Role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons have gotten a rap that they open doors to dark, sinister forces. It’s surprising (and refreshing) then to hear of them being used to inspire a sense of holy imagination and to advance the causes of justice.

In this episode, Rev. Derek White (aka The Geekpreacher) talks about the history of the Satanic Panic in regard to gaming, how roleplaying games played a pivotal role in his faith, and how he sees them inspiring a more just and grace-filled vision of the world today.

Derek White is an ordained minister who is best known for work on 3 documentaries on faith and imagination. His latest project is now available on Tubi for streaming, it’s called “The Satanic Panic and the Religious Battle for the Imagination.” Derek uses Dungeons and Dragons to teach ministry leaders how roleplaying games may be used for community formation, building bonds of commonality in an increasingly diverse world, as well as social skills training for speaking out on issues of social justice.

Victoria Loorz shares how we can cultivate moments of divine connection in nature and how these moments led her and a whole lot of people into a church-based movement to enjoy, appreciate and connect with the Divine through reflecting and experiencing the natural world. It’s the wild side of church on this episode of Compass.

Victoria Loorz is a “wild church pastor,” an “eco-spiritual director” and co-founder of several transformation-focused organizations focused on the integration of nature and spirituality.

Throughout September of 2022, our content focused on being on discipleship. Discipleship is a descriptor for the practices, processes and actions through which we express our relationship with God through Jesus. It is how we walk in faith.

This edition of the audiomagazine features articles describing discipleship, how discipleship shapes our perspectives, and practices through which we grow in discipleship. We’ll hear:

“The cost of being a follower” by Joseph Yoo (1:05)

“When does a game become sin” by Nathan Webb (9:00)

and

“5 questions to declutter your mind and connect right now” by Ryan Dunn (13:57)

Kevin Nye is our guest disrupter on this episode of Compass and he is going to share how advocating for the unhoused provides a window of opportunity for seeing a bit more clearly the movement of God-inspired justice in the world. We’re going to learn a bit about how advocating for those experiencing homelessness draws us into an awareness of God’s action in and around us.

Kevin Nye works in advocacy and homeless services… now in Minnesota. He is the author of the book: “Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness.” He also writes on the intersections of theology, justice and equity, and pop culture.

(00:00) Introduction

(02:31) The a-ha moment of divine disruption

(05:14) Is the word “homeless” a problem?

(08:37) Housing is a right; it’s not earned.

(10:08) Why should we treat homelessness first?

(11:58) Taking on an abundance mindset

(14:28) Manufacturing a scarcity mindset

(17:24) Is Hell winning?

(19:19) How do you refresh your soul?

(26:11) Is “housing-first” too extravagant?

(29:45) Loving without terms attached

(33:13) the best Marvel character for spiritual reflection?

“Do I stay Christian?” That’s the title and focus of Brian McLaren’s most recent book. It provides reasons both to depart and to stay. We’re processing through some of the lingering doubts inspired through Christian history and questions of faith with Brian on this episode of Compass.

Brian McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – one that is just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He gained a lot of notoriety for writing several well-regarded books, including “A New Kind of Christianity” “A Generous Orthodoxy” and “Everything Must Change”.  His newest books are “Faith After Doubt” (January 2021), and “Do I Stay Christian?” (May 2022).

Throughout August of 2022, our content focused on being on mission. What does that mean? Well, we have some great posts about how the church moves into the world to meet people… and also how God takes the initiative to speak to us. We’re offering a double dose of articles in this edition, so we’ll hear from our authors more than once. In this edition of the audiomag, we’ll hear:

 Let’s enter into our August 2022 edition of the Rethink Church audio magazine.

Damon Garcia, author of “The God Who Riots”, is our fellow sojourner and seeker for this conversation on Compass.

He invites us to think about Jesus’ view of holy action and belief. It’s a bit of a disruption if you grew up with the notion of Jesus being a calm and passive presence seeking to teach people about the afterlife. Instead, Damon comes at us talking about Jesus in the here and now disrupting our acceptance of systems of harm and injustice.

Let’s meet Damon Garcia, he is a public theologian, writer and video essayist–you can find his work on YouTube and in the book “The God Who Riots: Taking back the Radical Jesus.” Damon helps people unsettle and untangle the influence of Christian teachings that have done harm in the past… things like colonialism.

Rev. Joseph Kim shares insights on our political calling in faith and raising up a prophetic witness for justice.

In America, church and state are meant to be distinct and separate. And yet, we have to admit that church often bleeds over into matters of state and vice versa, despite the intention of separation.

So when a church explicitly says “we’re going to talk about church and state”, it raises some attention–for better and worse. Pastor Joseph Kim and his faith community at Bothell United Methodist Church have been on a bit of a personally meddlesome journey, talking about prophesy and politics and a lived out faith.. and good trouble.

For sermon series and more on Joseph Kim: www.bothellumc.org

More on the Compass podcast: www.umc.org/compass

We’re revisiting a conversation with Kaitlin Curtice. We talked with Kaitlin back in 2018. She is an award-winning author, poet-storyteller, and public speaker. Kaitlin presents on the intersections of spirituality and identity and how that shifts throughout our lives.

In this episode we really focused on how she uses everyday moments as instances of awareness and appreciation–everything from doing the dishes to dealing with a nasty situation. Could such moments present Divine disruption? That’s what we got into with Kaitlin Curtice.