The Kinship Collective with Mark Fields

Welcome to Episode 76 of the Kinship collective Podcast, We are ending otherness and cultivating kinship through content and community! How do we deal with forced evolution?  What happens to us when all the circumstances of our lives change in an instant? How devastating is it to have to grieve the future we wanted? What is it like to realize that future was never meant for us? Sarah Wineland joins us this week to share about her divorce and evolution into her truest self.  She shares about how being betrayed was also being freed and how such deep pain became such deep joy!  Then we discuss how faith impacted things. Follow Sarah on Instagram @sariewineland to take the conversation further. Subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to episode 75 of the Kinship Collective Podcast, We are ending otherness and cultivating kinship through content and community! How do we listen well to our bodies?  How do we move from crisis to crisis in tune with what is most true about ourselves and the world around us?  Andrea Cammarota joins us this week to help us understand how to do this a bit.  Andrea is a board certified Chaplain, a Pastor, Church planter and most importantly for our conversation today a Spiritual Director.  We'll talk a bit about her story and the work she has done to claim her primary identity.  Then we'll discuss the difference between and intersectionality of Pastoring and Spiritual directing and how we can make our whole lives a “pilgrimage”.  Follow Andrea on Instagram @itspastorandrea to connect and learn more about her Spiritual Direction. Subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to Episode 74 of the Kinship Collective Podcast, we are ending otherness and cultivating kinship! I have been overwhelmed and at times paralyzed by all the death happening in Gaza. I have found myself feeling like nothing else really matters right now. In this episode I'll share some of what I'm feeling, 2 ideas that have really disturbed me, and a system for addressing situations like this in our lives. I intend for this episode to contribute to constructive engagement toward justice and centered peace for us all! Join our newsletter or donate to our "Reimagine Retreats" here! https://thekinshipcollective.org/ Subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to Episode 73 of the Kinship Collective Podcast, we are ending otherness and cultivating kinship! Does Christianity no longer feel like home to you? Are you finding it difficult to integrate intersectional identities in the “borderlands” of your life?  Then you've come to a helpful conversation with Patty Krawec.  She's the author of an incredible book “Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call To Unforgetting The Past And Reimagining Our Future.”  She shared about her faith journey from Evangelical Christian to “Anishinaabe of faith” and we talk about how deeply colonization blinds us to our past and future. Then we reimagine Genesis 2:4-25 in a hopeful way I've never imagined it before… what if we were always meant to leave the garden?   Follow Patty on Twitter @gindaanis and learn more about her work at https://daanis.ca/ Subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to Episode 72 of the Kinship Collective Podcast, we are ending otherness and cultivating kinship! Are you finding it hard to wade into the conversation about what is happening between Israel and Palestine in the Middle East right now? This week Dana Ayoob Leota joins us to talk about her family's history in the region and how she's choosing to engage right now.  Dana exemplifies the maturity to be generous to those who disagree and talks a lot about how “othering” is a huge part of the conflict and the reason there is still so much violence in Gaza.  Then we reimagine Leviticus 19:33-34 and talk about “becoming”. Follow Dana on instagram @dbooya310 and learn more about the conflict from her recommended resources: IG Accounts to Follow: Reporter on the ground in Gaza: @byplestia  US Professor who shares a lot of good perspective: @nouraerakat Simple explanations and infographics: @letstalkpalestine  Jewish org that has a lot of good info and action steps: @jewishvoiceforpeace Books to Read Palestine - graphic novel by Joe Sacco A Land With People - collection of stories/poems, edited by Farmer, Petchesky, and Sills Against the Loveless World - historical fiction by Susan Abulhawa Subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to Episode 71 of The Kinship Collective Podcast! Do you have a Sexual Relationship With Yourself? Okay a little context, many of us come from conservative families and religions that never gave us permission to enjoy our bodies or worse made us responsible for how others engaged with their own bodies.  This week we get to talk with RN/RGN Cindy Scharkey about her mission of helping people experience, express and enjoy their sexuality!  Our conversation will give you really personal transformational insight into sex as well as really practical tactical ways to make sure you're setting yourself up for the best sex of your life.  Subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to Episode 70 of the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that ends otherness! We're telling stories that cultivate Kinship and reimagining scripture together!  Quick announcement, We are launching a digital Reimagine cohort this Thursday October 12 at 7:30. Each week we will share personal stories and reflections on our text “The Gifts of the Jews”, we will report back on our transformational work, and reimagine faith together.    You can find more information about Cost and curriculum at www.thekinshipcollective.org/reimagine-cohort . This week we talk about the fundamental difference between Evangelical Christians and Progressive Christians.  We get into the history of where that difference comes from and how it affects how we experience faith, and who gets to experience it.  Then we talk about a simple question that can help us get to the heart of our beliefs in times of conflict or confusion. Let's reimagine together!  Subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that ends otherness! We're telling stories that cultivate Kinship and reimagining scripture together!  We are launching a digital Reimagine cohort on Thursday October 12 at 7:30. Each week we will share personal stories and reflections on our text “The Gifts of the Jews”, we will report back on our transformational work, and reimagine faith together.    You can find more information about Cost and curriculum at www.thekinshipcollective.org/reimagine-cohort . This week we have a conversation with Johnny Giovati.  Johnny is a behavioral assistant for students with special needs. We have a conversation about how his work with students with disabilities informed his pastoral work with charismatic evangelicals. Johnny shared about how he learned to tell the truth about overspiritualizing Christianity in light of his theological ethics and experiences with his students and their families. Subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that ends otherness! We're telling stories that cultivate Kinship and reimagining scripture together!  