Author Archives
We are a collection of individuals with a passion for curating content for the church.
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FIVE QUESTIONS: Racism – Part I
Top five commonly asked questions about racism. Does racism still exist? Is colorblindness enough? Why is there a disconnect between white Americans and Americans of color? Is racism an individual or systemic issue? What are critical race theory and intersectionality?
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MOVIE: LA 92
At first glace LA 92 is a history lesson about the 1992 Los Angeles riots, but just below the surface is a warning and a call for Americans to wake up. For hundreds of years Black people and people of color have complained about police brutality and, unfortunately, most of the time white people have ignored or dismissed the calls for help or justice. This indifference and callousness combined with other issues such as high unemployment, underfunded schools, and aggressive policing tactics has led to frustration which manifests itself in violence.
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BOOK: Rethinking Incarceration
Over hundreds of years and the entanglement of church and state American Christians have lost their prophetic and Biblical voice when it comes to justice and punishment. Pastor Dominque DuBoise Gilliard tells the history of incarceration and the churches role and theological posture – both good and bad – with incarceration in the United States before tracing the history of Christian’s views on criminals and crime to retributive justice that is at odds with the Bible.
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SHOW: Flint Town
An intimate, engaging eight part series focusing on the Flint Police Department (Michigan) that shows the policing from all sides, the police, the public that supports them, the public that doesn’t support them, the politicians that support them and don’t support them, and everyone in-between. Flint Town shows the complexity of working for a police department in neighborhoods that are at high stress levels because of poverty, race, and, in Flint’s case, water issues. It also shows the differences in officer’s approaches to policing based on their ethnicity and where/how they grew up. This series is highly recommended.
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SERMON: Oneness Embraced: Racial Reconciliation, the Kingdom, and Justice
Almost every Christian is familiar with the Samaritan women at the well story in John, but few see it as a blueprint for how to cross racial divisions. Preaching from John 4:1-42 Oakcliff Bible Fellowship (Dallas, TX) pastor Tony Evans says Jesus first meets the woman as a person and then speaks to her soul.
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SHOW: A Conversation with the Police – Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man Ep. 9
Whew! This is an intense 23 minutes. Hats off the Emmanuel Acho and the Petaluma Police Department for talking with each other and role modeling what it takes to make change – sitting down together and asking and answering difficult questions.
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BOOK: Postcards from Babylon
The church, specifically the American church in the context of Postcards from Babylon, has been seduced by the allure of power and influence. This is not a new phenomenon, but has been going on for hundreds of years. The intertwining of faith and empire has blinded our eyes to the teachings of the Bible that calls the church to be a counter-cultural, prophetic voice against violence.
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SERMON: White privilege and the Gospel
Does white privilege exist? If it does exist, why is the idea repulsive to so many people? What are we supposed to do about it? Pastor Tim Cain of Kaleo Church (Lakeside, CA) answers those questions and more in a convicting sermon full of wisdom. Cain believes that we must first acknowledge that advantages exist, realize that everything we have is a gift from God, and then steward our privilege for the oppressed.
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SHOW: Policing in America needs to change. Trust me, I’m a cop.
Police officer Renee Mitchell tells a story where she had to choose between appeasing her superior by arresting an individual or letting the individual go and putting her career in jeopardy and how that decision cemented the idea that the way we police in America has to change.
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BOOK: Worse Than Slavery
A history of another brutal part of America’s past that is glossed over Worse Than Slavery tells the story of convict leasing, a thinly veiled system of slavery, through the songs of convicts, court documents, and local newspapers.
