Discipleship Conversations

Walking the Camino de Santiago, as Kevin & Shelly Huddleston did (see Season 5 Episode 10), is a big undertaking. But what if we could see pilgrimage and the lessons of pilgrimage in the everyday of our lives. In this episode, the hosts have a roundtable discussion about finding and implementing pilgrimage in our ministry contexts.

Each day between two and three thousand people arrive in Santiago, Spain as pilgrims. This past summer, Kevin and Shelly Huddleston were two among that number on July 13 as they along with a small group of friends completed a 14-day walk on the Camino de Santiago. In this episode, we talk the two of them about their pilgrimage experience—about how they were formed by daily prayer, an expanding understanding of community, and the expected and surprising presence of God.

Kevin & Shelly Huddleston have been in ministry together for over 35 years. They spent 30 years in congregational ministry and now Kevin is the Director of Ministries for Arms of Hope, a Christian care organization that cares for children and single moms with families. He has a Bachelors degree from Abilene Christian University, a Masters degree in Missional Leadership from Rochester University and a Doctorate in Spiritual Formation from Lipscomb University. His doctoral emphasis is on Sabbath and the Mission of God. Shelly is an assistant superintendent with the San Angelo Independent School District where she has worked for the past 28 years and holds a Bachelors in Communication from ACU and a Masters in Education from Angelo State. Both Kevin and Shelly are certified Spiritual Directors. Best of all, they have a few awesome pairs in their lives: 2 daughters, 2 sons-in-law, 2 grandsons and 2 rescue schnauzers that rule the house. They are excited to share their passion for families and the love of Jesus.

You can reach them via Facebook or by email: [email protected] and [email protected].

Note: Towards the end of this podcast a mention is made of domestic violence.

“We are all prodigals.” With this statement, Greg Ross Taylor encourages us to take a new look at perhaps the greatest parable Jesus ever told. In this episode we talk to Greg about his new book Prodigals: Finding Home When We’ve Lost the Way (Leafwood Publishers). Rather than dividing the world into prodigals and nonprodigals, Greg invites us to find ourselves in the teaching of Jesus as either younger or elder siblings. In this way we discover a new meaning for prodigal—anyone who accepts they have a sinful human nature and turns toward the love of home, the place where we find a deeper relationship with God.

Greg Ross Taylor is a home builder in Northeastern Oklahoma and president of 1256Movement. Proceeds from Prodigals benefit this nonprofit dedicated to reparations of racial trauma in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Greg is author of several books, including a coauthored work with Randy Harris titled Living Jesus. Greg is married to Jill Smiley Taylor, who is a professor of math at Tulsa Community College. They have three grown children and a grandchild named Samuel Ross.

“When we say that God is up to something in our neighborhood, that’s no just abstract or theoretical. That’s a broad way of describing very specific stories that are just waiting to be heard.” Wondering what those stories could be, Wayne Beason decided to ask. What he stumbled on something surprising. While many churches see themselves as God’s way of working in the neighborhood, Wayne discovered that God was already at work in their neighborhood sending neighbors to bring his church something they were missing out on. In this episode we talk with Wayne about listening to the stories of the people in the Dearborn Heights neighborhood and how his church is finding their future in those conversation.

Wayne Beason is the preaching minister at Parkside Church of Christ in Dearborn Heights, MI. He recently earned his Doctor of Ministry from Lipscomb University, and is also an alumnus of Rochester University, where he occasionally teaches ministry courses. Wayne lives in Dearborn with his wife Stephanie and their newly 1-year-old son Isaiah, who recently took his first steps. If you want to connect with Wayne, you can find his contact info here. Be sure to check out his Doctor of Ministry project, “God Our Neighbor: Discerning Our Calling By Discovering God’s Life In Our Neighborhood.”

“To be a disciple of Jesus is to love what Jesus loves, and Jesus loves creation.”

Why is a large portion of one of the most spiritually rich generation of emerging adults leaving their faith? Falon Barton suggests that it is because their churches (and religion in general) are not addressing their strong value in justice. As one very connected to the season of emerging adults herself, one of Falon’s big questions has been about environmental justice. In this episode we talk with Falon about creation care, discipleship, and engaging today’s emerging adults in our church communities by valuing what they are concerned and listening to what they have to say.