We are launching a digital Reimagine cohort on Thursday nights at 7:30pm pst starting October 12. Each week we will share personal stories and reflections on our text “The Gifts of the Jews”, we will report back on our transformational work, and reimagine faith together.   You can find more information about cost and curriculum at www.thekinshipcollective.org/reimagine-cohort . This week we have a conversation with Dr. Alma Zaragoza-Petty.  Alma is a Mexicana social justice advocate and scholar who teaches equity to create change.  We discuss her new book “Chingona: Owning your inner Badass for healing and Justice".  Alma shares her story of integrating mind, body and spirit in ways that have provoked healing for her and healing conversations around the world. You'll hear beautiful integrations of Mexican heritage and imagery inviting you to own your inner badass! Subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome back to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that ends otherness and cultivates Kinship through storytelling, scripture and service. We are back to our core focus of having conversations with people that remind us of our connectedness and our kinship.  This week we have a conversation about faith with my sista Laine Kelly Sims.  She's a VO actor who has evolved to meet the many challenging moments in her life and career.  She generously shares her story and her tears as we talk about going from insecurity to confidence.  Then we reflect on Psalms 44!  Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that ends otherness and cultivates Kinship through storytelling, scripture and service. Join us Saturday September 9th for our first annual "Kinship Family Reunion Fundraiser"! We'll gather to eat good food, drink good drinks, play family games, Electric-Slide, and do some storytelling and fundraising for The Kinship Collective!  The Eventbrite will be coming soon but consider this your "Save The Date". Love has been the focus of the Christian narrative for thousands of years, but why? Let's reimagine Jesus' baptism and how it spoke to some of humanities deepest wounds. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that ends otherness and cultivates Kinship through storytelling, scripture and service. Join us Saturday August 26 for our first annual "Kinship Family Reunion Fundraiser"! We'll gather to eat good food, drink good drinks, play family games, Electric-Slide, and do some storytelling and fundraising for The Kinship Collective!  The Eventbrite will be coming soon but consider this your "Save The Date". As we continue our conversation about how to change deeply held understandings of God we talk about the final step in the process. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that ends otherness and cultivates Kinship through storytelling, scripture and service. Join us Saturday August 26 for our first anual "Kinship Family Reunion Fundraiser"! We'll gather to eat good food, drink good drinks, play family games, Electric-Slide, and do some storytelling and fundraising for The Kinship Collective!  The Eventbrite will be coming soon but consider this your "Save The Date". As we continue our conversation about how to change deeply held understandings of God we share in depth about the single most important strategy to keep our desire and education for change fueled in long-term. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that ends otherness and cultivates Kinship through storytelling, scripture and service. We still have spots available for our fall Reimagine Cohorts!  We'll spend time reimagining the context and significance of the Old Testament!  Our participants have raved tearfully about how meaningful the time together is!  Join us by clicking on the link and registering https://thekinshipcollective.org/reimagine-cohort . Change continues as we educate ourselves around the areas we want to change.  As desire rises up we can seek out learning that contributes to our ability to envision a different future.  New learning, especially self understanding, unleashes us to begin practicing new ways of being.  Let's talk about it. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that ends otherness and cultivates Kinship through storytelling, scripture and service. We still have spots available for our fall Reimagine Cohorts!  We'll spend time reimagining the context and significance of the Old Testament!  Our participants have raved tearfully about how meaningful the time together is!  Join us by clicking on the link and registering https://thekinshipcollective.org/reimagine-cohort  The beginning of change is desire.  Learning what our habits and actions tell us about what we really desire, or what we really desired when we were children.  But there is a way to instigate new desires and questions that can reorient our perspective to new desires.  Let's talk about it!  Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that "ends otherness" and cultivates kinship through storytelling, scripture and service. THIS SATURDAY! Join us for Kinship Night with Propaganda!  Join us for a conversation about creativity and identity and creating the world we intend for generations to come with an artist who has grown through various transitions!  Let's talk about it together! Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kinship-night-ft-mark-fields-propaganda-ahsohn-the-dj-tickets-633619983427 This episode we begin a conversation about necessary endings. We talk about the ways our lives get intertwined with people, places and things that don't always last. We talk about the unique ways the scriptures invite us to grieve, metabolize our suffering and cultivate true hope. Because much of the inspiration of this episode comes from Justin McRoberts' new book "Sacred Strides" we'll remind you that this book has been so meaningful to us! You can purchase Justin's new book here https://www.amazon.com/dp/0785239901 and follow him on Instagram @justinmcroberts. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that "ends otherness" and cultivates kinship through storytelling, scripture and service. Join us for Kinship Night with Propaganda!  On June 10th join us for a conversation about creativity and identity and creating the world we intend for generations to come with an artist who has grown through various transitions!  Let's talk about it together! Register today for a donation of whatever works for you at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kinship-night-ft-mark-fields-propaganda-ahsohn-the-dj-tickets-633619983427 This week we are joined by Justin McRoberts!  Justin is an author, coach, speaker, and songwriter. He is the author of six books, including Sacred Strides which releases TODAY!  Join us for a conversation on Rest and how rest invites us to more fully choose our life and our work.  If you find yourself in a space where the blueprint given to you no longer works or you are trying to name and create a flourishing life, this conversation is for you!   Purchase Justin's new book here https://www.amazon.com/dp/0785239901 and follow him on Instagram @justinmcroberts. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

