Co-hosts Lisa Greenwood and Casper ter Kuile talk with DeAmon Harges, 2021 Locke Innovative Leader Award Winner. DeAmon is the original “Roving Listener” who defined the role by his posture of curiosity and his passion for discovering the gifts and talents of the people in his community. He is also the founder of The Learning Tree, a non-profit that uses the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach with city governments and organizations to improve the quality of lives of people, communities, schools and businesses.

His approach has greatly influenced how congregations, non-profits, and local governments view their work. Instead of seeing people and communities as lacking in resources, DeAmon sees their wealth of “intangible currencies'' such as imagination, relationships, and stories that bring people together in a fellowship of “mutual delight.” This conversation may well inspire you to be a “Social Banker” like DeAmon, who extends the metaphor: when you invest in the intangible currencies in your neighborhood, you will find the riches of love, hope, and joy in abundance!

QUOTES

• “Having a team to work through to have other gifts besides yourself is super important. If you don’t ever feel like you need people, then you’re way too tired. When you need people, you can guarantee you’re going to get some rest.” -DeAmon Harges [27:38]

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Intro

RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?

For information about our co-host Casper ter Kuile, visit his website: caspertk.com and check out the work of Sacred Design Lab at sacred.design.

Find and follow DeAmon on Twitter @rovinglistener

For information about The Learning Tree, visit: thelearningtrees.com

This season features Wesleyan Investive’s 2021 Tom Locke Innovative Award winners. The award honors spiritual entrepreneurs who have envisioned a broader mission field and have taken risks to make their God-sized dreams a reality. For more information about the award and the recipients, visit award.wesleyaninvestive.org.

“God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67.

This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

Co-hosts Lisa Greenwood and Casper ter Kuile talk with Rev. Leroy Barber, 2021 Locke Innovative Leader Award Winner. Leroy has dedicated 30 years to eradicating poverty, confronting homelessness, restoring local neighborhoods, healing racism, and living what Dr. King called “the beloved community.” Leroy is the Co-Founder of the Voices Project, which gathers leaders of color across fields, who pursue and work for change, for important conversations about the current challenges and triumphs within communities of color and their role as cultural influencers.

Leroy is a seasoned innovator who has spent decades as a spiritual entrepreneur starting new ministries and organizations. He is the definition of an ‘edge leader’ and yet, Leroy now serves deep in the center of the institution of the church as Director for Innovation for an Engaged Church in the Greater Northwest Area of the United Methodist Church. So how does an edge leader thrive when working in the heart of the center? Relationships. Leroy recognizes the value of relationship building between the center and the edge and brings people together to take the next faithful step in making God’s dreams reality. Whether you are in ministry in the center or the edge, this episode will encourage you to see the gifts and graces of the other and consider the ways the center and edge can work together to make a positive difference in congregations and communities.

QUOTES

• “I came up with this saying that I think is mine. Innovation happens at the intersection of difference. Meaning, you can’t really innovate if you don’t bring something different in.” -Leroy Barber [21:41]

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Intro

RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?

For information about our co-host Casper ter Kuile, visit his website: caspertk.com and check out the work of Sacred Design Lab at sacred.design

Find and follow Leroy Barber on Facebook @leroy.barber.71, Instagram and Twitter @leroybarber

For information about The Voices Project, visit their website: voices-project.org

Leroy Barber’s most recent book is “Embrace: God’s Radical Shalom for a Divided World.”

This season features Wesleyan Investive’s 2021 Tom Locke Innovative Award winners. The award honors spiritual entrepreneurs who have envisioned a broader mission field and have taken risks to make their God-sized dreams a reality. For more information about the award and the recipients, visit award.wesleyaninvestive.org.

“God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67.

This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

Co-hosts Lisa Greenwood and Casper ter Kuile talk with Dr. Matt Russell, 2021 Locke Innovative Leader Award Winner, about what he calls the “improbable friendships'' that have enriched his life and influenced the direction of his ministry. From these improbable friendships emerged projectCURATE, a non-profit educational and social enterprise incubator that seeks to build bridges across cultural, economic, religious, and racial divides, and Iconoclast Artists, a creative writing and arts program that gives young creative minds a chance to speak through written, visual, and performance art. The two organizations are making a big difference in the city of Houston and beyond.

Matt serves as Executive Pastor at Chapelwood United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas. He shares how innovation is not a formula to replicate but a faithful response to relationships based in trust and mutuality where the Spirit can work. “How can I be faithful to this moment?” is a question he asks often. Hearing Matt describe his answers to that question throughout his ministry journey is inspiring and may well lead you to discern your next faithful step or the next improbable friendship you are being invited to cultivate.

QUOTES

• “I think faith early on has always been a verb for me.” -Matt Russell [06:40]

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Intro

RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?

