An Incomplete Field Guide to Ministry

Our hosts Kimberly Wagner and Marvin Wickware discuss mass shootings, preaching, and anti-Asian racism in the United States. What's the role of our words as Christian leaders before and after mass shootings? What historical threads connect to the shooting in Atlanta on March 16?

Our guest today is Rev. Charles M. Straight of Faith United Methodist Church in Dolton, Illinois. He is also chair of the People’s Lobby Faith Liberation Movement.  

Mentioned this episode:

• Disciplined by Race: Theological Ethics and the Problem of Asian American Identity
  by Ki Joo Choi
• The Faith Liberation Movement is hosting an action on Saturday, April 17 at the Cook County Jail (26th and California in Chicago) from Noon to 1PM, highlighting the particular injustices related to COVID and COVID relief spending in and around the jail. 

We'd love to hear from you! Send your questions or feedback to [email protected].

Our music is by Keith “Doc” Hampton. Thanks to Frantisek Janak and Michael Liotus for technology support. This episode was edited by Eric Fowler. 

This podcast was made possible by the Lyn C. and Stewart W. Herman Jr. Fund for Innovation in Theological Education.

Our hosts Kimberly Wagner and Marvin Wickware continue their multi-week conversation about the pandemic, reflecting particularly on  work. How has our labor changed, and not changed, during the pandemic? What does that have to do with our faith or relationships?

Our guest today is Will Tanzman, Executive Director at the People's Lobby. He also serves as  Council President at First Lutheran Church of the Trinity in the Bridgeport. 

Mentioned this episode:

• The Sabbath by Abraham Heschel
• Illinois' Pretrial Fairness Act

We'd love to hear from you! Send your questions or feedback to [email protected].

Our music is by Keith “Doc” Hampton. Thanks to Frantisek Janak and Michael Liotus for technology support. This episode was edited by Eric Fowler. 

This podcast was made possible by the Lyn C. and Stewart W. Herman Jr. Fund for Innovation in Theological Education.

Our hosts Kimberly Wagner and Marvin Wickware continue their multi-week conversation about the pandemic, looking particularly at relationships.

Our guest today is LSTC faculty member Rev. Dr. Benjamin Stewart, who shares his perspective on public church, liturgy, and creation.

Mentioned this episode:

• 2021 Institute of Liturgical Studies Virtual Seminar Series
• Dr. Wickware's sermon from February 24th at LSTC
• Article IV of the Augsburg Confession

We'd love to hear from you! Send your questions or feedback to [email protected].

Our music is by Keith “Doc” Hampton. Thanks to Frantisek Janak and Michael Liotus for technology support. This episode was edited and mastered by Eric Fowler (Halvorson). 

This podcast was made possible by the Lyn C. and Stewart W. Herman Jr. Fund for Innovation in Theological Education.

Our hosts Kimberly Wagner and Marvin Wickware continue their multi-week conversation about the pandemic, looking particularly at Healthcare. What inequities does the pandemic reveal? How does medical trauma (re)emerge during a public health crisis? And what does it mean to call people "frontline" workers?

Our guest today is LSTC faculty member Dr. Eunyung Lim, who shares her perspective on public church as a New Testament scholar and teacher.

Mentioned this episode:

• Organizing to save Mercy Hospital
• March 11: World Mission Institute (register or learn more )

We'd love to hear from you! Send your questions or feedback to [email protected].

Our music is by Keith “Doc” Hampton. Thanks to Frantisek Janak and Michael Liotus for technology support. This episode was edited and mastered by Eric Fowler (Halvorson). 

This podcast was made possible by the Lyn C. and Stewart W. Herman Jr. Fund for Innovation in Theological Education.

Our hosts Kimberly Wagner and Marvin Wickware begin a multi-week conversation about the pandemic. How do we think about the pandemic from a faith perspective? What does it reveal, and what does it change? 

Our guest today is none other than Kimberly R. Wagner, who switches chairs so that Dr. Wickware can interview her about trauma, preaching, and her almost-too-relevant research.

Mentioned this episode:

• The Festival of Homiletics, coming up May 17-21, 2021. 

We'd love to hear from you! Send your questions or feedback to [email protected].

Our music is by Keith “Doc” Hampton. Thanks to Frantisek Janak and Michael Liotus for technology support. This episode was edited and mastered by Eric Fowler (Halvorson). 

