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Greatness to God is measured not by a country's advances in buildings and technology but by how those are treated with the least. In Dr. King’s final Sunday sermon at Washington National Cathedral, he addressed a challenge of the day that remains true in the present: if we claim blessing, are we ready for God's accountability? That question us into the bracing clarity of Matthew 25, where Jesus sets the bar with the hungry, the unhoused, and the stranger.

In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation centered on Dr. King's final Sunday sermon, given four days before his murder. Together, they explore why prophets are often met with resistance. Instead of condemning, true prophetic work loves a nation enough to critique it. Followers of Jesus embedded in institutions can bend systems toward mercy through fair wages, humane services, restorative practices, and transparent accountability. A nation's greatness, then, becomes directional: power constrained by love, budgets aligned with neighbor-care, and policies that honor the image of God in every person. Listen in for the full conversation.

Read For Faith, the companion devotional.

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Ever feel the tug to shrink yourself so others stay comfortable? Pleasing people drains joy, while pleasing God frees us.

In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about the difference between pleasing people and pleasing God, and why living as our truest selves leads to freedom from fear and a deeper peace. Purpose stops being mystical and becomes practical through small, faithful steps that compound into a life of impact. They trace how obedience isn’t about rule-keeping—it’s the doorway to hearing God more clearly, knowing who we are, and unchaining our lives from fear. With God, we can trade our anxiety for a grounded sense of worth, and vague resolutions for purposeful action. Listen in for the full conversation.

Read For Faith, the companion devotional.

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"In the Christmas story, God slips through a birth canal underneath the empire. This star child is born in a borrowed room and takes his first rest in a feeding trough. God chooses vulnerability over visibility and humility over dominance. Christmas helps us to know who God is through God's choices. The child we say we love tonight but are afraid to love too much is born on the underside of history. No status, no security. So if you're looking for God, you can always find God where the world least expects God to be. So if we're only watching the Empire's headlines, we may be missing the holy things that are being born right in front of us. Christmas is God's graceful and gentle refusal of the Empire's terms and methods. In God's Christmas story, domination is overthrown by incarnation and love."

Excerpt from Bishop Wright's Christmas Sermon "Born Beneath the Headlines"

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A life can pivot on a single whispered word. In Matthew 1, Joseph is at a real-world crossroads, balancing righteousness, reputation, and love, until an angelic message reframes his next step. That shift from fear to faithful action changed everything. 

In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about the angels we encounter in the real world. God speaks at difficult intersections, often through ordinary messengers like therapists, pastors, songs, and trusted friends, and those messages give courage to walk a hard path. Listen in for the full conversation.

Read For Faith, the companion devotional.

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What if hope isn’t tidy or instant, but slow and stubborn—something that holds you when outcomes don’t? In Matthew 11, John the Baptist asks a big question about Jesus. "Are you the one, or should we wait for another?" John's question is really our question. Is Jesus deserving of our faith, hope, and following? 

In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about the ache for a savior who will make it all better, especially amid Christian nationalism and culture-war politics. It’s human to want a rescuer, but it’s risky to confuse charisma with character. The kingdom’s pattern is quieter: reversal at the edges, healing without spectacle, and justice in motion. Advent brings the hard edge of timing. God is not a magician, and the “already and not yet” of the kingdom asks us to live with tension—trusting that change has begun while admitting it is not complete. This is mature faith: patient, honest, and, grounded in the long arc of God’s work. Listen in for the full conversation.

Read For Faith, the companion devotional.

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How do we bring spiritual practices into our everyday working lives? This adaptive challenge requires a new path—one where risk becomes stewardship, attention becomes a sacred resource, and everyday tasks turn into a living conversation with God. 

In this episode, Bishop Wright has a conversation with Dr. Chip Roper, founder and president of the VOCA Center. Chip’s journey from profit-chasing ambition to seminary and back into the marketplace as an executive coach gives him rare range: he understands performance pressure, pastoral care, and the hard realities of modern organizations. Bishop Wright and Dr. Roper dig into the quiet epidemic of workplace loneliness and the surprising data showing how few professionals tap spiritual resources when the heat is on. From Jesus’ words about doing only what the Father is doing to the easy yoke that lightens our overwork, Chip maps out a way to lead with courage and calm. Listen in for the full conversation.

