and farmer. She has broad federal policy expertise gained through work as a U.S. Senate staffer, a USDA-ARS researcher, and a lobbyist advocating for sustainable agriculture in the U.S. Congress and was a lead author of the 2013 United States Department of Agriculture's report, Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation. You can learn more about Cultivating Resilience and Laura here: cultivatingresilience.com The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

In this episode and the next I interview Dr. Laura Lengnick about resilient agriculture. Resilient agriculture is a step beyond sustainable agriculture and is being developed as a correction to industrial agriculture and in response to climate change. Dr. Lengnick is the author of Resilient Agriculture: Expanded and Updated Second Edition: Cultivating Foods Systems for a Changing Climate. This book will be the basis for these interviews. Laura is the founder and principal of Cultivating Resilience which works with organizations of all kinds to integrate resilience thinking into assessment, operations and strategic planning. Trained as a soil scientist, Laura has 30 years of experience as a researcher, policymaker, educator, activist, and farmer. She has broad federal policy expertise gained through work as a U.S. Senate staffer, a USDA-ARS researcher, and a lobbyist advocating for sustainable agriculture in the U.S. Congress and was a lead author of the 2013 United States Department of Agriculture's report, Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation. You can learn more about Cultivating Resilience and Laura here: cultivatingresilience.com  

This episode checks in with Choristers Guild. I began my ministry in church music in the late-1970s and early 1980s, and Choristers Guild was a primary source I turned to for wonderful and high-quality children's Christian music. Back then, church music was organized around graded choirs and music ensembles. But during the mid-1970s and early 1980s, the "seeker" churches grew rapidly and with them the use of "contemporary" Christian music. During the 1990s "contemporary" Christian music became dominant. The result, often, was the loss of graded choir programs. In its origins, Choristers Guild had a strong focus on children's music. This episode seeks to learn of the state of things in church music and how Choristers Guild is navigating the challenges of the current situation with Christianity in the United States and music ministry. My guests are Katie Houts and Mark Burrows. Katie has worked with Mark in editing some of his music pieces. Katie Houts is the Sacred Choral and Curriculum Editor for Choristers Guild. Serving CG since 2013, Katie curates and edits sacred choral anthems, collections, musicals, curriculum, and teaching resources; she also serves on the faculty of the Choristers Guild Institute. She studied music at Wartburg College (Waverly, IA), where she majored in Church Music (Organ) and Religion. She has served in ELCA, UCC, and UMC congregations as Director of Music, Worship Curator, Organist, and Children's Choir Director. Katie is a published composer, professional accompanist, and a frequent clinician at sacred conferences throughout the country. She currently serves on ACDA's National Committee for Composition Initiatives, working to support and champion the work of living choral composers. Katie is based in Salt Lake City, where she leads choral ensembles throughout the community, including Rise Up Children's Choir - Utah's premiere contemporary vocal performance group for ages 6-18. She conducts RUCC's intermediate ensemble, Rise Up Ignite, and is the assistant director and accompanist for the advanced mixed children's choir. She also teaches second grade music and directs the 5th and 6th grade choirs at Wasatch Charter School (Holladay, UT). What Choristers Guild and other publishers say about Mark Burrows is this: Mark Burrows (b. 1971) is a composer and clinician whose works are published by many major houses, including The Lorenz Corporation, Shawnee Press, Abingdon Press, Choristers Guild and Warner Brothers. Several works, such as the Gettin' Down with Mama Goose Series, The Body Electric, and Outside the Lines top many best-seller lists. Known to little listeners as “Mister Mark” he tours the country performing concerts for children and families. His three children's albums – You've got a Song, Go Ape!, and Go, Galileo! – have won a total of nine national awards. His songs can be heard on XM Radio, and one song, Amazon Rock, was recently recorded by Nick Records for a Dora the Explorer album. Mark is currently the Director of Children's Ministries at First United Methodist Church – Fort Worth, Texas, where he leads the weekly Children's Message, a monthly worship service for families called Children First, and directs the 65-voice Youth Choir. Mark received his undergraduate degree in music education from Southern Methodist University, and his graduate degree in conducting from Texas Christian University. He lives in Fort Worth with his wife, Nina, and their two daughters, Emma and Grace. What Mark prefers to say about himself is this: Mark loves traveling the country reminding people how amazing they are and how, together, they can do amazing things! While Mark does not have perfect pitch, he does have “perfect dynamics.” He can tell, just by listening, if a piece of music is loud or soft. Mark loves cinnamon rolls and tacos but can't stand peas. He's a Ravenclaw, and he adores classical music (especially Haydn for his sense of humor).

This episode is Part 2 of my interview with Jeffrey Stout on democracy. In Part 1 Dr. Stout explained the different ways democracy has been understood throughout history, he gave us two definitions of liberty and freedom, and he spoke of the seven virtues he believes are essential for citizens to develop in order to participate in maintaining a healthy democracy. In this episode, Dr. Stout discusses the threats that presently exist to our democracy here in the United States and then develops the roll we have as citizens to respond to these threats and to insuring that our democracy thrives. Dr. Stout is Professor of Religion, Emeritus at Princeton University. He is a theorist and historian of democratic culture. His work is concerned with ethics, religious thought, political theory, law, and film. The two of his books that I draw upon for these two episodes are Democracy and Tradition, and Blessed Are the Organized: Grassroots Democracy in America. His two lectures which I draw from for these interviews are his 2017 Gifford Lectures titled ‘Religion Unbound: Ideals and Powers from Cicero to King' and his 2022 Frederic R. and Molly S. Kellogg Biennial Lecture on Jurisprudence titled ‘The Tree of Democratic Liberty.' Both of these lectures can be found on Youtube. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

This episode is Part 1 of my conversation with Professor Jeffrey Stout about our democracy. There is a broad conviction that our democracy here in the United States is in crisis. In my mind, Dr. Stout is one of the most important scholars of democracy and also one of the best guides for us learning what we, as citizens, need to understand and do to improve our democracy and maintain its thriving. Dr. Stout is Professor of Religion, Emeritus at Princeton University. He is a theorist and historian of democratic culture. His work is concerned with ethics, religious thought, political theory, law, and film. The two of his books that I draw upon for these two episodes are Democracy and Tradition, and Blessed Are the Organized: Grassroots Democracy in America. His two lectures which I draw from for these interviews are his 2017 Gifford Lectures titled ‘Religion Unbound: Ideals and Powers from Cicero to King' and his 2022 Frederic R. and Molly S. Kellogg Biennial Lecture on Jurisprudence titled ‘The Tree of Democratic Liberty.' Both of these lectures can be found on Youtube. My own commitment to democracy and religious liberty is rooted in my Baptist heritage. The kind of Baptist community into which I was born and to which I grew up to embrace, articulated its beliefs in a document called The Baptist Faith and Message (TBFaM. The edition I am using is 1971). Principal among those beliefs is ‘soul freedom' as Baptist historian, Walter Shurden, calls it in his book, The Baptist Identity: Four Fragile Freedoms (TBI), or as Baptist theologian, E. Y. Mullins, calls it in his book, The Axioms of Religion, ‘the competency of the soul in religion (TBFaM p.8).' For Baptists of my ilk, this soul freedom is rooted in the nature of God and subsequently in the nature of who we are as individuals. God is free and in creating us as individuals, God created us in God's image. This image in which each of us is created gives to each of us freedom, equality, dignity, and worth. Freedom of thought and choice are essential for true relationships, fellowship, and communion. These freedoms are the basis by which we are able to love. Thus, soul freedom is what empowers us to be able to respond to God, to enter into true relationship with God and to love God. It is also the means by which we can relate to and love one another. As free and equal individuals before God, we each are thus free and equal before one another--any and all others—before any and all people and any and all organizations. But having this freedom also includes responsibility and accountability. We become responsible and accountable for our thoughts and choices. Soul freedom is both exclusive and inclusive (TBFaM p.8). As Shurden defines it, Soul Freedom is the affirmation of the inalienable right and responsibility of every person to deal with God without or to the exclusion of the imposition of creed, the interference of clergy, or the intervention of civil government (TBI p.23). But, as The Baptist Faith and Message says, it includes all elements of true faith (TBFaM p.9). Thus Mullins lists six axioms: The theological axiom: The holy and loving God has the right to be sovereign (and is thus free). The religious axiom: All souls have an equal right to direct access to God. The ecclesiastical axiom: All believers have a right to equal privileges in the church. The moral axiom: To be responsible a person must be free. The religio-civic axiom: A free Church in a free State. The social axiom: Love your neighbor as yourself. As The Baptist Faith and Message says, religious liberty does not rest upon a legal document of a political state…A free state does not create religious liberty. It only recognizes and respects it. But religious freedom is essential in the making of a free state (TBFaM pp 141-142). It continues to assert that in a free state, religious liberty means the right of every person to worship or not worship as that person's conscience dictates.

