Podcast appearances and mentions of sara miles

My Story  Talk 28  Activities Beyond Europe Welcome to Talk 28 in our series where I'm reflecting on God's goodness to me throughout my life. Looking back on it, I suppose I travelled fairly widely during the time we were at Mattersey. Apart from the many places in Europe we visited, I found myself on the Lord's business in America, Africa, and Asia, though never, incidentally in Australia. These visits, which cover the period from 1982 to 2004, were either in connection with the Pentecostal World Conference which later became the Pentecostal World Fellowship or preaching trips The Pentecostal World Conference My reason for attending the Pentecostal World Conference in Oslo in 1992 was that, because it was being held in Europe, the PEF presidium had decided to hold a committee meeting there at the same time. Eileen and I had visited Norway for the first time two years previously where we had enjoyed a holiday there before attending the EPTA conference in Lillehammer. This time, however, I was alone. During one of the mornings, I was sitting high up at the back of the auditorium and was surprised to hear my name mentioned at the close of the session. Dr Ray Hughes was asking me to see him on the platform during the coffee break.  I couldn't imagine why but, of course, went to see him as requested. This was not quite as easy as it sounds because to get there I had to make my way through hundreds of people who were exiting the venue and all walking in the opposite direct from me. When I finally got there, he said to me, Oh David, as you know, you've been appointed to the Advisory Committee, and we'd like you to sit on the platform with us for the rest of the conference. Well, I knew nothing about this appointment. It was a complete surprise and when a year or so later I was elected to the Presidium it was an even greater honour. The 1995 conference was particularly special because it was held in Jerusalem. And this time Eileen came with me. We had never been in Israel before and we made sure that we saw as many of the biblical sites as possible. We had booked a tour with a Christian company and travelled in a small coach with a group of Brits who were attending the conference, and it was there that we met Ivor and Jan Maddison who were pastoring the church in Ollerton, not far from Mattersey.  (We got to know Jan very well when she came to live in Brixham after Ivor had died). The tour involved a visit to Tiberias on the shore of Lake Galilee from where we visited Capernaum, took a trip across the lake in a boat like those used by Jesus' disciples and from which he calmed the storm, and had a meal on the lake shore eating ‘St. Peter's fish', so called because of the occasion where he found a coin in the fish's mouth. We went to Caesarea Philippi, a beautiful place, where Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ. We visited the place in the river Jordan where Jesus is believed to have been baptised, and further south we had a brief stop in Jericho.   We travelled up from there to Jerusalem in time for the conference and of course visited Bethlehem and all the places you would expect, many of which have been spoilt by centuries of tradition and tourism. Eileen got to see Nazareth, but I missed the trip because I had to be in a presidium meeting. Highlights in Jerusalem were the Garden of Gethsemane, and the via dolorosa. But without a doubt the visit to the garden tomb was by far the most moving. It may or may not have been the actual site of Jesus' burial and resurrection, although I like to think that it was, but it was certainly a powerful reminder of the truth – Jesus is not here, he is risen! And who could forget the visit to the Upper Room and joining with other Pentecostals in speaking in tongues as the first disciples did in Acts 2? After the conference we visited Masada, floated on the Dead Sea where it's impossible to sink, and went to the cave where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered. It was there, I think, that we paid an Arab to let us take a photo of his camel! We also visited a museum where we saw a number of ancient seals, some dating back over three thousand years, and reminding us of Paul's teaching that after we believed we were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. So during the trip there was much to remind us of Bible times and the truth of God's word. We were glad that we went but have never had a wish to return. Eileen is now enjoying the heavenly Jerusalem and one day I will join her there. And all because of Jesus! In 1998 the conference was held in Seoul, Korea, at the vast Yoido Full Gospel Church led by David Yongghi Cho, numbering at the time some 720,000 members. We had at first thought to extend the trip and visit China and the Great Wall. Eileen had always had a great interest in China, but when it turned out that the visit was not feasible she decided not to accompany me. I had met Cho at the London world conference in 1976 when I gave him a copy of my book, Know the Truth, later to be renamed You'd Better Believe It. I was naturally interested to visit his church and to experience one of the Sunday services there. There were, I think, six services each Sunday to accommodate the vast numbers. Everything had to be organised and left little if any room for the exercise of spiritual gifts like tongues, interpretation and prophecy which we might expect in a smaller congregation. Presumably there was opportunity for such gifts to be experienced