White Rock UMC

Mitchell was back preaching this week, tackling the second week of "Faithful Friction: A Series on finding Peace in Conflict." 

Forgiveness is a challenging idea, and the scripture only makes it even more challenging. The text Mitchell preached from was Matthew 18:21-35 when Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive. 

What is your experience with forgiveness? Are there people you struggle to forgive? Those you have no desire to forgive? We'd love to hear your thoughts on forgiveness. 

We'd also love to hear how you're doing in loving your neighbor in the midst of all this conflict and chaos. You can let us know by taking our latest survey:

Mitchel is joined by Dexter Evans for the pod today. Dexter is owner and operator of Blue Bear Media - a production company he founded. He also brings his expertise to White Rock UMC each and every week. Dexter does production, video editing, sound, and pretty much all the behind the scenes stuff to ensure we can have worship each and every Sunday morning. 

Dexter and Mitchell have a conversation about the turn to digital given the pandemic. They break down equipment, software, hardware, and the complexity to run it all. If you want to know what it takes to pull of worship week in and week out from a tech and production stand point, you will get a glimpse of that on this week's podcast. 

Let us know what questions you have for Dexter. We'll have him back for a follow up episode soon.

Lisa Hancock joined me again to continue our conversation on conflict as part of "Faithful Friction: A Series on finding Peace in Conflict." 

In this episode Lisa and I discuss the difficult subject of forgiveness. She highlights the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, shares her personal experiences and struggles with forgiveness, and we get into the pervasiveness of cancel culture. 

At the end I make the invitation to send us your questions about conflict, specifically as we head into our last conversation which will be focused on boundaries. You can email me ([email protected]) or find me on most social media platforms (@phildieke).

Conflict is difficult. Lisa has some very practical and helpful tools. Enjoy.

To kick off our new worship series - Faithful Friction: A Series on Finding Peace in Conflict - Phil addressed the exhaustion and division felt in the USA following a contentious election season. He walked through Acts chapter 15, inviting us to consider "What is our main goal? What are our essentials/non-negotiables." Once we establish our goal and essentials, then it is up to us to tirelessly pursue that goal. 

This is week one of a three week series addressing conflict. If you haven't checked out the Sunday Sit Down, each week we have a supplemental conversation with Lisa Hancock about way to navigate conflict and work toward dispute resolution and reconciliation.  

We kicked off "Faithful Friction: A Series on Finding Peace in Conflict" yesterday. 

Today on the pod we reflect on Phil preaching for the first time since joining the staff, music that will ground us in this series, and generally how to deal with conflict... all kinds of conflict.

We know this is a difficult time for many, and for many different reasons (if only pure exhaustion). May this conversation find you where you are, and offer you encouragement to truly identify your goal and be unapologetic about your essentials/non-negotiables!

We kicked off a new series today - Faithful Friction: A Series on Finding Peace in Conflict. In this series we'll be exploring the places in our lives we experience conflict. During the Sunday Sit Down we'll be leaning on the expertise of our friend, Lisa Hancock. Lisa holds a Master of Arts in Dispute Resolution from SMU and is the Director of Restorative Communications. Today we spoke specifically about the importance of listening when it comes to conflict resolution. We also address the elephant in the room, the political tension that exists in the USA.

As always, we welcome your feedback and look forward to hearing your input and questions about conflict. 

Find out more about Lisa's work here:

The Rev. Dr. Keith Boone invited us to reflect on Hebrews 12:1-4 as we embraced the great cloud of witnesses this All Saints' Sunday. Keith reminded us that though Hebrews 11 gives us the who's who of faith, the "somebody's," in the eyes of Jesus we are all somebody's. There are no nobody's. God has given us the gift of each other - to encourage us, inspire us, to continue to challenge us. We celebrate the saints that have gone before us, those saints who have paved the way for us, and we continue to race in honor of them.

Rev. Dr. Keith Boone joined us on the podcast this week. He preached the sermon for All Saints' Sunday this year and is also co-leading the "Living with Loss" class on Sunday evenings throughout November (you can still join at www.wrumc.org/november). We broke down ALL of Sunday's events, and it was a busy Sunday. Give a listen, let us know your thoughts, and we'd always love your feedback. Leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts and subscribe if you haven't already.

We referenced the Dolly Parton song that the folk band sang during the offertory. You can find that song here:

Dr. Jenny Hughes, Ph.D., M.P.H. joined me to talk about how much All Saints' Sunday means to her personally, and for us as a community. We also talk anxiety - specifically anxiety associated with loss and grief - not just the loss of a friend, family member, or loved one, but the grief associated with all kinds of loss. And let's be honest, we have all lost plenty this year! Finally, we talk about the class she is leading along with Rebecca and Keith - Living Through Loss: A Creative Approach to Grief and Chaos. 

You can find out more about the class at: www.wrumc.org/november

You can learn more about the wonderful work of Dr. Hughes at: https://profiles.utsouthwestern.edu/profile/59801/jennifer-hughes.html

Mitchell wrapped up our series "Earn, Save, Give" inviting us to take a look at what truly makes us happy. He talks through four aspects that can lead to greater happiness: relationships, gratitude, practicing kindness, and generosity. He also talks through the value and importance of Commitment Sunday and what this means for us as a church for the next 14 months.