This episode is my second interview with John Mabry. In this episode we focus specifically on his music and his newest album, No Stranger. As you will hear in the episode, John has a brain tumor that can be removed, but the result will be that it will make him deaf. So, the airing of this episode of John's music is especially pertinent and poignant. I am deeply honored and blessed that John reached out to me as one of his last interviews before his surgery. This new album is powerful and has much to teach us about God and our faith in Jesus Christ. The Reverend Dr. John R. Mabry is a United Church of Christ pastor specializing in interim ministry. But he is also an author, songwriter, spiritual director, and seminary professor. He is the author of more than 40 books, writing on spirituality, spiritual direction, and theology, but he also writes science fiction and fantasy. John is a veteran of two progressive rock bands—Mind Future and Metaphor—but in the last few years has released a string of solo albums. His latest is called “No Stranger,” and it is available on BandCamp and all major streaming services. He lives with his wife and three Boxers in the foothills of the Catskill mountains in New York. You can learn more about John and his recent creative activities from his website, johnrmabry.com The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

This episode is the first of what I hope will be a series of conversations with pastors about how they are leading, guiding, and navigating their churches through current times. As the Pew Research Center has documented, Christianity in the United States is in decline. Thousands of churches each year are closing. In churches across the nation across the theological and political spectrum, congregations consist of aging members and declining numbers. Sanctuaries are filled to only one fourth to one third of the seating capacity, and much of the entire building space goes unused. The reasons for this decline are complex and comprised of numerous components. We are still in the midst of gaining some understanding and what understanding we have is evolving. Decline is not the only issues churches are facing and some of the other issues are contributors to the decline. What this series seeks to explore is how churches are navigating these times by listening to the thoughts of pastors as they describe their situations and contexts and what they and their churches are doing. The pastors I am choosing to interview serve historic mainline congregations that have been a part of their communities for over 100 year and the facilities of which are often listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The pastors also began serving their churches prior to, served in the midst of, and are continuing to serve following the Covid Pandemic. My first guest in this series in my own pastor, The Reverend Dr. Austin McIver Dennis, who is Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Asheville, North Carolina. 'Mack,' as he prefers to be called, is a native of Henderson, North Carolina. He came to First Baptist, Asheville in 2016. Prior to that, for five years he was pastor of First Baptist Church, Mt. Gilead, North Carolina, then received his Th.D. from Duke Divinity School with a focus on homiletics and reconciliation. He is the editor of The Luminous Word: Biblical Sermons and Homiletical Essays, which is an anthology of sermons and essays by Old Testament scholar, Ellen F. Davis. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My guest for this episode is Liz Cooledge Jenkins. In this episode we discuss her book Nice Churchy Patriarchy: Reclaiming Women's Humanity from Evangelicalism. Liz is a writer, preacher, and former college campus minister who lives in the Seattle area with her husband Ken and their black cat Athena. After spending thirteen years as a young adult in evangelical communities, Liz is passionate about sorting through inadequate and harmful theologies and learning how to build faith communities that are inclusive, just, and life-giving—for women and for all people. Liz has a BS in Symbolic Systems (Stanford University) and a Master of Divinity degree. Her writing has appeared in Sojourners, The Christian Century, Christians for Social Action, and Red Letter Christians, among other places, and she is a regular contributor at Feminism and Religion. She blogs at lizcooledgejenkins.com, Patheos (Always Re-forming), and Substack (Growing Into Kinship), and can also be found on Instagram @lizcoolj and @postevangelicalprayers. When not writing, Liz enjoys swimming, hiking, attempting to grow vegetables, and drinking a lot of tea.   The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

In this episode I welcome back Dr. Jonathan "Jay" Augustine to discuss the sequel to his book Called to Reconciliation: How the Church Can Model Justice, Diversity, and Inclusion. You can listen to my interview with Dr. Augustine on that book in episode 89. The sequel is When Prophets Preach: Leadership and the Politics of the Pulpit. If Called to Reconciliation is about the Church's responsibility to fulfill its ministry of reconciliation given to it by our God, When Prophets Preach is about the leadership necessary to enable the Church to engage in and seek to achieve its ministry. Dr. Augustine serves as senior pastor of St. Joseph AME Church in Durham, NC. You can learn more about Dr. Augustine on his website: https://www.jayaugustine.com/ The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My guest for this episode is Dr. David Bjorlin. Dr. Bjorlin is a hymn text writer. As an Assistant Professor of Worship at North Park University, David prepares his students for lives of significance and service by guiding and equipping them with practical skills centered around worship. “I believe what and how we worship forms the people we are and the way we interact with the world,” he says. As the assistant chapel coordinator at North Park and the pastor of worship and creative arts at the Resurrection Covenant Church, Bjorlin incorporates his experiences into the classroom by combining theory, practice, and reflection. Framing his classes through a city-centered lens, Bjorlin emphasizes that to understand worship, one must first understand location. He aims to teach students the importance of learning what it means to be a Christian living in a particular city surrounded by different cultures. David's YouTube channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUXJEzza9ABOLCPKfdXHl_w The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

