Join us for People Like Me – a two-day immersive retreat led by Rev. Katrena King, our Conference's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Specialist. This event, January 10-11 in Woodworth, is designed for anyone ready to take bold steps toward deeper intercultural competency and create stronger, more inclusive faith communities.

At this retreat, you'll participate in hands-on workshops, engage in courageous conversations, and explore your own development through tools like the Intercultural Development Inventory.  Through storytelling, skill-building, and conflict-resolution sessions, we’ll create a supportive space to connect, learn, and grow together. This isn’t just about training; it's about fostering meaningful relationships across diverse backgrounds to strengthen our shared mission.'

Register Today!

"They don't want to die; they want to grow!" It's a powerful realization for Rev. Robert Johnson who just completed four listening sessions all across The Louisiana Conference; listening sessions focused on the future of the Black Church.  Johnson serves as the Black Church Vitality strategist in The Louisiana Conference and is our guest on this episode of the Louisiana NOW podcast. We discuss what he heard during the listening sessions, the strength of the Black Church in this moment, the value in listening and what's next as we prepare for huge event in 2025. 

In this episode of Louisiana NOW, Karrie Gaspard joins the show. Gaspard is a doctoral student at Tulane University, and is an expert in dissecting the complexities of Christian Nationalism and its encroachment into the fabric of Christianity. As a former educator and licensed social worker with a profound understanding of the intersections between religious and political spheres, Karrie offers invaluable insights into the origins and manifestations of Christian Nationalism. The conversation explores practical methods for identifying and challenging these narratives, assessing when patriotic sentiments may inadvertently align with nationalistic ideologies. Todd and Karrie delve into what it means to be both a Christian and a patriot without crossing into the realms of Christian Nationalism. They also give pastors a practical method for how to navigate these narratives.

Tim Alberta's book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

Caleb Campbell's book, Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor. 

To read the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church, go here. 

Hurricane Francine brought a positive development to two United Methodist Churches in Louisiana. Both First Grace United Methodist Church and Cornerstone United Methodist Church partnered with Together New Orleans to be a part of the Community Lighthouse project, a bold initiative to create a network of solar-powered churches and community centers across the city.

The result? The largest off-grid energy project in the world. And it worked during Hurricane Francine. In this episode, Bishop Delores J. Williamston chats with Rev. Shawn Anglim of First Grace United Methodist Church about the project and the hope that it brought to the community. 

More on the project can be found here.

If you would like to help relief efforts in Louisiana, please visit www.la-umc.org/relief or text RELIEF to 800-500-5858. 

In this episode of Louisiana NOW, we sit down with John Smith, the new Conference Lay Leader, and Susie Cox, the new Associate Lay Leader. Together, we explore the crucial role of lay leadership in the United Methodist Church. We reflect on their personal journeys of faith and what inspired them to step into leadership roles within their local congregations. They share insights on the difference between clergy and lay leaders, offering unique perspectives from the laity that help shape the future of the Church.

If you'd like to reach the show, please send us an email: [email protected]

Thanks for listening! 

In this episode, we are joined by Rev. Dr. Vicki Loflin Johnson and Rev. Ali Young, Director of Clergy Excellence in The Louisiana Conference, to talk about the upcoming clergy retreat called Grieving Well.

Clergy are expected to share the burden of others’ grief as well as the collective grief of the institutions we serve.  In the midst of caring for others, how can we make space for tending our own souls?

In this one-day retreat we will consider ways that we as leaders might faithfully tend our own grief while teaching and encouraging our congregations to do the same. We will share ideas and resources to help create personal and congregational rituals for mourning. We will reflect together about the potential benefits and positive outcomes when we practice grieving well.  

Our day apart will be led by Dr. Johnson who believes that tending our grief is an essential wellbeing practice for ministry leaders in every season, and especially in response to the last several years of leadership in the church.  

Join Vicki for this intentional conversation about healing and wholeness. She served for 30 years in the Mississippi Conference in a variety of settings—small church pastor, clergy couple co-appointment, executive pastor, district superintendent, and nine years as senior pastor of a community-focused downtown church.  Coaching professionally since 2015, she holds a Level 2/PCC credential with the International Coaching Federation, is a Lead Trainer with Coach Approach Skills Training (CAST) and created a Level 2 Leadership Coach Specialization through Radiant Coaches Academy.  Vicki is also certified as an Intentional Interim Ministry Specialist, Spiritual Director, and 200-hour E-RYT yoga instructor.  In 2020, she founded The Art of WellBeing (www.coachingtheartofwellbeing.com) —offering individual and group coaching in support of clergy leadership and wellbeing.  Vicki and her husband Roger live in East Texas.   

Welcome to another episode of the Louisiana Now podcast. In this episode, we sit down with bishop Delores J. Williamston, bishop of The Louisiana Conference of The United Methodist Church. The 2024 Annual Conference just wrapped up last week in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We had a chance to sit down with Bishop Williamston before she left this week for the Arkansas annual conference. She reflects on so many high moments from the annual conference, from the rollout of her vision to the incredible ordination service at First United Methodist Church of Baton Rouge.

You won't want to miss this episode.

We sit down with Rev. Amy Castro of Westlake United Methodist Church to talk about her incredible journey this week. She was driving home after graduating from seminary at Perkins School of Theology on the campus of SMU and drove straight to tornado damage at her church in southwest Louisiana.

She shares a heartwarming tale of resilience and community support that followed in the moments after the storm. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about faith, hope, and the incredible strength of community bonds in times of crisis. To hear the episode Todd and Amy discuss in this episode, Praise Him in the Hallway, please click here.

We wrap our coverage from Charlotte, North Carolina. In this final episode, we wanted to share some interviews on the major event that came out of General Conference - Delegates voted to remove restrictive and harmful language from the United Methodist Book of Discipline after more than fifty years of intense, prayerful debate. 

For more on our coverage from General Conference, please click here. 

Our updates from General Conference continue. In this episode, we look back at the start of Week 2 from Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Bishop Delores J. Williamston presided over the morning plenary session and we had a chance to catch up with her afterward. She talks more about what it felt to sit in the chair and what this week looks like.