20 Minute Takes

20 Minute Takes is back with a new episode featuring Kristin Lee. She's the author of the recently released book: We Mend with Gold: An Immigrant Daughter's Reckoning with American Christianity. In this conversation, she and Nikki Toyama-Szeto discuss the experience of Asian American Christians and how an exilic spirituality informs how Asian American communities can show up today.

You can learn more about Kristin and her work here.
Follow her on Instagram or Threads.

20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action
Hosted by Nikki Toyama-Szeto 
Produced by David de Leon
Editing and Mixing by Wiloza Media
Music by Andre Henry

On this special episode of 20 Minute Takes, Nikki Toyama-Szeto talks with Rev. Dr.  Gabriel Salguero of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC) about the current state of immigration in the United States, and how Christians are called to be people of welcome. 

Listen in on this podcast, and check out their resource: Advent Welcome: Room in the Inn.

You can follow Rev. Dr. Gabriel Salguero on Instagram, Facebook. 

You can also follow the work of NaLEC here.

20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action
Hosted by Nikki Toyama-Szeto 
Produced and edited by David de Leon
Music by Andre Henry

Can a tech company be a good neighbor? In this final episode of Season 7, Nikki Toyama-Szeto talks with Chi-En Yu, Product Manager of Dayspring Technologies. They discuss how Dayspring has committed to think about compensation, their time, the clients they take on, and their responsibility to the Bayview neighborhood in San Francisco. Listen in to learn how they show up as a company that is seeking justice in its spheres of influence.

20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action
Hosted by Nikki Toyama-Szeto 
Produced by David de Leon
Editing and Mixing by Wiloza Media
Music by Andre Henry

This episode was made in collaboration with Christian for Social Action's Storytellers Collective.

This week on 20 Minute Takes, we are sharing a part of Nikki Toyama-Szeto's conversation with Jemar Tisby and Mark Labberton on a new project and podcast: Credible Witness. They discuss the changing landscape of our world today, and the ways in which the credibility of Christian life is more important than ever. 

You can find the episode in its entirety here.

Jemar Tisby is a historian, speaker, and New York Times best-selling author of the books "The Color of Compromise," "How to Fight Racism," and "The Spirit of Justice."
You can learn more about Jemar here, and follow him on Instagram, or Threads.

Mark Labberton is the Clifford L. Penner Presidential Chair Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Fuller Seminary. 

20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action
Hosted by Nikki Toyama-Szeto 
This episode was edited by Evan Rosa
Additional editing and production  by David de Leon
Music by Andre Henry

This week on 20 Minute Takes, we talk Avril Speaks. Avril is an accomplished film producer, showrunner, and director. She serves as Senior Program Director for Christians for Social Action's Storytellers Collective initiative. Avril shares about her journey with storytelling and how her vocation as a filmmaker is tied to her faith journey. She helps gives a glimpse of the challenges and opportunities of telling stories in Hollywood, and unpacks how compelling storytelling is authentic storytelling—and how authentic storytelling always involves a measure of creative risk. This episode is for all the TV/film nerds, and anyone who cares about learning to tell more compelling stories.

You can learn more about Avril and her work here;                                                Follow Avril on Instagram and Threads,

20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action
Hosted by Nikki Toyama-Szeto 
Produced by David de Leon
Editing & Mixing by Wiloza Media
Music by Andre Henry

On this episode of 20 Minute Takes, we speak with Eugene Cho, the President and CEO of Bread for the World—"a nationwide Christian advocacy organization that educates on hunger and equips people to advocate for policies to end it in the U.S. and around the world." He shares about how his ministry as a church pastor is deeply connected to his advocacy and justice work today, and how a vision for human flourishing here and abroad requires that people of faith take the problem of hunger & poverty seriously. Listen in to learn how you can take practical, faith-empowered steps to advocate for policies that address hunger today.

You can follow him on Instagram @eugenecho; follow Bread for the World @bread4theworld

20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action
Hosted by Nikki Toyama-Szeto 
Produced by David de Leon
Editing & Mixing by Wiloza Media
Music by Andre Henry

This week on 20 Minute Takes, Nikki Toyama-Szeto speaks with Lauren Kim, National Organizer and Spokesperson for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action. In this conversation, Lauren shares about how climate action became a crucial part of her faith journey,  shares stories of how young people are caring for creation, and gives some practical first steps for people looking to integrate creation care into their personal lives and faith communities.

You can learn more about Lauren Kim and her work here.

Follow Young Evangelicals for Climate Action on Instagram @yecaction

20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action
Hosted by Nikki Toyama-Szeto 
Produced by David de Leon
Editing & Mixing by Wiloza Media
Music by Andre Henry

This week on 20 Minute Takes, Nikki Toyama-Szeto talks with Malcolm du Plessis and Jalen Seawright of Common Hymnal, a songwriting collaborative that writes music of praise and protest, centering especially the voices of people who've been historically marginalized by Christianity. They discuss their music, the landscape of the Christian music industrial complex, and what it means to write believable music that is prophetic and affirming. This conversation is thick with theology and tunes, so you won't want to miss it.

You can learn more about Common Hymnal here; follow them on Instagram @commonhymnal.

Learn more about Jalen Seawright, and follow him on Instagram @seawright_.

Read some of Malcolm du Plessis' writing/reflections here.

Explore Common Hymnal's music here.

20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action
Hosted by Nikki Toyama-Szeto 
Produced by David de Leon
Editing & Mixing by Wiloza Media
Music by Andre Henry

This week on 20 Minute Takes, Nikki Toyama-Szeto talks with Michael Kim-Eubanks. Michael is a musician and co-pastor of Bethel Community Church in San Leandro, CA. They discuss the passage and signing into law of California's SB 4 (which allowed faith institutions among others to build multi-family homes on their properties, allowing for the development of 170,000 acres of land for development toward addressing housing insecurity in the state), their church's journey in pursuing this new opportunity to care for their homeless neighbors, and how confronting the realities of homelessness shape one's spirituality. 

You can learn more about Pastor Michael Kim-Eubanks and his music here.

20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action
Hosted by Nikki Toyama-Szeto 
Produced by David de Leon
Editing & Mixing by Wiloza Media
Music by Andre Henry

This week on 20 Minute Takes, Nikki Toyama-Szeto talks with Dr. Jenny Dyer, the founder of The 2030 Collaborative. They discuss the reality of foreign aid from the United States, how the recent funding cuts have directly impacted global health and the lives of HIV/AIDS patients around the world, and how it came to be that the American Christians in the early 2000s began to address the global HIV/AIDS emergency. This is a critical episode that you don't want to miss.

Jenny Dyer is the Founder of The 2030 Collaborative. She also directs the Faith-Based Coalition for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria in partnership with Friends of the Global Fight.

Dyer has taught in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt School of Medicine, as well as at Vanderbilt’s School of Divinity. She lives in Franklin, Tennessee with her husband, John, and two boys, Rhys and Oliver.

You can learn more about her and her work here.

20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action
Hosted by Nikki Toyama-Szeto 
Produced by David de Leon
Editing & Mixing by Wiloza Media
Music by Andre Henry