For information about our co-host Casper ter Kuile, visit his website: caspertk.com and check out the work of Sacred Design Lab at sacred.design

For information about Project Curate, visit their website: projectcurate.org or follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter: @projectcurate

For more information about Iconoclast Artists, visit their website: iconoclastartists.org or follow them on Instagram or Facebook @iconoclastartists

Find and follow Matt Russell on Facebook @matthew.russell.1048, Instagram @mhrussell1, and Twitter @Dudeabides67

This season features Wesleyan Investive’s 2021 Tom Locke Innovative Award winners. The award honors spiritual entrepreneurs who have envisioned a broader mission field and have taken risks to make their God-sized dreams a reality. For more information about the award and the recipients, visit award.wesleyaninvestive.org.

“God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67.

This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

Co-hosts Lisa Greenwood and Casper ter Kuile talk with Rev. Jen Bailey, 2021 Locke Innovative Leader Award Winner, about her womanist-led Faith Matters Network, whose mission is to catalyze personal and social change by equipping community organizers, faith leaders, and activists with resources for connection, spiritual sustainability, and accompaniment. Jen, founder and executive director, discusses how the organization has focused on “healing the healers” of transformative social movements through a variety of programs.

Jen discusses the role partnerships play in innovation. She also explains the term “composting religion” as taking the best of the old to create something new that meets the needs of today. This conversation is rich with insight about leading a start-up organization whose work at the intersection of spiritual tradition, social healing and social justice requires continual discernment and collaboration. 

QUOTES

• “I think what unites us is the sense that what we’re doing is a continuation of a story, not a brand new story we’re starting ourselves.” -Jen Bailey [23:08]

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Intro

RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?

For information about our co-host Casper ter Kuile, visit his website: caspertk.com and check out the work of Sacred Design Lab at sacred.design

For information about Faith Matters Network, where Jen Bailey serves as Executive Director, click here.

Find Faith Matters Network on Instagram and Facebook @faithmattersnetwork or follow them on Twitter @faithmattersnet

Follow Jen Bailey on Instagram and Twitter @revjenbailey

This season features Wesleyan Investive’s 2021 Tom Locke Innovative Award winners. The award honors spiritual entrepreneurs who have envisioned a broader mission field and have taken risks to make their God-sized dreams a reality. For more information about the award and the recipients, visit award.wesleyaninvestive.org.

“God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67.

This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

Igniting Imagination is a podcast to spark the spirit within you, from Wesleyan Investive and Texas Methodist Foundation. This season, we are sharing conversations with five spiritual entrepreneurs who were awarded the 2021 Tom Locke Innovative Leader Award from the Wesleyan Investive. These five spiritual entrepreneurs share their wisdom through stories and reflections that will encourage and challenge you and ultimately ignite your imagination as a leader. 

Rev. Lisa Greenwood interviews her co-host for this season, Casper ter Kuile. Casper is the author of The Power of Ritual and the co-founder of Sacred Design Lab, a soul-centered research and development lab. Casper shares his analysis of the spiritual landscape in America today, the two discuss Lisa’s work on the mixed ecology of church and together they talk with Tom Locke, President of TMF and Wesleyan Investive. This episode is jam-packed with insight about purpose that invites reflection about how your church or organization’s purpose is aligning with the spiritual needs of our world today.

QUOTES

• “Folks are still as hungry for belonging, their experiences of spiritual growth and becoming, to feel connected to something beyond themselves. It just looks different, and so, what we have to do is to be attuned to see where are people going to try and find it. ” -Casper ter Kuile [07:19]

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:01] Intro

RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?

For information about Casper ter Kuile, visit his website: caspertk.com and check out the work of Sacred Design Lab at sacred.design

This season features Wesleyan Investive’s 2021 Tom Locke Innovative Award winners. The award honors spiritual entrepreneurs who have envisioned a broader mission field and have taken risks to make their God-sized dreams a reality. For more information about the award and the recipients, visit award.wesleyaninvestive.org

“God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67

This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support TMF’s Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

Rev. Liliana Padilla is the Senior Pastor of Westlawn United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas. She has overcome many obstacles in ministry. When she was ordained in Mexico, she was prevented from pastoring a church because she was a married woman. When she came to the United States, she had to go through the ordination process again. When she went through divorce, she had to overcome the stigma of divorce in her community.

Liliana has never let obstacles prevent her from pursuing God’s call on her life. When COVID-19 hit, it greatly affected her congregation. Some lost their jobs. Some were not able to work because they had to stay home with their children. Families with limited access to the internet and fewer devices than children struggled to keep their kids from falling behind in class. Liliana shares how she drew on her own story of resilience to find the strength to lead her congregation to discern God’s purpose in this time of pandemic.

QUOTES

• “Something that I like to do is try to see things as good as they can be.” -Rev. Liliana Padilla [10:59]

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Intro

RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?

Reservoirs of Resilience is inspired by the monograph written by Bishop Janice Huie. Read the full publication here.