One of the things we have gotten wrong for too long has been our understanding of and, consequently, treatment of people with disabilities. Although it is not happening broadly enough or quickly enough, efforts to correct our understanding and our behavior are taking place. One of those efforts is The Penguin Project which is a nation-wide organization and effort to involve people with disabilities in musical theater. My guest for this episode is here to discuss her work with the project. Lisa Heath Jinkins (Choreographer for Golden Isles Penguin Project in Brunswick, GA) began her career as a professional modern dancer in New York City in 1985. She had the opportunity to perform with many top choreographers and companies, including The Martha Graham Dance Company, and at some of the larger theatres in Manhattan: New York City Center and The Joyce Theater, to name two. Lisa met and married Jim Jinkins in NY, and they have two children, Rose and Heath. During this time, Lisa had the opportunity to write 5 children's books for The Disney Company, based on the animated series “PB&J Otter” created by Jim Jinkins. That led to co-creating “JoJo's Circus” for The Disney Channel, and writing scripts for “Pinky Dinky Doo”, an animated television series created by Jim. In 2010, the family moved to Brunswick, GA, where they continued to be involved in the arts, performing in various local productions on stage, and working behind the scenes, as well. In 2016 Lisa was asked to be the Choreographer for a new venture: Golden Isles Penguin Project.  The Penguin Project® is a musical theater production that casts children and young adults with disabilities in all roles. All sing, dance and act in the show. Those individuals (Artists) will get assistance from on-stage peers (Mentors). And after a one year break in 2023, Lisa has been asked to return to help with Meredith Wilson's “The Music Man, Jr.!" She can't wait! To learn more about The Penguin Project and efforts like these go to the following links: Golden Isles Penguin Project: https://goldenislesarts.org/programs/penguin-project/ The Penguin Project:  https://penguinproject.org/ The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

This episode is a continuation of my series on palliative care and end of life issues. My guest is Dr. Aditi Sethi. Dr. Sethi is a hospice and palliative care physician, end-of-life doula, and musician. Featured in the forthcoming film The Last Ecstatic Days, Aditi is an emerging and important voice for shifting our culture's understanding and approach to dying, death, and bereavement care. Dr. Sethi is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Conscious Living and Dying which will formally launch in the near future. The mission of Center for Conscious Living and Dying is to create a community that embodies living a meaningful life through inner exploration and growth, service, and community-supported end-of-life care. Aditi is here to share with us her journey into establishing and developing the Center and to help us understand more fully its vision and work. To learn more, go to the website for the Center at ccld.community. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

The reason I feature storytelling as often as I do in this show is because of its capacity as an art form to build bridges between people and connect them, existentially and emotionally to experience the 'world' within the story, and thereby existentially and emotionally to experience the lives of others and The Other. Storytelling is a therapy and, as you know from my interviews with Meta Commerce and Mark Yaconelli, a medicine. And it can also be a joyful means of entertainment, fellowship, and communion. It is a way we make sense and meaning of our lives and realities. This episode focuses again on the importance of storytelling in African American culture. My guest is Gloria Elder. Gloria “Glo Glow” Elder has been telling stories for as long as she can remember. She enjoys writing and telling stories of her many adventures of growing up around her loving grandparents, who told her many family stories. If fact, Gloria credits her grandparents as the reason she developed a love for storytelling.  When she became an Early Childhood Educator and Director, she told stories to children and adults in the day care center every Friday morning. Upon changing careers and missing the children at the day care center, she became a clown and created her act called, “The Magic of Clowning Around”. Her performances included, mime, singing, face painting and magic tricks.   The themes of Gloria's stories are family history, saving our planet and transforming our life.  She performs at birthday parties, in schools, hospitals, churches, cemeteries, and at festivals. She also loves telling African Folktales. Her first book titled, I Walked a Mile in Her Shoes: A Story of Unconditional Love, is a story about an adventure she had with her maternal grandmother. Gloria is a member of Kuumba Storytellers of Georgia and the National Association of Black Storytellers. To buy a copy of Gloria's book, contact her at gloriaelder@comcast.net. To learn more about Kuumba Storytellers of Georgia go here: kuumbastorytellers.org To learn more about The National Association of Black Storytellers to here: https://www.nabsinc.org/ The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.  

There is an increasing awareness of a several things related to aging. One is the fact that modern medicine and health practices are making it possible for people to live longer so that more people are able to live to being senior adults and to do so for a long time. Another is that members of the Baby Boom generation are retiring. A third is that for many people the experience if aging is not a good experience. So, efforts are being made and practices developed to address the present circumstances related to aging. This episode will focus on the ideas, practices, and events connected with the concept of Sage-ing. Sage-ing was developed by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Schalomi. The fruit of his experiences and efforts from addressing his own aging have produced many things, but the two in particular that are discussed in this episode are his book that he co-wrote with Ronald S. Miller titled From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Revolutionary Approach to Growing Older, and the organization, Sage-ing International. My guests to help us understand more fully this movement called Sage-ing are Jeanne Marsh and The Reverend David Blackmon. After retiring from the corporate world in 2005, Jeanne received an MA from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology where she was first introduced to Sage-ing through Reb Zalman's book, From Age-ing to Sage-ing . Jeanne brings twenty-seven years experience in corporate Human Resources and Management Training and Development. She currently serves as Coordinator for the Sage-ing Leader Certification Program. Jeanne is also certified to administer and consult using theMyers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator and facilitates “Connecting With Self” and Sage-ing workshops in the Asheville area as well as partnering with other Sage-ing Leaders throughout the country. David Blackmon serves as a chaplain in health care facilities in Western North Carolina. David's training includes masters degrees from Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. David completed a year's internship in clinical pastoral education in 1989 before beginning a 20-year stent at Mission Hospitals in Asheville, North Carolina. He served as Coordinating pastor for First Baptist Church of Asheville for a dozen years before entering semi-retirement in 2021. During a sabbatical, he completed the Spiritual Guidance Program at the Shalem Institute in 20014-2015. David rejoices in the sacred experiences and creative callings of people from all faiths and backgrounds and welcomes this diversity as a crucial resource in the growing community of sage-ing. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

