The Micah Podcast

What does it mean for Christian leaders to resist in this time? This is not business as usual in the U.S. The dismantling of democracy, due process, rule of law, and the normalization of cruelty and abuse of power is unprecedented in our country's history. What can we do?

When should we speak up? When should we remain silent? Where do we find the energy, hope, and joy to sustain us? These are many of the questions pastors and church leaders are asking as we see the world gravitating more and more toward authoritarian governance. 

There have always been attempts by the Empire to subjugate Christianity for its own purposes, but there is something new about the most recent attempts to co-opt the name of Christ to serve political purposes. Recently, JD Vance appealed to Thomas Aquinas' concept of ordo Amoris—“rightly ordered love”—to make his case that what this administration is doing is, in fact, not only moral, but Christian. Joy, Jin, and Bret are joined again by Sandy Richter to consider—What is our prophetic work here?

The Micah Mobilizers are joined by special guest Sandy Richter, an Anglican priest and Micah Group alum, as they reflect on the prophetic witness of Bishop Budde, who called for mercy at the National Prayer Breakfast last month and was met with anger and hate from many Christians. In these tumultuous times, the most powerful prophetic work we can do is to live out Christlike qualities.

As we watch the news of the U.S. federal government ending DEI initiatives, and corporations including Wal-Mart, Facebook, McDonald's, Ford, and many others follow suit, what is the prophetic call to the Christian church? 

The Micah Mobilizers spend time processing their emotions and intentions in our post-election reality. As leaders, what do we do when we feel helpless? How do we respond to pushback that pastors are not supposed to be political? How do we model for our communities what it means to both challenge and encourage one another toward confronting our own biases? How do we learn to act upon the imagination and strength that God has given us? What courageous conversation do you feel called to today?

What do we need to confront about how race and gender are used by both sides in an election year? And what's happening to the Black male vote? In today's discussion, Joy, Jin, and Bret are joined by special guest, Pastor Fred Wilson, Faith & Community Relations Director at UCAN Chicago. 

Many pastors are scared to talk about the racist lies being spread in the current election cycle in the U.S. We don't want to be partisan, we don't want to get into uncomfortable conversations. We hide behind the notion that all politicians lie. But what is this saying to people of color in our churches and communities? How do we help disciple our white men and women to love our neighbors better than this?

The Micah Mobilizers welcome special guest, Cheryl Lynn Cain, to this conversation about the gendered dynamics of power that make patriarchy so difficult to topple. How do we begin to break down such a self-perpetuating system of abusive power? 

In this first conversation that begins a series about patriarchy and the church, Joy, Jin, and Bret look at the sexist backlash to Kamala Harris's candidacy and the patterns of gendered abuse and misinformation aimed at women in leadership. How do we speak prophetically when this kind of rhetoric is promoted, repeated, and amplified in the church by Christians?

Micah Groups began as a place to  gather diverse pastors to have hard conversations, engaging one another in our differences, in order to grow in empathy and courage. In this episode, recorded on the morning of the presidential debate, the Micah Mobilizers are asking: In 2024, is this even possible? What must be in place so that we in the church can somehow engage in conversations of policy and political difference  without killing each other, or killing ourselves?

Special guest Felecia Thompson joins the Micah Mobilizers for this second conversation in a series about the pastoral and the prophetic. Tune in to consider: How do we help others to be formed toward the pastoral and prophetic? What is missing in the formation of our leaders that feeds this problem?

Special guest Judy Peterson, "The Walking Pastor," talks with Joy, Jin, and Bret about how a call to the pastoral and prophetic work together. Learn more about Judy's ministry "to pastor the feral children of God" at https://linktr.ee/walkingpastor.

Special guest Mark Labberton, former president of Fuller Seminary, joins the Micah Podcast hosts to discuss how we can use power differently—like the way Jesus embodies it in Philippians 2.Your Micah Podcast Hosts: Rev. Joy Johnson, Rev. Jin Cho, and Rev. Bret WidmanSpecial Guest: Rev. Mark Labberton 

How do we honor scripture as the source of truth for our lives, but not manipulate it to serve our own purposes?

There is a strange idea on the rise that talking about race is the same as being racist. How can pastors and leaders navigate this challenge in order to work for justice in race relations while being sensitive to the current social defensiveness?Your Micah Podcast hosts are Rev. Joy Johnson, Rev. Jin Cho, and Rev. Bret Widman.

As of April 2023, there had been more mass shootings (163) in the U.S. than there had been days. Joy, Jin, and Bret discuss the complex relationship between guns, America, and Christianity. 

Joy Johnson, Jin Cho, and Bret Widman reflect on the “He Gets Us” ad campaign, including the “Love Your Enemies” ad that ran at the Super Bowl. 

Jesus' ministry only began after facing temptations in the wilderness. What are the temptations in our preaching ministries that we must overcome in order to nurture a prophetic voice?

The Micah Mobilizers consider the state of our collective imagination today, as disciples and preachers, and wonder how artists and prophets might help to heal and invigorate broken imagination.Your Micah Podcast hosts are Joy Johnson, Jin Cho, and Bret Widman.

Joy, Jin, and Bret discuss the Micah Groups' renewed vision toward catalyzing a prophetic community for nurturing prophetic preaching.

In the wake of racially motivated mass shootings in Dallas, Buffalo, and Southern California, the Micah Mobilizers consider the church's history of violent zealotry and contemporary silence and denial that is complicit in dangerous narratives such as the Great Replacement Theory. (This episode was recorded before the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX.) 

In a recent pastor's panel discussion, Joy was rebuffed for asserting, “We are all children of God.” She brings this theological question to Jin and Bret for communal discernment.

Dr. Efrem Smith, co-pastor of Midtown Church in Sacramento, joins the Micah Mobilizers for discussion around the burdens of discipleship and leadership, particularly in this extraordinarily burdened season of pandemic, racial injustice, and war.

Joy, Jin, and Bret welcome North Park Theological Seminary student and leader Tricia Ivanoff. They discuss her Alaskan Inuit community, and the challenge of navigating competing visions of God, truth, and justice.

At this moment in history, it seems many swaths of the American church are fueled by a fire far different than the divine fire of God. Michael Emerson's January 27 talk at Midwinter 2022 stokes this conversation.

For years, a pressing conversation in churches has been around the missional challenge of engaging a Post-Christian culture. This episode presses that conversation further in discussion of Russell Moore's recent Christianity Today article, “The Capitol Attack Signaled a Post-Christian Church, Not Merely a Post-Christian Culture.”

In this episode Jin, Joy, and Bret discuss feeling at home at church, deconstruction, and the culture's shifting trust of formal institutions. They also touch on how young people are looking for liturgical congregations—something Joy calls their “ancestral homes.”