in their many home groups. The final meeting of the conference was held in the Olympic Stadium where it was estimated that over 100,000 people were in attendance. I was privileged to read from the scriptures, which I found a little difficult on this occasion as I had somehow mislaid my glasses on a visit to the Prayer Mountain and was using a pair borrowed from an English brother who was staying in the same hotel as me. During the conference it was decided to hold the next presidium meeting in Hawaii in 1999. The reasoning seemed to be that as Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean it was not too far from either Asia or America. However, no one considered the inconvenience for anyone travelling from Europe! But as I was the only European on the presidium I could hardly object. So that is how I came to fly to Hawaii, a 24 hour journey each way, for a three-day committee meeting! The purpose was to plan for the 2001 conference which was to be held in Los Angeles. Fortunately, the meeting finished a day early and I had a day to spare before flying home. This gave me the opportunity to take a minibus tour of the island, visiting among other things Pearl Harbour and a tropical rain forest. I also experienced macadamia nuts for the first time and learnt that the name comes a Scot named Macadam who first discovered them and who also invented tarmac! Eileen was able to travel with me for the Los Angeles conference in 2001 and in the week before the conference we both enjoyed a short holiday staying with Brian and Ann Lee, old friends from Retford who had emigrated to La Verne just a few miles from L.A.  It was good to renew fellowship with them and to preach in their local AoG church. At the conference itself I had been asked to chair a theological seminar at which Roger Stronstad, a Canadian scholar whose writings I greatly admired, was to be one of the speakers. The subject was the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and at the last minute, I was asked to be the other speaker deputising for an American brother who was unable to attend. I was so grateful to the Lord for the opportunity he gave me to speak at the conference and the help he gave me to do so. The last world conference we attended was in South Africa in 2004. This conference was in many ways different from all the others. In the opening meeting the delegates were warmly welcomed by the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeke who had been deputy president under Nelson Mandela from 1994 to 1999 and served as president from '99 to 2008. Eileen felt particularly honoured as she was seated right next to him on the front row! But much more important was the fact that so many participants were from African countries, and the meetings were marked by the freedom of expression so typical of African worship and so different from the formalism we have seen elsewhere even in some Pentecostal meetings. It was something we were to see much more of in later visits to Africa in the years that followed my retirement from Mattersey, After the conference we hired a car and travelled to the Africa School of Missions founded by Paul Alexander, my newly appointed successor at Mattersey. We broke our journey at Witbank where I preached at two services on the Sunday, travelling on to ASM on the Monday where we were warmly welcomed by the staff. They asked us if we were planning to visit the Kruger National Park, and, when we said no, one of them kindly phoned a relative who worked there and arranged for us to stay for a few nights at Skukuza, one of the safari lodges in the park. Our accommodation was in an extremely comfortable one-room apartment that looked something like a traditional African hut with a thatched roof. The restaurants served excellent food which was relatively inexpensive and offered views overlooking the wonderful wildlife. We enjoyed every moment we spent at Skukuza, especially when a company of mongooses ran across the compound in single file right in front of us. But of course it was driving outside the safari park that we saw most of the wildlife. It was early spring in the southern hemisphere, and the leaves had only just begun to appear on the trees and bushes, making it easy to spot whatever animals and birds happened to be in the area. We travelled miles each day, taking care to obey the instruction never to get out of the car except in specially designated safe places. We were also glad that the car had good air-conditioning because it was often important to ensure the windows were closed. On one occasion we stopped to watch a group of baboons in the road just ahead of us and I closed the electric windows. However, I had momentarily forgotten that, unlike our car at home, our hire car had electric windows only at the front. We only realised the back ones were still open when a large baboon leapt in onto the back seat attempting to steal our lunch! I turned round and shouted in a loud voice – Eileen later told the grandchildren that Grandad roared like a lion – and thank God, the animal obeyed! Both we and our lunch were safe. After that, we never opened the back windows again for the rest of the trip. Apart from that, the remainder of our stay there was relatively uneventful. We loved it so much that when I was back at ASM a few years later I borrowed a car and went back there. Our visit was far too short but was the highlight of our trip to South Africa. We were particularly grateful that in such a short time we had managed to see the big five – lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and buffalo, a wonderful ending to our last Pentecostal World Conference. Preaching trips But of course my travels beyond Europe were not limited to my role in the Pentecostal World Fellowship. There were preaching trips as well. At first, these centred on the USA where I combined preaching with raising funds for our building project. An American AoG pastor named Paul Curtis had a burden for Britain came to see me on one of his trips to England and said he would like to help raise funds for our new Hall of Residence. So at Paul's invitation, in February '82 I spent ten days preaching in AoG churches in North Carolina with a view to returning in mid-May for a period of four weeks. I enjoyed the trip in February, and the Lord blessed my ministry, and about £1400 was raised towards our building fund. Hopefully the trip in May-June would be more fruitful in that respect. I was looking forward to it and had bought my flights in advance as that was more economical. But only a few weeks before the trip Paul contacted me to apologise and tell me that he had been unable to arrange a suitable itinerary for me and that he felt that the time was not right. But I had already bought non-refundable tickets for flights both ways! And I had already planned the timetable at Mattersey to enable me to be away from the college throughout that period! After praying about it I contacted John and Sara Miles who were by then living in Naperville, Illinois, and asked their advice. Sara suggested that I was in a situation like Abraham's when he set off not knowing where the Lord would lead him. So I used the air tickets to fly as far as New York and paid the extra to fly on to Chicago where John and Sara collected me from O'Hare airport on May the 18th. When I arrived they told me that they had contacted Richard Dortch, the Superintendent of the Illinois AoG, and that he was arranging an itinerary for me around Illinois where I was already known through my three visits back in the seventies. I stayed with John and Sara until 6th July preaching in churches in the Chicago area on Sundays and Wednesday evenings. These included Yorkville, Palatine, Dekalb, Naperville, and Lake Villa as well as Chicago itself. I also spent a day at Wheaton College, had lunch with John, who was now a French professor there, and with Peter Kuzmic from Yugoslavia, and saw the wardrobe made famous in C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. On Thursday the 27th I flew via Denver to San José, California, to visit Bethany Bible College. Dick Foth, who had been the pastor in Urbana where I first preached on my visit to the States in 1972, was now the President of Bethany and I had a couple of useful days with him visiting the college and comparing notes.  I had an interesting experience flying back on the Saturday. The weather was extremely hot and everyone else was dressed in shorts and T shirts. I, however, was still wearing my jacket. As I was waiting in the queue to check in, an airline official approached me and said, Excuse me, sir. I wonder if you can help me. We're overbooked in Economy Class, and as you seem to be a suitable gentleman, I wonder if you would mind travelling First Class. Would I mind! It was the first and only time I have travelled First Class and, although I could never justify the expense of doing so, I was more than happy to enjoy the experience at no extra cost to myself. On 6th June I left Naperville and flew to Urbana where I preached on the Sunday and where my old friend Jim Hall was now the pastor. The next day I flew to Springfield MO to visit two other AoG colleges, Evangel College and Central Bible College, as well as the Graduate School located in the AoG Headquarters in Boonville Avenue. When I returned to Urbana on the Friday, Jim Hall had arranged an English Evening where I talked about the spiritual state of the UK and taught the Americans how to make a proper cup of tea! On the Sunday morning, I preached in Normal, where Marvin Foulkes was the pastor. I had preached for Marvin back in '72 and '74 and was delighted to see how much the church had grown since then. In the evening, I preached in Decatur from where I flew back to Chicago ready for my return to England the next day. Looking back on it, I felt that the trip had been very worthwhile, not just because it raised about $5000 for our college, but because of the opportunity it gave me to visit and learn from other AoG colleges and expand my vision for Mattersey. I was very grateful to Richard Dortch for making it possible. A year later I met Dortch in Portugal at the opening of the new chapel in the Bible College in Fanhões, near Lisbon, and he shared with me that he was soon likely to become the Executive Vice-President at PTL, the centre of Jimmy and Tammy Bakker's ministry, and he invited me to preach for a week on their TV station. This took place in 1985 and during our stay Eileen, Jonathan, and I were treated to the luxurious accommodation of the Heritage Grand Hotel. And we came home with a significant sum of money for our building fund.  We were, of course, very grateful for their hospitality and generosity, but I confess I was not really comfortable about so much luxury. Coming to terms with the cultural differences and levels of poverty or prosperity we see around the world is by no means easy. The riches of America were in stark contrast with the poverty I was to see in India less than a year later. But I'll tell you about that next time.