In our Reimagine Cohort we keep bumping up against the tension created from what we believe about the Bible. This week let's begin a conversation about what the Bible is, what it's intention is and what we can do to cultivate a healthy expectation of what the Bible invites us toward. Join us for Kinship Night with Propaganda!  On June 10th join us for a conversation about creativity and identity and creating the world we intend for generations to come with an artist who has grown through various transitions!  Let's talk about it together! Register today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kinship-night-ft-mark-fields-propaganda-ahsohn-the-dj-tickets-633619983427 Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

This week we are joined by Lorinda Hawkins Smith!  She is an incredible storyteller and Artivist!  She shares her story of going from child actor and model, to adult actor, to domestic abuse survivor, to embracing homelessness and then creating thriving for herself now!  She shares practical ways we can be a part of individual and systemic change for the “pandemics” that create homelessness.  Ultimately Lorinda reminds us we can be more empathetic toward our siblings experiencing homelessness and our sisters and brothers in general. ***Trigger warning - there is a moment where Lorinda will describe some of the domestic abuse that she endured in small detail.  It is not grotesque but if you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse please contact the national domestic abuse hotline at 800-799-7233. Join us for Kinship Night with Propaganda!  On June 10th join us for a conversation about creativity and identity and creating the world we intend for generations to come with an artist who has grown through various transitions!  Let's talk about it together! Register today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kinship-night-ft-mark-fields-propaganda-ahsohn-the-dj-tickets-633619983427 Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Do you ever wonder if you are living in the wrong story? I dont mean living the wrong life, but allowing the wrong story to shape how you perceive and live your one and only life. I know I sometimes allow ways I've made meaning as a child to shape how I make meaning as an adult, and it doesn't serve me toward flourishing. In this episode I'll share about how our inner child came to get the driver's license of our lives and what we can do to mature toward creative living. Join us for Kinship Night with Propaganda!  On June 10th join us for a conversation about creativity and identity with an artist who has grown through various transitions!  Let's talk about it together! Join our email list or Instagram to get more info! 

If you google search “Christianity and Critical Race Theory” you'll see several harmful pages first.  These pages are trying to prevent critical thought around the racist systems that oppress.  Our conversation this week invites you to think critically and introduces an incredible resource to do so. Dr. Jeff Liou joins our conversation to share about his new book “Christianity and Critical Race Theory”.  We talk about early memories of racism and discrimination and what it feels like to get rooted in the person and work of Jesus in the midst of White Nationalistic Evangelicalism.  Then we talk about the God who celebrates our uniqueness like putting our personality on the refrigerator from Revelation 21. Purchase Jeff's new book here https://a.co/d/dAGA0F4 and follow him on Instagram @Jeff_liou. Join us for Kinship Night with Propaganda!  On May 20th join us for a conversation about creativity and identity with an artist who has grown through various transitions!  Let's talk about it together! Join our email list or Instagram to get more info! 

