Where Ya From? Podcast

How should we handle topics about Christianity that bring up potential offense and tension? In this episode of Voices’ Where Ya From? podcast, author Rebecca McLaughlin shares the surprising truth that facing these tough subjects can be an opportunity to show respect to people and to deepen our faith.

Guest Bio:

Rebecca McLaughlin is the author of Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion (2019), which was named book of the year by Christianity Today. She has also authored three additional books which encourage Christians to face uncomfortable questions in their faith. She holds a PhD. in renaissance literature from Cambridge University and a theology degree from Oak Hill College in London. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband, Bryan, and their three children.

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• 1 Peter 3:15

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Do you ever feel like it’s more important to “behave” at church rather than be yourself? With songs like “Church Gone Wild” and “Hammer Time,” Reach Records 1K Phew has dedicated his life to showing listeners that we don’t have to wear a mask when we sit in front of a pulpit. In this episode of VOICES’ Where Ya From? podcast, 1K Phew joins host Rasool Berry to discuss his music, upbringing, and reconciling who you are inside and outside of church.

Guest Bio:

1K Phew is among a new breed of Atlanta artists taking the trap sensibility and elevating it to great effect. 

At twenty-seven years old, Phew’s rise from a local rapper with swagger to a compelling artist equipped with a message, has been refreshing to watch. He’s fun and engaging, no doubt, but he’s so much more, as evidenced by his mixtapes Sunday Night (2015) and Life (2016). Phew’s got plenty of swag and wisdom to impart. Tracks like “TGIF” and “Church Gone Wild,” his biggest releases to date, show an artist who is vibrant and dynamic. His sing/rap flow has an infectious quality that is as catchy as it is alluring, and commercially viable as it is street-wise. 

His new mixtape Never Too Late is sure to build on his recent momentum, with hits like “Back Then” and “Load of Me,” an anthem for those not afraid to embrace their individuality. It’s no surprise that his sound—which Phew has dubbed “New CHUUCH”—is equally at home in the club or the church, and rappers like 1K Phew are proving that faith expressed with authenticity can be a welcome treat for listeners.

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How do you walk with someone you fully disagree with and not hold scorn or contempt for them in your heart? Duke Kwon, pastor and writer of Reparations: A Christian Call to Repentance and Repair joins VOICES’ Where Ya From? podcast to remind us that everyone—even people who have hurt us—is crowned with dignity because they are made in God’s image. God breaks His light of truth through even the most unlikely people and places—which means we can learn something from everyone, everywhere. Join us to rethink how being willing to let go and learn from others allows us to repair broken relationships.

Guest Bio:

Duke Kwon is the lead pastor of Grace Meridian Hill, a neighborhood congregation in the GraceDC Network in Washington, DC, and co-author of Reparations: A Christian Call to Repentance and Repair. He completed his undergraduate studies at Brown University (AB, Political Science) and received his MDiv and ThM degrees from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Duke has been active in public conversations around race, equity, and racial repair in the American church, and lectures on these topics around the country. He and his wife Paula live in the Columbia Heights neighborhood together with their three children.

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Where do we find fulfillment? Do we find it in things like careers, relationships, or money? In this episode of VOICES’ Where Ya From? Podcast, FOX Sports host Chris Broussard joins host Rasool Berry to discuss how his earthly successes don’t compare to the ultimate victory he finds in God.

Guest Bio:

Chris is an internationally-known sports analyst, commentator, and broadcaster for the FOX Sports 1 television network and FOX Sports Radio. He is co-host of the daily morning show “First Things First’’ and can also be seen regularly on FS1’s “Undisputed’’ and “The Herd with Colin Cowherd.’’ Chris also co-hosts the nationally-syndicated FOX Sports Radio show “The Odd Couple’’ with Rob Parker on weeknights.

A Board member for Athletes in Action, Chris is a frequent speaker at colleges, high schools, charitable fundraisers, youth-related events, and churches. He is also the founder and president of a National Christian Men’s Movement called K.I.N.G., which stands for Knowledge, Inspiration and Nurture through God.

Chris has twin daughters and lives with his wife of more than twenty-five years in New Jersey.

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In recognition of International Women’s Day, we’re pulling back the curtains at Where Ya From with an episode of producer’s picks— the powerful conversations about how God worked through women like Ekemini Uwan, KB Newton, and Jenn Peterson because they used what was “in their hand”—like Moses and his staff at the burning bush. They responded to the daunting call God was making on their lives by asking how they could possibly do that. And God said, look at what’s in your hand.  