Dr. Chip Roper is the Founder and President of the VOCA Center, a faith-based organization driven to equip Christians to approach their daily work with God’s wisdom and power. With an Executive Coaching Certification from Columbia University and a Doctorate of Ministry from Missio Seminary,  Chip tackles client challenges from 30+ years of P/L leadership responsibility as a small businessman, a pastor, a career coach, and a business consultant. Chip's clients are found at Blackstone, Sunrise Brokers, JP Morgan, Randall-Reilly, Goldman Sachs, Nielson, Knopman Marks, and CNBC.

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What if the kingdom of God becomes visible not in our theories but in our steps? Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology reframes discipleship as embodied obedience—showing up in prisons, sharing real mutuality, and trading religious privilege for humble responsibility. 

In this episode, Bishop Wright has a conversation with The Rev. Dr. Jenny M. McBride, Associate Rector of All Saints' Atlanta and president of the International Bonhoeffer Society. Jenny shares how reading Bonhoeffer at an urban house of hospitality opened a door from evangelical ideas to lived formation. That path led her into prison classrooms where fashion small talk mingled with raw theological questions, and where “helping” gave way to being helped. 

They discuss Luke 10’s sentness, why belief grows when we go where Jesus intends to go, and how visiting the incarcerated unmasks our craving for superiority. Responsibility becomes the antidote to Christian nationalism’s power hunger, and repentance becomes a daily practice that forms courage and tenderness. Listen in for the full conversation.

The Rev. Dr. Jennifer M. McBride (Ph.D. University of Virginia) is Associate Rector at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Atlanta. Previously she served as an Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and held the Board of Regents Endowed Chair in Ethics at Wartburg College in Iowa. After a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Religious Practices and Practical Theology at Emory University, McBride directed a theology certificate program for incarcerated women through Emory's Candler School of Theology.

McBride is author of You Shall Not Condemn: A Story of Faith and Advocacy on Death Row (Cascade, 2022), Radical Discipleship: A Liturgical Politics of the Gospel (Fortress, 2017), The Church for the World: A Theology of Public Witness (Oxford University Press, 2011), and is co-editor of Bonhoeffer and King: Their Legacies and Import for Christian Social Thought. In addition to book chapters and scholarly articles, her work has appeared in popular publications like The Christian Century and CNN.com and has been featured in the New York Times.

McBride is the recent past president of the International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section, an organization made up of scholars, religious leaders, and readers of German pastor-theologian and Nazi-resister, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. She serves as co-editor of the T&T Clark book series, New Studies in Bonhoeffer’s Theology and Ethics.

She is married to Dr. Thomas Fabisiak, who is the co-executive director of the Georgia Coalition for Higher Ed in Prison and Associate Dean at Life University, where he runs a college degree program for women in Georgia prisons. 

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Bishop Wright's sermon "An Uncommon Success" given at the 119th Annual Council of the Diocese of Atlanta.

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This week's For People is based off of Bishop Wright's opening worship sermon given on November 7, 2025 at the 119th Annual Council of the Diocese of Atlanta. 

What if success isn’t about wins on paper but trust put into practice? Luke 10 teaches us how Jesus sends people out light on gear but heavy on purpose and asks us to measure progress by reliance, integrity, and the peace we carry into real places. The kingdom isn’t far off; it’s near and asking for a public life that heals, feeds, and invites—even when doors close and welcome is thin.

In this episode Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about an uncommon success. They unpack peace as shalom instead of silence: not keeping the powerful comfortable, but seeking wholeness, equity, and purpose that challenges harmful norms. That peace moves toward cities where people should flourish, not just scrape by. From there, they discuss scale. Jesus grows the team from twelve to seventy, and we take the cue: faith and data can be partners. They talk targeting new congregations in the poorest areas, gathering facts on health and education gaps, and budgeting for ministry that brings hope to “fingernail dirty” places. All of it leads back to one audit question: do we trust Jesus more today than yesterday, and more tomorrow than today? Listen in for the full conversation.

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The heat of Jesus’ public life wasn’t condemnation but redemption that actually changes people and communities! Luke 19:1-10 teaches us that every sinner has a future and every sinner has a past. Zacchaeus’, a corrupt tax collector, turnaround begins when Jesus comes near to him and shares a table.  turnaround in Luke 19 as a living case study. The scandal isn’t just that Jesus notices a corrupt tax collector; it’s that he moves toward him, shares a table, and sparks real repair. That grace and mercy extended created a future for Zacchaeus and his community.

In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about redemption. They name the hard part: communities often resist grace. It’s easier to exile than to accompany, to watch from a distance than to risk relationship. They discuss the tension between telling the truth about harm and still seeing the person as more than their deed, a distinction that keeps justice honest and mercy strong. Listen in for the full conversation.

Read For Faith, the companion devotional. 

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