This podcast was made possible by the Lyn C. and Stewart W. Herman Jr. Fund for Innovation in Theological Education.

• Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, GA.
• Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, one of the founders of Rutba House in Durham, NC.
• The busy LSTC calendar with plenty of opportunities for learning and community, which you can find at lstc.edu/events.

Our hosts Kimberly Wagner and Marvin Wickware talk Advent, podcasting, and what we've learned so far. We've been accompanying the Ministerial Leadership 1 course by Dr. Wagner during the Fall semester.  Season 1 will resume in February to accompany Dr. Wickware's Public Church 1 course.

Our guest today is LSTC fourth year Master of Divinity student Kelsey Fauser (she/her/hers), who did her internship at the Bratislava International Church in Bratislava, Slovakia. Serving as both a vicar and a teacher, Kelsey also started a podcast for the church, which you can find here.

We'd love to hear from you! Send your questions or feedback to [email protected].

Our music is by Keith “Doc” Hampton. Thanks to Frantisek Janak and Michael Liotus for technology support. This episode was mixed and edited by Eric Fowler (Halvorson). 

This podcast was made possible by the Lyn C. and Stewart W. Herman Jr. Fund for Innovation in Theological Education.

Our hosts Kimberly Wagner and Marvin Wickware talk about modeling care and justice, preaching hard messages, and resisting white supremacy. 

Our first guest today is not a guest! Marvin Wickware takes the guest seat to discuss his research into white supremacy, race relations, and what makes racial reconciliation work succeed and fail. 

Our second guest is Vicar Carolyn Lawrence, an LSTC student on her final year internship in Upstate New York. 

Lifted up today:

• Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US by Lenny Duncan
• Surviving a Dangerous Sermon by Frank A Thomas
• Writings from Lenny Duncan, including a 5 part series on "Why the ELCA Needs to Start a Reparations Process."
• Visit lstc.edu/events for information on the upcoming Vine Deloria Jr. Theological Symposium, November 17-18th.

We'd love to hear from you! Send your questions or feedback to [email protected].

Our music is by Keith “Doc” Hampton. Thanks to Frantisek Janak and Michael Liotus for technology support. This episode was produced and edited by Eric Fowler (Halvorson). 

This podcast was made possible by the Lyn C. and Stewart W. Herman Jr. Fund for Innovation in Theological Education.

Our hosts Kimberly Wagner and Marvin Wickware talk Christian education and evangelism at the half-way point in the semester. How can evangelism be accountable? How can Christian education be accessible? What is the goal of either, and what do they have in common?

Our first guest today is Rev. Dr. Stephanie Crumpton, Associate Professor of Practical Theology at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. 

Lifted up in this conversation:

• The Chicago Torture Justice Center,
• Nurturing the Sanctified Imagination of Urban Youth by Annie Lockhart-Gilroy,
• Nobody Cries When We Die by Patrick B. Reyes.

Our second guest is Dr. Elizabeth Corrie, Associate Professor in the Practice of Youth Education and Peacebuilding & Director of the Religious Education Program at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta.  

Lifted up in this conversation:

• Youth Theological Initiative at Emory,
• Yale Youth Ministry Institute.

We'd love to hear from you! Send your questions or feedback to [email protected].

Our music is by Keith “Doc” Hampton. Thanks to Frantisek Janak and Michael Liotus for technology support. This episode was produced and edited by Eric Halvorson. 

This podcast was made possible by the Lyn C. and Stewart W. Herman Jr. Fund for Innovation in Theological Education.

Our hosts Kimberly Wagner and Marvin Wickware talk, and listen, about the many ways ministerial leaders are called to listen. What are we listening for? What if we don't know how to solve the challenges we're listening to? (Hint: that's ok, and often you can't.)

Our first guest today is Rev. Dr. Brooke Petersen, Director of MDiv and MA Programs, Coordinator for Candidacy, and Lecturer at LSTC, as well as a practicing therapist. We're also excited to have LSTC academic senior Melissa Hrdlicka.

We'd love to hear from you! Send your questions or feedback to [email protected].

Our music is by Keith “Doc” Hampton. Thanks to Frantisek Janak and Michael Liotus for technology support. This episode was produced and edited by Eric Halvorson. 

This podcast was made possible by the Lyn C. and Stewart W. Herman Jr. Fund for Innovation in Theological Education.