Vineyard Justice Network Podcast

In this episode, Jeanine shares her own immigration story from Vietnam and how her lived experiences fuels her work representing DACA clients and people seeking asylum in the US. She discusses the intersection and challenges of her immigration work and her faith and her hope for the church as a place of welcome. “In all of us, we would hope that the Holy Spirit would allow us to discern what laws need to be examined through the lens of biblical justice and need to be changed proactively through advocacy for immigration reform,” Jeanine says. “How do we address these issues in a way that honors everybody involved?” “We’re not trying to win a fight. We are trying to reconcile.” Jeanine attended the University of Virginia for her undergraduate education. She then went on to complete her law degree at Georgetown University. Jeanine Winfrey is the Director of Immigration Counseling Services at the Vineyard Community Center in Colombus, OH.

A worship leader and professor of Old Testament, Dr. Beth Stovell says that caring for the poor and marginalized is not something on the periphery of what we do as Christians, but is deeply woven into how scripture imagines worship. Our love of one another affects how we love God and how we love God affects how we love one another. In this episode and her larger work, she skillfully bridges between the world of the church and academy. For Beth, reimagining “wholistic” justice means redefining poverty. The Vineyard movement has a part in healing this division between worship and Biblical justice. Beth is an Associate Professor of Old Testament at Ambrose University in Calgary, AB, Canada. Within Ambrose, she also serves as a Faculty Associate for The Canadian Poverty Institute, an inter-disciplinary institute “that seeks to heal poverty through teaching, research and public education.” Further, she works for Vineyard Canada as a Theological and Spiritual Formation Catalyst.

In this episode, VJN talks with Stephanie Tsang and Jessica Chan of Vineyard of Harvest in Walnut, CA about the justice ministry their church has developed over the years, Habibi International. Vineyard of Harvest is a Chinese-American Vineyard Church in Southern California, and they have a flourishing partnership with Habibi International, an organization that seeks to transform the lives of refugees and internal displaced persons (IDPs) in the Middle East with the love of Jesus Christ by providing humanitarian relief and sustainable development in partnership with local churches and NGOs. https://habibi-international.org/ Stephanie Tsang oversees Operations at Vineyard of Harvest in Walnut, CA and is the Director of Education for Habibi International. Jessica Chan is a member of Vineyard of Harvest and works in Advancement for Habibi International.

In this podcast, VJN talks with Ramon Mayo about the key themes and theological principles in James Cone's "Cross and the Lynching Tree." How does Cone help us to discover a new way of looking at the cross in America, especially today? How does the hidden history of lynching impact our ability to live as "Kingdom citizens," especially as leaders who want to lean towards God's power to reconcile and heal all things? Ramon Mayo is the student ministries coordinator at South Suburban Vineyard in Chicago, a multi-ethnic church. He also works for Urban Ministries Inc., the largest black Christian media company in the U.S.

On this week's podcast we had the pleasure of speaking with Michelle Ting, who is a small group leader in the Palo Alto Vineyard in California and a student at Fuller Seminary. We tackle the topic of art and how that is a way Michelle connects with God and has become a place where she has found out more about herself more about where she comes from. Michelle essentially speaks about the expression of lament through art, asking the question, why? When there are moments of pain, and how that affects us individually, for her as a Vietnamese-American, and coming into terms with our own family lineage and eventually lead to the concept of racial reconciliation. Michelle helps us reflect on our own cultural contexts and ethnicity from the standpoint of art as a creative outlet.

On this podcast we had the privilege of getting to know Marius Bühlmann and the church he currently leads; Bern Vineyard in Switzerland. Marius shares his journey of growing up in the Vineyard and how the core values we share as an international movement have been the ones that have shaped the actions that Bern Vineyard has taken in order to tend to and nurture the community in Bern and to call his church to be a Kingdom witness within the cultural context in Europe. In particular, this has led his church to actively engage with the Syrian refugee crisis in Greece, beginning in 2016. Marius shares how God works and acts through us and the incredible outcomes that come from interactions rooted in love, compassion, and justice and comes against a pervasive culture of fear. Interview originally recorded in June 2017. Bern Vineyard website : http://www.vineyard-bern.ch/home/

In this podcast, VJN sits down with Don Larson, founder and CEO of the Sunshine Nut Company. Don's company is based in Mozambique, and he'll share how the Lord led him to build his business with a Kingdom-based, quadruple-bottom line.

