Kinfolk

Ronnie "Reconcile" Lillard has been a college football player, he’s a rapper, youth advocate, court case manager, and father of five. He wears a lot of hats, but one thing is for sure, he’s always doing it for the community. After leading ministry in Houston, he returned home to his native state of Florida where he is now a director at the non-profit organization Youth For Christ, where he leads outreach programs for at-risk youth.  Join us as we talk to him about navigating family, ministry life, the joys, and even the pain of living out your calling. 

Listen to Streets Is Suicide by Reconcile here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocTl6iOIU1s

Support the show

Welcome to Season 2 Kinfolk! This season, we're focusing on what it means to be called by God and how every one of us has a calling in our life.  Join us as we talk to artists, entrepreneurs, financial coaches, and professors, about their journey to living out their calling in the different places and spaces where God has called them to serve. 

Support the show

We needed to talk to somebody who understood politics and understood the gospel and we called Thom! Thom Mozloom is the president and founder of the M Network, a branding and strategic communications firm based out of Miami, Florida. Thom has worked with leaders on both sides of the aisle, from Jeb Bush to Barack Obama. Thom takes us behind the scenes on how political messaging is tailored for various voter blocks-persons of color, evangelicals, etc.-and how these tailored messages contribute to division and conflict in the Church. Thom is a second-generation Phoenician and he draws from his ethnic and cultural background to discuss our need for restorative justice over retribution. When asked, “Where do we go from here?” Thom says we have to seek out neighbors and walk out our calling to forgive — 70 times 7.

Support the show

In today’s episode we talk with attorney, entrepreneur, and activist, Meagan Harding, who is the co-founder of Rosa Rebellion, a platform for creative activism by and for women of color. As a civil rights attorney, Meagan has fought for wrongful conviction policy and has worked to shine a light on solitary confinement through the Texas Civil Rights Project. Meagan’s commitment to fighting for the black community is unshakable; however, she talks honestly about the exhaustion, frustration, and sorrow, that comes with being an activist.  Rest is a biblical mandate and for Meagan, that means that rest and recovery is essential to how God wants us to show up in the fight for liberation. This led to her Rebel + Rest project, which provides space for rest, therapy, and total care to activists across the country.  

For more information on Rosa Rebellion and the Rebel + Rest project, visit here: 

https://www.rosarebellion.com/home

Support the show

We talked to a lot of great folk with interesting people this season! We sat down with Olaide Banks -- entrepreneur, artist, attorney, and Renaissance man -- to try to process what we heard after 8 episodes (2 more episodes, this season). Thank you for continuing to listen. The best is yet to come!

Support the show

Support the show

On this episode we talk with Pastor Donald Bell, Sr.  the pastor of Covenant Blessing Fellowship in Los Angeles, California.  He has unique experiences through his work in clinical traumatology. Pastor Bell pulls from his own experiences being detained by police as a young man and his extensive experience as a trauma counselor to offer a unique perspective on licensing police. Pastor Bell gives keen insight on the political and religious division in our country. When asked, “Where do we go from here?” Bell says that we need integration with wisdom and to give each other love, grace, and space, when it comes to having difficult conversations. 

Support the show

In today’s episode we talk with Dr. Michael Emerson, Department Head and Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois, Chicago.  He is the author of the classic: "Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America." 

The killing of George Floyd hit home for Dr. Emerson, a native of Minneapolis. In this episode, Dr. Emerson talks to us about how his faith has shaped an incredible, long-standing body of work focused on religion, race, and the different ideological perspectives on justice, equity, and the moral right, in black and white communities of faith. 

Dr. Emerson’s research contextualizes the division that we are witnessing in Christian communities today. When asked, “Where do we go from here?” he points to the need for truth and reconciliation commissions that include historical testimony and create plans for restitution. Emerson says this type of reconciliation is not only needed, it is the gospel work we have been called to do.  

Support the show

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Erica Soltero Ngwolo, assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. Her work focuses on developing health promotion programs that help minority youth overcome social determinants or root causes of health like lack of access to healthcare, safe places to be active, and healthy food resources, to prevent obesity and Type 2 diabetes. 

"Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. They include factors like socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood, and physical environment, employment, and social support networks, as well as access to health care." -- Samantha Artiga

When we ask Dr. Erica Soltero Ngwolo, “Where do we go from here?” she points to the need for greater acknowledgment of social determinants in healthcare so that we can develop better care and research strategies that let black and brown patients know that we see and hear them.

Support the show

In this episode, we sit down with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery. Wesley is an Ohio native and talks to us about joining the trade of journalism in the 8th grade and the heroes that inspired him to blaze his trail in an evolving field with little representation.

He was a lead on the Washington Post's "Fatal Force" project that won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2016 as well as the author of They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement.

Wesley's work focuses on issues of policing, justice, and race relations, and can be found in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, CBS News, The Atlantic, the cover of Newsweek, and now on 60 Minutes. His groundbreaking work on the frontlines of Ferguson to George Floyd gives him a unique perspective regarding the narratives told around police brutality. When asked, “Where do we go from here?” he speaks earnestly about the power we have as individuals and as a collective and how he believes that there is no better time like the present for us to rise. 

Check one of his most recent articles here:  https://www.newsweek.com/police-reform-alone-wont-stop-another-george-floyd-being-murdered-1512023 

Support the show