This episode is a part of a continuing series to enable you to hear the spectrum of American Indian/Native American/Indigenous/First Nations voices, especially in their response to Christianity and its history in the United States. If you are interested in this interview, you may also be interested in my interview with Dr. Tink Tinker, an Osage man, in Episode 8. My guest for this episode is The Reverend Dr. Tim Ross. Tim is a close friend of mine. Until Covid, we were in a prayer/conversation group together for over a decade. Tim is a pastor, teacher, cross-cultural worker, husband, dad of four grown children, and grandfather of five grandchildren. He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation (West). He has served as minister of the Hopwood Christian Church in Elizabethton, TN since 1996. Prior to that, Tim and his family served with Christian Missionary Fellowship among the Maasai tribe in Kenya, Africa. Tim is an instructor at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, mentors ministers and missionaries, and is passionate about building relationships with folks of all cultures, with immigrants, prisoners, and folks who struggle to get by. He is a graduate of Milligan College and Emmanuel Christian Seminary. Tim is here to share with us his experience as a Cherokee, a Christian, a minister, a missionary, and his beginning work with NAIITS (originally referred to as North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies). You can learn more about NAIITS at naiits.com. Other resources related to our conversation: Cherokee Nation Eastern Band of Cherokee Nation United Keetoowah Band The Cherokees and Christianity, 1794-1870: Essays on Acculturation and Cultural Persistence, by William G. McLoughlin Journeying into Cherokee: Help and Encouragement for Learning the Cherokee Language, by Mary Rae and Ed Fields Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way, by Richard Twiss Native American Contextual Ministry: Making the Transition, by Casey Church (author), Ray Martell (editor), Sue Martell (editor) Monuments to Absence: Cherokee Removal and the Contest over Southern Memory, by Andrew Denson First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My guest for this episode is the Reverend Dr. Jonathan C. Augustine. But that is the name that appears on his books. In his personal relationships, Dr. Augustine goes by Jay. Dr. Augustine serves as senior pastor of St. Joseph AME Church, in Durham, NC, and as general chaplain of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He is an accomplished author, respected academic leader, and nationally recognized social justice advocate who speaks for the equality of all human beings. Prior to Dr. Augustine's current pastoral service, he led Historic St. James AME Church (1844), in downtown New Orleans, the oldest predominantly black, Protestant congregation in the Deep South, while simultaneously teaching at Southern University Law Center. He recently served as a visiting professor at North Carolina Central University Law School and as a consulting faculty member at Duke University Divinity School, where he is also a member of the Board of Visitors and a missional strategist with the Center for Reconciliation. After graduating from Howard University, with a degree in economics, Augustine served as a decorated infantry officer in the United States Army. He earned his law degree at Tulane University and served as a law clerk to Chief Justice (then-Associate) Bernette Joshua Johnson, at the Louisiana Supreme Court, before practicing law and serving in both publicly elected and appointed offices in Louisiana. After accepting the call to ordained ministry, he earned his Master of Divinity degree, at United Theological Seminary, as a Beane Fellow and National Rainbow-PUSH Coalition Scholar, before completing a fellowship at Princeton Theological Seminary, and earning his Doctor of Ministry at Duke University. In addition to numerous articles published in law reviews, Dr. Augustine is the author of three books that can be found on Amazon: The Keys Are Being Passed: Race, Law, Religion and the Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement , Called to Reconciliation: How the Church Can Model Justice, Diversity, and Inclusion , and his most recent work, When Prophets Preach: Leadership and the Politics of the Pulpit . In this episode Dr. Augustine and I will be discussing Called to Reconciliation. You can learn more about Dr. Augustine from his website: https://www.jayaugustine.com/ The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My guest for this episode is Jim Jinkins. Jim is a progressive Christian who is an American animator, cartoonist, and children's book author. He is most notably known for his animated character, Doug. Jim is here to tell us the story of his career and work in creating and producing children's educational animation series and writing children's books and to talk about how he has integrated his work and his faith. You can learn more about Jim from his Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jinkins His IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0423132/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm Searching him on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=jim+jinkins&crid=QA49K336B5O9&sprefix=jim+jenkins%2Caps%2C116&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 Doing a Google search: https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tTP1TcwTc8uLDNg9OLOysxVyMrMy87MKwYAWrUH2Q&q=jim+jinkins&oq=jim+jinkins&aqs=chrome.1.0i355i512j46i512j0i512l3j69i60j69i61l2.11399j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 And his Doug Fandom page: https://doug.fandom.com/wiki/Doug_Wiki The two music clips used during this interview come from Doug theme music and are used with Jim's permission. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My guest for this episode is Robin Russell Gaiser. Robin is a Certified Music Practitioner who, for over sixteen years, offered live acoustic bedside music to the critically and chronically ill, elderly, and dying in hospitals, hospices, rehabs, and nursing and private homes. She gives us in-depth insight into her experiences in her wonderful book, Musical Morphine: Transforming Pain One Note at a Time which won a Best American Book award in 2017 and was the subject of a TEDx Talk in 2018. As a Christian, Robin has understood her work as a ministry and has been shaped and guided by Hildegard of Bingen's insight that "All music is an adornment of God. Sound is our true abode...all things are formed in sound." Robin is also the author of Open for Lunch which was the subject of an hour-long National Public Radio (NPR) interview. You can learn more about Robin, her books, and interviews at her website: robingaiser.com Robin is here to help us understand the nature of the work of a Certified Music Practitioner, and to share with us some of how it is done. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My guest for this episode is Mark Yaconelli. Mark Yaconelli is a writer, retreat leader, community builder, spiritual director, storycatcher, husband, and father. He is the founder and executive director of The Hearth. Previously, he co-founded and served as program director for the Center for Engaged Compassion where he helped develop a unique set of practices and training programs for assisting individuals, organizations, and communities in cultivating compassion. He is the author of six books including Between the Listening and the Telling: How Stories Can Save Us (Broadleaf, 2022), which is the primary basis for this interview, The Gift of Hard Things (IVP 2016), Wonder, Fear, and Longing (Zondervan 2009). Interviews and profiles of Mark Yaconelli's work have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, BBC News, ABC World News Tonight, The Washington Post Online. Mark holds an MA from the Graduate Theological Union and a Graduate Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

In this episode my guest, Adam Tice, share with us two of his hymns and talks with us about his work. Adam was named a Lovelace Scholar by the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada. He served as a member of the Society's executive committee from 2007 to 2010. He was Associate Pastor of Hyattsville (Maryland) Mennonite Church from 2007 to 2012. Adam now lives with his family in Goshen, Indiana. He is text editor for the 2020 Mennonite hymnal, Voices Together. In early 2020 he joined GIA as Editor for Congregational Song. Adam also leads workshops in writing congregational song, currents in congregational song and a cappella congregational song. You can learn more about Adam and contact him at: giamusic.com/store/artists/adam-tice The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

One of the things I have recently learned it that there isn't just capitalism and socialism, but different kinds of capitalism and different kinds of socialism. In addition, there are alternatives to both of these approaches to economics, like ecological or steady state economics. Some forms of capitalism work better that others. Some forms of socialism work better that others. What is clear, is that the ways we have done and are continuing to do capitalism in the United States has significant problems. So there are innovative experimentations happening in this country to provide alternative capitalisms. Among those are innovators exploring local economics and economies. Two of those innovators are Stephanie Swepson Twitty and Kevin Jones.  Stephanie is President and CEO of Eagle Market Streets Development Corporation. Eagle Market Streets is headquartered in the “oldest thriving African-American Commercial Business District in the country” in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. Stephanie is a 20+ year veteran in the Not-for-Profit Industry. She is an economic development specialist, focusing on small business development asset building and wealth creation. Kevin, and his wife, Rosa Lee Harden, are serial entrepreneurs. Together they founded Social Capital Markets, SOCAP, and began Neighborhood Economics. Kevin has seven successful startups and turnarounds and is a co-leader of the Swannanoa Watershed doughnuteconomics.org social action team in partnership with the Hendersonville, North Carolina based Latino Coop, Tierra Fertil. They are here to help us understand both what they each are doing individually and what they are doing together collaboratively. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

Hospice care and palliative care are closely related and sometimes overlapping, but both of these areas of medical care still greatly misunderstood. This episode focuses on hospice care. For a better understanding of this important and vital ministry and form of care I turn to the Reverends Leah Brown, Kelly Belcher, and Jody Griffin. Leah Brown is Associate Pastor, Pastoral Care at First Baptist Church, Asheville, North Carolina. She joined the FBCA staff in 2008 and was ordained in 2010.  She coordinates and provides pastoral care for the congregation. Leah graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from UNC-Asheville. She received her Master of Social Work from UNC-Chapel Hill and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Her clinical focus is aging and end-of-life care. Leah worked as a hospice social worker at CarePartners Hospice and Palliative Care from 1994-2007. Kelly Belcher is an ordained minister and endorsed chaplain with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. She works as a hospice chaplain in Asheville, North Carolina Jody was a United States Army Reserve Chaplain with the 167TH Military Police Battalion and a Retired North Carolina Army National Guard Chaplain serving in United States Army and Navy confinement facilities. From 2016-2022 he was a community funded chaplain at Avery-Mitchell Correctional Institution. He is currently the pastor of Central Baptist Church, Spruce Pine, North Carolina and chaplain at Medi Hospice, Boone, North Carolina.

