Bishop LaTrelle Easterling is the Episcopal leader of the Baltimore Washington Annual Conference, one of the most diverse annual conferences in the United Methodist Church. Bishop Easterling recently shared with her conference that she believes that we can maintain our unity beyond differing understandings of God's intention for human sexuality. "Is it perfect," she asks. "No, it is not," she wrote, "but we have not arrived at perfection on the matters of gender and race either. It would, however rid us of charges and trials that deplete our resources and curtail our focus on mission." We begin by asking why she personally has decided to support the One Church Plan. She shares her belief that this issue is not about human sexuality, or even biblical interpretation, but perhaps something all together different.

Bishop Elaine Stanovsky joins us in this episode. Bishop Stanovsky is the leader of the greater northwestern Episcopal area. She was elected to the Episcopacy in 2008 by the western jurisdiction and served the Mountain Sky area comprising the Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone annual conferences before her current assignment that includes Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, and the Pacific Northwest Conference. Bishop Stanovsky has a long connection to the general conference, having been elected lay head of delegation to the 1976 general conference while still in college. Clergy colleagues elected her first delegate to general conference in 1996, 2000, and 2004. In this episode, she reflects on her history of attending general conferences and how the one church plan can best be described as a 'Methodist' plan.

Bishop Patrick Streiff joins us in this episode. Bishop Streiff is the Episcopal leader of the Central and Southern Europe area and the Europe Central Conference of the United Methodist Church. It's an incredibly large area and a diverse area covering 12 countries in Europe and two countries in Africa. We began the interview with how the One Church Plan is being discussed and accepted in such a large and diverse area. He provides us with great insight into the Central conference and how it's unique structure will allow certain adaptabilities for contextual purposes.

In this episode we are joined by Bishop Mike McKee, the Episcopal leader of the North Texas Annual Conference. Bishop McKee was ordained in the Central Texas Annual Conference and elected to the episcopacy in 2012 by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. The Texas native is passionate about the deeper mission of the church, and he'll share a story about a church in his area that says a lot about how disagreements matter little to the larger mission of the church. In our interview, Bishop McKee reflects that perhaps we have lost what our God and Christ is calling on all of us to do. He also reflects on the deep poverty in his area and answers questions about theological and biblical interpretations and offers up a challenge to all of us when it comes to biblical interpretation.

In this episode, we are joined by Bishop Laurie Haller, the episcopal leader of Iowa Conference. Having served as an Elder in the Michigan Area Conference since 1982, she was elected Bishop by the 2016 North Central Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church. A musician and a writer, Bishop Haller resonated with a question about the church, at a recent meeting in her area. "We were asked to fill in the blank," she writes. "The church I long for is," and she filled in the blank this way. She said, "The church I long for His grace-filled, courageous, strong, hopeful infused with the Holy Spirit." Our interview with Bishop Haller began with a question about the word we keep hearing about 'contextualization', and specifically what it means to her.

Our guest in this episode is Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi. She was elected as a bishop at the United Methodist Church by delegates to the 2016 Northeastern Jurisdiction Conference. She worked as a school psychologist for 17 years before eventually answering her call to the ordained ministry. Bishop Koikoi served as a superintendent of the Baltimore Metropolitan District prior to being elected as a bishop. There, she helped lead the community of Baltimore following the unrest in 2015, and the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. We'll talk about her lessons there, and how they may translate to the issue at hand inside the United Methodist Church. Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi challenges us to see diversity as a blessing, and shares her vision of the United Methodist Church as a place to work out differences.

In this episode we are joined by Bishop David Bard, the episcopal leader of the Michigan Annual Conference. Bishop Bard is currently overseeing the merger of the Detroit and West Michigan conferences. We begin our conversation with a question about what makes the One Church Plan a Methodist plan. He shares that conflict in the church is nothing new and reminds us all that the world is indeed a hurting place and that person who you share the news of Jesus with, doesn't care much about this fight.

Our guest in this episode is Bishop John Schol from the Greater New Jersey Conference. He was elected as a bishop in 2004 after 25 years of experience as a pastor. Bishop Schol recently wrote a letter on the value of the one church plan to his annual conference, and he began his letter with 1 Samuel 16:7, "The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them, but the Lord looks at the heart." He went on to say, "I humbly asked for you to stay open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in the church and in your life. I hope that while we may not all think alike, that we would all love as Jesus loved." He went on to say that if there were to be a change inside the denomination, that he would not make appointments or lead in a way that seeks to change your mind about homosexuality. He wrote, "Each of us arrives at various beliefs based on our experiences, understandings and convictions." He shares thoughts on what it means to truly listen to people and not to just read the books of rules.

In this episode, we are joined by Bishop Harald Ruckert, the Episcopal leader of the Germany area with offices in Frankfurt. He was a delegate to the General Conference in both 2008 and 2012 before being elected Bishop. He was a member of the Connectional Table for 16 years beginning in 2010 and even spent some time in the United States in pastoral ministry in Arkansas as part of an exchange program. He discusses contextualization, specifically in his area and reminds us that while we might disagree with one another, we shouldn't stop reminding one another that we are all faithful Methodists. His prayer that we come together without anxiety.

In this episode, we are joined by Bishop Tracy Smith Malone, the Episcopal leader of the Ohio East Annual Conference. In a message recently to her annual conference earlier this year, Bishop Malone reflected on the theology of unity and our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. She shared that the Council of Bishops resolved together that the mission of God through Christ Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit is the foundation to this work and guides every part of this process. Our interview with Bishop Malone begins with a question about how she is explaining the one church plan in her area. She reminds us that God sent his son to the world not to point his finger at the world. She has a passionate plea for the One Church Plan describing it as an option that will lead to tremendous growth for the church as well as a powerful evangelical tool.