Have you ever stopped to think about the generations that lived on the land centuries before you? For some, this question can bring up a lot of complex emotions and trauma. But it’s by asking ourselves these unsettling truths that lay the groundwork for the seeds of education, information, and action that create real change.  

On this Best of Where Ya From? episode, we’re throwing it back to a thought-provoking conversation we had with speaker and author Mark Charles. He talks about the journey of navigating personal trauma and how it inspires the ways he continues to learn and invite others to see the trauma and racism that still impacts Native Americans today. Come join us as we are given an in-depth education about the history of his people and America but hear the hopeful message that the unhealthy roots of the past don’t define our future.  

Guest Bio:

Mark Charles is a speaker, writer, consultant, former presidential candidate, and dual citizen as an American and a Navajo Native American. Mark teaches the complexities of American history regarding race, culture, and Christendom in order to help forge a path of healing and reconciliation for the nation.   

He is a co-founder of the Would Jesus Eat Frybread? college-conference series and has served on the boards of the Christian Reformed Church of North America and the Christian Community Development Association.

Notes & Quotes:

• “Jesus did not come to create a Christian empire. He came to make disciples. He came to offer his body as a living sacrifice. He came to plant a church.”  
• “I had never thought, okay, Jesus said this. So that means I now go out and try to do something like this. And I would say that year, the difference in my faith is Jesus went from being my luggage to becoming my Lord.” 
• “I can keep the humanity of everybody in question in front of me. It allows me to treat people better, allows me to speak the truth without using the truth as a weapon.” 

Links Mentioned:

• FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT 
• Get your copy of Mark’s book, Unsettling Truths, here. 
• Watch Rasool’s adventures through the In Pursuit of Jesus series. 
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Verses Mentioned:

• Acts 10

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