In this episode, my guest, Dr. Caroline Knox, helps us understand palliative care as a developing area in medical care. Dr. Knox is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She trained in Family Medicine at St. Mary's Family Medicine Residency in Grand Junction, CO. She was a general practitioner in New Zealand before pursuing further training in Palliative Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Dr. Knox has practiced palliative medicine at Mission Hospital since moving to Asheville with her family in 2014. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

I had interviewed Stephen and Rachel Mosley as a part of the Foundling House Interview (PGE 33) and wanted to do a full episode on their music. Rachel and Stephen Mosley  met in a freshman year high school geography class sometime late last century.  Married for twenty years, they've just recently begun to write and perform their own earthy, soft brand of folk, and to share it beyond their own front porch. Their music is heavily influenced by whatever they're reading – Flannery O'Connor, Wendell Berry, and G.K. Chesterton are favorites – as well by their five wild and unruly red-headed children. You can learn more about Stephen and Rachel at themosleysmusic.com. The songs heard on this episode, 'It'll All Work Out,' 'Brighter Days,' 'Quiet on the Porch,' and 'Running Out the Road,' come from their album, Ordinary Time and are used by permission. Rachel, Inspired by her artistic, book-loving family, discovered her love of children's illustration and was delighted to find that she has a real knack for it. She uses a combination of hand drawing and digital illustration in her work, and loves to experiment with new and unique printing processes. As the proud mom of five little citizens of the world, her work is particularly inspired by travel, nature and classic children's literature. You can learn more about Rachel's work at rachelmosley.com. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

A native of Nottingham, England, Dr. Darren J. N. Middleton received his Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from the University of Manchester, his Master of Philosophy in Modern Christian Doctrine from the University of Oxford, and his Ph.D. in Literature and Theology from the University of Glasgow. After teaching five years at Rhodes College and a 24 year tenure at Texas Christian University, Dr. Middleton is now Professor of Literature and Theology at and Director of Baylor University's Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC). He is here to share with us some of the range of his work, but especially to talk about his most recent book, The Writer and the Cross: Interviews with Authors of Christian Historical Fiction. Darren is author or editor of a dozen books, and over 50 articles and book chapters, addressing such varied subjects as Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis, Japanese author Shusaku Endo, English novelist Graham Greene, and American writer Cormac McCarthy, along with studies of the Rastafari, an interest growing out of childhood friendship with Jamaican immigrants to his hometown. Among Darren books are Theology After Reading: Christian Imagination and the Power of Fiction, Novel Theology: Nikos Kazantzakis's Encounter with Whiteheadian Process Theism, Rastafari and the Arts: An Introduction, and Mother Tongue Theologies: Poets, Novelists, Non-Western Christianity. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

This episode is the second interview with and about Christians in social work. The last episode focused upon the practitioners perspective. This episode focuses on the academic perspective. I am honored to have as my guests for this conversation Dr. Tanya Smith Brice, Dr. Jon E. Singletary, and Dr. Laine Scales. Tanya is Vice President of Education at the Council on Social Work Education. Previously, she served as the Dean of the College of Professional Studies at Bowie State University and the Dean of the School of (Education) Health and Human Services at Benedict College. She has served on the faculties of the University of South Carolina, Abilene Christian University, and Baylor University. Her research centers on addressing issues of structural violence specifically as it relates to the impact of those structures on African American people. Her publications focus on the development of the social welfare system by African American women for African American children and documents structural barriers to African American families. She provides consultation to community organizations, religious institutions, and educational institutions on the impact of their policies on African American families. She has taught and lectured all over the USA, as well as in the countries of Ghana, Sweden, Uganda, Colombia and the Republic of Moldova. Jon was appointed dean of the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work in 2016 after having served as Associate Dean since 2011.  He has held the Diana R. Garland Endowed Chair in Child and Family Studies in the School since 2010 and first joined the faculty in 2003. Jon directed the Baylor Center for Family and Community Ministries.  In the Center, he helped lead $2 million of grant-related activities focused on studying congregational ministries that serve low-income communities.  His scholarship has focused on a range of Christian ministries, including family-based care for orphans and vulnerable children in Sub-Saharan Africa.  More recently, his research has focused on Christian contemplative practices and the Enneagram as a tool for spiritual formation.  Related to that research, Jon is the author of Leadership by the Number: Using the Enneagram to Strengthen Educational Leadership. Before coming to Baylor, he served as a Mennonite Pastor and a community organizer in Richmond, VA. Laine is Professor and PhD Program Co-Director for the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work. She completed 15 years as Associate Dean in Baylor's Graduate School from 2004-2019. Her scholarly work led to her appointment as co-director of Baptist Scholars International Roundtable (BSIR). Laine is the author of Doing the Word: Southern Baptists' Carver School of Church Social and its Predecessors, 1907-1997 (UT Press) and co-author/co-editor of several works, including the 6th Edition of Christianity and Social Work: Readings in the Integration of Christian Faith and Social Work Practice, and Christian Faith and University Life: Stewards of the Academy. Her research interests include doctoral education, history of Baptist women in social work and missions, and rural social work. Laine's research on historical settlement houses led her to establish Good Neighbor Settlement House in Waco Texas, a social innovation experiment in nurturing community through an intergenerational experience of the arts, music, education, recreation, and worship. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

The teaching of Jewish and Christian scripture, and for Christians, particularly the example and teachings of Jesus, Paul, and the first writers of Christian scripture have emphasized the mandate to care for people. Some of the roots of the caring efforts of social work are in the Jewish/Christian tradition. There is much parallel and overlap between social work and Judaism and Christianity. Some of Christianity's most important and effective ministries are done by Christians in social work. This episode and the next seeks to give us a better understanding of social work and its relationship with Christianity. We will explore this relationship from two perspectives--that of practitioners and that of scholars. The engagement in scholarship and in practice really is not separated in my guests. They each participate in both areas, but for conversational purposes, we make the distinction. This episode focuses on the practitioners. My guest are Dr. Rick Chamiec-Case, Lauren 'Lo' Reliford, and Dr. Lloyd Gestoso. Rick is currently a self-employed faith-based nonprofit consultant. Before becoming self-employed, from 1988-1998 Rick was Director of Services and then Senior Vice President of Always Reaching for Independence. From 2006-2008 he was Assistant Professor of Social Work at Calvin College. And, from 1997-2021 Rick was Executive Director of North American Association of Christians in Social Work. Lauren 'Lo' is the Political Director for Sojourners. Prior to coming to Sojourners, with over ten years of research, policy, advocacy, and government relations, Lo worked in domestic and international public health advocacy for a number of large nonprofit organizations. At Sojourners, Lo is responsible for developing and implementing Sojourners' policy strategy, positioning, framing, messaging, and advocacy for outreach and impact on Capitol Hill and the presidential administration. Lloyd has served in contexts dealing with child welfare and those living with opioid addiction and HIV/AIDS. He served in several hospitals and was the director of social services of a front-line AIDS housing/hospice serving the neediest people dying of AIDS in the Philadelphia region. Lloyd then transitioned to teaching undergraduate social work students leading a Department of Social Work which later became a School of Social Work with the addition of a Master of Social Work Program.  After 23 years of academic life, Lloyd was appointed as the current Executive Director of the North American Association of Christians in Social Work. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