See how it all starts with using what God has given you in this very specific moment.

Guest Bio:

The Where Ya From podcast producers Mary Jo Clark, Jade Gustman, and Ryan Clevenger highlight high-impact podcast sessions with guests like KB Newton, Ekemini Uwan, Jenn Peterson, Kierra Sheard-Kelly, Dr. Christina Edmonson, and more.

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Has God really experienced the same pain and suffering we have? Speaker, author, and trauma counselor Sheila Wise Rowe asked herself this question as a child in post-segregated America, and the answer inspired her to later live and work in post-apartheid South Africa. Hear her story in this episode of VOICES’ Where Ya From? podcast.

Guest Bio:

Sheila Wise Rowe is a graduate of Tufts University and Cambridge College with a master’s degree in counseling psychology. For over 25 years she has counseled abuse and trauma survivors in the United States. Sheila ministered to homeless and abused women and children in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she also taught counseling and trauma-related courses for a decade.

She is the cofounder of The Cyrene Movement, an online community for people of color seeking healing for racial trauma. She is the author of Young, Gifted, and Black; Healing Racial Trauma; The Well of Life: Heal Your Pain; Satisfy Your Thirst; Live Your Purpose; and The Wonder Years. She lives in the Boston area, where she is a writer, counselor, speaker, and spiritual director.

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When Dr. Debbye Turner Bell won the Miss America pageant, she began the toughest time of her life. Join Rasool Berry on the Where Ya From podcast as he talks with Dr. Debbye Turner Bell about how isolation, burnout, and loss challenged her faith at a time when people expected her to be at her best. Learn how this experience taught her to be unflinchingly honest with God and to keep communicating with Him no matter what.

Guest Bio:

Dr. Debbye Turner Bell is a veterinarian, journalist, corporate trainer, minister, motivational speaker, wife, and mother. Her enduring passion is motivational speaking. Since being crowned Miss America in 1990, Dr. Turner Bell has spoken to millions of students at countless schools, youth organizations and college campuses. Dr. Turner Bell divides her time doing leadership development, motivational and Christian speaking, and television broadcasting. 

In addition to her speaking and media work, Dr. Turner Bell is the founder and CEO of Debbye Turner Bell Consulting, through which she provides leadership development training in communications, influence, and diversity to corporate and business leaders, managers, and executives.

Dr. Turner Belle graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a doctor of veterinary medicine degree. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture from Arkansas State University. Dr. Turner Bell lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with her husband and daughter.

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Do you ever feel pressure to stay silent to fit into your political party’s talking points? Justin Giboney, attorney, ordained minister and co-founder of the AND Campaign, joins VOICES’ Where Ya From? podcast to explore how bringing our full witness to our political decisions and conversations can be a way of loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Guest Bio:

Justin Giboney is an attorney, political strategist, and ordained minister in Atlanta, GA. He is also the Co-Founder and President of the AND Campaign, which is a coalition of urban Christians who are determined to address the sociopolitical arena with the compassion and conviction of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mr. Giboney has managed successful campaigns for elected officials in the state and referendums relating to the city’s transportation and water infrastructure.

He’s the co-author of Compassion (&) Conviction—The AND Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement and has written op-eds for publications such as Christianity Today and The Hill.

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You know the stories of people facing impossible barriers—and then somehow they overcome each one? Carvens Lissaint’s life is full of those stories. Writer of Target Practice and actor on Hamilton, Carvens Lissaint joins VOICES’ Where Ya From? podcast to remind us that when we walk through wilderness, we can be both discouraged and faithful at the same time.

Guest Bio:

Carvens Lissaint is a Haitian American award-winning poet & actor. Most recently Carvens completed his run as George Washington in the Tony Award winning musical Hamilton. He was selected as an honoree by Blavity & Shadow and Act at the first annual Shadow and Act RISING Star Awards, featured on the second, third, & fifth seasons of the hit television series Verses and Flow and debuted his original poem “Embers in The Dark” on NBA on TNT’s show: The Arena. Carvens’ most recent work Target Practice was featured on Huffington Post, Broadway.com’s Front Row, and the Build Series. He is a graduate of The American Academy for Dramatic Arts, St. John’s University and holds an MFA from NYU Tisch School of The Arts Graduate Acting Program. He gives all glory and honor to Jesus.

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