The Ministry Collaborative Podcast

Program Curator Jennifer Watley Maxell and Content Curator Adam Mixon talk with the Rev. Dr. Gabby Cudjoe Wilkes  ( Double Love Experience, Brooklyn ) about Pentecost, the challenge of online and in-person community, and the vitality of being together.

Program Director Adam Borneman speaks with Dr. David Buys ( State Health Specialist and Assoc. Professor, Mississippi State ) about the importance of relationships, the long term trend of social isolation, and how his faith informs his public health work.

Program Curator Jennifer Watley Maxell talks with the Rev. Dr. Lydell Lettsome ( Vanbert Health Equity Project ) about Jesus' role as a healer, the centrality of health care in Christian formation, and the importance of clergy embracing their role as moral leaders.

Program Curator Jennifer Watley Maxell talks with the Rev. Patrick Clayborn ( Bethel AME Church, Baltimore ) about Howard Thurman, interdependence, and the search for common ground.

The Ministry Collaborative program staff (Ryan Bonfiglio, Jennifer Watley Maxell, Mark Ramsey, and Adam Borneman) talk about standing in the face of discord, the messiness of change, and how theology happens everywhere.

Program Director Adam Borneman shares his reflections on trust-building, mending the social fabric, and joining people in hope across difference. This writing originally appeared on our blog .

Program Director Adam Borneman speaks with minister and therapist the Rev. Erica St. Bernard ( Your Life's Well ) the importance of personal invitation in a time of isolation, building communities of trust and burden-bearing, and the challenges and possibilities of hybrid ministry.

Content Curator Adam Mixon speaks with the Rev. Kristy Farber ( Mercer Island Presbyterian Church , WA) and the Rev. Dr. Amy Wiles ( Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa ) about good places to go and cry, the difference between loneliness and being alone, and the importance of being seen and known.

The Ministry Collaborative program staff (Jennifer Watley Maxell, Mark Ramsey, Adam Borneman, and Adam Mixon) talk about the prioritizing humility and compromise, examining a community's personality, and the trap of sorting ourselves. Click here to read Adam Borneman's blog post, "The Front Porch, the Living Room, the Dining Room, and the Kitchen".

Program Curator Jennifer Watley Maxell talks with the Rev. Dr. Carol Lynn Patterson ( First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, NJ ) about committing ourselves to things that give us joy, and finding faith formation within community, and the importance of Sabbath rest.

Program Director Adam Borneman speaks with the Rev. Laura Murray about ministry in the digital space, hospitality without attachments, and rethinking the centrality of the pulpit in faith formation.

Program Director Adam Borneman speaks with the Rev. Melanie Marsh Baum ( Covenant Presbyterian, Jacksonville, FL ) about her background in the arts, the abundant resources of faith's raw materials, and the life-giving power of diversity.

The Ministry Collaborative program staff (Ryan Bonfiglio, Jennifer Watley Maxell, Mark Ramsey, Adam Borneman, and Adam Mixon) talk about developing the muscles for depth, the danger of familiarity, and why formation needs community.

Executive Director Mark Ramsey speaks with the Rev. Dr. William Watley ( Saint Philip AME Church ) and our own the Rev. Jennifer Watley Maxell ( The Breakthrough Fellowship ) about how the true sense of calling can fall prey to distractions, how vocation requires discovering what energizes, and and the wisdom of father and daughter.

Content Curator Adam Mixon speaks with the Rev. Dr. Jim Truesdell ( Frontier Fellowship ) about holy discontentment, transitioning out of institutional church ministry, and God's abiding presence in the midst of our hardships.

Program Director Adam Borneman speaks with the Rev. Kathy Escobar ( The Refuge, Broomfield, CO ) about holding space for faith deconstruction, her passion for cultivating community, and navigating vocational discernment within existing systems.

Executive Director Mark Ramsey and Content Curator Adam Mixon speak with the Rev. Marthame Sanders ( AIJCast , Mudeif Productions ) about improv, adversity, and the fraudulent line between sacred and secular.

The Ministry Collaborative program staff (Jennifer Watley Maxell, Ryan Bonfiglio, Mark Ramsey, Adam Borneman, and Adam Mixon) talk about remaining curious, the recurring nature of call, and the false dichotomy of "stay or go".

Program Curator Jennifer Watley Maxell talks with the Rev. Dr. Nicole Massie Martin ( Soulfire Ministries , American Bible Society ) about the commodification of the pastor, the added scrutiny of online ministry, and what we can learn from the global church.

Executive Director Mark Ramsey speaks with the Rev. Paul Roberts, Sr. ( Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary ) about the seminary's transformation from an institution that was slowly withering to one that is nimble and flourishing.

Program Curator Jennifer Watley Maxell talks with the Rev. Dr. Sammie Dow ( Pleasant Grove Baptist, Marietta, Georgia ) about his book , managing our minds and emotions, why transparency matters, and the importance of "woosah" time.

The Ministry Collaborative program staff (Adam Mixon, Mark Ramsey, Ryan Bonfiglio, Jennifer Maxell, and Adam Borneman) talk about outdated benchmarks, faithful tending, and the care of souls.

Content Curator Adam Mixon speaks with the Rev. Dr. Tyshawn Gardner ( Plum Grove Baptist Church , Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Stillman College ) about where we go from here, seeing Jesus as an agent of redemptive disruption, and trusting in the promise of God.

Program Director Adam Borneman speaks with the Rev. Rob Dyer ( First United Presbyterian, Belleville, Illinois ; Ministry Architects ) about the Christian equivalent of viral, the narratives we tell ourselves, and why people are not coming back . Rob's blog post was originally published here.

Pilgrimage Formation Curator Ryan Bonfiglio shares his reflections on Philippians, Howard Thurman, and resilience. This writing originally appeared on our blog in December .