The Vicars' Crossing

Bob Smietana is an award-winning religion reporter and editor who has spent two decades producing breaking news, data journalism, investigative reporting, profiles, and features for magazines, newspapers, trade publications, and websites. Most notably, he has served as a senior writer for Facts & Trends, senior editor of Christianity Today, religion writer at The Tennessean, correspondent for Religion News Service, and contributor to OnFaith, USA TODAY, and The Washington Post.He is best known for his coverage of Islam and Islamophobia, including his comprehensive reporting on the Murfreesboro mosque conflict, and on evangelical Christianity. 

We’ll discuss His new book Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why it Matters.

This podcast was recorded on September 22nd, 2022.

In this episode, we welcome The Reverend Dr. William H. Willimon. Dr. Willimon is a Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at the Divinity School, Duke University. He served eight years as Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of The United Methodist Church, For twenty years prior to the episcopacy, he was Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. He is the author of roughly one hundred books. Thousands of pastors in the USA, Canada, and Australia use his Pulpit Resource each week. A 2005 Pulpit and Pew Research Center study found that Bishop Willimon is the second most widely read author by mainline Protestant pastors. His newsy book is called LISTENERS DARE: HEARING GOD IN THE SERMON. 

This podcast was recorded on September 15th, 2022.

https://www.kevinmnye.com/ 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI240WSPCCQ3IsZq-LfORwg 

Kevin has worked in homeless services and advocacy in Los Angeles, CA & Minneapolis, MN. Kevin writes on the intersections of theology, justice, equity, and pop culture. He was a contributing author for Theology and the Marvel Universe and is the founder of Theophany, a blog and YouTube channel looking at the intersection of God and movies.
His new book GRACE CAN LEAD US HOME: A CHRISTIAN CALL TO END HOMELESSNESS is available at your local bookseller.

This podcast was recorded on September 8th, 2022.

Today We welcome priest, writer, & speaker - Martha Tartanic. 

Her new book WHY GATHER: The Hope and Promise of the Church drops on June 14. 

In the midst of a global crisis, Martha found herself in a crisis of vocation, wondering whether or not there might be something else she could do with her life, other than serve the church. The church as a whole began asking questions of a similar and urgent nature. Why be together in Jesus’ name? Does any of what we do as the church in gathering, proclaiming, serving, being together, in not being together, does any of it matter?

The result of Martha’s important questions and thoughtful discernment is a book that is food for the hungry and water to all who thirst.

this podcast was recorded on June 9th, 2022.

In this episode we celebrate the release of Brian McLaren's latest Book
Do I Stay Christian? A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned
Brian talks candidly about how hard it is at times to stay Christian.
Kevin and Rob, both senior clerics share there own frustrations and struggles over the years when the church has been hard to stick with.

we are excited to welcome CLAYTON THOMAS-MULLER. Clayton is a member of the Treaty #6 based Mathias Colomb Cree Nation also known as Pukatawagan (poo- cot – a – wagon) located in Northern Manitoba. He is a campaigner for https://www.350.org, a global movement that's responding to the climate crisis. He has campaigned on behalf of Indigenous peoples around the world for more than 20 years He has coordinated and led delegations of Indigenous peoples to lobby the government in Washington, DC, Ottawa, and the European Union. 

Clayton’s book Life in the City of Dirty Water - A Memoir of Healing
Was Selected as one of the finalists for Canada reads 2022. 

We talk about the book, the whole Canada Reads experience and the papal apology.

This podcast was recorded on April 13th, 2022.

https://www.communicateforchange.org/

As a journalist and TV presenter Genelle has worked for the BBC, ITN, MailOnline and now ITV in various roles including; online journalist, documentary producer, weather presenter and newsreader. After seven years of working in the media with several highlights including reporting live on the national BBC News channel, working on a Hillsborough documentary for Channel 5 and interviewing high profile personalities, Genelle’s expertise within her field is of a high and impressive standard. Genelle’s substantial knowledge of media shines bright in her roles as a public speaker and host.

We discuss her book:
Communicating For Change: Creating Justice in a World of Bias 

This podcast was recorded on April 7th, 2022.

The Vicars’ Crossing is excited to WELCOME Susie and Tony Troxler. Tony and Susie Troxler met in Greensboro, NC and married in March 2008. They’d planned to start a family a few years into their marriage, but it never happened: A few years turned into more than a decade and still no child. Believing in the faithfulness of God, they both continued to hold onto the promise that they would one day have a family. And on September 29, 2021, at the ages of 61 and 50, the couple gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Lily.

This podcast was recorded on March 31st, 2022.

Today we are excited to be a part of the book launch for Dr Robyn Henderson Espinoza’s book - BODY BECOMING: A PATH TO OUR LIBERATION. 

The body that Robyn Henderson-Espinoza inhabits is a nonbinary body, a trans body, a body in two races--and a body continually in discovery. Theirs is also a body on sojourn invested in experience, body understanding, and engagement in and for human thriving. Henderson-Espinoza relates coming into a new body story, beginning with the deep emotional work of connecting the abstract intelligence of their mind with their body's intelligence, to explore the relationship between living and becoming, doing and listening.
Combining that deep listening and living with their work in activism, Body Becoming offers us a way of understanding the body beyond constructions--political or medical-industrial-complex defined--toward cultivating the body as important in our endeavours to build a more inclusive vision for democracy.

This podcast was recorded on March 11th, 2022.

Today we welcome New York Times bestselling author Dr. Lisa Miller -  a professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia University Dr. Miller is also the Founder and Director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, the first Ivy League graduate program and research institute in spirituality and psychology, and has held over a decade of joint appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical School. Her innovative research has been published in more than one hundred peer-reviewed articles

Dr. Miller speaks and consults around her books THE AWAKENED BRAIN and THE SPIRITUAL CHILD for the US Military, businesses, personal development, faith-based organizations, schools and universities, and for mental health and wellness initiatives.

This podcast was recorded on March 24th, 2022.