In this episode I have a conversation with those who are or have been prison chaplains. They get us started into understanding the nature and experience of the prison and ministry within that context. My guests are the Reverends Carol Sasser Dalton, Nancy Hastings Sehested, and Jody Griffin. For the past fifteen years, Carol has been and continues to be chaplain at Western (formerly Swannano) Correctional Center for Women in Swannanoa, North Carolina. Although she works within the prison system, she is employed by the nonprofit Ministry of Hope. In addition to work in the prison, Carol has also done chaplaincy work at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina and Rutherford County Hospital in North Carolina working with patients experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, other mental health issues, substance abuse, and end-of-life issues. Nancy is a retired pastor and prison chaplain. She served as a state prison chaplain in North Carolina for over a decade. Her chaplaincy included serving in minimum, medium and maximum security prisons for men. She was at Avery-Mitchell Correctional from 2000-2003. She was at the minimum and maximum security prisons at Marion Correctional from 2003-2013. She wrote a book about her experiences in Marked for Life: A Prison Chaplain's Story. Jody was a United States Army Reserve Chaplain with the 167TH Military Police Battalion and a Retired North Carolina Army National Guard Chaplain serving in United States Army and Navy confinement facilities. From 2016-2022 he was a community funded chaplain at Avery-Mitchell Correctional Institution. He is currently the pastor of Central Baptist Church, Spruce Pine, North Carolina and chaplain at Medi Hospice, Boone, North Carolina. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My guest for this episode is Lumbee author, poet, librarian, and American Indian activist Dana Lynell Lowery. Dana is the author of Poems and Hollers from a Candy Apple Indian, Strong Like Rhoda: Exploring Female Power in the Lumbee Tribe, and Lumbee Herstory. You can learn more about Dana from her website: https://candyappleindian.com The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

This episode is a continuation of my efforts to make you aware of issues relating to religious freedom and to the work of the BJC. I welcome back Jennifer Hawks. The cases Jennifer discusses are Ramirez vs Collier, Shurtleff vs Boston, Carson vs Makin, and Kennedy vs Bremerton. She also continues to discuss the BJC's efforts in addressing Christian Nationalism. Jennifer speaks on the BJC's report on the relationship between Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Lastly, Jennifer discusses the efforts to get Congress to pass a bill relating to the preservation of Oak Flats. To learn more about the efforts to address Christian Nationalism, you can also go to the website: Christians Against Christian Nationalism. Jennifer is the associate general counsel at BJC. She provides legal analysis on church-state issues that arise before Congress, the courts and administrative agencies. She also assists in education efforts and responds to pastors and other constituents who have questions about church-state matters. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My guest for this episode is Don Mosley. Don has had and continues to have an amazing and vital ministry as a peacebuilder and care giver that has made the world a better place because it has made Christians and the Church more Christ-like because of the models he, his wife, Carolyn,  and those with him have provided for living faithfully as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ and as citizens of God's kingdom. Although not the founder, Don has had integral involvement and leadership in the development of Habitat for Humanity. He and his wife are among the cofounders of Jubilee Partners which is a ministry focused largely on refugees. Don is the author of With Our Own Eyes and Faith Beyond Borders. Don is here to tell us his story and to give us an update on Jubilee Partners. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My continuing interest in making you aware, my dear listeners, of alternatives to the growth economies of various free market capitalisms and state socialisms/communisms, I have focused to this point on Ecological or Steady State economics. In this episode I branch out and introduce you to the numerous efforts being called the solidarity economy. To do this, I have as my guest, Dr. Elias Crim. Dr. Crim provides a broad and general overview of many of the concepts and practices involved with this emerging economy. Hopefully, future episodes will look more in depth at specific approaches. Dr. Crim earned his undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley. Elias is a founder of Solidarity Hall, a group blog which focuses on alternative economics, the co-host with Pete Davis of the podcast, Dorothy's Place, named in memory and honor of Catholic political activist, Dorothy Day, and founding editor of Ownership Matters, a newsletter that focuses on the emerging landscape around impact investing, racial equity, and the solidarity economy. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My guest for this episode is Dr. Mischa Willett. Dr. Willett is the author of two critically-acclaimed books of poetry: The Elegy Beta and Phases, and is editor of Philip James Bailey's epic Festus. He teaches in the English Department at Seattle Pacific University and in its MFA program in Creative Writing. He is a specialist in British Literature of the Nineteenth-Century, particularly the poetry of writers such as William Wordsworth, Percy Shelley, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, though he often teaches Shakespeare and the History of Drama as well. Recently, his interest in the aesthetic movements of the period has caused him to engage the curious school of poets known as the “Spasmodics.” As a Christian, scholar, and poet/artist, Mischa is here to share with us his poetry, his insights, and how he understands the integration of his faith, work, and art. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

In this episode Meta Commerse returns as my guest to discuss her fifth book, her memoir, Womaning. Meta Commerse is a Blues Doula. A former professor of History and English, she's an award-winning author. Among her works are short stories, essays, poetry, numerous newspaper articles, one stage play, her story medicine novel, “The Mending Time,” and now her memoir, with more to come. She earned her MFA degree at Goddard College in Vermont. Meta is a social entrepreneur, creator of Story Medicine Worldwide, a community-based healing movement. She is a performing artist, singing jazz, blues, and gospel music. She is the mother of three adult children and grandmother to three young adult grandsons. The link to purchasing her book is here: https://www.storymedicineworldwide.com/shop/ The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

In this episode I interview Bob Ekblad about the work he and his wife, Gracie, have been and are doing and we talk about some of his books. Bob and Gracie Ekblad are founders and co-directors of Tierra Nueva (New Earth) in Burlington, Washington.  Together they minister at Tierra Nueva and at their home-based retreat center New Earth Refuge in the Skagit Valley. As Directors of Tierra Nueva, Bob and Gracie work together with a team of staff and volunteers to serve immigrants from Latin America, inmates, homeless people and people struggling with addictions. In addition to Tierra Nueva, they founded and direct The People's Seminary which is Tierra Nueva's ministry training center for pastors, theology students and lay people. Among Bob's books, the ones we discuss in this interview are Reading the Bible with the Damned, A New Christian Manifesto: Pledging Allegiance to the Kingdom of God, Guerrilla Gospel: Reading the Bible for Liberation in the Power of the Spirit, and The Beautiful Gate: Enter Jesus' Liberation Movement. Bob and Gracie are both ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

In this episode, I welcome back Janna Barber to discuss her book, Hidden in Shadow: Tales of Grief, Lamentations, and Faith, and to have her read and discuss more of her poems. Janna was a guest when in interview participants in Foundling House back in Episode 33. Janna Barber is a teller of stories, a writer of poems, and a lifelong member of the tribe of humanity. The grown-up daughter of a Baptist preacher and his Southern Belle wife, she's now married to a pastor and living with two of their three kids in Knoxville, Tennessee. She is the author of Hidden in Shadow: Tales of Grief, Lamentation and Faith as well as Invisible Hope: Poetry for Ragamuffins. You can connect with her on Facebook and Instagram. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

