We are excited here at the Rogue Ministry podcast to have our friend Maggie Middleton back to continue the discussion on helping kids of incarcerated parents through Amachi where Maggie is the Program Director. We talk about how to get volunteers of different varieties and hear a great story about connecting deeply with co-laborers in the kingdom.

In this episode of the Rogue Ministry podcast, we interview Maggie Middleton, Program Director for Amachi, an amazing ministry with kids who parents have experienced incarceration. She talks about her decades of experience working in a variety of ministries but focuses on her work with the countless children and teens whose parents are or have been incarcerated in Kentucky. Interested in making a massive difference in some kids' lives? Then listen up and see how you might find a place to get involved. 

In this episode, Justin picks back up his conversation with Dr. Dustin Benac to talk more about how churches and ministries can move through difficult times in ways that build people up and strengthen communities. Specifically, Dustin talks about several different types of gifts and personalities that people have who can support this community growth and how leaders can find those people and encourage them in their roles.

He talks more about his dissertation research at Duke Divinity School in which he looks at the ministry of The Parish Collective and the Office of Church Engagement with the frame of organizational theory in mind, so this might be an ideal episode for folks trying to figure out the best way to tighten the relationships in their organizations in ways that also reach out to fulfill your organization's mission.

In this episode, Justin interviews Dr. Dustin Benac about his research on how churches can adapt during times of uncertain circumstances, which seemed perfect to talk about during this time of COVID. Dustin's work can help listeners think about how to face difficult challenges in ministry and meet them in ways that build community and grow deeper roots in their work. He talks about his dissertation research at Duke Divinity School in which he looks at the ministry of The Parish Collective and the Office of Church Engagement with the frame of organizational theory in mind, so this might be an ideal episode for folks trying to figure out the best way to tighten the relationships in their organizations in ways that also reach out to fulfill your organization's mission.

In this episode, we catch up with the second half of Justin's interview with Tanya Torp as she talks about her ministry with Step by Step in Lexington, KY. In this part of the interview Tanya talks about self-care, which is difficult when you are not only a part of a non-profit but have chosen, as Tanya has, to live your whole life dedicated to being with folks on the margins. She also shares some stories about the remarkable young women she works with and what empowerment might look like. You won't find any easy 1-2-3 step plans here, but rather honest conversation about what it means to love others holistically as Christ loves them and us. 

In this episode we take a break from Covid related talks because a lot has been in the news that reminds us that other crazy and terrible and beautiful things are still going on in the world as well. I interview Tanya Torp, the Executive Director of Step by Step in Lexington, KY, and force of nature community leader who is the person to know if you are interested in anything good going on in the Lexington area. We talk about her work serving young single mothers. Tanya is especially gifted at talking about what it means to walk with someone rather than serve them by forcing choices upon them. If you are interested in learning about humbly walking with others, this is the episode for you. 

In this episode, Rachel and Justin have a discussion with newlyweds Ryan Roth-Klinck and Rev. Kristina Roth-Klinck about what it means to be a good neighbor in a time of social distancing. Ryan is a spiritual director with the Missional Wisdom Foundation and Kristina has newly been appointed to be a UMC Pastor in Iowa. On their own and as a couple they have been doing neighboring ministry for years. Here you will learn about what that is and what you can do to love your actual neighbors, meaning the people who live near you, even when you must keep your distance. Make sure to check out the Neighboring Movement website for resources and ideas that they talk about in this episode. 

In this episode, rather than interviewing other ministry leaders, we have a conversation about our first drive-thru diaper distribution after a couple years of doing walk-in distributions. We talk about health and safety issues, making the transition from a face-to-face to drive-thru format, and how we prepared ourselves and our volunteers to help it run as smoothly as possible. Our hope is that this particular episode will offer some potential insights into the nitty-gritty details on continuing a ministry in a different format during these difficult and strange times. 

In this time of global pandemic we have decided to take a slightly different direction, that is, focusing on the way churches and other ministries are responding to the covid-19 pandemic. These episodes will be longer and hopefully packed full of ideas and inspiration for how listeners might respond in their own communities. That means they will usually include two interviews in one episode. In this episode, Justin talks with Brandon Pierce, Lead Minister at the Stamford Church of Christ (https://www.stamfordchurch.com/) who speaks about the intentional sacrifices their church community has made in order to better serve their neighbors as well as some creative ways they are trying to continue having community while following appropriate health and safety guidelines, and Mitchell Boone, Pastor at White Rock United Methodist Church (http://wrumg.org/) who talks about leveraging community relationships to bring people together and keep folks up to date on what is happening while offering suggestions about what roles different community members might play in service to one another.

In this episode we pick up with Larry Duggins is the co-creator and Executive Director of the Missional Wisdom Foundation, an organization that "experiments with and teaches about alternative forms of Christian community. They have led the way among mainline church expressions of the new monastic movement. Justin talks with Larry about the varieties of work the Missional Wisdom Foundation does. This is part two of a two-part conversation.

Hopefully, our next few episodes will be about creative responses to the Covid-19 virus, so be looking and listening for more as those episode that will be full of ideas for ways we can serve smartly, working within health and safety guidelines, and sacrificially knowing that even if we are well prepped and do everything right that we might get sick as we try to provide necessary services to vulnerable neighbors.