What If I'm Wrong?

In this episode, Heather is joined by Ekemini Uwan and Michelle Higgins of the Truth's Table podcast to discuss what it's like to be a Black Christian woman today. They dive all the way in on topics like colorism, singleness and divorce, racial justice, theology, and nearly every hot button issue Black women may find themselves at the intersection of when navigating their life and their faith. 

Ekemini and Michelle will help you see how faith can truly be the bedrock of your life, all while being honest about the difficulties each of them have experienced. This conversation will have you laughing, crying, and thinking critically. 

Guest Bio

Ekemini Uwan, and Michelle Higgins, are two of the authors of Truth’s Table: Black Women’s Musings on Life, Love and Liberation. 

Ekemini is a public theologian who received her MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary. Uwan is a contributing member of the Aspen Institute’s Racial Justice and Religion Commission. She has appeared on MSNBC and NPR. Her writings have been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and HuffPost Black Voices, and her insights have been quoted by CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker.

Michelle Higgins is senior pastor of Saint John’s Church (The Beloved Community) in St. Louis, where she co-founded Faith for Justice, a collective of Christian activists, and serves as board chair of Action St. Louis, a political home for Black communities in the St. Louis region.

Mentioned in This Episode

“The Hidden Figures of the Church” by Kathryn Freeman, Christianity Today

Host Bio

Heather Thompson Day is an associate professor of communication at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She is the author of seven books, including It’s Not Your Turn and Confessions of a Christian Wife. Reach out to Heather on Twitter @HeatherTDay and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday.

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Producer: Loren Joseph

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper

Associate Producer of CT Podcasts: Azurae Phelps

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In this episode, Heather and Danté discuss something we often forget, that just as we have changed, we need to make room for others to grow and change too. Danté is open about the progression of his beliefs, and how he, as a Black man, has said things in the past about the Black experience that he regrets. Black literature was a major part of Danté’s faith and growth experience, which is why his book is so heavily sourced by Black writers. Danté brings a passion to every conversation he enters, as well as an invitation to grow and learn together. You will be encouraged, enlightened, and challenged as you listen to Danté explain what it means to shout in the fire.  

Guest Bio

Danté Stewart is a writer and speaker whose voice has been featured on CNN, The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Sojourners, The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, Comment Magazine, and more. He is the author of the book Shoutin’ in the Fire: An American Epistle. 

Host Bio

Heather Thompson Day is an associate professor of communication at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She is the author of seven books, including It’s Not Your Turn and Confessions of a Christian Wife. Reach out to Heather on Twitter @HeatherTDay and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday.

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Producer: Loren Joseph

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper

Associate Producer of CT Podcasts: Azurae Phelps

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to be a radiant witness for Christ? In this episode, Heather talks to Tara Beth Leach about the difficulties of being a woman in ministry as well as the struggles of being a faithful Christian in increasingly divided times. Tara has endured attacks on her witness both online and offline but has continued to pour her heart into the work to which God has called her.  

Despite the battered reputation of the North American church, Tara is optimistic about the church’s future. She is honest, reflective, and blunt about the present state of evangelicalism, while affirming the abiding hope that Christians have in Christ.  

About Our Guest:

Tara Beth Leach is a pastor, preacher, and writer. She speaks widely at conferences, retreats, and universities across America on church leadership, women in ministry, and the call to be a “radiant witness.” She is a pastor at Christ Church of Oak Brook in the western suburbs of Chicago and previously served as senior pastor of First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena (“PazNaz”) in Southern California. She is the author of Emboldened: A Vision for Empowering Women in Ministry, and her latest book is Radiant Church: Restoring the Credibility of our Witness. Find her on Twitter @TaraBeth82.

Mentioned in this Episode:

“Americans No Longer Trust the Church, the Government or Even Big Money. Is There a New Power Rising?” by Heather Thompson Day, Newsweek.com

Reach out to Heather at heatherthompsonday.com, on Twitter @HeatherTDay, and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday.

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Producer: Loren Joseph

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper

Associate Producer of CT Podcasts: Azurae Phelps

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when Christians are committed to Christianity without being deeply formed by God? That's one of many subjects explored in Heather’s wide-ranging conversation with New York-based pastor and author Rich Villodas. They also discuss the dangers of Christian celebrity-ism and the importance of living a life marked by humility, accountability, and surrender.

Plus, Rich reveals how he grew his social media presence, and why he is more careful with his posts now than when he first got online. This thought-provoking conversation will challenge and inspire you to be more intentional about your daily spiritual practices.

Rich Villodas is the Brooklyn-born lead pastor of New Life Fellowship, a large multiracial church in Elmhurst, Queens, with more than seventy-five countries represented in its congregation. Rich holds an MDiv from Alliance Theological Seminary. He enjoys reading widely, preaching, and writing on contemplative spirituality and justice-related topics. He and his wife Rosie have two beautiful children. His first book, The Deeply Formed Life, was a Christianity Today 2021 Book Awards winner. And his next book, Good and Beautiful and Kind: Becoming Whole in a Fractured World, releases in July.

Reach out to Heather at heatherthompsonday.com, on Twitter @HeatherTDay, and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday.

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Producer: Loren Joseph

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper

Associate Producer of CT Podcasts: Azurae Phelps

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Heather talks with bestselling author Tish Harrison Warren about prayer and what it means to communicate with God during our seasons of suffering. Tish explains how sometimes your prayer life doesn’t need more words, but more silence. Tish’s honest insights will encourage you on how to navigate the vulnerability of the human experience, and how to keep praying even when God feels far away.