Welcome to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation that cultivates Kinship through storytelling, scripture and service. Today we were joined by Kevin Bishop, a teacher, Gay Rights Activist and recent Christian.  He tells his story of encountering God during a season of unbearable grief.  He shares how this loving god is so much different than the God he heard about as a kid growing up in Canada.   * We will make mention to sexual trauma in this episode, we wont talk any details but if even the mention of trauma triggers you, this may be an episode to take slowly * If this episode is disorienting for you and you are looking for a space to process something that was sparked, I know just the thing. Our Reimagine cohort is launching on Thursday April 27 in Pasadena on Thursday nights at 7:30.  It's not too late to register to the group.  You can find more information at https://thekinshipcollective.org/reimagine-cohort. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to The Kinship Collective Podcast!  We are ending otherness! We are cultivating kinship through storytelling, scripture and service! This week we continue our solo conversations to speak to the ways our "faith of origin" can create a codependence on God that disempowers us and prevents us from flourishing in ways Jesus never intended. If this episode is disorienting for you and you are looking for a space to process something that was sparked, I know just the thing. A lot of what was shared this episode comes from conversations had around a table in community in our pilot Reimagine Cohort!  We'd love for you to join our next one, Thursday Nights in Pasadena after Easter. Register today to secure your spot!  https://thekinshipcollective.org/reimagine-cohort Also we have another Kinship Night coming up May 20th. We'll have more information on that for you coming soon. It's going to be a fun conversation about creativity and identity with an incredible LA based artist.  Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Welcome to the Kinship Collective Podcast, a conversation where people who have been wounded by faith can reimagine it together! This week we get to hang with Lucca Petrucci! Lucca (he/him/his) is a Youth Inclusion and Empowerment Coach and Speaker, the host of the podcast Free to Be with Lucca, a Brand and Marketing Consultant, and an LGBTQIA+ Advocate. Our conversation centers on the reality that it sometimes costs a lot and hurts a lot to be authentic! Lucca shares his journey of coming out and how he has learned to “belong to himself”. Then we ask some questions about Romans 5:3-5 and an invitation to patient self discovery and integrity! Learn more about Lucca at https://www.luccapetrucci.com/ and you can follow him on Instagram @lucca_petrucci. Kinship Night March 4 On Saturday March 4th we are partnering with All Saints Church Pasadena to host another Kinship Night with Brandi Miller, the host of the “Reclaiming My Theology” podcast and Mark Chase, The Associate Rector at All Saints. We intend to have a conversation about how we can decolonize and deconstruct our faith without getting totally disoriented! Registration will be live soon! Stay tuned on our website!

Welcome to The Kinship Collective Podcast! We are a community where people marginalized by faith can reimagine it together. This week we are starting something new called a “Reimagine Episode” where I will have a solo conversation to speak into current events and reimagine some ideas that keep us divided and feeling "othered". This week we reflect on the deaths of Tyre Nichols and Charlie Mack. Then, we reflect a bit on Habakkuk 1:2-6 and the power of our imagination to create the world we experience! Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Supporting Pastor Eric Chen Please pray for Eric and Gloria as they do the difficult work of being present and caring for those suffering in the aftermath of the deadly shooting in Monterrey Park. Please help defray some of the costs they are incurring. If you would like to support them online (through a tool provided by the Presbyterian Foundation), please use this link, choose "General Fund," "One Time" (Under “Frequency”), and write "Fund 2029" under “Notes”.

What if Mary didn't consent to Christmas? What if when the angel approached her, honoring her with the awe and wonder that they did, and she said "NO"? This week we have a really meaningful conversation with Dr. Christy Bauman. Christy is an author, teacher and psychotherapist. A mother of 4, fierce dreamer and passionate about advocating for women. She spends most of her time researching and working at the intersection of shame and sexuality in women. We talk about her book “Theology from the womb” and the beautiful understandings of God made uniquely possible by honoring the female body and the ways she experiences the world. Then we think about the power of Mary's consent described in Luke 1:26-38. *Reimagine Cohort* I personally invite you into a transformational space to reimagine self, faith and community! We'll spend 8 weeks together on Zoom working our way through our textbook “The Gifts of The Jews” by Thomas Cahill. You will gain access to a safe space to share personal stories and reflections on the text. You will gain access to accountability for transformational faith work. Ultimately you will gain access to a transformational space to reimagine self, to clarify and articulate your faith and to experience empathetic community. *Register today by clicking this link: https://thekinshipcollective.org/reimagine-cohort Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

What do you do when the label and the beliefs that used to describe you well, no longer hold up for you? This week we have an exploratory conversation with Savannah Rae Carreno, an incredible sista who researches the impacts of American religion and founded Please Elaborate. We talk about her hospitable upbringing and her decision to no longer identify as Christian. Then we think about Paul and his choice to name the unnamed God in Acts 17:22-34. Follow Savannah's work and learn more Please Elaborate at https://pleaseelaborate.co/. You can follow her on instagram @savannahraecarreno. Y'all!!!! We're hanging in person!!! Join us this Thursday November 17th at 7pm in Pasadena for a communal conversion about a journey of holistic evolution with Author, Actor, and Poet Arielle Estoria. Find more information on our website https://thekinshipcollective.org/gathering. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

