Pray With our Feet

If ever there were a time to cultivate space for conversations that spark change, it is now! I chatted with Rev. Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft, Executive Minister for Justice, Education & Movement at Middle Church about their latest offering - a year-long monthly discussion series, Freedom Rising Salons, featuring "thought leaders, organizers, poets, artists and modern prophets reflecting on crucial justice issues, addressing our nation's most pressing moral concerns, and what we all can do to rise and meet them.

Throughout this discussion we delved into -

- The inspiration behind Freedom Rising Salons , an extension of the annual Revolutionary Love Conference.

- The upcoming December & January discussions on rising to a moral economy (Dec. 15, 7pm ET) and a King Day teach-in on the radical theology and politics of his last years (Jan. 16, 1pm ET).

- Supporting Middle Church's work and ongoing efforts to recover after their building caught fire last year (Dec. 5).

- Rev. Amanda's own work as an activist and writer, and what she believes is needed in this moment to reimagine what is possible. In addition to her work at Middle Church, she is the Founder of Raising Imagination, a platform examining social issues through the lenses of race, gender, faith, and parenting.

Rev. Amanda is the mother of three kids, and lives with them and her husband Graham in Manhattan. Check out our conversation with her from Season 1: "Jesus is with us on the Picket Line."

Book Recommendation from this Episode:

- Mariame Kaba, We Do This Til' We Free Us

Support Pray with our Feet Podcast -

If you're able to send a donation to further our work (on Venmo). We are working on a Patreon page. Snag our Pray with our Feet mug and The Revolution Needs our Joy, Too mug now!

Snag our NEW tee: Love is the Revolution, a collab with our friend Kris Earth is an Island Designs. Choose Pray with our Feet as an org. to donate to at check out, and we receive a portion of the proceeds. Use the CODE - Invest20 and save 20% off your purchase.

Stay in Community with us on Social The conversation continues on IG and Twitter.

Special thanks to my husband Keston De Coteau (founder of Keystone Productions) who edits all our episodes!

We sat down with Godfrey Molen whose passion for making a difference in the world and honoring the legacy of his late Mom, Florence, led to the founding of FLOGiving, a faith-based non-profit in our hometown of Baltimore. Florence, a woman of deep faith who valued giving back, often said "Up, up ever… down, down never," which means stay positive and leave your faith in God.

Throughout this episode, we delved into -

- FLOGiving's multi-layered mission and vision: providing food, clothing, furniture, and supplies for people experiencing hardship, and inspiring men, women, and children in need, helping them transform their lives through hope. You can see testimonials of folks whose lives they have improved here and areas they serve.

- What it means to love loudly and love our neighbors in an expansive way, not leaving out those who are living on the margins of homelessness and economic insecurity.

- What Godfrey sees as the root causes of homelessness in Baltimore: addiction, eviction, domestic violence and mental health challenges.

- How Psalm 123 and regular prayer keep him grounded and spiritually sustained in this ongoing work.

- Ways to Support the work of FLOGiving: donating, spreading the word about their work on social media (FLOGiving on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube), and for local folks volunteering when in-person events start up again - watch their website and social media for updates.

Support Pray with our Feet -

If you're able to send a donation to further our work (on Venmo). We are working on a Patreon page.

Snag our Pray with our Feet mug and The Revolution Needs our Joy, Too mug now!

Snag our NEW tee: Love is the Revolution, a collab with our friend Kris Earth is an Island Designs. Choose Pray with our Feet as an org. to donate to at check out, and we receive a portion of the proceeds. Use the CODE - Invest20 and save 20% off your purchase.

Stay in Community with us on Social The conversation continues on IG and Twitter.

Special thanks to my husband Keston De Coteau (founder of Keystone Productions) who edits all our episodes!

There is a growing crisis in the Christian faith today. Across the country, far too many church leaders are pledging allegiance to the false ideology of white supremacy, American nationalism, toxic greed and exclusion of folks living on the margins. We sat down with Dr. Obery Hendricks to discuss his most recent book - Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith (Beacon Press, 2021).

Dr. Hendricks is a life long social activist, and one of the foremost commentators on the intersection of religion and political economy in America. He is a Biblical scholar at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary. His other books include The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus' Teachings , The Universe Bends Toward Justice: Radical Reflections on the Bible, the Church, and the Body Politic, and the novel Living Water.

Dr. Cornel West calls him "one of the last few grand prophetic intellectuals."

Support our Work If you're able to send a donation to further our work (on Venmo). We are working on a Patreon page.

Snag our Pray with our Feet mug and The Revolution Needs our Joy, Too mug now!

Snag our NEW tee: Love is the Revolution, a collab with our friend Kris Earth is an Island Designs. Choose Pray with our Feet as an org. to donate to at check out, and we receive a portion of the proceeds. Use the CODE - Invest20 and save 20% off your purchase.

