Pray With our Feet

In this special episode of Pray with our Feet podcast , Mom and I chat with Yaa Abbensetts-Dobson, Michele Evans and Dr. Shameka Poetry Thomas, about the latest issue of Spoken Black Girl Magazine (which focuses on the Black motherhood experience) while also uplifting Black Maternal Health Week (April 11-17) founded by Black Mamas Matter Alliance .  We dive into the urgent need for community care,...

  In this moment when all of our rights are under attack within the U.S., we are all fighting multiple battles simultaneously. But there is one area which unites us - health care; each of us needs it, and far too many people do not have access. I caught up with Kelly, an organizer with the Non-Violent Medicaid Army (NVMA) which is "a growing, politically independent force of the poor and disposses...

An artisanal miner carrries a sack of ore at Shabara artisnal mine near  Kolwezi, DRC, on October 2022. Junior Kannah/ AFP via Getty Images  The pain of our Congolese siblings powers our cell phones and electronic devices. "Approximately six million people have been killed since 1996, and more than six million people remain internally displaced in eastern DRC, " journalist Shola Lawal, writes in A...

As activists and folks of faith, particularly in these challenging times, we must simultaneously commit to inner revolution and collective liberation. Prioritizing healing from these oppressive systems is also "the work."  bell hooks reminded us often: "Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion." Last year I sat down with Kimberly Brazwell, a two-time TEDx...

    As we honored Dr. King yesterday, we sit with the weight of this moment - stepping into another Trump presidency. Many of us remain committed to working towards a country rooted in collective liberation. In part two of our conversation, Mom and I chat with  Yaa Abbensetts-Dobson, writer and author ( Departure Story ), editor, entrepreneur and founder of Spoken Black Girl , and host of The Heal...

As we honored Dr. King yesterday, we sit with the weight of this moment - stepping into another Trump presidency. Many of us remain committed to working towards a country rooted in collective liberation. Mom and I decided to root our discussion around Dr. King legacy, and his last book,  Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? In this two part conversation, we chat with three phenomenal wome...

On the anniversary of Jan. 6th we are revisiting our conversation with Dr. Obery Hendricks, Jr .  and the discussion of his book - Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith (Beacon Press, 2021). Across the country, far too many church leaders are pledging allegiance to the false ideology of white supremacy, American nationalism, toxic gree...

We are living through unprecedented times; as each of us continues processing the election, and moving through waves of grief, disappointment, overwhelm, etc., it is vital to remain rooted in God, and come into beloved community with one another. Mom and I share a few of our thoughts post-election (check out two recent Instagram posts,  Jesus Is… and Reclaiming Christianity ), drop into discussing...

  When we put our faith into action and center justice, fighting for the rights of everyone, particularly those most marginalized, we embody Christ. Mom and I caught up with Lindsey Krinks, Advocacy Director and co-founder of Open Table Nashville , a non-profit and interfaith community based in Tennessee whose work includes four core pillars: " street outreach , education on issues of homelessness...

          Church hurt is widespread, and there are still many congregations which remain closed to Christians living on the margins because of sexuality / gender identity, disability, race / ethnicity, class, education level, etc. Young Prophets Collective, a growing online church and community, founded by JJ Warren, is working to shift this through building an affirming and intersectional space w...

    Kindness must move beyond pleasantries and root us in action and justice. Mom and I chat with Kaitlin Johnstone, co-founder of  Kind Cotton and former educator; she and her husband, Kevin, are on a mission to bring 1 million inclusive books to kids with every purchase of a Kind Cotton tee, tote bag or other product. Kind Cotton uplifts the work of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ children's authors, along wit...

Based in Oakland, CA, Porsche Veu aka  The Poetic Activist is a gifted author, speaker, educator and poet, who tackles the challenging racial and social justice issues of our day head on, without apology.  We discuss her faith journey, the urgency of truth telling and becoming comfortable  with discomfort, the roots of White supremacy within the American church, and how she uses her work to move p...

In honor of Baldwin's 100th birthday, we are sharing this episode again - a conversation with Adam Hollowell and Jamie McGhee, founders of Praying with Baldwin , discussing their powerful book: You Mean It or You Don't: James Baldwin's Radical Challenge .  One of the most prolific writers and thinkers of the 20th century, Baldwin's words continue to awaken us. Drawing from his extensive body of wo...

