In this episode we are joined by Rev. Julio Hernandez, Executive Director of the Congregation Action Network, based in DC and serving the DC, Maryland, Virginia area (aka the DMV).

We invited Julio to talk with us on Freedom Road about the nearly invisible struggle taking place in the immigrant community in the U.S.. They are receiving the tip of the spear in the current administration’s policy of mass deportation and authoritarian rule.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa ⁠@lisasharper⁠ or to Freedom Road ⁠@freedomroad.us⁠. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to ⁠freedomroad.substack.com⁠. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think!

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www.congregationactionnetwork.org

This episode we are joined by Rev. Dr. Charles Lattimore Howard, the University Chaplain and Vice President for Social Equity and Community at the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater.

Rev. Dr. Lattimore Howard is also the author of several books, including: The Souls of Poor Folk, The Awe and The Awful, Black Theology as Mass Movement, and Pond River Ocean Rain, a small book about going deeper with a big God. His newest work is Uncovering Your Path: Spiritual Reflections for Finding Your Purpose.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think!

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www.churchpublishing.org/uncoveringyourpath

This episode we are joined by, Rich Logis, former MAGA podcaster who is now the founding executive director of Leaving MAGA and author of the short e-book, My MAGA Odyssey, available at LeavingMaga.com.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think!

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leavingmaga.org

This episode we are joined by Isaac Samuel Villegas, author of the new book, MIGRANT GOD: A Christian Vision for Immigrant Justice.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think!

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This episode, we are joined by Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, Director of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice—a project of the Bethlehem Bible College—and Pastor of the Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. Rev. Dr. Munther is the author of The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope and his new book, Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza (available now).

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think!

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In this episode, we are joined by documentary filmmaker, Ilana Thrachtman, director of several films, most recently, “Ain’t No Back on a Merry-Go-Round” about the 1960 Civil Rights Movement in Washington DC that you never heard of. This is a powerful film that resonates with us today. It reminds us of where we’ve been in a not-too-distant America and how we overcame.

Ilana was invited to talk with us on Freedom Road about the insights she gleaned from this little-known corner of the Southern Freedom Struggle. In these days when many of our national leaders seem hell-bent on taking us back to the pre-Civil Rights Movement era, we need to be reminded how far we’ve come. And we need to be equipped with the wisdom they gained in their struggle. 

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think!

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https://www.aintnoback.com/

In this episode, we are joined by the Reverend Dr. Otis Moss, III. Dr. Moss is senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. He is a preacher, poet, activist, author and filmmaker with an eye toward justice and equality, as evidenced through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Reverend Dr. Otis Moss, III was invited to be in conversation because we are entering into a new phase of our world. It's called a non-democratic phase of life in America. One can see it just by the the nominations for the next administration's cabinet. One can see these are anti-democratic people. Their goal is to actually tear apart the institutions that make democracy possible. And we also are in a time when the "Middle East" (and that is put in quotes because of what is discussed in this episode) where that region is now on fire. And it's dangerous as in what happens there can affect everybody. So this conversation is ultimately about how to pastor the church through all this.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think!

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In this episode we are joined by womanist theologian and author, Rev. Dr. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas, an African-American Episcopal priest, womanist theologian, and interim president of Episcopal Divinity School. She was previously the inaugural Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary. She also serves as Canon Theologian of the Washington National Cathedral. She has written seven books, including The Black Christ (1994), Black Bodies and Black Church: A Blues Slant (2012), Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God (2015), and Resurrection Hope: A Future Where Black Lives Matter (2021).

Rev. Dr. Canon Douglas was invited to join us on Freedom Road to help us understand the repercussions of the results of election 2024 and the recent study published by The House of Bishops Theology Committee of The Episcopal Church, titled, “The Crisis of Christian Nationalism”.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think!

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In this episode we are joined by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author, Eliza Griswold, author of the book, Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church. In Circle of Hope Griswold explores how conflict around anti-LGBTQ inclusion, white supremacy and roots in the church growth movement eventually led the network of congregations to dissolve in January 2024.

Eliza was invited to talk with us on Freedom Road to give us a window into the most consequential struggle within the church today. The struggle to love everyone.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think!

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us.macmillan.com/books/9780374601683/circleofhope

This month we are joined by Maya Moore Irons and Jonathan Irons! Basketball icon, Maya is a two-time NCAA champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, four-time WNBA champion, and WNBA MVP. In February of 2019, Maya revealed that she would miss the upcoming season to focus on family and ministry dreams. Later that year, in a New York Times feature, Maya first went into detail about Jonathan Irons and his wrongful imprisonment and later opted to miss the 2020 season to continue focusing on Jonathan’s case and was ultimately successful when his conviction was vacated in March 2020, and he walked free that July. Maya has since come to be recognized as one of sport and culture’s most important social justice icons.

Jonathan Irons was only eighteen-years-old when he was wrongly convicted by an all-white jury for a crime that occurred when he was sixteen. With no physical evidence tying him to the crime, Jonathan was handed a fifty-year prison sentence, of which he served twenty-three years. After a twenty year long effort by Jonathan, Maya, her family, and other supporters, Jonathan was finally released in July of 2020. The next day, Jonathan proposed to Maya, and weeks later, they were married. Despite over two decades of unjust incarceration, Irons turned his cell into a classroom, pursuing legal studies and advocacy. His fight for exoneration highlighted systemic flaws and inspired a movement for change. He mentored fellow inmates, advocating for rehabilitation and societal reintegration. Upon release, he became a leader in criminal justice reform, advocating for the rights of marginalized groups and offering insights into reentry challenges. Additionally, he mentors disadvantaged youth, demonstrating the transformative power of resilience and determination. Jonathan's story is a call to action for justice, equity, and compassion, inspiring him to change and hope for a better world.

Maya and Jonathan were invited to talk with us about their new book, Love and Justice: A Story of Triumph on Two Different Courts.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think!

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https://books.disney.com/book/love-and-justice/