Show Notes:

Two years ago, long before we launched The Weight, Chris and Eddie sat down with Pastor Michael McBride of LIVE FREE, a faith based movement dedicated to stopping gun violence and ending mass incarceration. In addition to this role, Pastor McBride has served on a number of local and national task forces with the White House and Department of Justice regarding gun violence prevention, boys and men of color and police-community relationships, most recently as an Advisor on President Barack Obama’s Faith Based Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Though recorded in 2018, this conversation is just as relevant as ever, engaging topics of racial justice, gun violence, and the Church’s need to consider and overcome the blockades that stop it from proactively addressing these issues. Recorded soon after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that took the lives of 17 students, McBride reflects on his experience as a pastor in communities that have faced significant levels of gun violence and how it informs his advocacy, pastoral care, and perspective on what “faith in action” must look like in the face of societal injustice. He also reflects on the racial injustices he has personally faced as a black man and has seen systemically embedded in society in a way that often goes overlooked or ignored. 

Pastor McBride challenges the American church to do the “soul-searching” necessary to recognize the places in which we need to further let our values, both individually and collectively, be transformed by the message and power of Jesus Christ. 

Resources:

James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree

https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Lynching-Tree-James-Cone/dp/1626980055

A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.

https://www.amazon.com/Testament-Hope-Essential-Writings-Speeches/dp/0060646918

Willie Jennings, The Christian Imagination

https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Imagination-Theology-Origins-Race/dp/0300171366/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+christian+imagination&qid=1592406687&s=books&sr=1-1

Follow Pastor Mike McBride on the web: www.pastormikemcbride.com

Follow Pastor McBride’s organization LIVE FREE: livefreeusa.org

Find Pastor McBride on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.mcbride.3956