We all really want justice that transforms communities and makes things equitable and enjoyable for everyone! This week we have a meaningful conversation with PhD candidate Phill Allen Jr., who researches and writes on issues at the intersection of theology, ethics, race and culture. We talk about his newest book “The Prophetic Lens- The Camera and Black moral agency from MLK to Darnella Frazier” and discuss, prophetic criticism that unveils problems with power and energizes those in the margin. Then we think through these issues scripturally by reimagining Exodus 5. Follow Phil's work and learn more about his book at https://www.philallenjr.com/. You can follow him on instagram @philallenjrig. Y'all!!!! We're hanging in person!!! Join us Thursday November 17th at 7pm in Pasadena for a communal conversion about a journey of holistic evolution with Author, Actor, and Poet Arielle Estoria. Find more information on our website https://thekinshipcollective.org/gathering. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

Every human needs a place to call home, a place they belong to that also belongs to them, whether they own it or not. This week we had an incredible conversation about housing equity with Michelle White. After Michelle obtained her Juris Doctorate from Rutgers she served the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, eventually focusing on several housing related roles. Michelle is now the Executive Director of Affordable Housing Services, a non-profit specializing in producing units affordable for low and very low-income persons with disabilities, persons of color and families. Michelle shared a beautiful vision of what it looks like when we all have an equitable opportunity for housing, then we reimagined Ezekiel 45:9-10. Without further ado, here's Michelle. Follow along with Michelle's efforts for housing equity at https://pasadena4rentcontrol.org/ Y'all!!!! We're hanging in person!!! Join us Thursday November 17th at 7pm in Pasadena for a communal conversion about a journey of holistic evolution with Author, Actor, and Poet Arielle Estoria. Find more information on our website https://thekinshipcollective.org/gathering. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

We have all chosen to hide our flaws rather than be fully seen at one point or another. Many of us have matured to a point where we chose to be fully seen and fully loved instead of putting on a mask to gain conditional acceptance. Our guest this week shares her story. This week we had an incredible conversation about disability with Liz Staszak. Liz shared with us her experience of growing up disabled and her “coming out” moment, where she chose being fully seen over pretending to be able bodied. We talked through difficult tensions around bible stories and how we use Jesus' healing stories to belittle our disabled siblings, then we reimagined Luke 21:1-6 together. Without further ado, here's Liz. Follow Liz on Instagram @elizabeth_staszak and find valuable resources and thinking around solidarity with our disabled siblings. Liz has ensured that we make this episode accessible to our hearing impaired siblings, so for the first time we have a transcript of our episode available on our website here https://thekinshipcollective.org/our-blog. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our website https://www.thekinshipcollective.org. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

What if you followed that passion in your heart two steps forward? What would those two small steps be and what could be the outcome? This episode is about the dignity and compassion that is unleashed when we follow our compassion in the face of fear! Sammy Hammork started the Precious Kids Center by caring for one child with disabilities in Kenya. Her organization now serves hundreds of kids daily, making sure they have access to healthy nutrition and nurturing care. Then we reimagine Exodus 4:10-13 and experience the tension of the image of God within our siblings with disabilities. Follow Sammy's work on Instagram @preciouskidscenter and you can learn more about and become a supporter of Precious Kid's Center at http://preciouskids.center/. Precious Kids Center is in a unique position and like Sammy said, your small support can have huge impact on sustainability. Please consider matching The Kinship Collective in becoming a new $10 monthly donor today! Remember that small beginning can make a world of difference. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our website https://www.thekinshipcollective.org. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

What does it really mean that God has “a plan” for our lives? Is it disempowering? Does knowing God has a plan give us more agency and creativity, or does it disempower us as we wait for God's movement? This week we get to hang with Kendall and Deven Hollimon. Two young professionals who share their journey of faith and how their Christian beliefs have evolved after high school in the real world of college and career. We reimagine the very popular scripture Jeremiah 29:11 and think about the power of choice. Subscribe to Deven's youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiwmGzSBVKBE8vcAyCzz9XA and follow Kendall on Instagram @kendall_hollimon for really thoughtful/comical takes on current politics. This episode would be a great share for a younger family member or friend who is making space for their faith to evolve and could use some encouraging examples! Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our website https://www.thekinshipcollective.org. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

Empathy and solidarity for us look like listening to the voices of our sisters experiencing this moment and following their lead as they define reality and invite us to fight alongside them. This week we get to hang with Angela Lee, she's a pastor and the executive director of Harambee Ministries. Angela shares her own experience of having an Abortion at 23, what she's feeling around the overturning of Roe v Wade, and the kind of healing community that “held her instead of harming her”. Then we reimagined 1 John 1:9 and the process of healing from shame. Follow Angela on Instagram @angelatlee and you can learn more about Harambee Ministries at https://www.harambeeministries.org/. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.org. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

