Was it nature or nurture that led Dominique DuBois Gilliard to write Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores? Probably both. From his years in the historical black church to his personal encounters with police, Gilliard seemed fated to sound the alarm about the issue of mass incarceration. However, he would soon learn that the best way to gain an audience was with steady, measured allusion to what is. 

Dominique DuBois Gilliard’s goal isn’t to force others to understand the depths of his trauma but rather to ensure no one else has to experience it. And for Gilliard, the only way that happens is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

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Let’s say you’ve written a book about a passion of yours. To you, and everyone else’s surprise, it’s a huge hit. Now, the thing you loved has become a “fad.” What do you do next? 

Nothing new. For author and anglican priest, Tish Harrison Warren, it’s the unchanging tradition that makes liturgy disruptive. 

In this conversation Tish and Esau talk about the remarkably life-changing (and life-stabilizing) ways that taking part in liturgical rhythms have saved them from themselves and disrupted the cultural scripts we live in. 

Because when everything changes, you need something to stay the same.

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Sho Baraka, a rapper and creative, came out of a Christian music scene that felt safe at best and restrictive at worst.

Sho felt an ever-present evangelical gaze looking over his shoulder, critiquing him and his work. Eventually, Sho decided it wasn’t worth the cost—of his creativity, of his hopes, of himself. But the more Sho poured himself into his work, the more he disrupted his career. His music became too controversial for Christian retail outlets and youth groups playlists.

In an attempt to evade the evangelical edit, Sho took on the responsibilities of a traditional record label himself. While personal branding and creative salesmanship may be problematic at times, for Sho, it was the natural, and only, next step.

Anyone can be a revolutionary, but you still gotta pay your bills.

Visit Sho Baraka’s website at www.barakaology.com. Follow him on Twitter: @AmIshoBaraka.

The Disrupters is produced by CT Creative Studio in partnership with InterVarsity Press. 

The Disrupters is hosted by Esau McCaulley. Visit his website at esaumccaulley.com. Follow him on Twitter: @esaumccaulley.

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The gospel led them into disruption. They told the truth, and the truth set the world on edge.

This isn't a podcast for cynics or apologists. It's bound to disappoint you.

And that's it. That's the pitch.

The Disruptors is hosted by Esau McCaulley and features a series of disruptive conversations with Sho Baraka, Tish Harrison Warren, Jemar Tisby, N.T. Wright, Sheila Wise Rowe, Dominique DuBois Gilliard, and more.

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