Stay in Community with us on Social The conversation continues on IG and Twitter.

Special thanks to my husband Keston De Coteau (founder of Keystone Productions) who edits all our episodes!

We've missed you all! Mom and I are back with Season 3 of the podcast, and our guiding scripture is Mathew 25:40 (Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done it to me). We're unpacking what it means to embrace our faith in the margins - from welcoming immigrants instead of erecting barriers to helping those experiencing homelessness and poverty, while committing to anti-racism in our church bodies and daily lives. We're excited to be in conversation with one another, and host chats with ministers, community activists, artists and writers. Expect to hear our episodes bi-weekly on Fridays (with a few bonus episodes, too)!

Support our Work If you're able to send a donation to further our work (on Venmo). We are working on a Patreon page.

Snag our Pray with our Feet mug and The Revolution Needs our Joy, Too mug now!

Snag our NEW tee: Love is the Revolution, a collab with our friend Kris Earth is an Island Designs. Choose Pray with our Feet as an org. to donate to at check out, and we receive a portion of the proceeds. Use the CODE - Invest20 and save 20% off your purchase.

Stay in Community with us on Social The conversation continues on IG and Twitter.

Special thanks to my husband Keston De Coteau (founder of Keystone Productions) who edits all our episodes!

One of the most powerful ways we resist racism and de-center Whiteness as representative of all experiences is to tell our stories.

Towards the end of June (Immigrant Heritage Month), I caught up with my good friend Rowana Abbensetts-Dobson, writer, founder of Spoken Black Girl and mental health advocate, about her debut novel: Departure Story, which highlights the Black immigrant experience through the eyes of Celestine Samuels, a young Guyanese woman immigrating to the U.S. to attend college, who is finding her voice and speaking up for what she believes in and staying rooted in her native country.

Rowana and I delved into everything from the urgency of making space for writers of color to the role faith plays in her creative work, and why the Spoken Black Girl community she is building matters immensely, "our healing [as a community) is intertwined." Finally, you can hear more about her mental health advocacy and Spoken Black Girl Publishing on Season 1.

Stay Connected with Her Work:

Spoken Black Girl

Instagram - @SpokenBlackGirl

Twitter - @SpokenBlackGirl

Purchase the latest magazine issue from Spoken Black Girl Publishing in the SBG shop, along with other beautiful offerings.

Stay Connected with Pray with Our Feet podcast and Community:

Thank you to all who have donated to the podcast! If you're able to send a donation to further our work (on Venmo). We are working on a Patreon page. Stay in community with us where the conversation continues on IG and Twitter.

Snag our Pray with our Feet mug and The Revolution Needs our Joy, Too mug now!

Snag our NEW tee: Love is the Revolution, a collab with our sponsor, Earth is an Island Designs. Choose Pray with our Feet as an org. to donate to at check out, and we receive a portion of the proceeds. Use the CODE - Invest20 and save 20% off your purchase.

In this bonus episode, Mom and I chat with Dr. Nicole Davis about the urgency of uprooting gender discrimination within the body of Christ. Her new book - Eve, Where Are You? Confronting Toxic Practices Against the Advancement of Women, is an essential read. Within these pages, we come to understand why many women are discouraged, emotionally absent, leaving churches, or considering giving up religious pursuits altogether.

Throughout the book, Dr. Davis thoughtfully contemplates the scriptural significance of God's creation of Eve; compares women's leadership advances in the marketplace and church; and shares real-life stories and perceptions about women in leadership offered by present-day church leaders.

Dr. Davis is an author, mediator, facilitator, conflict coach, a certified Marriage Today and Marriage on the Rock trainer, as well as a marriage and relationship coach, and the co-founder of Empower to Engage, which she co-leads with her husband.

Connect with her Work Here:

Eve, Where are You? Confronting Toxic Practices Against the Advancement of Women on Instagram

Empower to Engage

Eve, Where are You? podcast

Stay Connected with Pray with Our Feet podcast and Community:

Thank you to all who have donated to the podcast! If you're able to send a donation to further our work (on Venmo). We are working on a Patreon page. Stay in community with us where the conversation continues on IG and Twitter.

Snag our Pray with our Feet mug and The Revolution Needs our Joy, Too mug now!

Snag our NEW tee: Love is the Revolution, a collab with our sponsor, Earth is an Island Designs. Choose Pray with our Feet as an org. to donate to at check out, and we receive a portion of the proceeds. Use the CODE - Invest20 and save 20% off your purchase.

