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Dr. Michelle Clifton served for 20 years at North Park as professor and Dean of Faculty. She has published numerous books and scholarly articles  in the area of theology and ethics. Michelle's passion is interrupting the US’s over-reliance on incarceration and finding creative alternatives, such as equitable and accessible education or restorative justice solutions, through collaboration with those most impacted. In 2018, Michelle founded the “School of Restorative Arts,” an MA program in Illinois’ prisons serving over 100 incarcerated men and women at Stateville and Logan Correctional Centers. The program is the first of its kind in the nation and offers a degree in restorative justice ministries. She is currently the founding director of prison education at Lewis University.

This week, Dave speaks with Dieula Previlon. Dieula is a pastor, counselor, certified life coach and the Founder and CEO of ElevateHer International Ministries. She walks with people by doing the work of trauma healing and seeks toempower everyone she meets to live full and whole lives. Dieula’s purpose and passion stem from her upbringing in Haiti. She  experienced many challenges growing up in Haiti and living as 1.5  generation immigrant and those challenges have helped her find her  life’s purpose to empower others. Dieula wears many hats to accomplish  her purpose; she’s a former school teacher, a former school counselor,  currently a pastor, founded and presently runs a nonprofit that helps  women heal from trauma, a life coach and she provides individual  counseling. Dieula loves every opportunity she has been afforded to  empower others.

You can find out more about Dieula on her website: https://www.dieulaprevilon.com/

This week on the podcast, Dave welcomes his Philosophy professor from college, Dr. Thomas Jay Oord. Tom is a theologian, philosopher, and scholar of multi-disciplinary studies. He's a best-selling and award-winning author, having written or edited more than twenty-five books. Academic Influence ranks him among the most influential theologians in the 21st century. Oord directs a doctoral program at Northwind Theological Seminary and directs the Center for Open and Relational Theology. He is known for his research and writing on love, open and relational theology, science and religion, evil and power, and the implications of freedom and relationships for transformation.

For more information and to get a hold of some of Dr. Oord's work, check out his website at https://thomasjayoord.com/

In this mini episode, Dave shares some thoughts about how our family interactions may be perpetuating some religious trauma that we carry from childhood. 

This week, Dave talks to new friend DJ Wilson. DJ is a southern guy who has always felt out of place. He works in tech, but has dreams of writing books and making films. He started on TikTok to document van life, but he and his wife got rid of the van, so he started talking about injustice and inequality. DJ makes really interesting and compelling content about inequality in his hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. Check him out @sortasouthern on Tiktok.

Once again, William Dickerson joins Dave on the podcast. THIS TIME it's in the woods.This is a conversation about what faith, hope and truth after Christianity.

This episode features a conversation with Jose Humphreys and Karen González to talk about Karen's new book, "Beyond Welcome".

Karen is a speaker, writer, storyteller, and immigrant advocate, who herself immigrated from Guatemala as a child. Karen is a former public school teacher and attended Fuller Theological Seminary, where she studied theology and missiology. For the last 15 years, she has been a non-profit professional. She wrote a book about her own immigration story and some of the immigrants found in the Bible: The God Who Sees: Immigrants, The Bible, and the Journey to Belong (Herald Press, May 2019). Karen’s second book is Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in our Christian Response to Immigration. She also has bylines in Sojourners, Christianity Today, The Christian Century, and others. Karen is the co-host of the Latina-focused podcast Cafe with Comadres. She lives in Baltimore, MD with her cat Oscar.

José Humphreys is a native New Yorker, social worker, consultant and Lead Collaborator at Mosaic Collaborative, LLC. He has worked in this capacity with nonprofits and churches for over 18 years, organizing neighborhood groups and faith leaders around justice issues.Together with his wife, Mayra, and others, José began Metro Hope Covenant Church, a multi-ethnic church In Harlem, and he is the author of Seeing Jesus in East Harlem: What Happens when the Church Shows up and Stays Put.

You can find Karen's book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Welcome-Centering-Immigrants-Immigration/dp/1587435608/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2H52IYSDXMJR6&keywords=karen+gonzalez&qid=1668030483&s=books&sprefix=karen+gonzalez%2Cstripbooks%2C85&sr=1-1

And Jose's book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Books-Jos%C3%A9-Humphreys/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AJos%C3%A9+Humphreys

This week, brother William Dickerson is back! This time, it is AFTER his life altering trip to Gabon to connect with his ancestral roots. His experience is so powerful. The conversation was so good, we decided it had to be a two parter.

In this episode, Dave talks to Don Schiewer. Don is the pastor of Dust Church in Toledo, Ohio, where he focuses his studies and teaching on second temple Judaism and Pre-Constantinian Christianity. Don is also the co-host of a podcast called ancient Jesus future faith that you can find on all the platforms and also goes live on YouTube 2 days a week!

For more information about Ancient Jesus Future Faith...

https://www.ancientjesusfuturefaith.com/

In this episode, Dave asks some questions about what it looks like for those of us that have left evangelicalism. What do we do now? How do we approach the people and community that raised us? I hope this can grow into a conversation that moves us beyond some of the predictable culture wars.