In this podcast episode, VJN has a conversation with Rick Love, president of Peace Catalysts, and Chaplain Wayne, a former U.S. Army chaplain and current prison chaplain. We tackle some challenging questions such as "is it possible to pursue a posture of peace within our military structures?" and "in war, when one has two different definitions of justice and freedom collide, how is fostering respect possible, particularly amongst Christians and Muslims?"

In this podcast, Kathy Maskells sits down with Stephanie Snow, justice ministry leader at Hyde Park Vineyard Church in Chicago, IL. Stephanie shares about the exciting sermon series and "sharing tables" initiative her church is doing right now, as well as her journey of discovering God's heart for justice, her call to being a lawyer, and helping her church fight human trafficking and do racial reconciliation. For more info about how to connect with Hyde Park Vineyard's justice ministries, go to www.vineyardjusticenetwork.org.

Re-Thinking Prison Ministry:Towards Restorative Justice by Vineyard Justice Network

Safe House of Hope: Denene Yates - Part 2 by Vineyard Justice Network

Steven Hamilton interviews Denene Yates, director of Safehouse of Hope. Safehouse of Hope is an aftercare shelter for survivors of sex trafficking in Maryland. In this episode, Denene shares about her journey to serving survivors.

In this podcast, Jamie and Michelle Wilson talk about what it means to partner for justice in the neighborhood: How local churches can meaningfully engage justice issues in their own communities, multiply the Kingdom, and build the reputation of Jesus by investing in community partnerships. Michelle and Jamie Wilson pastor Coast Vineyard in San Diego. They have three children, Daniel, Joshua, and Rose of Sharon. Michelle holds a Master of Divinity from Bethel Seminary and Jamie holds a Master of Theology from Fuller Seminary. They have been doing ministry together for over 20 years, having started by building a residential recovery program helping homeless friends follow Jesus and get off the streets. They are passionate about coaching young leaders, pursuing social justice, and helping the Vineyard develop as a church planting movement in Southeast Asia. They have a vision to see Vineyard churches in Southern California work together to plant missional churches that reach the lost in our cities in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Today's podcast is James Choung's plenary session from VJN 2014. James Choung is a church planter of Vineyard Underground in the greater Los Angeles area and is the director of evangelism for InterVarsity USA. “The Big Story”: Do we present a Gospel that’s too small? When our Gospel is focused merely on the after-life, today’s unchurched find our message irrelevant, and possibly intolerant. We need to present a larger vision of the Gospel — one closer to what Jesus taught. Learn why the Big Story — including the essential phrases designed for good; damaged by evil; restored for better; and sent together to heal — connects with friends who live in an increasingly unchurched culture which yearns for justice and encourages believers to share a faith that truly feels like good news. James has been involved in campus ministries for over 18 years, empowering rising generations of Kingdom world-changers. He currently serves as InterVarsity's national director of evangelism, and also leads a missional community called the Vineyard Underground. He has written True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In and its follow-up,Real Life: A Christianity Worth Living Out, and he has taught at Bethel Seminary San Diego on leadership development and evangelism. He frequently speaks at campuses, churches, and conferences, and his work has been featured in many publications including Christianity Today, Leadership Journal, and Outreach Magazine. James wrote his D. Min. dissertation on postmodern leadership development at Fuller Theological Seminary, receiving his M. Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has previously served on the pastoral staff of a megachurch in Seoul. He has also led worship at national conferences, and has been on boards for higher education and overseas business startups. For fun, he likes to travel with his wife, tease his two sons, spoil his daughter, bask in Los Angeles’ endless summer, and swing a racket in hopes of playing something like tennis. He blogs irregularly at www.jameschoung.net.

“The Compassionate Justice of Jesus” Alexia Salvatierra coordinator Welcoming Congregations Network of Southern California ELCA | co-author Faith-Rooted Organizing | adjunct faculty Fuller Seminary, New York Theological Seminary Alexia Profile PicRev. Alexia Salvatierra spoke at our 2014 VJN conference, and her engaging stories and winsome approach to “dove power” challenged us all. She is the author with Dr. Peter Heltzel of “Faith-Rooted Organizing: Mobilizing the Church in Service to the World” (Intervarsity Press). She is a Lutheran Pastor with over 35 years of experience in community ministry, including church-based service and community development programs, congregational and community organizing, and legislative advocacy. She currently serves as a consultant (training, facilitating, organizing and leading strategic planning) for a variety of national/international organizations, including World Vision USA/World Vision International/Women of Vision, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and the Christian Community Development Association. She has been a national leader in the areas of working poverty and immigration for over 20 years, including the co-founding of the national Evangelical Immigration Table (a very broad coalition of moderate and conservative evangelical leaders and institutions advocating for immigration reform). She is adjunct faculty at the New York Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary and New Theological Seminary of the West, and has taught at Vanguard and Biola Universities as well as lecturing at a variety of academic institutions, including the University of Southern California and UCLA.