This podcast is brought to you by TMF’s Leadership Ministry. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support TMF’s Leadership Ministry, visit https://tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

How we tell the stories of our lives and the life of our church or organization makes all the difference. Bishop Robert Schnase, Bishop of the Rio Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, details for us how narrative connects to resilience by sharing personal stories from his time as pastor and his observations as Bishop. He shares how the stories we tell ourselves shape our capacity to move through difficult circumstances. This episode will encourage and inspire you to consider the narratives in your life and leadership are shaping your way of seeing and being. 

QUOTES

• “Sometimes you think of resilience, you get knocked down, you jump back up. Resilience often takes a long time. It puts you on a path that lasts for a long time.” -Bishop Robert Schnase [15:22]

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Intro

RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?

For information about Bishop Schnase and links to all his books, visit http://robertschnase.com

The episode references Life is in the Transitions by Bruce Feiler who points to the work of Marshall Duke at Emory University to describe three categories of family narratives:  ascending, descending and oscillating.

Reservoirs of Resilience is inspired by the monograph written by Bishop Janice Huie. Read the full publication here.

"That's Something" music and lyrics by Billy Crockett, © 2016 Spare Room Music, BMI, from the album In Session (with Roscoe Beck), Blue Rock Artists, 2020

"Resilience" music by Billy Crockett, © 2021 Spare Room Music, BMI

This podcast is brought to you by TMF’s Leadership Ministry. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support TMF’s Leadership Ministry, visit https://tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

What is it like to live through storm after storm...after storm? Rev. Romonica Malone-Wardley is District Superintendent of the Southeast District of the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. She has met people and congregations who have lived through one devastating storm after another. Living through a storm though doesn’t mean just surviving.

Romonica shares how instead of throwing up their hands in despair, congregations in hurricane-hit areas roll up their sleeves to help neighbors and offer hope to their communities. This episode is a powerful account about how we can lean on each other and into our purposes to weather life’s storms and find the stamina to keep moving forward.

QUOTES

• “They understand that God gives them the strength to rally and come together to support one another and their neighbors again and again and again.” -Romonica Malone-Wardley [03:01]

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Intro

RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?

Reservoirs of Resilience is inspired by the monograph written by Bishop Janice Huie. Read the full publication here.

This podcast is brought to you by TMF’s Leadership Ministry. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support TMF’s Leadership Ministry, visit https://tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

What is needed to enlarge the capacity of pastors, congregations, annual conferences and the denomination to become more resilient, i.e. to absorb change and retain its integrity and purpose? We pose that very deep and difficult question to Erin Hawkins, Executive Director of Connectional Ministries for the California Pacific Annual Conference and Bishop Cynthia Harvey, bishop of the United Methodist Church in Louisiana and President of the Council of Bishops.

You’ll notice this is one of our longer episodes. The content was so rich with these two dynamic leaders, we didn’t want you to miss a minute of the conversation, so we didn’t cut much. They discuss the current state of the church, what resilience looks like for the church, and what changes they are hoping to see in the denomination. We suspect that like us, by the end of the episode your own reservoir of resilience will be a bit more full of grace.

QUOTES

• “We think systemically because we’re a large institution and our system’s thinking has us reduced and separate so that we can better analyze and organize and change the parts. And I’m increasingly convinced that what will help to transform us is becoming masters not of the parts, but of the relationship between the parts.” -Erin Hawkins [28:12]

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Intro

RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?

Follow Bishop Harvey on Facebook -- Cynthia Fierro Harvey 

Read the press release about Erin Hawkins new role as the Executive Director of Connectional Ministries with the California-Pacific Conference of the UMC here.

Follow the General Commission on Religion and Race of the United Methodist Church @GCORR_UMC

Reservoirs of Resilience is inspired by the monograph written by Bishop Janice Huie. Read the full publication here.

"That's Something" music and lyrics by Billy Crockett, © 2016 Spare Room Music, BMI, from the album In Session (with Roscoe Beck), Blue Rock Artists, 2020

"Resilience" music by Billy Crockett, © 2021 Spare Room Music, BMI

This podcast is brought to you by TMF’s Leadership Ministry. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support TMF’s Leadership Ministry, visit https://tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.

Mike Smith is Executive Director of the Holding Institute in Laredo, Texas. He shares the story of a plant at his home that offers a poignant illustration of resilience. Mike is an excellent storyteller who talks about how watering what appeared to be dead is a lesson we can all apply in our own context. While this is our shortest story shared so far in our series, the powerful image of new life will stay with you for a long time.

QUOTES

• “When we’re talking about resilience, it’s not just us, but it’s those whom we serve.” -Mike Smith [05:45]

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] Intro

RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?

Reservoirs of Resilience is inspired by the monograph written by Bishop Janice Huie. Read the full publication here.

This podcast is brought to you by TMF’s Leadership Ministry. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support TMF’s Leadership Ministry, visit https://tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.