This episode we get to hang with Frankie Velasquez! Frankie is the Community Pastor at New Abbey church and shares his story of navigating his family's impossible expectations of gender roles. He goes on to share how he landed in this Jesus community and theology that invite him to simply be himself and be celebrated. Then we reimagined John 8:30-32 and the freedom that comes from a God who does not condemn. *Trigger warning* - Frankie will talk about moments where he felt like harming himself or taking his own life for a brief portion of the conversation. If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts please know you are loved, we're family and call 1-800-273-8255 to talk with folks who can help you navigate those thoughts. Follow Frankie on Instagram @frankieanthony_ and you can learn more about New Abbey at https://instagram.com/new_abbey_church?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= . Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.org. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

The word “homosexual” didn't find its way into any translations of the Bible until 1946. This episode we get to talk with Sharon "Rocky" Roggio who is the executive producer and director of “1946 The Movie”, a documentary about when the word homosexuality was first translated into the Bible and how. Rocky shares some of her story in the entertainment industry and about the personal fortitude, grace and maturity it takes to remember that both the oppressor and the oppressed are victims of bad theology. Then we reimagined 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and the kind of reality we are living into. Follow Rocky on Instagram @rockyroggio and follow her work @1946themovie. You can learn more about the movie and support this final phase of post-production at https://www.1946themovie.com/. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.org. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

It feels impossible to let others into the deepest places in our lives, the places where we feel they wont understand us, can't be with us, or won't be for us. This gets even more impossible when it's something as innate and core to our identity as our sexuality. This week Candice Czubernat, the Founder of "The Christian Closet" and licensed Therapist, joins us again (check out episode 18) to talk about a few things to consider when coming out. Candice shares about "internalized homophobia" and the ways our identities become fragmented by the fearful voices of judgement surrounding us and the loving voice of God embracing us unconditionally. Then we reimagined 2 Corinthians 13:5 and the ways the scripture invites us to trust God is already and always within us. Follow Candice on instagram @lesbiantherapist and learn more about The Christian Closet at https://www.thechristiancloset.com/. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.org. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

Harmful understandings and practices of who God is make us question our ability to trust in our encounters with God. These harmful beliefs about God also undermine who we are and make us question ourselves! This episode's guest talks about his journey of theological evolution and how he measures whether or not something is aligned with God. Mark Chase is an Episcopal Priest, poet, writer and emcee who joins us to share his journey toward an understanding of God marked by love and liberation. We get into distinct characteristics of God and how we can sense whether or not we are experiencing God, or an unhealthy image of God we've cultivated through our lives experiences. We continue this train of thought and reimagine Psalms 34:8 and the trash versions of god we are being served as "Good News". Follow Chase on instagram @chase784 to connect personally! Listen to some of his music here https://open.spotify.com/artist/3TdTvMHW2B0AwbhYFrWZQA?si=vYIwhcyPTUaiUPJ8SRsMcQ. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.org. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

Many of us have faced experiences in life that call the way we see everything into question. Some experiences cause us to question the very nature of who God is and force us to re-cognize who we are, how we can heal and how we show up in the world. This week Ines Velasquez-McBryde invites us into the trauma of losing her mother in a plane crash when she was a child and how that and the subsequent loss of her father's emotional presence to clinical depression distorted the image she held of God. She shares about her journey of healing and the image of God she reconstructed in response. Then we reimagine Acts 2:1-13 and the radical inclusivity of God. Follow Inés on instagram @inesmcbryde to connect personally! Learn more about The Church We Hope For at https://www.thechurchwehopefor.com. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.org. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

Shame, confusion and frustration can bubble up when we wake up to the harmful colonial ideas about faith and leadership learned simply by existing in Western faith spaces. Many of our ideas about the kingdom of God have been intermingled with ideas of colonization like leaven working its way through the bread we've learned to make during quarantine. Marcos Canales joins us this week to talk about his new book “Las Casas on Faithful Witness” which takes a critical look at the life of Father Bartolome De Las Casas and his transition from unjust understandings of God to an integrated and congruent Gospel in the midst of Spanish Colonialism 500 years ago. Then we reimagined Matthew 4:12-17 and practices of repentance and gospel grounded in solidarity with the marginalized. If you find yourself struggling with harmful colonial ideas of faith that seem to be incongruent with Jesus… this one's for you! Follow Marcos on instagram @mcanales82 to connect personally! Order Marcos' new book at https://www.amazon.com/Faithful-Witness-Sacred-Spiritual-Classics/dp/1955424071 and learn more about La Fuente Ministries at https://www.paznaz.org/lafuenteministries/ . Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.org. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