My Story   Talk 19  Ministry in Basingstoke 1968-78 Part 4 Welcome to Talk 19 in our series where I am reflecting on God's goodness to me throughout my life. Today I'll be talking about how, while I was at Basingstoke, the Lord started to open up a wider ministry overseas.   It all began when early in 1971 Willy Droz, a pastor from Switzerland appeared on my doorstep and introduced himself. He had trained at the International Bible Training Institute in Sussex where he had met his wife Brenda. He knew about me through the SPF newsletter which reported details of my travels around the universities preaching on the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He was organising a youth weekend retreat at les Rasses in the Swiss Jura mountains and asked if I would be the main speaker.   I had not been to Switzerland since my first visit in 1958 when I heard about the baptism in the Spirit from Laurie Dixon, and I eagerly accepted the invitation. But I first made sure that they would not expect me to preach in French. There are no less than four different languages spoken in Switzerland, German, French, Italian, and Romansh (spoken only by a small minority). Les Rasses is in the French-speaking area, known also as La Suisse Romande.   It was fifteen years since I had taken my French A level and I had forgotten, or thought I had forgotten, all of it. So I was grateful for the assurance that my preaching would be interpreted, which was a particularly interesting experience as I was at least familiar with the language into which I was being interpreted. In some ways it's much easier when you don't know the language and just have to trust the interpreter, but, when you know the language, you're constantly checking to make sure the interpreter is getting it right! And on one occasion I surprised everyone by saying, Non, je n'ai pas dit cela – No, I didn't say that.   So the French I had learnt at school had not entirely deserted me, but I have to confess that, when I was introduced to the wife of the pastor from Geneva, I could not even remember how to say, I'm pleased to meet you. It was only when in La Chaux-de-Fonds they lodged me for a few days with an elderly woman who spoke no English, that I was compelled to speak French and found the language coming back to me.   But I was far from ready to start preaching in French. The opportunity to do so came three years later in March 1974 as the result of my meeting Jerry Sandidge at an SPF house party at Capel, then the home of the Elim Bible College. Jerry told me he was the director for University Action in Eurasia for the American Assemblies of God, had heard about my ministry in Britain and the USA – about which, more later – and invited me to preach in the University of Louvain (or Leuven) in Belgium on the subject, Charismatic Gifts – are they for today?   He also said that he could arrange for me to speak at CBC, the Continental Bible College, later to become the Continental Theological Seminary, near Brussels, where they had two language streams, one in English and the other in French. It was there, I think, that I first met Warren Flattery, who asked if I would mind taking one of his French classes.             In French? I asked.             Oh no, he said, I always do it in English. To which I responded by politely asking how long he had been living in a French speaking country, and didn't he think he ought to be doing it in French? And so I asked him for a French Bible and, as I had a day or so to prepare for it, after apologising to the class up front for the mistakes I was sure to make, I somehow managed to preach my first sermon in French. At the end of which the class applauded and Warren said,             Lui, s'il peut le faire, moi, je peux le faire!             If he can do it, I can do it!   And the class applauded again, and from then on Warren took all his classes in French. In my case, the applause was certainly not for the quality of my French, but, I suspect, was an expression of sympathy and appreciation that I had made the effort.   The next opportunity came in 1977 as a result of my meeting Marie-France, a French student at Mattersey. The Bible College had moved in 1973 from Kenley to Mattersey and in 1976, in the final week of the summer term, I was giving a lecture when I happened to mention that on one occasion in Switzerland I had spoken to someone in French. Marie-France approached me afterwards, pleased to know that there was someone she could speak to in her own language.   The outcome of that conversation was that over the next few years Marie-France came to stay with us in Basingstoke on several occasions. She became a good friend of our family and a great help to me in improving my spoken French. Several of my sermons had been recorded on cassettes and Eileen had patiently typed them up, word for word as I had preached them. Marie-France kindly offered to translate them for me, so that I could refer to them whenever I might need to preach in French.   The following year, having heard about me from Marie-France, the pastor of her church in Paris invited me to preach whenever I would next be on the continent. So while I was in Brussels for a fortnight writing a course for ICI (International Correspondence Institute, later to become Global University) – more of which later – I travelled to Paris for the weekend and preached one of the sermons Marie-France had translated for me. The French, of course, was excellent, but I can't say the same about the delivery! I was so nervous that I read every word of it! And I did the same the following year when Willy Droz arranged for me to preach in several churches in Switzerland – Vevey, Ste. Croix, Payerne, Lausanne, Saxon, Colenberg, Neuveville, Couvet. I think it was in Vevey that some people came up to me after the service and, after chatting with me, in French of course, for about twenty minutes said, Thank you for your message. It was very good. But why did you read it all? To which I replied that someone had translated it for me and that I did not have enough confidence in my French to do it without reading it. But they replied, You've been speaking with us in perfectly good French for the last 20 minutes. You should trust in the Lord. And I can hardly believe that I made the following stupid reply, Yes, I know how to trust the Lord in English, but I don't know how to trust him in French! But the time did come when occasionally I would have to trust the Lord to help me preach in French without notes, but that's a story for a later talk. It's time now to mention the trips I made to the USA while we were still in Basingstoke.   I have already mentioned John Miles who was my closest friend while we were at Oxford. He was part of that group of Pentecostal students who very much took the initiative in the formation of the Students' Pentecostal Fellowship. After graduating John spent a year or so school teaching in England before going to the Congo as a missionary. It was there he met and married Sara, an American missionary and where their first child Julia was born. By 1972 they were back in the USA where John did a PhD in French at the University of Illinois and eventually became Professor of French at Wheaton College.   However, at one point they were thinking of returning to Congo and in 1972 John wrote to me saying that, if I was thinking of visiting them in the States, I should do so fairly soon. His letter coincided with one of my regular visits to Kenley Bible College where I met Don Mallough, a guest lecturer from America who, over lunch, asked me if I had ever visited the States and encouraged me to go if I had the opportunity.   