It's Juneteenth weekend, y'all! And Mom and I are discussing an important documentary - White Savior: Racism in the American Church (directed by Aaron J. Christopher). Using a combination of interviews and research, White Savior traces the historic relationship between racism and American Christianity, present day segregation in churches and and asks hard questions about racial reconciliation. The film is divided into chapters, Mom and I discuss four: Chap. 1 (White is Race), Chap. 2 (The Bible and Race), Chap. 6 (Christianity in Black and White) and Chapter 7 (The Problem of Reconciliation).

We hear from an array of prolific thinkers and figures: Pastor Lenny Duncan (Jehu's Table), professor Soong Chan Rah, author Jacqueline Woodson, Native American pastors Jim Bear Jacobs and Rev. Joan Conroy, Rethinking Mass Incarceration author Dominique Gilliard, historian Dr. Crystal Moten, and others who unpack U.S. Christianity's links to racism and the false ideology of White supremacy.

Resources for Further Study:

Stream White Savior: Racism in the American Church

White Over Black, Winthrop Jordan

The Cross and the Lynching Tree, James Cone

Can Multi-Ethnic Churches Help Bridge the Racial Divide? Aired on NPR

You can listen to our offering for the National Day of Prayer on Instagram.

Rally: Communal Prayers for Lovers of Jesus and Justice

Stay Connected with Pray with Our Feet podcast and Community:

Thank you to all who have donated to the podcast! If you're able to send a donation to further our work (on Venmo). We are working on a Patreon page.

Snag our NEW tee: Love is the Revolution, a collab with our sponsor, Earth is an Island Designs. Choose Pray with our Feet as an org. to donate to at check out, and we receive a portion of the proceeds. Use the CODE - Invest20 and save 20% off your purchase.

Stay in community with us where the conversation continues on IG and Twitter.

Snag our The Revolution Needs our Joy, Too mug now!

Pastor Kelsey challenges us to understand the multi-dimensional power of prayer as grounding our activist work, and offering a pathway to see God's spirit within everyone we meet. We also unpack the destructive rise of Christian nationalism, why there is such apathy and silence within churches (White evangelical congregations), and the power of art to break down barriers. She sees creativity as deeply connected to the Holy Spirit, the artistic element of God.

Pastor Kelsey is a trained dancer, yoga instructor, and ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. She serves as a solo pastor at two churches just south of Milwaukee, WI, and is the Executive Minister and President of Dancing Pastor Ministries and host of the Lady Preacher Podcast.

She has performed, preached, and led retreats all around the United States and even in Costa Rica. Her life's work is based on 1 Corinthians 16:14: "Let all that you do be done in love," and her favorite part of ministry is helping people experience the transforming love of God that moves around, among, and within us all.

Connect with Rev. Kelsey on Instagram and Facebook, check out her blog.

Stay Connected with Pray with Our Feet podcast and Community:

Thank you to all who have donated to the podcast! If you're able to send a donation to further our work (on Venmo). We are working on a Patreon page.

Snag our NEW tee: Love is the Revolution, a collab with our sponsor, Earth is an Island Designs. Choose Pray with our Feet as an org. to donate to at check out, and we receive a portion of the proceeds. Use the CODE - Invest20 and save 20% off your purchase.

Stay in community with us where the conversation continues on IG and Twitter.

Snag our The Revolution Needs our Joy, Too mug now!

Far too often prayer is seen as passive. But we know, as Christians, that speaking to God and listening to the voice of the Divine is powerful. During the month of May, we celebrate the National Day of Prayer in the U.S.

We honor this time by sharing some powerful thoughts around the urgency of prayer as resistance from Rev. Fran Pratt (Ep. 3), and Rev. Heber Brown (feat. on Ep. 4 and Ep. 5), Patricia Taylor (writer and antiracist activist feat. on Ep. 7), and Walt Shelton - writer, social justice advocate & environmental attorney featured on Ep. 9 and 10.

Resources on Prayer:

You can listen to our offering for the National Day of Prayer on Instagram.

Rally: Communal Prayers for Lovers of Jesus and Justice

Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan for Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer

A Rhythm of Prayer

Join us for this bonus episode where Mom and I delve into King's legacy of freedom fighting, and his last book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? written in Jamaica (1967) away from the pressures of the civil rights movement. Given all we are facing in the U.S., and around the world, we couldn't think of a better moment to release this bonus episode (originally recorded in January of this year).

We discuss King's first essay, "Where Are We?" Here he wrestles with key questions we must all continually ask ourselves: Are we in this movement of liberation and revolutionary love for the long haul, or are we satisfied with surface-level reforms? King reflects on those who supported The Civil Rights Act (1964) and The Voting Rights Act (1965), but unwilling to stay the course for Phase 2, ending vast inequality (economically, socially, etc.).

Mom and I discuss the relevancy of King's essay from the Reconstruction period to Black Lives Matter movement and our calls for collective liberation and radically reimagining what is possible.

Resources for Further Study:

- Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

- Sit with these scripture: "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:8-9 and "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:40)

- From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor