Sandbox Cooperative Podcast

All of this week we’re sharing responses to the question we asked each of our guests on our road trip: “If you could tell everyone in the world one thing (not that they would necessarily agree, but they would listen), what would it be?”

Today we talk with Jason Storbakken. Jason is the Chapel Director of The Bowery Mission, which is the oldest mission to serve the homeless population in New York City. His congregation is made up of people who, for the most part, have no place to live. He is probably the only pastor I’ve met who wants his church to shrink, and actively works to make that a reality. Jason is also the author of countless articles, as well as the book “Radical Spirituality: Repentance, Resistance and Revolution.”

All of this week we’re sharing responses to the question we asked each of our guests on our road trip: “If you could tell everyone in the world one thing (not that they would necessarily agree, but they would listen), what would it be?”

Today we talk with Linda Kay Klein. Linda is a storyteller, social innovator, and spiritual seeker who blends research and stories to expose unseen social problems and devise potential solutions. She utilizes her unique approach as a writer, speaker, workshop and meeting facilitator, and nonprofit consultant. Linda is currently writing a book about the impact of religious purity culture on girls, and it is due out next year.

All of this week we’re sharing responses to the question we asked each of our guests on our road trip: “If you could tell everyone in the world one thing (not that they would necessarily agree, but they would listen), what would it be?”

Today we talk with Vince Anderson. Every Monday Night for decades Reverend Vince Anderson and the Love Choir has had a standing gig, currently at the Union Pool in Brooklyn. He shares a brand of music he calls “Dirty Gospel” – a raw, earthy style of gospel music. He’s grown a community through the years with that gig and has also shared his music with local congregations. Vince also appears on the “Nine Beats” album that we profiled in episodes 38 and 39.

Tim Otto is pastor at The Church of the Sojourners in the Mission District of San Francisco and author of Oriented to Faith: Transforming the Conflict Over Gay Relationships. Tim shared with us a bit about the way this conversation has shaped his own life, but also called us to unity in the midst of our conflict so that we can have real conversations and learn together. Tim challenges and invites us to find common ground for growth in the middle of our divisions.

In today’s episode we talk with Shane Claiborne – an activist, founder of The Simple Way, and author of Executing Grace: How The Death Penalty Killed Jesus and Why It’s Killing Us. We spoke with Shane about the death penalty, the work currently being done to abolish the practice (including current cases in Arkansas), and how we might imagine and create a better future through restorative justice.

To learn more:
Read Shane’s Book, Executing Grace
Learn about the work of Death Penalty Action and Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

It’s the season of Easter Egg Hunts, and kids will be seeking out every last egg and piece of candy in the coming week. We start out in life enjoying the search, the hunt, and the discovery. But over time we can be tempted to lose the excitement in discovering and exploring new things and ideas. New experiences invite us a bit further toward the beauty of the world around us – explore a place where you haven’t been or a topic you aren’t an expert on, and you might just be open to growth and new life.

This episode features our conversation with Nicole Deane, who we had the chance to meet on our road trip last summer. When we spoke with her, Nicole was working with Planting Justice, a non-profit food justice organization based in Oakland, California. Nicole shared with us about how these issues of access to food and meaningful work relate to the challenges of racism and the prison industrial complex. She talked about how together we might discover our common humanity, and begin to address some of these challenges.

Planting Justice works to democratize access to affordable, nutritious food by empowering urban residents with the skills, knowledge, and resources they need to maximize organic food production, expand job opportunities, and ensure environmental sustainability in the Bay Area.

In part two of our Nine Beats conversation we talk with Matt Valler and Mark Scandrette from the Nine Beats collective about some of the ways they are helping to interpret the Beatitudes in a new way. “Somewhere between a story and a dream, there is a whisper of another world, a different rhythm rising… An international collective of amazing troubadours, poets, rebels, provocateurs, sages & activists on the trail of the ancient sayings known as ‘the beatitudes’ A haunting. A cry. A new beat.”

Somewhere between a story and a dream, there is a whisper of another world, a different rhythm rising… An international collective of amazing troubadours, poets, rebels, provocateurs, sages & activists on the trail of the ancient sayings known as ‘the beatitudes’ A haunting. A cry. A new beat. In this episode we talk with Heatherlyn and Steve Bassett from the Nine Beats collective about the music and album that sits at the center of the project to explore the Beatitudes in a new way.

Is this story real? Did it actually happen? Does it matter? Why do we have an expectation that if stories matter, they must be “factual”? What if stories of all kinds are teaching tools about what it means to be human? In this episode, we talk about stories and their power to shape and influence us. Why are stories more interesting than facts, and what can we learn from stories if we’re paying attention?