Falon is the Campus Minister at the University Church of Christ Malibu at Pepperdine University, where she offers pastoral care to college students, and preaches and teaches regularly for the congregation. Falon has a Doctor of Ministry from Lipscomb University, as well as a Master’s degree in Theology and Bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and Hispanic Studies from Pepperdine University. One of her primary interests in her academic research and her work with emerging adults is environmental justice, especially Christians’ responsibility to participate in God’s mission to all creation. She and her spouse, Nate, recently welcomed their first child, Soren. You can connect with Falon via email: [email protected]. Be sure to check out her recent presentation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlHLDILr9_g&ab_channel=PepperdineChurchRelationshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlHLDILr9_g&ab_channel=PepperdineChurchRelations and her Doctor of Ministry project, “New Embodiments of Ancient Wisdom: How Green Spiritual Practices of Simplicity can Meaningfully Integrate Faith and Environmental Justice Among Emerging Adults.”

“It wasn’t until I stepped on my yoga mat where I was able to reconnect with God in a deeper, more authentic way.” Following an intense dark night of the soul that had him questioning life and faith, Steven Brice found renewal in his relationship with God through the practice of yoga and meditation. As CEO of Yoga 4 Philly, Steven has found a way to do incarnational ministry in the world. As an adjunct Bible/Ministry instructor with ACU, Steven brings an engaging perspective and style that captures the incarnational imaginations of his students. Yet, even with all this renewed joy, it has not been an easy journey disappointing all those who expected a more traditional ministry path from him. In this episode Steven tells his story of courage, hope, and purpose.

Steven Brice is the director of Yoga 4 Philly and a ministry adjunct instructor at ACU Dallas. He has a Masters of Christian Counseling and an MDiv from ACU. Most of all, Steven is an overall incarnational minister in the world wearing many hats. Connect with @StevenJBrice on Instagram or check out https://www.briceenterprise.com/.

Kenosis. This is the word that describes the self-emptying love of Jesus which, for Dr. Cheryl Russell, is the basis for a reoriented theology of power and privilege. This reorientation of power and privilege seen in the life and ministry of Jesus is then a foundation for what Cheryl calls an egalitarian priesthood of all believers. What she found in her recently completed Doctor of Ministry project ("The Spiritual Impact of Female Pastoral Leadership on Members of New Heritage Fellowship"), was that this environment was already present at New Heritage Fellowship when she arrived—an environment that not only opened the door for her to be hired as lead pastor but has also led to a mutual flourishing of church family and pastor.

Along with being part of the Discipleship Conversations team of hosts, Cheryl Russell is Lead Pastor for New Heritage Fellowship

Note to listeners: This podcast contains a discussion about spiritual and church abuse.

Charles Kiser is a pastor and theologian with Storyline Christian Community in Dallas, Texas, a network of missional communities he helped to form. He is passionate about creative expressions of Christian community, contemplative spirituality, and healing spiritual trauma. Kiser has a DMin in Contextual Theology from Northern Seminary and serves as a faculty member of Neighborhood Seminary. Connect with Charles and learn more his work on his webpage at www.charleskiser.com.

Elaine Heath’s vocational journey includes having served as Dean of the Divinity School at Duke University, and the McCreless Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology. She is a pioneer in new forms of theological education. In that capacity Heath was the founding president of Neighborhood Seminary. The author of twelve books, Heath is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and served in pastoral ministry prior to her academic ministry.  She lives with her husband at Spring Forest, an intentional Christian Community and farm in rural North Carolina where she serves as Abbess. Connect with Elaine and learn more about her work by visiting her websites: www.elaineaheath.org and www.springforest.org.

“A lot of my experiences with God were very supernatural, full of the Holy Spirit. I didn’t necessarily have a context for that growing up as a Church of Christ kid in Abilene, TX. So being able to express that and experience that now feels like coming home.” In this episode, Kelly Edmiston talks about pastoring theologically diverse people in a charismatic-liturgical church and being formed by the Spirit on a beautiful and messy journey toward healing, wholeness, and home.

Kelly is the Lead Pastor at the Vineyard Church in Sugar Land/Stafford. Kelly has spent 17 years in ministry in both domestic and international contexts. Her passion is to see the Church be the Church for the sake of the world. She holds a Master of Divinity from Abilene Christian University and is completing her Doctorate of Ministry in Leadership and Spiritual Formation from Portland Seminary. Kelly also works as an Adjunct Bible Professor at both Abilene Christian University and Houston Christian University. You can reach out to Kelly on Facebook, Instagram (@kmedmiston), or email ([email protected]).

What does it mean to be a church before building a church? To focus on ministry rather than property? This has been the focus of Chidube Nkiruka’s recent work with his church, Charleston Metropolitan Church of Christ in Charleston, SC. In this episode, Chidube walks us through the way he led Charleston Metro on a discernment process that brought them to right ministries for their church family.