Tish Harrison Warren is a priest in the Anglican Church in North America. She is the author of Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life (Christianity Today’s 2018 Book of the Year) and Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work, or Watch, or Weep (Christianity Today’s 2022 Book of the Year). She writes a weekly newsletter for The New York Times, and she is a monthly columnist for CT. 

Reach out to Heather at heatherthompsonday.com, on Twitter @HeatherTDay, and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday.

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Producer: Loren Joseph

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We love talking to leaders who are using social media for the common good,” says Heather, “but that doesn’t mean social media doesn’t have a dark side.”

In this episode, Heather invites you to learn about some of the existential dangers of social media from a leading scholar of digital technology. How do we use social media without allowing ourselves to be consumed by it? How does it impact our ability to be present with the people around us? Felicia Wu Song is the perfect person to guide us around the pitfalls and red flags, while also encouraging us to hang onto our humanity in this digital age.

Felicia Wu Song is a cultural sociologist of media and digital technologies who serves as a professor of sociology at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. With degrees in history, communication, and sociology from Yale, Northwestern, and the University of Virginia, her research is oriented around the rapidly evolving world of digital technology and how the adoption of social media and digital devices fundamentally alters the landscapes of family, community, and organizational life. She is the author of Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age.

 Reach out to Heather at heatherthompsonday.com, on Twitter @HeatherTDay, and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday. 

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Producer: Loren Joseph

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Justin Giboney is an attorney and political strategist in Atlanta, Georgia, who leads the AND Campaign as its cofounder and president. The AND Campaign is a coalition of urban Christians who are determined to address the sociopolitical arena with the compassion and conviction of the gospel. He’s the coauthor of Compassion (&) Conviction with fellow AND Campaign leader Chris Butler and former colleague Michael Wear. 

In this episode, Heather and Justin unpack the myth that Christians must be conservative to be biblical or progressive to be loving. Justin’s work is committed to challenging the way Christians view politics. What if our current political lenses aren’t biblical lenses? Justin wants to help Christians do the difficult work of holistically interrogating their political beliefs.

Says Heather, “This episode will leave you encouraged about how we can be both engaged citizens and faithful disciples.” Find Justin on Twitter @JustinEGiboney.

Reach out to Heather at heatherthompsonday.com, on Twitter @HeatherTDay, and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday. 

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Producer: Loren Joseph

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did a Baptist pastor’s kid from a small town in East Texas become a trailblazer in the areas of peacemaking and international religious freedom? Bob Roberts Jr.’s faith journey has had many twists and turns, but ultimately it has been—to echo Eugene Peterson—“a long obedience in the same direction.” Things got real for Roberts when he realized his understanding of the gospel was too small and that his theological fidelity was useless if he wasn’t loving people.

Today, Roberts is the founder of GlocalNet, a nonprofit dedicated to mobilizing the church for transformation in the public square, and he’s co-founder of Multi-Faith Neighbors Network, an organization committed to creating international religious freedom through intentional cross-cultural relationships. He is frequently called upon by the U.S. Department of State, United Nations, U.S. Islamic World Forum, World Economic Forum, ambassadors, diplomats, and others for his groundbreaking work in this field. Roberts is also a church-planting expert, the senior global pastor at Northwood Church in suburban Dallas-Fort Worth, and host of the Bold Love podcast.

In this episode Heather and Dr. Bob discuss what religious freedom is supposed to look like and why religious freedom for others is religious freedom for yourself. They also explore how our fears often prevent us from being loving neighbors, and why interfaith communication is essentially quite biblical.

Says Heather, “Dr. Bob brought so much heart and wisdom to this conversation that you’re going to want to listen to it more than once.”

Reach out to Heather at heatherthompsonday.com, on Twitter @HeatherTDay, and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday. 

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Producer: Loren Joseph

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some people say you shouldn’t talk politics and religion in polite conversation, but author Kaitlyn Schiess would (politely) beg to differ. In fact, she’s written a book about the connections between faith and politics. Kaitlyn is a writer and a popular Christian voice on Twitter. A ThD student at Duke Divinity School (where she’s studying political theology, ethics, and biblical interpretation), she previously earned a ThM in systematic theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. Kaitlyn’s book, The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor, was released by InterVarsity Press during the last presidential election year.

In this episode, Heather and Kaitlyn discuss what it means to deconstruct false gospels, the difference between politics and partisanship, and the importance of using discernment in selecting the news sources we consume. Social media can be a really great place to build relationships with others, and Kaitlyn has done this so well, even while discussing difficult topics like theology and politics. She is a great resource for all of us on how we can do this better.

Reach out to Heather at heatherthompsonday.com, on Twitter @HeatherTDay, and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday. 

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Producer: Loren Joseph

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Jemar Tisby is The New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise and founder of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, where he writes about race, religion, politics, and culture. He is also cohost of the Pass the Mic podcast. Jemar’s most recent books are How to Fight Racism and How To Fight Racism: Young Reader’s Edition.

In this episode, Heather and Jemar discuss the complexity of racism within Christianity. Jemar shares ways that we can be better communicators regarding issues of racial justice. And Heather offers practical ideas for seeing and valuing the global Christian community.

Reach out to Heather at heatherthompsonday.com, on Twitter @HeatherTDay, and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday. 

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Producer: Loren Joseph

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices