On April 3, 2023, we hosted a practical conversation about the steps that individuals and congregations can take to move the needle on gun violence. Shane Claiborne (Red Letter Christians) and Mike Martin (RAWtools) invited churches to become gun decommissioning sites in our cities. Pastor Amy Kasari (Antioch Church, Bend) shared her church’s journey toward that distinction.

On April 11, we continued this conversation. Mike Martin laid out the specific and very tangible steps toward becoming a gun decommissioning site. Pastor Amy offered more specifics and reflections on the formational journey she and her team have guided their congregation through in preparation for this work. And the moderator of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s Gun Prevention working group Jan Orr-Harter oriented us and offered an invitation to a five-week Guns to Garden Tools Action Circle.

Resources Mentioned:

• Guns to Gardens Action Circle: https://www.presbypeacefellowship.org/gun-violence/

In the wake of yet another mass shooting, the conversations are once again saturated with tired arguments leading us nowhere.

We’re done waiting for change to begin with Capitol Hill. We’re convinced that measurable change will start with communities of Jesus-followers who transform their guns into garden tools.

On Monday, April 3rd we had a live conversation with Shane Claiborne (Red Letter Christians), Mike Martin (RAWtools), Kelly Knox, and Pastor Amy Kasari (Antioch Church, Bend), hosted by Jer Swigart (Global Immersion). Shane helped us understand our national fixation on guns, its incongruence with Jesus, and what it’s costing us. Mike will invited us—as individuals and congregations—to take tangible actions that will lead to change. Kelly shared his story of choosing to decommission his AR15. And Amy invited us into her church’s journey of becoming a gun decommissioning site in Central Oregon. 

We concluded the live session with a Q&A time and outlined practical next steps both individuals and congregations can take.

• Sermon on Psalm 2 by Global Immersion’s Dr. Jer Swigart that pushes against the notion that God endorses violence and that invites us toward a more hopeful theology: https://youtu.be/X3PCjLv7-Bw

In today's episode, we have the privilege of meeting Jon's dad, Doug Huckins. Jon and his dad share how they have navigated their own conversations (and convictions) around politics, faith, and their commitment to each other. The episode is both personal and accessible. They discuss the impact of their families of origin on their politics, the historical relationship between faith and politics in the United States, and what they learned from working through hard conversations as father and son. They haven't always seen eye to eye on these topics, but their shared willingness to continue to lean in and get curious has sustained the trust needed to move forward in relationship. It's a model of the curiosity and humility needed to do this work.

LINKS:

• Download the free Peace & Politics Practice Guide: https://globalimmerse.org/podcast

Doug Huckins Bio:

From 1969 to 1973, Doug Huckins served in the US Coast Guard as an electrician and scuba diver and in the Army Reserve from 1979-2001, which included a tour of duty in the Gulf War and advancement to Major. Doug also served as a Game Warden until his retirement in 2014, fulfilling a lifelong dream, earning the California governor's Medal of Valor for rescuing three fishermen in the surf whose boat had overturned in February 1996. It was while he was serving in the Coast Guard that Doug became a Jesus follower and later served as a youth pastor and deacon in Morrow Bay and later as an elder at SVCC in Salinas. He has been married to his beautiful wife since 1973, and together they have four children, including Global Immersion’s own Jon Huckins. And in 2008, Doug became a Grampy, which in his mind is the best role ever. 

Music from Epidemic Sound: We Are Giants by Silver Maple:https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/ICEht6ut6b/

Executive Director of Christians for Social Action Nikki Toyama-Szeto talks about taking a holistic view of our lives when it comes to political action and our votes. When we bring our whole selves to the voting booth, it becomes part of our spiritual formation, so we should approach the way we vote as part of our discipleship. 

LINKS:

• Download the free Peace & Politics Practice Guide: https://globalimmerse.org/podcast

Christians for Social Action: https://christiansforsocialaction.org/

Nikki Toyama-Szeto Bio:

Nikki helps Christians have a faith-fueled engagement with the world’s most challenging issues. Before coming to CSA in 2017, she served in leadership positions at International Justice Mission, the Urbana Conference, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. She loves working with communities around the world, whether through scripture, thoughtful reflection on leadership, or stirring the spiritual imagination.

Nikki writes on justice, leadership, gender issues, and racial justice for various magazines, and she serves as a “Leading Voice” for the Missio Alliance. She’s the host of the podcast, “20 Minute Takes. Her work was profiled on NPR’s “On Point,” Outreach Magazine’s Leadership Issue (Sept. 2017, Cover), Religion and Politics (Aug. 2018), Christianity Today’s “Who’s Next?” and Rejuvenate Magazine’s “40 under 40.”

She is a co-editor of the book More than Serving Tea (IVP, 2006), a collection of essays, stories, and poems looking at the intersection of race, gender, and faith for Asian American women. She also co-wrote Partnering with the Global Church (IVP, 2012) with Femi Adeleye and edited the Urbana Onward series. She is a co-author of The God of Justice: IJM Institute’s Global Church Curriculum (IVP, 2015).

She has a mechanical engineering degree from Stanford University and completed her masters in organizational leadership at Eastern University, studying in South Africa. Nikki resides in the DC metro area with her family.

Music from Epidemic Sound: We Are Giants by Silver Maple:https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/ICEht6ut6b/

In this episode, activist Shane Claiborne echoes Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s framework that the Church is not the master or the servant of the State, but the consciousness of the State. This is a framework that gives us the freedom as Jesus-followers to actively and wholeheartedly engage with politics. It is our job that when the State causes harm to our fellow image-bearers, we critique the State at the ballot box because of our convictions of love and God’s desire to see human flourishing.

LINKS:

• Download the free Peace & Politics Practice Guide: https://globalimmerse.org/podcast

Shane Claiborne Bio:

Shane Claiborne is a prominent speaker, activist, and best-selling author.  Shane worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, and founded The Simple Way in Philadelphia.  He heads up Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to living "as if Jesus meant the things he said." Shane is a champion for grace which has led him to jail advocating for the homeless, and to places like Iraq and Afghanistan to stand against war. Now grace fuels his passion to end the death penalty and help stop gun violence.

Shane’s books include Jesus for President, Red Letter Revolution, Common Prayer, Follow Me to Freedom, Jesus, Bombs and Ice Cream, Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers, Executing Grace, his classic The Irresistible Revolution, Beating Guns, and his newest book, Rethinking Life (to be released February 2023). He has been featured in a number of films including "Another World Is Possible" and "Ordinary Radicals." His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Shane speaks over one hundred times a year, nationally and internationally. His work has appeared in Esquire, SPIN, Christianity Today, TIME, and The Wall Street Journal, and he has been on everything from Fox News and Al Jazeera to CNN and NPR. He’s given academic lectures at Harvard, Princeton, Liberty, Duke, and Notre Dame. 

Music from Epidemic Sound: We Are Giants by Silver Maple:https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/ICEht6ut6b/

In this episode, author and pastor Dominique Gilliard helps us think beyond our left/right binary by rooting us in the biblical text. For Dominique, the question “where is it written?” is central to how he thinks about civic engagement and is a practice that can help keep us from getting swept up in our culture wars. In continually turning back to the texts, Dominique reminds us that we should be the ones modeling a biblical move toward peacemaking.

Links:

• Dominique’s Recommendation - The Sum of Us Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/19VMtc487rqmrb6GC8eRvd
  

Dominique’s Website: https://dominiquegilliard.com/

Buy Subversive Witness:

Follow Dominique on Facebook: @DominiqueDGilliard

Follow Dominique on Instagram: @dominiquedgilliard

Follow Dominique on Twitter: @DDGilliard

Dominique Gilliard Bio:

Music from Epidemic Sound: We Are Giants by Silver Maple: https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/ICEht6ut6b/

Angela is a pastor and journalist compelled to help people connect with their political other. Her experience as a political moderate who lives in an urban setting and pastors in a rural setting, as well as her life story, led her to the research and writing of Red State Christians in the wake of Donald Trump’s election. Deeply self-aware of her social location and the communities she is called to, Angela speaks about the need to live with both dissonance and discernment - acknowledging the need to let the dissonance we experience when we are close to our political other shape and grow us and allow the Spirit to work within us.

Links:

• Download the free Peace & Politics Practice Guide: https://globalimmerse.org/podcast

Angela’s Website: https://www.angeladenker.com/

Buy Red State Christians: https://www.angeladenker.com/current-projects

Angela Denker's Bio:

Angela Denker is a Lutheran pastor and veteran journalist. She's written for many publications, including Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, and FORTUNE magazine. Denker has appeared on CNN, BBC, and SkyNews to share her research on politics and Christian Nationalism in the U.S. Her book, Red State Christians: Understanding the Voters who elected Donald Trump, was the 2019 Silver Foreword Indies award-winner for political and social sciences. 

Music from Epidemic Sound: We Are Giants by Silver Maple: https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/ICEht6ut6b/

In this episode, we talk with pastor and activist Carlos Rodríguez about leveraging our votes for the sake of those on the margins, being willing to have conversations and debates with those we deeply disagree with, and not allowing our political beliefs to insulate and isolate us from those who are experiencing the pain of broken policies. With both joy and deep conviction, Carlos invites us not just to flip tables, but to go and build better ones.

 Links:

• Download the free Peace & Politics Practice Guide: https://globalimmerse.org/podcast

Carlos Rodríguez's Bio:

Carlos A. Rodríguez is a pastor, an activist, and a communicator. He's the CEO of The Happy Givers and the author of Simply Sonship and Drop The Stones. Together with his wife Catherine, they have three gorgeous children and have moved to Puerto Rico to continue relief efforts all over the Caribbean post hurricane Irma and Maria. Support their non-profit work at TheHappyGivers.com

Music from Epidemic Sound: We Are Giants by Silver Maple: https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/ICEht6ut6b/

Dr. David Gushee is one of the world’s leading Christian social ethicists who tackles the most polarizing issues of our day by asking the question, “As followers of Jesus, how shall we live?” In this episode, he asks that question in relation to politics. David guides us on a journey into the heart and history of democracy and makes the case for Christians to engage in it thoughtfully and proactively. No political system is perfect, but democracy gives us the opportunity to engage in politics for the sake of justice, peace, and human flourishing. And, if we are not careful, one manifestation of Christianity could lead to democracy’s end. 

• Download the free Peace & Politics Practice Guide: https://globalimmerse.org/podcast

Dr. Gushee's Bio:

Dr. David P. Gushee (PhD, Union Theological Seminary, New York) is an ethicist, pastor, author, and advocate. He is the Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, and Chair of Christian Social Ethics at Vrije Universiteit (“Free University”) Amsterdam, and Senior Research Fellow, International Baptist Theological Study Centre.

Gushee is the elected Past-President of both the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Christian Ethics, signaling his role as one of America's leading Christian ethicists. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of more than 25 books and over 175 academic book chapters, journal articles, and reviews. His most recognized works include Introducing Christian Ethics, Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust, Kingdom Ethics, and The Sacredness of Human Life. With his Changing Our Mind (more than 25,000 sold) and After Evangelicalism, he charts a theological and ethical course for post-evangelical Christians, a course he more personally relates in his memoir, Still Christian. Altogether his books have sold over 100,000 copies and been translated into a dozen languages.

Music from Epidemic Sound: We Are Giants by Silver Maple: https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/ICEht6ut6b/

As a soldier serving in the US military, Diana Oestreich heard God’s call to disarm her gun while on the battlefield and turn towards peacemaking. As we hear from her in this episode, Diana’s radical conviction of peacemaking offers us a renewed sense of our own calls to be Everyday Peacemakers. She invites us to remember that at the core of how we vote and engage in politics must be an other-centered practice because we all belong to each other.

Links:

• Download the free Peace & Politics Practice Guide: https://globalimmerse.org/podcast

Diana Oestreich Bio:

Diana Oestreich is a soldier-turned-peacemaker and author of Waging Peace. She heard God’s call to love her enemies in the most unlikely place: on the battlefield of Iraq. Diana is a Peacemaker, Author, Activist, Veteran, and former sexual assault nurse. Speaking across the country, she empowers us to identify our own rural, urban, political or religious divides to cross our own “enemy lines” in order to remake the world and heal all that’s tearing us apart.  

Music from Epidemic Sound: We Are Giants by Silver Maple: https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/ICEht6ut6b/