This week I sat down with my dear friend, Val Hystek, to talk about a tender, beautiful topic: grief. Val has experienced her fair share of grief, but it took her a long time to be willing to wrestle with it. In an Instagram post she wrote, “Grief forced my faith to shift. Eventually. When I finally believed I have what it takes to sit with grief and survive.” 

Val came to believe in a God who loves us for all of who we are: who doesn’t just want the put together version of us, but the messy, complicated, grieving, angry, whole of us. Today, she shares her story and experience of that loving God with us.

About Val
Val Hystek (she/her) has always been a writer, but becoming an author was an audacious dream for a 90s kid.

After completing her Honours Specialization in English Language and Literature Degree from the University of Western Ontario, Val went on to become a primary teacher at an inner-city school in Ontario. She is married and a mom to two girls, Savanna (10) and Paisley (6).

After experiencing secondary infertility and three recurrent miscarriages, Val began to write again, trying to find Jesus underneath the pieces of her shattered faith.

She now writes for her online community, both on Instagram and Facebook, and is on a year's sabbatical from teaching to travel and write a book.

She is creating a space where good and holy work can be messy and wild by giving wonder, loneliness, questions, doubt, beauty and anger a voice.  This community is stubbornly seeking after the heart of Jesus in a posture of curiosity and discovering just how wide and how deep the love of God is.

A quick prayer to center your spirit as we begin election day in the United States. 

Learn more about who God made you to be, and who God is calling you to become!

This week we’re sharing part two of our two-part Enneagram Series. Be sure to listen to the first episode where we offer an introduction to the Enneagram and dive into types 1-4. This week we learn about types 5-9!

Today’s experts include:

• Kevin Beebe, who helps us explore Enneagram Fives. Kevin is a pastor in the ELCA and serves as the Executive Director of Lutherwood Camp and Retreat Center. Listen to the full Enneagram Give episode with Kevin here.
• Emily Snowden, who dives into Enneagram Sixes. Emily is a coach, leader, and facilitator with over ten years of experience organizing groups, developing programming, and collaborating with teams.. Listen to the full Enneagram Six episode with Emily here.
• Jenny Sung, who helps us understand Enneagram Sevens. Jenny is an ELCA pastor serving a church in Minnesota, and is also a speaker, writer, and dancer. Listen to the full Enneagram Seven episode with Jenny here.
• Marlie Heberling, who helps us explore Enneagram Eights. Marlie is an enneagram coach, youth pastor, and graphic designer. Listen to the full Enneagram Eight episode with Marlie here.
• Michael Shahan, who teaches us all about Enneagram Nines. Michael is an enneagram coach and therapist, and the name behind the well-known Instagram account @michaelshahan_therapy. Listen to the full Enneagram Nine episode with Michael here.

Learn More

• You can read about the history of the Enneagram via the Enneagram Institute’s website and explore in-depth descriptions of each of the nine Enneagram Types
• Free Enneagram test (once you receive your results, you can pay to learn more, but we recommend taking a screenshot of your results and then going to the Enneagram Institute to learn more)
• Paid Enneagram test via the Enneagram Institute

Connect with us!

• Donate today and support our work!
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Learn more about who God made you to be, and who God is calling you to become!

This week we’re kicking off a two-part series on the Enneagram, which is a personality typing system with roots growing back into antiquity. The two episodes are pieced together with clips from a 10-episode series we did in Fall 2022, with Enneagram experts who dove deep into each of the nine personality types found within the Enneagram. you’ll get a brief history and introduction to the Enneagram and then we’ll dive in with each of the experts to learn more about each personality type. In today’s episode we’ll explore types 1-4, and next week we’ll dive into types 1-5.

