Gravity Commons Podcast

Drew Hart and Jarrod McKenna co-host the Inverse Podcast, which for people who are dissatisfied with the Bible being used to justify hatred (yeah!). We talk about the work they're doing together and separately, what it means to "decolonize" our faith, and where they see their work heading in the future.

Dr. Drew Hart hails from Philly, and now lives in Harrisburg. He's the author of Trouble I've Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism and Who Will Be a Witness: Igniting Activism for God's Justice, Love, and Deliverance. He's a Professor of Theology at Messiah University where he's the program director for Thriving Together: Congregations for Racial Justice.

Jarrod McKenna is an expert in nonviolent social change. He's the Founding CEO of Common Grace, a movement of people seeking Jesus and justice, and the former Director for Nonviolent Social Change for World Vision in the Middle East/Eastern Europe.

Connect with Gravity Leadership

• Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
• Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.
• Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.
• Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.
• Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact Gino Curcuruto at [email protected].

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We talk with Sarah Bessey about themes from her bestselling collaborative book A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal, which celebrates and gives voice to traditions of prayer for people like us: overworked, overpressured, and edging burnout.

Sarah Bessey is the author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed books Jesus Feminist (2013); Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith (2015); and Miracles and Other Reasonable Things (2019). 

Along with her friends, the late Rachel Held Evans and Jim Chaffee, Sarah co-founded Evolving Faith. She now co-leads the community and conference alongside Jeff Chu. Sarah is also the co-host of The Evolving Faith Podcast and also serves as chair of the board for Heartline Ministries in Haiti. Based in Port au Prince, Heartline is committed to empowering Haitian families through complete maternal and infant health care, education, vocational training, and economic development.

Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The High Calling, Conversations Journal, ChurchLeaders.com, CT Women: Christianity Today’s Blog for Women, Today’s Christian Woman.

Sarah lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with her husband of twenty years have four children. She’s a pseudo-hermit bookworm, an enthusiastic knitter, tea-drinker, hockey fan, total hugger, endlessly fascinated with Jesus, an embarrassing fan-girl for the TV programmes Doctor Who and Schitt’s Creek.

Her latest collaborative book, The New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, and Globe and Mail Bestseller A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal.

You can connect with Sarah and learn more about her work on her website sarahbessey.com. 

Connect with Gravity Leadership

• Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
• Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.
• Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.
• Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.
• Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact Gino Curcuruto at [email protected].

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What if our exhaustion, burnout, and pain are an invitation into a more vibrant faith? We talk with Andrew Arndt about how Christianity got co-opted by power and privilege, and how we can find our way back to the radical way of Jesus by learning from the desert fathers and mothers, who needed to learn the same things we do: to live radically, humanly, and beautifully in a spiritually desolate and confusing time.

Andrew's most recent book is Streams in the Wasteland: Finding Spiritual Renewal with the Desert Fathers & Mothers.

Andrew Arndt is the lead pastor of New Life East, one of seven congregations of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Prior to joining New Life’s team, he served as the lead pastor of Bloom Church, a network of house churches in Denver. He is the host of the Essential Church podcast, a weekly conversation designed to strengthen the thinking of church and ministry leaders. Andrew received his MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is currently working on his DMin with Western Theological Seminary. He has written for Missio Alliance, Patheos, The Other Journal, and Mere Orthodoxy. He is the author of Streams in the Wasteland and All Flame. Andrew lives in Colorado Springs with his wife, Mandi, and their four kids.

Connect with Gravity Leadership

• Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
• Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.
• Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.
• Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.
• Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact Gino Curcuruto at [email protected].

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We talk with Angie Ward about a new book in a series she is the general editor for. Kingdom and Country: Following Jesus in the Land That You Love is a collection of leading Christian thinkers and practitioners take a holistic approach to considering the questions of patriotism, nationalism, and where our ultimate loyalties must lie.

Angie Ward is a leadership author and teacher with nearly thirty years of experience in church, parachurch, and Christian higher education ministry. Angie is known for her genuine love for those in ministry, her down-to-earth style, and her unique ability to see and explain complex concepts and systems. Angie is an award-winning regular contributor to Christianity Today leadership publications and holds a PhD in Ministry Leadership from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She currently serves as assistant director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Denver Seminary.