There are many people in our churches doing justice with people on the margins. In this workshop, we will engage in a conversation about how the monastic tradition - and particularly the new monastic expression in the Vineyard Movement, The Order of Sustainable Faith - can help us as people and churches, at least a segment of us, to move into marginal spaces. There is so much to explore theologically (and practically) about what it would mean to serve the poor while taking a vow of poverty, for example, or to come under people in poverty and follow their lead. We will explore power dynamics, humility, engaging suffering from a place of weakness, rather than strength. Jared served as Associate Pastor at Central Vineyard Church in Columbus Ohio for 5 years before stepping down to focus on planting The Order of Sustainable Faith, a missional monastic expression in the Vineyard (beginning in 2014). In 2007, on the heels of the Justice Revival conference at Vineyard Columbus, Jared began a non-profit organization called Justice Gardens, which was committed to the production, sharing, and proper use of food. While the non-profit organization didn’t survive, it proved to be the beginning of a much deeper connection to issues of food justice. Jared’s interests are in the intersections between food, land use and the practical and theological issues of food, ecology, and agriculture. He is currently working on a book project that provides a practical theology for the church to take up the work of sustainable agriculture as part of a vocation of “new creation.”

In this podcast, Robb Morgan shares about how his church, Delaware City Vineyard, has committed itself to demonstrating kingdom justice right in the neighborhood. Delaware City Vineyard uses a three-tiered approach to ministry to the poor: Relief > Resource > Reform.

"For many cultures, including Christian culture...too often...will lean upon select passages of scripture, and interpret them very poorly, as a rationale to support male rule, and that is what we call Christian patriarchy." This podcast episode features Mimi Haddad, who leads a workshop at the 2014 VJN Conference: Kingdom Justice, Vineyard Values. She raises the question: where are the 200 million missing girls and women on our planet? And why are they missing most in the Global South, where there fewer cultural, religious, political, and social protections for women and girls? Dr. Mimi Haddad is president of Christians for Biblical Equality. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (Summa Cum Laude). She holds a PhD in historical theology from the University of Durham, England. Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University awarded Mimi an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity in 2013. Haddad is part of the leadership of Evangelicals for Justice. She is a founding member of the Evangelicals and Gender Study Group at the Evangelical Theological Society, and she served as the convener of the Issue Group 24 for the 2004 Lausanne III Committee for World Evangelization. She has written more than one hundred articles and blogs and has contributed to ten books, most recently Godly Woman - An Agent of Transformation published by the Evangelical Fellowship of India 2014 and The Fragrance of Christ published by the Evangelical Fellowship of India and the Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief 2011. She is an editor and a contributing author of Global Voices on Biblical Equality: Women and Men Serving Together in the Church. Haddad has contributed to Coming Together in the 21st Century: The Bible's Message in an Age of Diversity, edited by Curtiss Paul DeYoung. Haddad is an adjunct assistant professor at Fuller Theological Seminary (Houston), an adjunct assistant professor at Bethel University (Saint Paul, MN), and an adjunct professor at North Park Theological Seminary (Chicago). She serves as a gender consultant for World Vision and Beyond Borders. She and her husband, Dale, live in the Twin Cities.

In this podcast, Bethany Anderson shares from her work with Los Angeles-based Solidarity Rising on how people of faith can approach the hot topic of immigration reform with a sound, biblical worldview. Bethany's workshop explored the topic of immigration from a biblical viewpoint and our call as followers of Christ to welcome the stranger. She also examined the current political realities of our immigration system and how we can interact well as individuals and congregations. This podcast was recorded at the 2014 VJN Conference: Kingdom Justice, Vineyard Values. Bethany Anderson is a graduate of Hope International University and has worked with Solidarity in Fullerton for the last 9 years. She currently serves as the Immigration Initiative Director and also served as a local mobilizer for the Evangelical Immigration Table where she focused on church engagement and education on the issue of Immigration. Bethany has regularly participated in Legislative advocacy locally, in Sacramento and in Washington D.C. Bethany is currently completing her accreditation to practice immigration through the Board of Immigration Appeals.