Today’s experts include:

• Hazel Monae, who helps us explore Enneagram Ones. Hazel lives, works, and creates leadership development curriculum at the intersections of anti-racism/racial equity, ethical leadership, and theology. Listen to the full Enneagram One episode with Hazel here.
• Holly Johnson, who dives into Enneagram Twos. Holly is the pastor of Spirit Garage, a church in Minneapolis, MN. She’s been a youth director, campus minister, and even an administrator. Listen to the full Enneagram Two episode with Holly here.
• Val Hystek, who helps us understand Enneagram Threes. Val is an author and a primary teacher at an inner-city school in Ontario, Canada, though she’s currently taking a year off to write a book! Listen to the full Enneagram Three episode with Val here.
• Jody Thone, who helps us explore Enneagram Fours. Jody is a leadership development expert, coach, and reflective supervision practitioner who works at the intersection of spirituality, transformational growth, and creativity. Listen to the full Enneagram Four episode with Jody here.

Learn More

• You can read about the history of the Enneagram via the Enneagram Institute’s website and explore in-depth descriptions of each of the nine Enneagram Types
• Free Enneagram test (once you receive your results, you can pay to learn more, but we recommend taking a screenshot of your results and then going to the Enneagram Institute to learn more)
• Paid Enneagram test via the Enneagram Institute

Connect with us!

• Donate today and support our work!
• Sign up to receive a little Gospel in your inbox every Monday Morning with our weekly devotional.
• Join our FREE bookclub
• Check out our website for various resources - including devotionals, journaling prompts, and even curriculum
• Get some Lady Preacher Podcast swag!
• Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook

Join Pastor Kelsey and her bestie, Britney, for a raw and real conversation about the realities of practicing faith in the throes of motherhood. We all live busy lives, so whether you are a parent or not, you'll hear reflections of your own journey - where it can feel like there's no time or space to write in a prayer journal every night for 20 minutes or wake up 30 minutes earlier to read your Bible. We often feel the pressure to practice our faith or connect with God in the "right" way. Hopefully this episode gives your permission to give yourself grace and allow your faith practice to be more grounded in the reality of this season of life for you.

About Britney
Britney Gregory (she/her) is a math teacher at a catholic high school in Santa Maria, CA, where she is also involved in the theatre community doing production, set, and lighting design. She holds a BS in Math and an MFA in Dance, both from Saint Mary's College of California. She is also a wife and mom of three littles - an almost 6 year old and 3 year old twins.

Join Pastor Kelsey and Rev. Angela Tyler-Williams for a timely and important conversation about how our faith can guide our vote, particularly when it comes to values around Reproductive Justice.

About SACReD:
SACReD (SACReD Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity) is a national alliance of multiracial, multifaith, multiethnic, mixed gender and sexual identity religious leaders, congregations, movement organizations, activists, academics, and directly impacted communities collaborating to advance Reproductive Justice through congregational education, culture change, community building, and direct service.

Join SACReD for their Woven Together educational series: https://www.sacreddignity.org/2024/08/24/woven-together-registration-open/

Learn more about Reproductive Justice here: http://www.sistersong.net/

A note about Womanism:
Womanism is a concept created by Alice Walker: The womanish girl exhibits willful, courageous, and outrageous behavior that is considered to be beyond the scope of societal norms. A woman who loves other women, sexually and/or nonsexually. Appreciates and prefers women's culture, women's emotional flexibility ... and women's strength. ... Committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female. Not a separatist, except periodically, for health ... Loves music. Loves dance. Loves the moon. Loves the Spirit ... Loves struggle. Loves the folk. Loves herself. Regardless. Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.

About Angela
Angela Tyler-Williams (She/Her) is proud to serve as the Co-Executive Director for Movement Building at SACReD. Angela is a queer pastor ordained by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) into her call to engage people of faith to speak publicly and politically in support of reproductive health, rights, and justice and LGBTQIA+ equality. Angela holds a Master of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. The Center for American Progress named Angela as one of the 22 Faith Leaders to Watch in 2022. Angela learned about faith-based community organizing and building people power to create positive social change from the Industrial Areas Foundation. In her free time, Angela volunteers as a clergy counselor with Faith Aloud Talkline. She finds life in experiencing music, listening to podcasts, exploring creation, and engaging in theological discussions that go off the beaten path.

Connect with us!

