Helen Roberts-Evans grew up in the United States, in Chicago. But returning to the continent of Africa, to Liberia, where she was born, was a lifelong dream. Today, Helen is a United Methodist missionary, serving in Liberia. In this special Advent episode of “Get Your Spirit in Shape,” we chat with Helen and learn the story of how God weaved together a series of incidences that led her back to the country of her birth.

Linda Bruner is a cradle Methodist, raised in the church as a preacher’s kid. Today, Linda works for the global denomination as senior manager of connectional giving and marketing for United Methodist Communications. We talk with Linda about her enduring United Methodist roots, what generosity means to her and why being part of a local congregation is key to her faith journey.

Food blogger and ministry leader Annette Spence talks about using food to help share God’s love and connect with our neighbors—a practice Jesus knew well.

For more than 20 years, Annette has told the stories of the Holston Conference of The United Methodist Church in her role as editor of the The Call, the conference’s weekly newsletter. Many of these stories are about how churches eat together and use food in their ministries.

Thinking about what she had not read in parenting books was the springboard for the Rev. Kim Meyers when she started writing Parenting with Perspective. Kim’s new book is a candid look at the various stages of child rearing, from bringing home our newborn babies through guiding our adult children.

We talk with Kim about the sometimes messy reality of raising kids, as well as the reason we can have hope that as a parent or as part of the community raising a child, you are enough for whatever adventure comes your way.

Christmas 2020 felt like it was stolen. Many of the things we enjoy most about the season—travel, parties, exchanging cookies, and singing Christmas carols/hymns in a filled sanctuary—were not the same. It made us feel a bit more Grinchy than we may have ever felt before.

In this episode of Get Your Spirit in Shape, Crystal talks with author and United Methodist pastor Matt Rawle about his new book The Heart that Grew Three Sizes: Finding faith in the story of the Grinch. Matt talks about how last year’s “stolen” Christmas caused him and his congregation to rediscover what is essential in our celebrations of Jesus coming into the world. And how Dr. Seuss’s familiar story pointed to lessons about love, grace, and a willingness to see who is not at out tables.

What a wonderful way to begin our preparations for Christmas 2021.

For our 100th episode, we talk with Bishop Minerva Carcaño. Not only is she the current bishop of the San Francisco Episcopal Area, she is the first Hispanic woman appointed as a district superintendent in the continental United States and the first Hispanic female ever elected bishop.

She is a leader in social justice ministries, probably best known for her long history of committed involvement in ministries with immigrants and refugees, the poor and communities on the US/Mexico border.

And unknown to her until we spoke, she was the inspiration for these Meet a Bishop episodes of Get Your Spirit in Shape.

It is a joy and honor to share our conversation with Bishop Minerva Carcaño.

As Jesus is preparing his disciples for when he will no longer be with them in the flesh, he tells them how those who believe in him will continue his work. But he doesn’t leave it there. He then says, “and they will do even greater things than these” (John 14:12 NIV). Wow! Can we do greater things?

Len Wilson, Director of Innovation and Strategy at St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas; Publisher of Invite Resources and author of a new book called Greater Things: The Work of the New Creation, shares how we can live into that call and be faithful in all of our work.

While some bishops in the United States serve episcopal areas that include three or four states, Bishop Patrick Streiff serves one that includes 14 countries. The Central and Southern Europe Episcopal Area consists of 12 countries in Europe and two in Africa.

In addition to talking about his amazing work as a bishop, in this conversation from Zurich, Switzerland, we talk about his early life in Bern, the beginnings his faith development, his love of study and skiing, and his doctoral thesis on early Methodist John William Fletcher.

It is such a privilege to meet Bishop Patrick Streiff.

United Methodist pastor and author the Rev. Sherry Cothran invites us to take a closer look at the stories of some of the wild and holy women of the Bible. While we may be familiar with Esther, Rahab and others, Cothran teaches that their lives and circumstances hold clues for healing our own pain.

In this conversation, Crystal and Sherry talk about how resurrecting these stories may encourage us to untame certain parts of who we are.

Many of us have experienced trauma and how the danger of unhealed trauma can keep us from connecting with one another and with God.

In this episode, our new cohost Crystal Caviness speaks with the Rev. Dr. Ron Bell about his book that teaches us how, step by step, to tackle the important work of healing, how to move us from victim to survivor and explains why the childhood song, “If you’re happy and you know it…” may offer clues to how we heal.