Western approaches to knowledge have been called into question due to the legacies of European colonialism and white supremacy and Western conceptions of reality and the universe have been transformed by the advent or relativity and quantum physics. These challenges have influenced not only Western science in general, but Western medicine in particular. The revealed limits of Western medicine have resulted in indigenous and Eastern alternatives, once dismissed and marginalized, being given new consideration. Consequently there has been a significant growth in the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). But with the increase in these practices as options, has also come questions related to ethics. My guest for this episode is Dr. Janette Engelbrecht. She is here to explain to us more fully about the nature of Traditional Chines Medicine and Complementary and Alternative Medicine, why she has chosen to be a practitioner of this medicines, why these options are growing in popularity, and to discuss with us some of the ethical issues related to practice of TCM and CAM. Dr. Janette Engelbrecht, LA.c., Dipl.OM,  is proud to offer Chinese Medicine services with an integrative approach. Her focus is on helping others to embody a healthy lifestyle in an effort to keep dis-ease and imbalance at bay. The treatments she offers range from a symptomatic style for things like pain or allergies, to a systemic/holistic style for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of internal diseases. Janette graduated from Daoist Traditions College of Chinese Medical Arts in May 2019 with dual Masters and Doctorate degrees. The lineage of Chinese medicine she studies is from a profoundly spiritual perspective rooted in Daoism, and it is from this Body-Mind-Spirit Daoist philosophy that Dr. Engelbrecht's treatment plans are informed. Dr. Engelbrecht has a strong background in Western cancer care and specializes in oncology. She has proven effectiveness in helping patients to manage the side and after effects of conventional cancer care including, but not limited to: pain, neuropathy, nausea and vomiting, insomnia, restlessness, anxiety, depression, agitation, dry mouth, etc. In addition to oncology and pain, Janette focuses on digestion, nutrition, stress, sleep, women's health & fertility, palliative care, and hospice care. Dr. Engelbrecht is currently practicing with the East Asheville Acupuncture & Wellness Boutique. You can learn more about her at eastacupuncturewb.com. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

In my mind, there are two major atrocities at the historical roots of our nation that created legacies with which we are still dealing to this day. One was the enslavement of African peoples and, after slavery was brought to an end, the subsequent segregation and continued oppression of black people through the Jim Crow laws. The other was the displacement, genocide, and forced assimilation of the Americas's indigenous peoples--the Native American/American Indian peoples. A good deal of justifiable attention has been given to understanding and addressing racism directed toward black Americans. Not enough attention has been given to understanding and addressing racism directed at American Indians/Native Americans/Indigenous peoples. In order to take my own steps at correction of my own behavior, I am delighted to welcome as my guest for this episode Lena Epps Brooker. Lena is a Lumbee/High Plains (Sappony)/Cherokee who has written an important memoir of her school years during the time of Jim Crow in the South, titled Hot Dogs on the Road: An American Indian Girls's on Growing Up Brown in a Black and Whiter World. Lena's immediate family was her father, Frank Howard Epps, her mother, Grace Smith Epps and her two younger brothers, Franklin and Cameron Epps. She grew up on the grounds of the Magnolia School in the Saddletree Community of Robeson County, North Carolina. Her father was the principal of the school and her mother was supervisor of Indian Schools for the Robeson County Board of Education. In 1962, Lena was the first American Indian and person of color to graduate from Meredith College, an all-women's Baptist college in Raleigh, North Carolina. Of the things Lena has done in her career, she was an elementary school teacher in Charlotte, served in administrative positions with NC State government, including the NC Commission of Indian Affairs, diversity and community relations director for The Women's Center in Raleigh, and diversity management consultant for corporate headquarters of a multi-state bank in Raleigh. As a volunteer was a certified lay minister with the Western NC Conference of the United Methodist Church serving Weaverville United Methodist Church. In her 25+ years of living in Raleigh, Lena was active in community affairs including serving on the City of Raleigh Human Relations Commission, the Raleigh-Wake County Arts Council, Triangle Native American Society, NC ACLU Board of Directors, the NC Council on the Status of Women. Lena's late husband of 53 years was Jim Brooker with whom she had two daughters, Lora Brooker and Lindsey Brooks. In this episode, in giving us guidance in things we can do to help make changes, Lena especially advises reading books written by her peoples. Among those include the following: The Only Land I Know: A History of the Lumbee Indians, by Adolph L. Dial and David Eliades Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation, and The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle, by Malinda Maynor Lowery Strong Like Rhonda: Exploring Female Power in the Lumbee Tribe, and Poems and Hollers from a Candy Apple Indian, by Dana Lowery Ramseur Upon Her Shoulders: Southeastern Native Women Share Their Stories of Justice, Spirit, and Community, by Mary Ann Jacobs, Cherry Maynor Beasley, and Ulrike Wiehaus The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

My understanding is that in order to understand Critical Race Theory accurately one should begin with the seminal work, Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement, authored and edited by Kimberlé Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, and Kendall Thomas. Especially since June of 2021, the political and Christian Right has chosen to target Critical Race Theory as harmful to the democracy and culture of the United States. Over 22 states have passed or are considering passing laws that prohibit the teaching of Critical Race Theory. Based on what I have read from the 'The Key Writings' book and what I have heard or read about Critical Race Theory from the political and Christian Right, it is my conclusion that what is being presented by the political and Christian Right is some mixture, depending upon whose perspective is being presented, of being uniformed, misinformed, simply wrong, and often intentionally maliciously deceiving. In order to help provide some fuller, deeper, and more accurate understanding and to help correct what is being presented from the political and Christian Right, Professor Kendall Thomas, one of the co-authors and co-editors of 'The Key Writings,' has graciously agreed to be my guest for this episode. Professor Thomas is the Nash Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. He is a scholar of comparative constitutional law and human rights whose teaching and research focus on critical race theory, legal philosophy, feminist legal theory, and law and sexuality. Professor Thomas is the co-founder and director of the Center for the Study of Law and Culture at Columbia Law School, where he leads interdisciplinary projects and programs that explore how the law operates as one of the central ways to create meaning in society. He is also a founder of Amend the 13th, a movement to amend the U.S. Constitution to end enforced prison labor. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

Irie Price is a writer, blogger, and stakeholder engagement consultant interested in asking questions that lead to growth. The author of the blog, WELL, Irie believes hearing other people's stories is a powerful way of understanding our own. That is why her work and blog explore race, culture, and wellness through the power of personal narrative. You can learn more about Irie and read her blog at her website: https://irieprice.com/ The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

This episode is part of one of my ongoing series I call "Christian Music Not Played On Christian Radio." The purpose of the series is heighten awareness that although traditional Christian music may no longer be the dominant music style experienced in Christian Churches in the United States, the composition of new music in the traditional forms of hymns and anthems is thriving. In this episode we get the pleasure of experiencing the fruit of a long and wonderful partnership between lyricist, Dr. Mary Louise, 'Mel,' Bringle and composer Sally Ann Morris. Much of their music is intended for congregational singing. They share with us a smidgen of the range of their work and give us insights into the process of their partnership. Sally Ann Morris has composed upwards of 200 hymn tunes and congregational songs, many of which are found in multiple denominational hymnals in the United States, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, and Japan. Her musical styles range from classically traditional influences to lyric melodies, jazz, folk, and pop. Sally is a Life Member of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, and, in 2021, was named a Fellow of the Society, its highest honor. She lives in Winston-Salem, NC, and is Musician in Residence at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity where she leads, enlivens, encourages, demonstrates and teaches the diverse wealth of congregational song for chapel services. Mary Louise (Mel) Bringle is a Professor of Philosophy and Religion and coordinator of interdisciplinary studies at Brevard College in Brevard, NC; she is also a ruling elder at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Hendersonville, NC. Her Ph.D. in practical and pastoral theology is from Emory University.  An award-winning hymn writer whose original texts and translations appear in the hymnals of numerous denominations in North America and Scotland, she has served as President of The Hymn Society in the US and Canada and as chair of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song, responsible for creating the hymnal Glory to God.  In the summer of 2020, she was named a Fellow of the Hymn Society. Mel and Sally's music played for this episode is published by GIA Publications and is used by permission. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