• Donate today and support our work!
• Sign up to receive a little Gospel in your inbox every Monday Morning with our weekly devotional.
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• Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook

Recently, Kelsey had the opportunity to preach at First Congregational Church of Bellingham and when the Pastor told her what the scripture would be, she almost backed out.

It was the story of Passover (Exodus 12 and 13), when Moses leads his people out of slavery into freedom. It's a powerful, poignant story, but it also includes the gruesome and troubling 10th plague to hit Egypt: the killing of all the first-born children and animals.

While she doesn't focus primarily on that aspect of the story, Kelsey offers a perspective from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks that changed how she understood God's actions.

The bulk of the sermon, shared in today's episode, focuses on how God is with us, preparing us for the difficult journeys we face in life - often with very specific (and loving) instructions.

You can read more of Kelsey's thoughts on the 10th plague in Exodus 12 here. 

Connect with us!

• Donate today and support our work!
• Sign up to receive a little Gospel in your inbox every Monday Morning with our weekly devotional.
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Close out your September and move into October with this blessing.

“Humanity was made through the outpouring of love within God. One doesn’t create out of the outpouring of love something bad or unbeautiful.” - Bridget Black

If human beings are made in the image of God, then how can we understand humans as instrinsically bad? Instead, from the beginning, God creates and calls humanity good. In this transformative conversation, spiritual director and theologian Bridget Black dives into what it means to be a human being made in God's image, what it means to bear that image in the world, and how we can experience God and the beauty of God more fully in this world.

About Bridget
Bridget (she/her) is a perpetual wonderer and lover of people. She is constantly seeking the deeper things of life and is fascinated by and interested in who people are and the formative narratives of their lives. She is a Certified Spiritual Director and Spiritual Theologian at Soul Kin Community, where she helps people and communities heal and grow in their personal and spiritual lives, by exploring their inner world and story while learning to notice the presence and movement of God in and around them.

Learn more and connect with Bridget at Soul Kin Community or on Instagram @thebridgetblack.

Today’s episode is sponsored by
Jeff Fulmer’s new novel, American Prophet.

American Prophet takes a fresh look at some of the problems facing America today, such as gun violence, race relations, and climate change.  “These are moral isssues that will keep plaguing us until we deal them as a society,” author, Jeff Fulmer said. “People of faith, especially Christians, could be a leading light.  Unfortunately, many are silent, or even work against positive change.   Fulmer recognizes that not all Christians will agree with the message in the book.   “A prophet is supposed to challenge people.  That’s the job.”   

American Prophet is on sale on Amazon, Audible, and Apple Books.  Just look for American Prophet by Jeff Fulmer.   There is more information about the author and the books at www.jefffulmer.com. 

Connect with us!

• Donate today and support our work!
• Sign up to receive a little Gospel in your inbox every Monday Morning with our weekly devotional.
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“All of us are God’s images on earth - we are to be God’s representatives of power.”

It’s not a bold statement to say that people in power often abuse it. We see corruption of power in leadership in all facets of society: politics, school administrations, businesses both large and small, churches, and even inside homes. But what if we approached leadership in a way that is more aligned with the God who leads us?

Ann Garrido (she/her), an expert in Christian leadership, invites us to find a new way forward. She encourages us to look closely at the model God sets before us: one that is about power with instead of power over. Doing so will transform us as leaders.

About Ann
Dr. Ann Garrido is associate professor at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri and author of the popular Redeeming series for Christian leaders from Ave Maria Press. You can find out more about Ann at anngarrido.com and be sure to check out her latest book, Redeeming Power: Using the Gift As God Intended.*

*this is an affiliate link; when you purchase using this link, it costs nothing extra for you, but a small percentage of your purchase goes to support this ministry.

Connect with us!

• Donate today and support our work!
• Sign up to receive a little Gospel in your inbox every Monday Morning with our weekly devotional.
• Join our FREE bookclub
• Check out our website for various resources - including devotionals, journaling prompts, and even curriculum
• Get some Lady Preacher Podcast swag!
• Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook