If you’re having a hard time during this pandemic, this episode is for you and everyone you know! We are experiencing a national and global loss like we’ve never experienced before. And yet most of us don’t have the tools or experience to navigate such a profound corporate loss. Additionally, this pandemic is challenging our triumphant and exceptional beliefs, both in our culture and churches. In this episode, Dr. Soong-Chan Rah, author of the remarkable book, Prophetic Lament, gives us a common language, a theological framework, and specific tools to help us move through this pandemic with greater soul and skill.

Buy Prophetic Lament and Unsettling Truths here.

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• Social Media: @profrah

Crisis reveals what’s already been going on and is a catalyst for change. One of the realities that this pandemic has revealed is that it’s disproportionately affecting black and brown people and their communities at horrific rate. Dr. Efrem Smith pulls back the curtain of what has always been true about America and what’s required of us, especially faith leaders and communities, to move forward with a more equitable, just, and compassionate country on the other side this COVID mess. 

Buy The Politics of Jesus by Dr. Obery Hendriks

Buy Roadmap to Reconciliation by Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil

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• Website: www.influentialglobal.com 

There’s a big difference between peacemaking and peacekeeping. Peacekeeping starts with relationship and is a proactive movement toward conflict that disrupts pseudo-peace. It’s an opportunity for transformation that requires that we say hard things within shared life together. In a country that’s incredibly divided and where Christians are some of the most divisive voices, Jon Huckins, co-founder of The Global Immersion Project, believes that there’s a better way forward by building bridges, not walls. With compelling vision, he invites us to lead with curiosity more than criticism so we can be more connected. Jon shares how he’s confronting patriarchy and white male privilege with compassionate courage. He offers three practical steps for when/how/if to engage the divisive communities and people who have hurt us through marginalizing the “other”.

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• Website: http://jonhuckins.net and http:/globalimmerse.org

“Impressing is exhausting.” Manda knows firsthand what a life of trying to impress others will do for your body, soul, and spirit. When you get to the end of yourself and you don’t want to continue living like that, what’s next? Manda believes that giving yourself space isn’t selfish, no matter your life-stage. It’s possible to create sustainable rhythms of work, play, and rest so you can live fully. It will cost you something to create space, but if you don’t, you’ll pay an even greater cost. 

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• Website: https://mandacarpenter.com/

When your faith doesn’t fit into the boxes you grew up with or what’s been taught to you, now what? Dr. Pete Enns is a leading theologian, author, and guide to those of us who still have faith, but not like it used to be. This raw conversation goes after how we can deconstruct our faith without abandoning it, how to recover from a faith that’s been weaponized against the marginalized and gives you permission to hurt in the wilderness. We also dig into what an “ezer” is in Scripture and how men can partner better together with women. This episode will make you chuckle from the sass yet make you feel seen in your faith journey.

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• Website: https://peteenns.com

In seasons of change, when you feel like you’re on the outside or when your security is pulled out from under you, how can you make the most of it? Therapist Nicole Zasowski helps us move through unwanted periods of exile by offering three ways to stabilize ourselves so we don’t waste what exile can give us. If you’ve ever been in the wilderness, her personal experience alongside her professional expertise will help you not feel crazy or unseen. 

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• Website: www.nicolezasowski.com

This global pandemic has swiped us off our two feet and left us spinning in life and leadership. Anxiety, stress, disappointments, and loss have become the dominant narrative. What if COVID-19 was an invitation to learn to grieve and lead ourselves better? Leaders must learn to lead themselves better if we want to others with compassion and courage through this pandemic. As a veteran leader and senior pastor at Soul City Church in Chicago, Jeanne Stevens has experienced loads of grief and has learned how grief can lead us toward wholeness. We talk about how grieve these losses, how unprocessed grief shows up in our life and leadership, and how we can practice wise self-leadership during this challenging time.

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• Website: http://jeannestevens.com and https://soulcitychurch.com 

We need a sexual renovation! If you’re a woman, fear and shame are likely damaging and limiting messages you’ve internalized around your sexuality. Purity culture hands out a behavioral message that has damaged our sexuality and caused us to believe lies that limit our wholeness. As a faith-based sexologist, Dr. Celeste Holbrook guides us through a 4-step sexual renovation that’s designed to teach women practical action steps for building a connective and pleasurable sex life. Where do we sign up? In this episode, we talk about sex baby, and how women can practically move forward with our full sexuality and sensuality. Let’s get it on!

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• Website: https://www.drcelesteholbrook.com/

Recommended Resources:

• Elevate: Overcoming Sexual Barriers course

Stop pretending not to know you’re out of integrity in your body. You can have discipline in all areas of your life and still be out of integrity in your body. Our physical wellness is often a blindspot, yet it’s always a reflection of what’s going on inside. It was for Marc. His personal transformation story will preach all day. He’s now living and leading with wholeness because he believes “we can do hard things”. How is your physical body at rest, in movement, with stress, and fuel? This episode is motivating toward physical action without guilt or shame. 

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• Social Media: @marcpayan and @payanx

To anyone who thinks it’s too late or you’ve been through too much to step into your dreams...that’s just not true. If you’ve got a dream – no matter how big or small – everything you want already exists. Stop using the new four-letter word, “BUT” to defer your dream. In this episode Coach Kristy Hinds gets you started in living out your dream. And she encourages you to show up in your life, no matter what.

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• Website: https://www.kristyhinds.com/