In those days travelling to the States was far less common than it is today, and to me the decision to go there was far from easy. However, I was talking to Eric Dando, a well-known preacher and member of the AoG Executive Council and asked him what he thought. His reply went something like this: Well, David, I go to America like I go anywhere else. If I feel that I can be a blessing to them and they can be a blessing to me, I go. That put things in perspective for me and on that basis I decided to go, even though at the time I had received no specific invitation to minister anywhere. So I arranged to go for the month of October, and shortly after received an unexpected letter. It was from Jim Hall who had heard about the work I was doing for the SPF in the universities in Britain and asked if I would do something similar in Illinois where he was the Assemblies of God Director for University Action.   So that's what I did. Jim arranged preaching engagements for me in churches morning and evening every Sunday and on Wednesday evenings. An offering was taken in each meeting, half of which was designated for the University Action department, the other half for me, to cover the cost of my airfares and a gift for my ministry. This was a complete surprise for me as I had decided to go to the States before I knew of this.   It was also a wonderful answer to prayer. We had been struggling financially as the church was not yet able to pay me an adequate salary and any funds we originally had as the result of the sale of our bungalow in Colchester had now run out. But now our needs were met, and I came home with a renewed faith and expectation that God would always find a way to meet our financial needs.   But the most satisfying thing about the trip was not the financial reward but the response I received in the churches and universities. I was based at Urbana with John and Sara, and I preached there the first Sunday morning I was there. I preached on repentance and was amazed to see how many people came forward in response to the appeal. I received a similar response everywhere I went, and I quickly learnt how different Americans are from us Brits in responding to an appeal.   But for most of the month I was travelling around the state of Illinois accompanied by Jim Hall who acted as my chauffeur and guide and was a great encouragement to me. We learned a lot from each other over the many miles we travelled together and became great friends. We visited eight universities altogether, spending two days in each. These were: Illinois State University, Normal; University of Illinois, Urbana; Northwestern University, Evanston; Northern Illinois University, DeKalb; Western Illinois University, Macomb; Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; and Eastern Illinois University, Charleston.   Over the course of the three weeks we were touring, dozens of students were baptised in the Spirit and began to speak in tongues, one professor telling me how grateful he was to God ‘for the wisdom he had given' me in the way I taught the Word and how I prayed for people to receive. And Jim Hall was so encouraged that he sent a report about my ministry to Aaron Linford, the editor of Redemption Tidings, which was published shortly after I returned to England.   I made a similar trip to Illinois two years later in October 74, visiting the same universities, but this time speaking on two main themes, The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and The Christan's Armour (Ephesians 6:10-20). On each of these trips I had left Eileen and the children back in England and we all missed each other very much. For Eileen it was particularly difficult as in 1972 Jonathan was only two, and the girls were just seven and eight.   One example of this was when I returned at the end of October 72 and Eileen had driven up to Heathrow with the kids to meet me. During my trip people had asked me about the weather in England and if it was very foggy – I think they must have been watching some of the Sherlock Holmes movies – and I had replied that we occasionally get a bit of fog, but not very much. But ironically, when our flight approached Heathrow, the captain announced that our landing would be delayed because of fog. The delay was so long that we had to go back to Shannon in Ireland to refuel and we eventually landed at Heathrow four and a half hours later than scheduled. And all this time Eileen was waiting with three young children in a very crowded Heathrow. But the third time I went to the States Eileen and the children came with me. This was for six weeks from mid-February to the end of March 1977, and the children had to have special permission to miss school. This was granted on the educational value of the trip and on the condition that whenever possible they went to school in Wheaton, where John and Sara Miles were now living. Most of my ministry during the trip was in churches rather than in universities, although I did speak to students at a breakaway retreat in Carlinville, the headquarters of the Illinois district of Assemblies of God. I also conducted a seminar in Wheaton College on the baptism in the Spirit, more of which in a moment. Once again, the churches we visited were in Illinois. These included Rockford, Urbana, Granite City, Springfield, Naperville, Schaumberg, East Saint Louis (where we took the opportunity to go to the top of the famous arch), and La Grange. The experience at East Saint Louis was interesting for two reasons, first because after the morning service the whole congregation stayed behind for what they called an agapē meal, or love-feast, where they presented a delicious array of both hot and cold dishes.   That church was also significant because during the meal the pastor showed me the notes of a sermon he had preached which were almost identical to what I had preached that morning. It was on the subject of team leadership based on the church in Antioch (Acts 13), about which I will say more next time. The Lord was clearly saying the same thing to different people in different parts of the world.   Our experience at La Grange was even more interesting. I preached there on the first Sunday of our trip and they invited me back for a series of meetings from Sunday to Wednesday towards the end of our stay when I gave a series of talks on Gideon. We were invited by a family whose children were about the same age as ours for a typical Thanksgiving meal specially prepared for us as it was not really the season for Thanksgiving. It was on the Wednesday before the final service and we really enjoyed it, so much so in fact that we arrived a little late for the service and I was so full I could hardly preach!   Even more interesting was the fact that they enjoyed the ministry so much that they asked me if I would seriously consider accepting the pastorate of the church as the pastor had recently announced that he was moving on. The offer was extremely tempting, but, as I will explain later, by this time I was already convinced that the Lord was calling me to Mattersey.   Other significant features of that trip included a visit to the Assemblies of God headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, a journey to Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the invitation of Oral Roberts to attend as his guests a seminar at the Oral Roberts University, and finally, a seminar I was asked to conduct at Wheaton College on the baptism in the Holy Spirit on Saturday 19th March. On the Friday evening I had been asked to appear on television by a Christian TV station in Chicago and was on my way there accompanied by Pastor Tom Richardson when he received a phone call to say that they had made a last-minute decision to have instead a telethon evening to raise much needed funds.   Although this was disappointing, we had no alternative than to return to Wheaton where the next morning I preached on the baptism in the Spirit and several came forward for prayer and were filled with the Spirit. When the meeting was over, one of them asked me if I had heard Professor James Dunn the previous evening.   I said no, at which she expressed some surprise. Dunn, who is well-known for his rejection of the Pentecostal understanding of baptism in the Spirit, had given his reasons for doing so, but I, without knowing what he said, had answered him on every point. This was clearly, without my knowing it, due to the leading of the Holy Spirit in all I had said, and was in itself an evidence of the truth of what I was preaching.