Peacebuilding, social justice, and bridge building all overlap and interweave. My guest for this episode exemplifies the desire and quest for all three of these. The Rabbi Dr. Joseph A. Edelheit has been a long-time activist in interfaith dialogue. He is Emeritus Professor of Religious and Jewish Studies at St. Cloud State University (St. Cloud, Minnesota) where he initiated and facilitated the transition of a Religious Studies program from a minor in the Philosophy Department to an independent college level program in the College of Liberal Arts, and worked in the surrounding communities on issues of anti-Semitism and interfaith dialogue. In addition to teaching for over 25 years in university settings, Rabbi Edelheit served over 45 in the rabbinate, serving Reform Jewish congregations in Michigan City, Chicago, and Minneapolis. He is currently volunteering in Jewish communities in Brazil. Rabbi Edelheit served on the Clinton administration's Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (1995-2000) and also initiated and directed a non-governmental organization, Living India, for almost a decade, providing HIV/AIDS care to orphans in India. Rabbi Edelheit is coeditor of and contributor to Reading Scripture with Paul Ricoeur and is the author of What Am I Missing: Questions on Being Human. Rabbi Edelheit is the 2021 University of Chicago Divinity School Alumnus of the Year. The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project.

There are folks who approach faith creatively. They use their gifted intelligence and artistry to explore the Mystery, the Divine, the Sacred, God. In doing so, they often have profound encounters. When they are gracious to share with us their experiences and learnings they provide us with resources for our own journeys that enable us to understand and experience the Holy more deeply and fully. They provide insights, guidance, and wisdom that equip and empower us. One such explorer is my guest for this episode, The Reverend Dr. John R. Mabry. John is an author, songwriter, spiritual director, and seminary professor. A retired United Church of Christ minister, John served as pastor at Grace North Church in Berkeley for 27 years. His 35 books include, on the academic and non-fiction side, spirituality, spiritual direction, and theology, and, on the fiction side, science fiction and fantasy. John is the vocalist for two progressive rock bands—Mind Future, and Metaphor—but has also just released his first solo album, the folk-influenced "I Want To Be Changed." The two songs John shares with us, "Come on In", and "The Harlot at the Side of the Road" come from that solo album and are used by permission. You can learn more about John and have access both to his music and books from his website. johnrmabry.com The music for the intro and outro of this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project. You can learn more about the album and the Worship Project at theportersgate.com.

My guest for this episode is David LaMotte. David is an internationally know musician, speaker, writer, and peacebuilder. The best access to all that David has done and is doing--his twelve cds, his three books, the store, videos of his speaking engagements and performances, his calendar and touring information, and the means of contacting his--is his website: https://www.davidlamotte.com/ Fuller bio information about David is here: https://www.davidlamotte.com/about/ Two of the projects we discuss in the interview that David is involved in and helped create are his Let's Be Neighbors project and the musical group Abraham Jam, which is a Muslim, Jewish, and Christian trio of musicians performing together seeking to build peace and bridges across conflict. The website for Let's Be Neighbors is here: https://www.letsbeneighbors.org/ The website for Abraham Jam is here: https://abrahamjam.com/ David has been so kind and gracious as to let me debut the song, Coming Alive, from his soon to be released thirteenth cd/album, Still. That and the Abraham Jam song, Braided Prayer, which is from the album White Moon, are used with permission. The music for the intro and outro for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is also used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project. You can learn more about the album and the Worship Project at theportersgate.com.

When folks think about ethics common thoughts relate either to decisions about daily behaviors or to university philosophy or theology departments developing and discussion the merits of various ethical theories. There are organizations where the daily activity so regularly bears on ethical situations that they employ ethicists to help the organization navigate decisions that must be made regarding ethically infused contexts. One such type of organization is the hospital and one such context is medicine and medical ethics. My guest today is The Reverend Mary Caldwell. Reverend Caldwell was a chaplain and clinical ethicist for thirty years at Mission Health in Asheville, North Carolina and is here to help us understand the work of a medical ethicist. Mary earned her Bachelor of Arts  in religion from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and her Master of Arts in philosophy with a concentration in medical ethics from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Mary has provided the following links to equip us with end-of-life planning. https://www.planningmyway.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAmKiQBhClARIsAKtSj-nDwhKJaZvgvdEXMwKfY_9aLS_FRMpgKZSWQNCU1yc8xtWWWNT96hIaAlWVEALw_wcB https://compassionandchoices.org/end-of-life-planning/ https://www.cdc.gov/aging/pdf/acp-resources-public.pdf The last option is the one Mary recommends if you only choose to read one. The music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project. You can learn more about the album and the Worship Project at theportersgate.com.

In this episode, Dr. John Pierce explains the Jesus Worldview Initiative and offers it as an alternative to the 'Biblical worldview' as defined by Conservative evangelicals. In doing so, John is enabling those participants in the Jesus Worldview Initiative to provide a counter-voice to a position that is compatible with the growth of Christian nationalism, and to provide another means of being a passionate and faithful Christian. Dr. Pierce is Executive Editor/Publisher for Good Faith Media — formed in 2020 by combining the resources of two nonprofits, Nurturing Faith and EthicsDaily. In this role he continues to serve as editor of the national publication, Nurturing Faith Journal, a position he assumed in 2000. Previously he was managing editor of The Christian Index and, earlier, Baptist campus minister at Kennesaw State University and then Georgia Tech. Frequently, he speaks in churches and consults with congregations concerning communication strategies. The music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project. You can learn more about the album and the Worship Project at theportersgate.com.

The election of Donald Trump was surprising, but, once people began to explain why they voted the way the did, it became understandable. What hasn't been understandable, however, is the subsequent devotion to him by white evangelicals. His past and continuing lifestyle is so at odds with the things white evangelicals have publicly professed to value. This devotion seems different from the type of hero status given to President Reagan or the support given to any incumbent Republican president considered the most likely to advance the Christian Republican religious and political agenda. The devotion being expressed goes beyond these, seemingly to elevate Trump to the status of God's chosen and thus an almost Messianic position. My guest today, Dr. Dan Stiver, believes this devotion to Trump by white evangelicals is, in part, rooted in their approach to understanding and interpreting the Bible. Dan helps us understand this white evangelical hermeneutic and then offers us an alternative and a way forward drawing from the insights of Christian philosopher Paul Ricoeur. Dr. Stiver came to Logsdon Seminary of Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, in 1998 from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he taught Christian philosophy for 14 years. His books include The Philosophy of Religious Language: Sign, Symbol, and Story (1996) Theology after Ricoeur: New Directions in Hermeneutical Theology (2001), Life Together in the Way of Jesus Christ: An Introduction to Christian Theology (2009), and Ricoeur and Theology (2012). He has served as pastor in Missouri and Indiana and as chair of the board for the non-profit organization Just People. The music for this episode is from a clip of a song called 'Father Let Your Kingdom Come' which is found on The Porter's Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter's Gate Worship Project. You can learn more about the album and the Worship Project at theportersgate.com.