The Distillery

What's wrong with saying, "I don't see color?" Many have pursued racial color-blindness as if it is a virtue, but in today's episode, Montague Williams, author of "Church in Color: Youth Ministry, Race, and the Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr., shares his experience with youth groups to enlighten others to what young people are longing for when it comes to engaging race, identity, and the experience in the church. He offers alternatives to the demands of color-blindness, and invites Christians to join in new practices that encourage us to show up with and for each other. 

What makes a life worth living? Do we organize our lives around the pursuit of happiness, self-sacrifice, security, power, or wealth? In today's episode, Ryan McAnnally-Linz invites us to explore life’s biggest existential questions that make up the meaning of life. At the center of this conversation is the book McAnnally-Linz co-authored with Matthew Croasmun and Miroslav Volf titled, Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most.

What can spiritual entrepreneurship teach us about what God is doing in the world? In today's episode, Kathleen McShane and Elan Babchuck, co-authors of "Picking up the Pieces: Leadership after Empire," take a serious look at the story of Moses to better understand how culture and empire shape the ways we think about leadership and power, especially in congregations.

How do beauty and creativity helps us know God? How does the beauty of God's creation re-enchant the world as we know it? In this episode, David White, author of Tending the Fire That Burns at the Center of the World, shares how aesthetics, playfulness, and creativity can be reclaimed in churches as well as classrooms.  

What does Christian faith have to do with creation? As the global climate crisis becomes more and more pressing, Christian communities sometimes flounder in responding to this issue. In this episode, Debra Rienstra, author of Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth, shares how individuals and communities can rally in a response deeply rooted in their faith.

Which road do we take when at the intersection of tradition and innovation? Faith leaders and congregants across the country are navigating patterns of change daily in their ministry. In this episode, Douglas Powe and Lovett Weems examine how congregations can experiment as they faithfully respond to God's call. The book they co-authored, "Sustaining While Disrupting: The Challenge of Congregational Innovation," serves as a foundation for this conversation centered on strategies to lean in to tradition even as we innovate.

The first episode of Season 8 begins with an intimate interview with Amy Butler, pastor, educator, and author of "Beautiful and Terrible Things," that examines the deeply dark and incredibly wonderful moments life brings. This conversation explores the nature of faith, the inevitability of doubt, and the importance of radical love in facing all the beautiful and terrible things that happen in our lives.

Baptism is a foundational practice, and is considered a sacrament in most Christian churches. This ancient practice has been significant since Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. Churches today have divergent theologies and ways of baptizing people. But in today’s interview, Sarah Barton shares what can be learned about baptism across these theological and practical differences by learning from people with intellectual disabilities. Her recent book is “Becoming the Baptized Body: Disability and the Practice of Christian Community.” Barton is a theologian with dual appointments at Duke Divinity School and the Duke University School of Medicine in the occupational therapy doctorate division. She serves as both a pediatric occupational therapist and a theologian.

Guest: Sarah Barton | Host: Shari Oosting

In the early twentieth century, a series of revival meetings in Los Angeles shocked the nation. They had unsegregated worship services where both women and men spoke in tongues, performed faith healings, and wildly claimed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. These meetings, held in a small run-down building on Azusa Street, were pivotal in the creation of the modern Pentecostal movement. In this episode, Keri Day shares from her new book “Azusa Reimagined: A Radical Vision of Religious and Democratic Belonging.” We consider what lessons the Azusa Street Revival can provide for those seeking new ways to create belonging in churches and our society. Day is professor of constructive theology and African American religion at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Guest: Keri Day | Host: Shari Oosting

Sandy Hook. Uvalde. Pulse Nightclub. Hurricane Katrina. COVID-19. 9/11. For millions of people in our country, these words are shorthand for unthinkable traumatic events and the lingering effects of trauma. What can be said when a community is shaken to its core? How can a Sunday morning sermon help a fractured community? In this episode, Kimberly Wagner explores these questions and more as we discuss her new book, Fractured Ground: Preaching in the Wake of Mass Trauma. Wagner is professor of preaching at Princeton Theological Seminary and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). 

Guest: Kimberly Wagner | Host: Shari Oosting