Sometimes we experience something that changes everything about how we understand God. It can be reading a book that takes everything you thought about the bible and upends it, like our guest. It can be experiencing "Church Hurt" and tracing that to harmful beliefs about God and one another. Our guest describes it as corrupt code in computer software that changes everything. This week We get to talk with David “Naked Pastor” Hayward! He is an artist and former pastor who shares his journey from traditional church leadership and theology toward a more spacious and liberated perspective of God, church and himself. Then we reimagined Jeremiah 29:10-14 and talked about what it means to be free right where you are. Follow David on instagram @nakedpastor to connect personally and check out his poignant cartoons! Learn more about all things @nakedpastor and pre-order David's new book "Flip It Like This" at https://nakedpastor.com/. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

With everything going on at the borders of Poland and Ukraine and continued need to support unaccompanied minors at the border of Mexico and The United States, we reached out to a friend to get a closer narrative to what it means to love our immigrant neighbors. This week we talk with Lisa Barrios, a close friend and justice advocate focusing on issues of justice at the borders. She shares a powerful perspective about policy and institutionalized love and embodies individual love and honor for her neighbors. Then we reimagine Leviticus 19 and think about our legal responsibility to love our undocumented neighbors and remember where we've been. This conversation grounds why it matters that we honor the dignity of our undocumented or immigrant neighbors. Follow Lisa on instagram @__itsbarrios to connect personally. Let's follow her advice on getting engaged civically in the changes taking place that are effecting our neighbors and our communities. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family! Outro "We are Family" - Sister Sledge (Official Cover) by @ShaundReynolds

Marriage is hard... really hard! Two people enter into a life-long promise to love one another as both people continue to change, grow and become. Two people bring their whole selves into an incredibly intimate relationship where cultural realities clash and sparks fly. Our ethnic identities, personalities and family of origin baggage all gets unpacked in the context of marriage. Our guests this week have written a beautiful book that takes a nuanced approach to partnerships of all kinds and speaks truth, love and hope! Gail Song Bantum and Brian Bantum join us to share about their new book "Choosing Us" and share some of their perspective on how we can cultivate mutual flourishing in the midst of such diversity in our romantic partnerships! We talk about gender roles, unhealthy expectations, patriarchy and the fact that we never arrive at "perfect partner" status. Then we reimagined Ephesians 5:21-32 and Brian reminds us of the context of the passage and takes us back to the garden. Follow Gail and Brian on instagram @gailsongbantum and @profbkb and order "Choosing Us" right now at http://www.bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/choosing-us/408440 . Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Several times in this convo the idea that something is understood to be true but never really clearly communicated comes up. Religion and church can be a place where we experience a lot fo pressure to acquiesce parts of our identity to conform to tenets of White supremacy and heteronormativity just because it's in the air. What if God is a beacon of diversity and all the diversity we see around us is God's reflection? This week Melody Gurguis-Ofili joins us to share her experience as an Egyptian-American woman who spent her whole life code switching from her Egyptian Immigrant church culture to her Western church culture. She talks a lot about proximity to power and how unique mentorship changed how she navigates the world and views scripture. Then we reimagined Philippians 2:4-8 and how Jesus models surrendering power and privilege for good. Follow Melody on instagram @Meloogee and read more of her perspective at https://melodygurguis.wordpress.com Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

What do you do when Sunday morning church culture and the story it tells is no longer enough? What do you do when you are reconciling passion for Hip-Hop, Beauty Supply Stores, The Divine 9 and Theology? What do you do when you lose your entire immediate family in one tragic moment? Our guest this week wrote a book about it and we get right to it! Candice shares about her new book "Red Lip Theology" and how she's found an invitation to live into a more vulnerable truth within the "totalizing" losses and traumas she has experienced. She invites us to forsake our facades and how doing exactly that leads to authentic relationship with a more expansive God. Then we reimagined John 8 and how we can be tender toward ourselves. Follow Candice on instagram @candicebenbow and learn more about her work at https://candicebenbow.com/ Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

What's your purpose? This is a HUGE question, one many of us have trouble articulating and have fears about responding to. It has implications for where we spend our time, how and what we are hoping to accomplish and most importantly who we hope to become. Our guest was asked this question and it changed everything! Our guest this week is Dea Jenkins. She's become an interdisciplinary artist who's curating spaces for others to encounter healing through "Inbreak", the non-profit she founded and directs. We talk about her discovery of purpose, how her journey has unfolded and about how she has been othered by a few men. Then we reimagined Exodus 31:1-5 and discussed the liberating power of art. Follow Dea on instagram @dea.artist and learn more about her work at https://www.deajenkins.com/ Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

