Art From Debris: Race, Culture, and Friendship

As those who believe in a future where God recognizes every tribe, tongue, and nation...not necessarily race, should we do away with using racial langauge? Can this be a helpful way forward? For missional practitioners who are serious about reaching the world with the Gospel, this is a necessary conversation to have.

The inclusion and representation of people of color in pop culture and society at large has affected the church and continues to be a major factor in building a multiethnic missional movement. Enjoy our conversation about this while I try to corner Jeremy into getting cancelled (Ha!).

Yep. Aliens are being talked about in congress and though they have stopped trending in the news cycles, it is still an issue circulating political and social circles. Drop in on our discussion about the issues of faith that come up within the Alien dialogue.

Yep. Aliens are being talked about in congress and though they have stopped trending in the news cycles, it is still an issue circulating political and social circles. Drop in on our discussion about the issues of faith that come up within the Alien dialogue.

Is spirituality and religion mutually exclusive? Are they a little mutually exclusive? It's time to bust up some myths about spirituality and religion and get honest about what they are and their value as well as their pitfalls. Let's see what kind of art is in this debris.

Is spirituality and religion mutually exclusive? Are they a little mutually exclusive? It's time to bust up some myths about spirituality and religion and get honest about what they are and their value as well as their pitfalls. Let's see what kind of art is in this debris.

Florida always occupies a headline. With travel bans, gators, and Florida man, it seems Florida has a reputation. As two Floridians, we wanted to make the politics and culture of Florida clear for the missional Christian. Take a dive with us into the state of many swamps.

A continued conversation on positive thinking in pop culture and the Church.

Speak it into existence. Create your own sunshine. Wait for your blessing. Which one of these is positive thinking and which of them represents God's heart? Let's get to the bottom of positive thinking and the Christian response.

In a world of taking sides, we can find ourselves ignorantly in places that may not represent the heart of God. The Israel/Palestine conflict is one of these places. We believe it matters how we show up in the Israel and Palestine conversation and it matters even more to understand God's expectation for his people.

Often, Church relationships find their final destination as teammates. The affections are there but they strictly coincide with church programming. Are we supposed to be more. What is God's ultimate desire for human relationship? We believe it is family. Check out the episode to see what we mean.

Often, Church relationships find their final destination as teammates. The affections are there but they strictly coincide with church programming. Are we supposed to be more. What is God's ultimate desire for human relationship? We believe it is family. Check out the episode to see what we mean.

Positional authority does not dictate spiritual authority. This is important to note when pursuing reconciliation in a Christian missional community. We keep it going as we conclude our conversation about teammates.

We continue to talk about the Teammates phase of the reconciliation in missional living. We talk about unity, suffering, and we redefine task centered reconciliation.

In Christian ministry, it can't be assumed that everyone will be friends. In this episode we explore how we go from acquaintances to something more when we are being intentional in pursuing relationship and reconciliation.

We conclude our discussion on the second stage of reconciliation for a missional community, Acquaintances with a dialogue about how our stories can become idols. 

We continue our discussion on the second stage of reconciliation for a missional community, Acquaintances. We dive deeper into the value and risks of sharing stories. 

The second stage of reconciliation for a missional community is Acquaintances. You can't stay strangers forever and if the hope is to love well, most relationships should enter into the acquaintance stage...we think.  Check out this  3 part discussion and see if you agree. 

The first stage of reconciliation for a missional community is strangers. YEP! Where the spirit is there is liberty but we don't automatically become close.  We got work to do first. It's important to recognize this stage and know what it takes to go to the next stage. Enjoy part 1. 

We continue our discussion on the "Stranger" stage of communal reconciliation discussing the risks and the dangerous hurdles faced when truly engaging the stranger. 

We are back for season 2. Sorry its been a long time but we are excited to open the season discussing 4 stages on the journey toward reconciliation.  These are 4 stages Jeremy has sketched out but we will be fleshing out our theology and ideas to define these stages on each episode.  Enjoy the Theologizing and "Fruitionitizing". 

We live incarnationally different based on ethnicity. What are the differences while maintaining a unity with Jesus? 

In this episode we unpack how you can counter your natural cultural biases by equipping others with defeaters. 

In this episode we discuss when and how it's appropriate to affirm white people.

Is justice is achieved step by step or do we need to flip the switch of revolution? How can incrementalist and revolutionaries be friends in the work of biblical justice? 

In this episode we talk about when, if ever, people of color should apologize in cross cultural relationships.

Ministry leadership is powerfully complicated for people of color.  How can you lead across cultures while remaining true to your culture?

Part 2 continues our discussion of how we can build new racial narratives for a new church. 

Slavery became Jim Crow. Jim Crow became the New Jim Crow.  Can anything really change without addressing the narrative that people of color are inferior? This is part one of a two part series.

We've seen what the majority of discipleship has produced in America and it's not pretty. What if we shift the source of discipleship material from the majority and powerful to the marginalized?  

"You're racist....No I'm not." Sound familiar?  We consult with a live question about what is a racist and how to use this powerful word.  

In speaking truth to power and bringing a corrective challenge to injustice how do we engage with kingdom grace and humility.  How can we call out the wrong while also being sober about how we participate in other wrongs? 

In part two we continue our discussion on how multiple touch points across culture can increase the depth of our empathetic connections.  Part two of a two part series.

Just because you have one friend across cultures doesn't mean you're in the family. How do we approach new relationships without generalizing to entire people groups?  Part one of a two part series.

Back from Manila with antidotes for what ails the American soul.  What healing might occur if Black was treated as beautiful and Native Americans were honored as the true Americans?  

In this episode, we unpack how we prepare our children to engage with a racialized world.

In this episode, Brad and Jeremy continue their discussion on intersectionality, highlighting how anti-racists might also be sexist and participants in other systemic oppression. Part two of a two-part episode.

In this episode, Brad and Jeremy discuss power dynamics in racial relationships and how they intersect with other social discrimination. How do we make disciples to engage every form of injustice?  Part one of a two-part episode.

In this episode we unpack how ethnic specific spaces can bring deep healing without creating division. 

In this episode we look at the way we interact and deliver the gospel with cultural biases and discuss how to step toward disentanglement.  

In this episode we talk about the cultural misunderstanding and limitations to the word "woke". 

Jeremy and Brad continue their conversation on racial reconciliation and dive into fun stories about the origin of their relationship.

In the pilot episode of Art From Debris, old friends and campus ministers Jeremy Stephens and Brad Everett kick off a conversation on race and culture in modern America through the lens of the Gospel. What does it mean to reconcile? Why is it important to understand one another's stories? This is part one of a two-part episode.