Join us for Day1 Episode #4182 featuring writer, activist, and preacher Sara Miles of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. In her sermon “Among Mortals,” based on Acts 11:1-18, Sara explores what it means to truly embrace God's inclusive love in the messy, broken world we inhabit. Preaching on the 5th Sunday of Easter, she invites us to let the Spirit tear down our walls and reveal Christ among all people.

Emmy and Natalia answer a listener question about communion - what it's for, who it's for, and why we do it. We also get introduce a new segment called “What are Christians mad about this week” and Emmy gives us another fun fact in Christian history.    Links and Notes:  Books talked about in this episode: “Eat This Bread” by Sara Miles, “Searching for Sunday” by Rachel Held Evans   www.facebook.com/groups/cafeteriachristian www.patreon.com/cafeteriachristian   

The girls are joined by Sara Miles. The hottie from the great north of Canada, Eh! Listen as Sara describes her journey being a trans girl who keeps up with sports and her athleticism. Go Hockey! Go Sports!

Listeners, you are in for a special treat today as we get to know author and food theologist Kendall Vanderslice by her shelf. In today's episode, I get the opportunity to chat with Kendall about what food theology is and how she shares it with other through her business, Edible Theology, as well as how God draws her by her stomach, her complicated relationship to bread, and how rituals of fasting and feasting work together for those who observe them. You're also going to want to hear how Kendall was incentivized to read through prizes and the two books you could read to get to know Kendall better. Kendall's new book, By Bread Alone: A Baker's Reflections on Hunger, Longing, and the Goodness of God, releases today, February 28, 2023. If you enjoy this conversation and want to hear more, grab a copy of this beautiful book. You can follow Kendall on instagram @knvslice, listen to her podcast, Kitchen Meditations, connect with her business the Edible Theology Project or peruse her personal website, kendallvanderslice.com Books we discuss: The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection by Robert Farar Capon https://amzn.to/3Y6pVXV Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion by Sara Miles https://amzn.to/3Y7BBcZ We Will Feast: Rethinking Dinner, Worship, and the Community of God by Kendall Vanderslice https://amzn.to/3Sxqn09

In this episode, Anna and April draw from our respective academic disciplines (social work and theology) and Sara Miles' memoir Take This Bread to discuss strategies for how to sustain ourselves in the work of healing and justice, including neurodivergent-friendly alternatives to meditation. Sara Miles' connection to bodily spiritual experience, her conviction that her “body was connected literally and mysteriously to other bodies and loved without reason” and the grace she experienced through communion led her to start a food pantry through her church that empowered the people who came there to engage in it themselves, to feed others as they had been fed–it's a story of creating beauty and justice in the midst of the messiness of community. April and Anna also reflect on what we've learned in grad school so far. Link to QCF Conference Podcasters Page; check out who else is on the stage at conf!: https://www.qcfconf.org/podcaststage We have merch! Get your Bible Dyke Energy Tee or mug here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/RTGardenPodcast/shop Our social media: @reclaimingthegarden on Insta, @RtGardenPodcast on Twitter, and Reclaiming the Garden on Facebook. Our personal accounts: @thatpunchabletheaternerd, @April_TheWriter (April is on Twitter and Insta). Also, our podcast account follows a bunch of awesome folks + podcasts in the exvangelical/deconstruction world and progressive Christian world, so if you're looking for more resources, that's a great place to start!

Dear Friends, Here in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, we're at Alert Level 4 and the Anglican Diocese of Western Newfoundland has suspended in-person worship for a time. While we're experiencing this hiatus, we're sharing excerpts from our recent book Common Prayer: Reflections on Episcopal Worship (Cascade Books, 2019), hoping that worshipers in the Anglican Church of Canada as well as Episcopalians will find "a window into the transformative experience of shared liturgy in all its particularity, difficulty, and beauty," as Sara Miles wrote in an endorsement. Today, Amy reads an excerpt from her essay, "The Great Celestial—Terrestrial Choir." For more about Common Prayer,  go to https://wipfandstock.com/9781532654220/common-prayer/.