Connect with Gravity Leadership

• Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
• Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.
• Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.
• Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.
• Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact Gino Curcuruto at [email protected].

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How can we cultivate courage when fear overshadows our lives? How do we hear the Voice of Love when hate and harm shout loud?

Through sharing her own wilderness experience of spiritual abuse and religious trauma, therapist and author K.J. Ramsey helps us explore the landscape of fear, trauma, and faith by walking through Psalm 23 phrase by phrase in her new book The Lord is My Courage: Stepping Through the Shadows of Fear Toward the Voice of Love. K.J. helps us see that courage is not the absence of anxiety but the practice of trusting we will be held and loved no matter what.

K.J. Ramsey is a trauma-informed licensed professional counselor and author whose work offers space to see every part of our souls and stories as sacred. She holds degrees from Covenant College and Denver Seminary, and writes at the intersection of theology, psychology, and spiritual formation to guide us in recovering the rhythm of resilience through nervous system regulation and the wonder of communion with God. She and her husband Ryan, along with their two exceptionally cuddly dogs, Merton and Resa, live near Denver, Colorado.

You can connect with K.J. on her website, and on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Show notes/links

• Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
• Join our online community for free!

From our sponsor (that's us!)

• Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.
• Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.

Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact Gino Curcuruto at [email protected].

Connect with Gravity Leadership

Join our online community (FREE) to get a curated list of interesting and edifying articles each week, plus free resources for leading like Jesus, living on mission, and making disciples. Head to https://gravityleadership.com/join to join us.

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We talked with Joel Bowman about themes from a recent article of his, on what white Christians can do to address racism: lament, repent, and dissent.

Rev. Joel A. Bowman, Sr. is a native of Detroit, Michigan, and has been in ministry for 28 years. For the past 21 years, he has served as the founder and senior pastor of the Temple of Faith Baptist Church, in Louisville, Kentucky.

A Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Joel has 30 years of experience in the mental health field. Joel maintains a full-time practice, providing therapy to America’s military Veterans. Joel is a seminar facilitator, freelance writer, poet, and thought leader in the areas of racism and racial trauma. His work has been published in numerous places, including the Louisville Courier-Journal, The Front Porch, The Witness, Three-Fifths Magazine, and Baptist News Global.

Joel is married to Nannette Mitchell Bowman, and they have 3 children: Kayla, Katie, and Joel, Jr.

Show notes/links

• Leave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.
• Join our online community for free!

From our sponsor (that's us!)

• Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.
• Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.

Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact Gino Curcuruto at [email protected].

Connect with Gravity Leadership

Join our online community (FREE) to get a curated list of interesting and edifying articles each week, plus free resources for leading like Jesus, living on mission, and making disciples. Head to https://gravityleadership.com/join to join us.

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In his book God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God’s Unexpected Coming, Drew Jackson explores the first eight chapters of Luke’s Gospel in a new poetic register. From the Magnificat (“That girl can sing! . . . She has a voice / That can shatter shackles”) to the baptism of Christ (“I stepped in / […]

The post Drew Jackson: Recovering the Voices of the Marginalized Through Poetry appeared first on Gravity Leadership.

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Wade Mullen shares how to identify and heal from abusive people and systems. Wade helps us get clarity on what abuse is, how to recognize it in our relationships and churches, and what we can do to heal and recover. Wade is a trustworthy voice and it was a joy to learn from him in […]

The post Wade Mullen: Decoding the Hidden Tactics of Abusive People and Systems appeared first on Gravity Leadership.

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Eric Minton joined us for our Gravity Commons Live conversation this past June. He’s an author, therapist, and ordained Baptist minister who has a unique perspective on our societies infatuation with happiness: What if there’s nothing wrong with us? What if anxiety and depression and listless spiritual life are actually telling us the truth about […]

The post Eric Minton: What our Pain Reveals About the Anxious Pursuit of the Good Life appeared first on Gravity Leadership.

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Today we finish our series on Ben and Matt’s book Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms for Cultivating a Robust Faith. Ben, Matt, Gino, and Christy discuss how they’ve practically worked out the principles and practices in the book in their lives and leadership over the past several years. Today we talk about the […]

The post Experimenting With Grace By Acting As If It’s True appeared first on Gravity Leadership.

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