Seeds of Peace

Kori and John-Mark sit down with Scotia Moore to discuss hospitality as an intentional strategy for healing divisions and solving community problems. Scotia is a mother of 10 and a nonprofit leader who has decades of experience bridging the gap between diverse communities. This conversation includes inspiring stories about ordinary people bringing change to their communities simply by opening their homes and gathering around tables to share stories. It also highlights some recent work Scotia has been doing to bridge divides between nonprofit leaders and funders, which has led to a digital journal called The Loom and a Generosity Declaration articulating a new vision of sacrificial sharing and joyful abundance for cities.

Kori and John-Mark dive into a deeply practical conversation about how Christians can love our unhoused neighbors with Kevin Nye. Kevin is an author and advocate working toward ending homelessness by engaging best practices. He is also the Housing Director for an organization addressing youth homelessness in Minneapolis. This conversation builds upon Kevin's 2022 book Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness and his forthcoming book Hope for the Mission: Getting it Right in the Call to End Homelessness.

In this episode, Kori and John-Mark talk to biblical scholar Heath Thomas about how the prophet Micah challenges the church today to steward land in a way that is characterized by the justice, compassion, and hospitality of God’s kingdom. The conversation builds bridges between the Old Testament prophet and contemporary issues like affordable housing, imminent domain, and land theft. Dr. Thomas is an expert in the theology of the Hebrew scriptures and the president of Oklahoma Baptist University. This conversation builds on two chapters from a recent book, The Minor Prophets: A Theological Introduction, which Dr. Thomas co-authored with Craig Bartholomew.

Kori and John-Mark have a rich conversation with theologian Miroslav Volf about his book The Home of God: A Brief Story of Everything. Topics include the theology of home, the homelessness of Jesus, and the ways we can reimagine the identity and mission of God’s people in the light of God’s mission to make a home with his human creatures. Miroslav is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and founding director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He has written more than twenty books including Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation.

In this short episode, Kori and John-Mark introduce the big theme that connects our rich conversations in Season 2, which is “longing for home.” This theme connects us to the Bible’s narrative about God making his home with human beings while also touching many pressing issues in our world, including homelessness, affordable housing, human displacement, ecological stewardship, and the loneliness epidemic. This season invites listeners into hope-filled and practical conversations about how Jesus can bring peace and healing in the midst of our contemporary struggles.

This bonus episode features a panel discussion from the Neighbors Conference, hosted in Oklahoma City in 2025, highlighting diverse pastors and ministry leaders who embody Christian Community Development in their neighborhoods. Panelists share stories of churches deeply rooted in place, practicing holistic ministry. Through honest dialogue and encouragement, they offer a vision of faithful presence, long-term commitment, and the transformative power of neighborhood-based discipleship and leadership development.

In this episode, John-Mark and Kori reflect on Season 1’s exploration of displacement, identity, and the church’s role in welcoming refugees. They contrast the narratives of fear and scarcity, with the gospel’s call to generosity, abundance, and Spirit-led hospitality. The episode encourages listeners to respond with humility, local action, and courageous public witness in a world facing record levels of human displacement.

In this episode Dr. Everardo Burunda shares his personal and ministry journey, highlighting his work in planting and supporting Spanish-language congregations and advocating for the vital role of bi-vocational pastors. Drawing on his lived experience and doctoral research, he discusses the challenges immigrant and multicultural churches face across generations and languages. This episode emphasizes the power of bilingual, multiethnic churches as spaces of peacemaking, inclusion, and intergenerational faith communities..

In this episode, Dr. Paul Sanchez helps us think about the historical complexity of Latino cultural identities as well as the unique gifts that Latino churches contribute to the body of Christ. We also explore what the Bible says about hybrid identity and the ways that God often works redemptively through people who are a bridge between different cultures.

Dr. Sanchez is a historian and theologian who teaches in the honors college at Oklahoma Baptist University. He is currently writing a book on the history of Christianity in California. In this episode, we also engage with a chapter that he wrote for the book Confronting Racial Injustice: Theory and Praxis for the Church, edited by Gerald Hiestand and Joel Lawrence.

Listeners may be interested in other books referenced in this episode, including:

• Justo L. Gonzalez, Mañana: Christian Theology from a Hispanic Perspective

• Daniel A. Rodriguez, A Future for the Latino Church: Models for Multilingual, Multigenerational Hispanic Congregations

In this episode, Pastor Christendoza (Chris) Le  and Pastor Ben share powerful personal stories about their own experiences of displacement and how God’s love brought them healing and purpose along the way. Both of these pastors are now helping lead churches that share the love of Christ with displaced people from their countries of origin. As they dialogue with Kori and John-Mark, many practical principles emerge for how ordinary Christians can become instruments of God’s grace in the lives of others.