As Christians, we must say, "not in our name," as we continue witnessing the genocide of our Palestinian siblings. Mom and I sat down with Crystal Silva-McCormick, a member of  Christians for a Free Palestine (CFFP), to discuss their mission , the urgency of unlearning Christian Zionism, and educating ourselves about apartheid in Palestine. Crystal also uplifts CFFP's upcoming Interfaith Action fo...

We've missed you all! We're back with our 5th season!  Given the state of our world, Mom and I are centering the urgnecy of rooting in God's radical love; our guiding verse of scripture this season is 1 Cornithians 13:13 - "And now these three things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Throughout this episode, we discuss embodying God's call to love radically, buildin...

What if we broke away from fearing intuition, and began embracing it as another way God speaks to us? I recently sat down with Katrina "Trina" Dilag, founder of Radical Visionary Collective, 2x certified spiritual life coach, and social justice advocate.  We chat about healing as resistance to harmful systems, normalizing out-of-the box spirituality in churches, ditching toxic theology to develop...

  The climate is in crisis, but that doesn't mean change is impossible. I caught up with  Holly Petersen, the inspiring co-founder of  Christian Climate Action (CCA) about planet activism rooted in our faith. Christian Climate Action is a community of Christians supporting each other to take meaningful action for the planet. Inspired by Jesus Christ, guided by the Holy Spirit, and following the ex...

I caught up Jennifer Magnano aka  The Barefoot Preacher - writer, doula, maternal-child health advocate, and mother living with chronic illness. She honors the wild, holy work of local and global motherhood through resonant writing and speaking, companionship, resources & education. With personal experience of the chaos and complexity to exist throughout the caregiving years (in both our bodies an...

The ASK: Prayer + Action ministry is a space for all of us to come together, communally, at the intersections of our Christian faith and activism; here we commit to praying together (virtually on Zoom) around a specific issue each month  - climate justice, anti-racism, mental health, police brutality, violence and harm against people living on the margins ( immigrants, communities of color, our LG...

We're living through intense times; each of us wading through persistent grief, whether due to mass shootings, threats to American democracy, escalating attacks on marginalized communities, or our day-to-day struggles. It's clear constant movement without recharging spiritually, takes its toll. In this episode, I share a short grounding meditation, designed to help center calm in the midst of chao...

  Before Women's Herstory Month comes to a close, we're sharing our conversation about  Spoken Black Girl magazine Issue 4: The Freedom Issue 2023. Mom and I chatted with Rowana Abbensetts Dobson, founder and author ( Departure Story ), along with contributing writers Lillie Watson, Reign, and Adrienne Prather. We delve into the multiple ways Black women claim our liberation (collective and indivi...

  We don't have to tell you the world is on fire, as folks of faith committed to making a difference, many of us find it hard to stop, and care for ourselves. It often feels like a luxury, but in the radical tradition of writer, speaker and thinker Audre Lorde, Amy Jackson, founder of  The Perch Place (a soul care org. based in downtown Aurora) is calling us to water ourselves, and make space for...

Continuing our #SoulCare series, Mom and I caught up with a dear friend of the pod,  Walt Shelton , about his latest book, Authentic Living in All Seasons: Focused, Fearless and Balanced ,  which calls us towards 3 elements of  qualitative living: Focusing on the present moment (not stuck in the past or preoccupation the future).  Not allowing fear to immobilize us . Beginning to ask, what can we...

REWIND: In honor of Black history month, and this year's theme of resistance, we are revisiting past conversations with guests committed to the active and everyday work of resisting racism and the false ideology of white supremacy.    Anti-racism work is daily; it's a choice to embrace discomfort, the uncertainty of how folks around you will react, and a commitment to unapologetic truth telling. T...

REWIND: In honor of Black history month, and this year's theme of resistance, we are revisiting past conversations with guests committed to the active and everyday work of resisting racism and the false ideology of white supremacy.    We sat down with Rev. Dr. Jacqueline J. Lewis , Senior Minister at Middle Collegiate Church , a 1,300-member multi-ethnic, welcoming, and inclusive congregation in N...