It's been a little over a year since our last episode, but we are excited to begin again with our first guest, Hurunnessa Fariad.

I met Hurunnessa this year at the One America Movement Summit and immediately knew I wanted to introduce you to her! She has done so much in building authentic connections in multi faith environments, even when it's very challenging. In this episode, she shares poignant and funny stories of how she came to the multi faith work she is so passionate about.

Hurunnessa is a highly regarded Muslim American community leader and advocate, recognized for her remarkable ability to build bridges across diverse communities throughout the United States. As a former child refugee from Afghanistan, she brings a unique perspective to multifaith work, drawing on her personal journey to inspire and lead. She has also actively participated in multifaith discussions at the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services under the last two administrations.

As passionate champion of multifaith collaboration, she previously served as the Director of Outreach for the Multi-Faith Neighbor's Network, where she fostered trust and understanding among clerics through civic engagement, meaningful relationships, and open dialogue. She is the founder and director of Adam's Beat Choir, the first American masjid youth choir and is a tireless advocate for women's empowerment, serving on the board for Women for Afgan Women. She also is the creator and cohost of a podcast, Sister Act.

Links from the show:

Hurunnessa's LinkedIn

Instagram: @hurunnessafariad

Adam's Beat Choir: Qamarum

The One America Movement

The Well Dinner Church

Today's episode is a special presentation from an event on March 10th, "How to Navigate the 2024 Election", in partnership with The One America Movement and several Tulsa area churches. We gathered for shared dinner, table conversations, hearing from Eric Costanzo and a Q & A session with a panel of pastors who are working together across our different traditions. We hope you will share this episode with others and that it will be an inspiration for you to engage in better, healthier conversations around divisive topics during this election year and it will be a reminder that the people we disagree with have a story and humanity just like we do.To learn more, you can email [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]. You can also visit The One America Movement to find articles, resources and inspiration for addressing toxic polarization.The Well is a dinner church that meets in Tulsa, OK around shared meals, conversations, music and storytelling so that we can welcome each other to be fully present and fully ourselves in walking a faith road together.

Denise and Anthony enjoy a fantastic conversation with Kuma Roberts, President and CEO of Tulsa's Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce and the Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Arrowhead Consulting. Kuma recaps a little of her story that she shared at Community Dinner on August 27th, then the conversation continues about her journey of living "in between" different identities, leading in the arena of cultural competency and her general love for all humans!

You can visit bwschamber.com to learn more about their work in Tulsa and how it can make a difference in your community. We mentioned The One America Movement a few times. Denise serves on the board and Anthony works for their M59 Fellowship. Find out how OAM is helping people with different beliefs and ideologies come together for a better conversation and to make a difference together at oneamericamovement.org.

In this episode, Denise and Anthony visit with Sofia, a young woman from Colombia here in Oklahoma with an international exchange program. She shares her perspective on experiencing American culture for the first time. It's a fun conversation! Then, Anthony and Denise unpack some reflections on freedom as we talk about Matthew 10:37-42.

Notes: The book Anthony referred to was Tools of the Titans by Timothy Ferris, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.

Article interviewing Dr. Michael Emerson: Defending the Faith from Another Gospel

Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom, A Documentary from Our Daily Bread Voices Collection

This is part two of today's podcast of talking with Jeff Porter and Cortez Johnson from our band at The Well. Here is our conversation with Cortez, with a hopeful perspective on life with all it's challenges. Make sure you listen all the way to the end for an original song by Cortez and Arthur Thompson called, "Missing My Father".

If you'd like to know more about where Cortez is playing in the Tulsa area, check out his website: Cortezjohnsonbass.com

Missing My Father, by Arthur Thompson, Cortez Johnson and Fred Smith

used with permission, copyright 2020 Arthur Thompson

This is part one of today's podcast of talking with Jeff Porter and Cortez Johnson from our band at The Well. Jeff has some incredible thoughts about what he's learned in his life and what it means to live intentionally. Listen for some memorable phrases like "accidentally used by goodness", "the issues are in the tissues" and my favorite: "wake up, grow up, clean up and show up..."!

Here's his playlist of everything he's recorded!: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7bVnBirBLGVGVzn5GFReUr?si=l1E1W0LERWWYRtDH39hddQ&app_destination=sms

For our 2023 New Years episode of Stories from The Well Podcast, Denise talks with college student Titus Wright about his journey of starting over and how he had to work through grief, self-understanding and changing directions during the past 2 years.

Today Denise mixes it up with some personal stories and music about hope and living into the promise of God being with us. The song "These Dreams" performed by Parker Ferrell and Briana Wright of Nightingale. You can find more of their music on nightingaleband.com. Denise sings a cover of  "All Belong Here" by The Many, themanyarehere.com and an original song she wrote, "Christmas Blessing".