As we grow we can find ourselves at odds with some of the people who have helped us get to this point. The wake of Trump's presidency and George Floyd's lynching have created extraordinary tension in relationships that seemed meaningful. We have found ourselves drawing new lines in the sand and wondering who will really be with us? Our guest this week is Andre Henry! He's a prolific singer-songwriter, author and activist inviting us to imagine and fight for the world that ought to be. We get to talk about his forthcoming book "All The White Friends I couldn't Keep" and he shares stories of fighting for justice and the toll it has taken on his mental health. Then we reimagined Matthew 13:31-33 and discuss the extraordinary power of a few "ordinary, outraged and organized" folks. If you are reconciling your faith with your ethics and fight for justice, we imagine you'll feel seen in Andre's story. Follow Andre on instagram @andrehenry and learn more about his work at https://www.andrehenry.co/ Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com. As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

We are flat out asking bigger and better questions. We have access to so much more information and our relationships are growing more and more diverse in ways that call our understanding of God into question. However, religion and spirituality are such deeply held beliefs that changing them can be disruptive and disorienting. Our guest this week is Brandi Miller, the founder and host of the "Reclaiming My Theology" Podcast, and we get into it. Brandi is such a thoughtful and empathetic presence along the journey of folks trying to take their understanding of God back from ideas and systems that oppress. We talked about the delicacy and agency of reclaiming faith and the beauty of seeing scripture in different ways! Then we reimagined 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and the Jewish way of making meaning from scripture. If you are reconstructing your faith or just beginning your deconstruction journey, this episode will inspire you and give you imagination for a way forward. Follow Brandi on instagram @brandinico and learn more about her work at https://www.reclaimingmytheology.com/ Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

George Floyd's murder galvanized many of us to take the work of racial reconciliation more seriously. The challenge is the work is really long, really up-hill and really hard. Our guest this week, John Williams, has been at this work for over 30 years. He is a lawyer, professor, civil rights activist and the Director for the Center for Racial Reconciliation at Fellowship Church. We talked about what this work has cost him over the years and the guiding principles that have allowed him to maintain a level of emotional well being along the way. Then we reimagined Matthew 5:38-42 and Jesus' invitation to exercise agency when we feel powerless! Follow John on instagram @profjaydub and learn more about his work at https://madeforfellowship.com/reconciliation/ Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity! Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be part of a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Whether you've been fired or not, you know the sting of rejection, feeling unaligned with a company you're working for and the tension that can create all around.  Our guest this week shares about how being fired from her job ended up unleashing her into a new dream! Meet April Diaz, she is the Founder and CEO of Ezer + Co. which is a coaching company that's all about activating women to live and lead with wholeness.  We sat down to talk about how and why she started her company and heard about how powerlessness turned into agency through the process of forgiveness.  We also talked about what it's like to raise black children as a white mom in our social climate.  Then we reimagined Genesis 2:15-25, and thought about the kind of God who celebrates the extraordinary power of women and unleashes partnership!  Follow April on instagram @aprilldiaz, and learn more about Ezer + Co. at https://www.ezerandco.com/ Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com​​.  As you listen week after week and share the podcast we will keep ending otherness and growing solidarity!  Please share our podcast with a friend who needs to be included in a more inclusive conversation about scripture and community. You are loved! We are family!

Danté Stewart is an author, writer, speaker, husband and dad whose voice has been featured on The New York Times, The Washington Post, ESPN's The Undefeated and more.  We sat down with Danté to talk about his book "Shoutin' In The Fire" and he shared about how telling his story instigated new kinds of comparison, anxiety and depression.  Danté shared who and what practices most reorient him to his most authentic self when he's comparison spiraling.  Then we reimagined Daniel 3:16-26 and how some of the coping mechanisms we've adapted to survive to this point are not the practices that will help us transform in the fire around us now. Follow Danté on instagram @stewartdantec, read more of his work and order "Shoutin' In The Fire" at https://www.dantecstewart.com/ Check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com​​ and join our newsletter community to take the conversation further and learn about upcoming live conversations you can participate in.  The conversation won't be the same without YOU! You are loved! We are family!

We sat down with Christena Cleveland Ph.D. to talk about her new book "God is a Black Woman".  She shared how her recovery journey with Bulimia led to being able to name the God she needed, expedited her deconstruction and instigated a pilgrimage to know more deeply the Sacred Black Feminine.  Then we reimagined Genesis 16:7-14 and the extraordinary dignity honored in Hagar and the invitation to personal spiritual authority. Follow Christena on instagram @ChristenaCleveland and learn more about (AND PRE-ORDER) "God is a Black Woman" at https://www.christenacleveland.com/  Check out our new website https://www.thekinshipcollective.com​​ and join our newsletter community to take the conversation further and learn about upcoming live conversations you can participate in.  The conversation won't be the same without YOU! You are loved! We are family!