Dear Friends, Here in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, we're at Alert Level 4 and the Anglican Diocese of Western Newfoundland has suspended in-person worship for a time. While we're experiencing this hiatus, we're going to share excerpts from our recent book Common Prayer: Reflections on Episcopal Worship (Cascade Books, 2019), hoping that worshipers in the Anglican Church of Canada as well as Episcopalians will find "a window into the transformative experience of shared liturgy in all its particularity, difficulty, and beauty," as Sara Miles wrote in an endorsement. Today, Joe reads an excerpt from the Foreword, by Stanley Hauerwas.We leave you with the Collect for The Epiphany (from the Book of Common Prayer,  page 214):O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face: through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.For more about Common Prayer,  go to https://wipfandstock.com/9781532654220/common-prayer/.

Sermon by Sara Miles the Director of Ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco and the Director and Founder of The Food Pantry. Reading: John 6:1-21

Sara Miles is a mindset coach that helps women and men create a fulfilling life through the balanced approach of intention and action. She is a firm believer that we can all co-create our best life possible by focusing and directing our thoughts, energy, and inspired actions. Together, we discuss her ‘Co-creating with Intention: 7-Step Program' to help you set yourself up for a beautiful 2021, or any other time you need a fresh start! SARA'S WEBSITE: https://www.cocreatewithcleo.com SARA ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/cocreatewithcleo/ THE SOUL RISING PODCAST WEBSITE: thesoulrisingpodcast.com THE SOUL RISING PODCAST ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/the_soulrisingpodcast/ THE SOUL RISING PODCAST ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/thesoulrisingpodcast/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/soulrisingpodcast/support

Translated from Spanish by Sara Miles, Richard Schaaf and Nancy Weisberg.A Poem A Day by Sudhanva Deshpande.Read on October 29, 2020.Signature tune by M.D. Pallavi.

today, the gentlemen sit down with Sara Miles to discuss America, Jesus, and Sara's writing life. This podcast was recorded on June 2, 2020.

The Rev. Laurie Anzilotti leads a class on two women writers, and asks, "are they mystics?"

Sara Miles' Take This Bread is one of Jonathan's all-time favorite books. Today on the Zeitcast, he talks with her about the difference the Eucharist makes, & how the table continues to shape her own life. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sonofapreacherman/ Visit Jonathan's Website: http://www.jonathanmartinwords.com/ Watch The Zeitcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdHzTuNKhTK-AZjfmkxQiww Please rate, review, share, and subscribe! Edited and produced by Reese Black

About Guest Sara Miles -Take This Bread : A Radical ConversionEarly one morning, for no earthly reason, Sara Miles, raised an atheist, wandered into a church, received communion, and found herself transformed–embracing a faith she’d once scorned. A lesbian left-wing journalist who’d covered revolutions around the world, Miles didn’t discover a religion that was about angels or good behavior or piety; her faith centered on real hunger, real food, and real bodies. Before long, she turned the bread she ate at communion into tons of groceries, piled on the church’s altar to be given away. Within a few years, she and the people she served had started nearly a dozen food pantries in the poorest parts of their city. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit healthmatters.substack.com

This was the first sermon in our worship series "Making Our Mark." We'll be following the lectionary texts in Mark and seeing what it has to say to us in our world today. This week's text was Mark 3:20-35, and we talked about "the unforgivable sin." The book referenced by Sara Miles is available here.    Show notes: Our church website is stsumc.org, check us out! Join us for worship Sunday mornings at 8:30 or 11:00 am at 2003 W. 43rd St. in Houston, Texas. The music in our intro is from bensound.com.

Two of the most exciting, prophetic voices in 21st century Christianity, who both found God in the grit of real life, on the streets of the cities they live in, and in the joy and pain of the people they serve and love. Sara and Nadia reflected on their own unlikely experiences of coming to faith, and how we can live the gospel in the new world of the 21st century. Recorded 28 August 2014.

Charles, Matt, and Gregg are joined by Sara Miles to discuss using food to build solidarity, how the simple act of eating and praying with people can be transformative, and the powerful link between suffering and joy. Sara Miles directs The Food Pantry, which operates at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco, California. She has been on staff at the church as well.   The Food Pantry's website is here: http://thefoodpantry.org/ Sara's book, "Take this Bread: A Radical Conversion: is here: https://www.amazon.com/Take-This-Bread-Radical-Conversion/dp/0345495799 Her other books are available here: https://www.amazon.com/Sara-Miles/e/B001I9OQ02/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1  

