Liturgy. It's one of those churchy words where some Christians know exactly what it means, some think it's not a part of their denomination, and some don't know what it means at all. You're not alone! In this episode Austin Maxheimer, Love Your Neighborhood Director at Community One and author of Neighborhoods & Jesus, walks us through what liturgy means and how it can apply to the neighborhood. Spoiler alert - liturgy has something to do with formation - so Austin talks about how doing neighborhood work transformed his heart way more than all of his knowledge about neighborhood revitalization. And his research backed his own experience.

Let us know what you think!

"I want the neighborhood to fight for us to stay."

Do you have too many volunteers? We sure don't run into anyone who does. But Pastor John Culbertson and Neighborhood Liaison Kelly Fehrenbacher of Hope City Church may have just figured it out. What happens in the church during weekend services informs what happens in the neighborhood during the week, and vice versa. This intentional, cyclical culture has cleared a path for neighborhood transformation.

Tune in for inspiring stories and deep convictions to bring transformation to a neighborhood.

Care about Neighborhood Revitalization? Learn more

Are neighborhood revitalization efforts evangelism? Should you measure the success of a church by its attendance? Is a church crazy for stopping their most successful event?

Join the discussion with Kelli Ward, Operations and Outreach Pastor at Renew Christian Church and the President of Lamasco Neighborhood Association, Fred Mulfinger. In this packed episode, we cover topics from collaboration between churches, businesses, and nonprofits to micro-galleries all centered around what it looks like for a church to engage its neighborhood.

Show Notes:

Renew Christian Church

Community One Neighborhood Revitalization

Love Lamasco

Liturgies are formulas for worship.

Neighborhoods are big enough for us to have the potential to live, work and play but small enough for us to be known (The New Parish).

We're kicking off our new season with a mini-series where we explore what daily rhythms and practices you should adopt to pursue bringing love, justice and purpose (aka: God's Kingdom) to your neighborhood.

We'll share stories of churches and organizations already doing great work, what to do if you aren't in a neighborhood, and answer any questions you may have.

We'd love to hear from you. Reach out to us at [email protected]

Josh Calhoun is the Executive Director of Hope of Evansville. Today spends his time working with low-to-moderate income households to break down barriers to homeownership.

This was not always how he thought his life would end up. When he was a young person living in the Akin Park neighborhood in Evansville, Josh had aspirations of being a drug dealer, and eventually had a plan to rob a bank.

Something changed for Josh when the people around him started supporting him and encouraging him to see beyond his current circumstance and pursue a different dream.

Logan Miller and For Evansville produced a film where Josh is telling this story to his sons and we are premiering this film on January 18th at Imagine Evansville.

This episode goes a bit deeper into the creation of this film, and why Logan, Josh, and For Evansville wanted to make sure this story was told.

Check back after January 18th for a link to watch the film and share it.

We can't thank you enough for listening and joining with us this year on the For Evansville Podcast. We're really proud of our work from 2023, and we are also really excited for the ambitious new goals we are setting for 2024 and the years following.

In this episode, we talk about our new strategy that will lead toward that ambitious goal and why we think it can make an impact throughout our city. We also spend some time celebrating the work we've been able to join in this year.

We invite you to learn more about our new strategy at forevansville.org/forward

When is the last time you saw the Ohio River? When is the last time you saw it because you were walking by it?

As For Evansville seeks to advance human flourishing, we wanted to talk about how a new riverfront project advances human flourishing in Evansville. It’s a lot more complex than you might think. We talk about things like providing equal opportunities to live, work and play by the river, the benefits of giving the community a place to interact with  people from different ages and socioeconomic backgrounds than their normal circles, and the positive physical and mental health implications of a beautiful space. 

We wanted to hear from the people behind the project - so in today’s episode - Jonathan sits down with Candace from Evansville Regional Economic Partnership, and Anna - a Landscape Architect at Sasaki, the company that oversees the Riverfront Development Project. 

You can learn more about the Ohio River Vision and Strategic Plan website.

Do you feel restless from the tension between your dreams of what you think the Church could be and the reality of what your church experience is? You're not alone.

In our conversation with Tim Soerens, author of Everywhere You Look: Discovering the Church right where you are, we talk about the importance of asking the question, "What is the Church for?"

This hopeful and thoughtful episode has us looking forward to the future of the Church and how we all (not just pastors/leaders) have to daily ask "What is God doing here, right where I am, and what's my role in this?"

Show Notes:

Tim's book: Everywhere You Look

The Patient Ferment of the Early Church (book)

S3 Ep13: People Trust Jesus But They Don't Trust the Church

Join our email list so you don't miss Tim coming in January!

The Church is and should be a vital part of the community. Its collective impact should be seen and felt by everyone. But as we explored in previous episodes, the stats show that currently isn't the case. So what can we do?

In this episode, we want to discuss communication within your church. As our team comes from a Church Communications background, we talk about how everything you say, do, and even how you decorate communicates something. We also share some pretty bad (but funny) communication fails when we worked for our churches.

We want to help! Part of our job is listening to the needs and dreams of churches and church leaders. If you want our thoughts or help with your specific church and what it communicates, reach out to us! We'd love to connect with you at [email protected]

CEO of Leadership Everyone, Lynn Miller Pease discusses the inclusive process of VOICE sessions, where all voices are valued equally, and the importance of diverse perspectives and historical awareness in shaping a brighter future. These sessions collect valuable census-like data as well as the ideas, dreams and visions of participants. This data can be used for a number of amazing things, but you'll have to listen to the episode to find out its full potential.

Join us as we talk about the value of active listening, and the excitement of connecting with a community united by shared dreams.

Join us for the

Regional VOICE Reveal

September 14 @ 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

Old National Events Plaza Ballroom

More info and RSVP HERE