Sometimes a meal is more than just food. Sometimes it's a way of life. Meet a couple from the midwest who came to the Wet Mountain Valley and turned their ignorance into bliss. Thanks to Willie Quinney and Cheryl Jenkins of Silver Cliff Mountain Inn. Credits and Program Notes Theme Music Song: Good For Her (by Bruce Roper) Band: Sons of the Never Wrong Album: Nuthatch Suite BMI/Waterbug Records/Faintly Spoken Music www.sons.com Other Music in this Episode "Bumble" by Podington Bear at soundofpicture.com "Tree" by Bar Scott at BarScott.com, used with permission of the artist. The quote from Sara Miles, “There's a hunger beyond food that's expressed in food, and that's why feeding is always a kind of miracle.” Is from her book Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion

Twenty Third Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 25 Wisdom of Sirach 35:12-17; 2nd Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14

July 24, 2016 Tenth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 12, 201. Readings - Genesis 18:20-32; Colossians 2:6-15; Luke 11:1-13

July 10, 2016 Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 10, 2016. Readings - Deuteronomy 30:9-14; Colossians 1:1–14; Luke 10:25–37

In this episode Joanna interviews Sara Miles. Sara is the founder and director of the The Food Pantry and serves as director of ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Her books include City of God: Faith in the Streets, Jesus Freak: Feeding Healing Raising the Dead and Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion. She speaks, preaches and leads workshops around the country, and her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, and on National Public Radio. Joanna is joined by fellow interviewer Suella Lehman Gerber. Suella is pastor of Fellowship of Hope Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Ind., and was visiting San Francisco on sabbatical.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in the saddle, getting back to a weekly schedule, many important questions are answered. For instance: Does Amy really eat human poop powder? Does repentance mean you have to feel like shit? What words with baggage can be reclaimed? Christian announces the CultureCast’s first live event at 6pm April 28th at Marmoset in Portland,… Read more about Sara Miles CultureCast

Sara Miles was an atheist. Then one day, out of idle curiosity, she wandered into a church, had a bite of bread and a sip of wine and God came crashing into her life. Her response was to take the principles of communion and set up a food distribution centre around the altar of her church for anyone and everyone to enjoy. So tune in for some fascinating insights into what it means to eat at God's table.  If you want more from Nomad, check out our website, and follow us on Facebook and twitter If you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map, and see if any other nomads are in your area.  Nomad can only keep going because a small group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. If you want to join them, you can make regular donations at Patreon or a one-off or regular donation through PayPal, the links to which you can find on our support page. As a thank you, you'll have access to Nomad Book Club, our online community The Beloved Listener Lounge, and Nomad Devotionals, where we're attempting to reconstruct worship through a creative mix of songs, music, readings, prayers and guest reflections.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *Listening for God's Love: What I Did This Summer* for Sunday, 10 August 2014; book review: *City of God; Faith in the Streets* by Sara Miles (2014); film review: *The Lunch Box* (2014, India); poem review: *Questionnaire* by Wendell Berry.

We sat down with Sara Miles over a warm cup of Skype to talk about her books, her ministry, taking Ash to the streets and getting smacked in the face with the Cross. Check out Sara's Blog! Check out Sara's Books!

Drawing on Sara Miles' book "Eat this Bread", Jamie Howison offers a reflection on how Jesus continues to meets us at the table

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *Sorrow and Love Flow Mingled Down: Palm Sunday*, guest essay by Sara Miles for Sunday, 28 March 2010; book review: *No Gods But One* by Daniel Berrigan (2009); film review: *Julie and Julia* (2009); poem review: *All Glory, Laud and Honor* by St. Theodulph of Orleans.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *Today Is Here* a guest essay by Sara Miles for Sunday, 24 January 2010; book review: *Jesus Freak; Feeding, Healing, Raising the Dead* by Sara Miles (2010); film review: *Malos Habitos* (2007, Mexico); poem review: *The Peace Prayer of St. Francis*.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *My Soul Proclaims: Submission and Subversion in Mary's Magnificat* guest essay by Sara Miles for Sunday, 16 December 2007; book review (guest review by Milton Brasher-Cunningham): *Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life* by Barbara Kingsolver (2007); film review: *3:10 to Yuma* (2007); poem review: *Annunciation* by John Donne.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *Like Lambs Among Wolves: Gospel Reflections on the Temptations of Violence*, guest essay by Sara Miles (http://www.saramiles.net/), author of *Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion* for Sunday, 8 July 2007; book review: *Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America* by Cullen Murphy (2007); film review: *The War Tapes* (2006); poem review: *Celtic Morning Prayer* by Calvin Miller.

On Christians called to feed all who are hungry.

On Christians called to feed all who are hungry.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *Paul's "Previous Way of Life": From Violent Aggression to Indiscriminate Love* for Sunday, 10 June 2007; book review: *Take this Bread; A Radical Conversion* by Sara Miles (2007); film review: *Bobby* (2006); poem review: *The End of Fear* by G.K. Chesterton; music review: *The Harry Smith Project Live*.

The ability to act as Jesus acts is not something that belongs exclusively to ordained clergy or ‘holy” people, but is something we all have by the simple virtue of being human and having God’s life breathed into us. These are the hopeful words . . .