Failing Boldly

Conversation with Vance Rains

My guest this week is Rev. Vance Rains. In these days of grieving and reflecting after the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Vance’s experiences are sadly timely. He was the pastor of First Church in Coral Springs, Florida, a community next to Parkland, Florida where the Stoneman Douglas High School shootings took place in 2018. Just this past July, he started as pastor of First United Methodist in Orlando, a church just down the street from Pulse, the nightclub where 49 people were killed by a shooting in 2016. Vance shares his own experiences from the Stoneman Douglas shootings and where we are as a country today. One note that we had this conversation before the El Paso and Dayton shootings. I hope these conversations are helpful for you.

To learn more about Vance, you can go to his web site.

Conversation with Greg Borzo

My guest this week is Greg Borzo, author of the book “Lost Restaurants of Chicago.”

Greg is a Chicago-area writer and the author of several books focused on our great city. Lost Restaurants revisits many of Chicago’s restaurants that helped create so many memories. In this episode, not only do we talk about the book, but we explore the restaurant business in general and talk about what helps an eatery succeed or fail.

Conversation with Bromleigh McCleneghan

My guest this week is Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan, author of the book "Good Christian Sex: Why Chastity Isn’t the Only Option—And Other Things the Bible Says About Sex."

Bromleigh is a United Methodist pastor currently serving at a United Church of Christ church in the Chicago area. I’ve admired her writing for some time and so was grateful for this conversation. We explored the reasons for and reactions to this book where she does some deep reflection on topics that some say should never be talked about: faith and sex.

To learn more about her writings and ministry, you can go to her web site, www.bromleighm.com.

Conversation with Reggie Williams

My guest this week is Dr. Reggie Williams, associate professor of Christian Ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary.

I recently read Dr. Williams’ book "Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance" and was moved by its look at Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his time in the United States in 1930, specifically his time in Harlem at Abyssinian Baptist Church. April 9, 1945, was the date that Bonhoeffer was killed in a German concentration camp and so I thought it was a good time to speak to Dr. Williams about one of the 20^th century’s most famous theologians and dissidents. You can find Dr. Williams on Twitter @reglwill.

Conversation with Jeremy Smith

My guest this week is Jeremy Smith, United Methodist pastor and creator of the blog, Hacking Christianity.

Jeremy is the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Seattle but his wider audience knows him as the prolific writer of blog posts on Hacking Christianity, a site where Jeremy engages others in conversations about faith using the lenses of progressive theology, technology, and geek culture. He’s also one of the top go-to sites when folks want to read thought-provoking reflections on the state of The United Methodist Church.

In addition to talking about how geek culture and Christianity come together, we also talk about the recent General Conference in the UMC and whether there’s hope for the UMC’s future.

You can follow Jeremy on Twitter @umjeremy.

Conversation with Steve Baskerville

My guest this week is a Chicago TV icon, Steve Baskerville.

For nearly 30 years, Steve was the WBBM’s primary weathercaster until his retirement at the end of 2017. During his career, he won 11 regional Emmys in addition to several other awards. Before coming to Chicago, he was the weather anchor with CBS Morning News, where he was first African-American weather anchor on a network newscast

 What happens when a weather anchor’s forecast goes wrong? Steve shares lots of great stories from his years in broadcasting in this wonderfully engaging conversation.

Conversation with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot

My guest this week is Chicago mayoral candidate (now mayor) Lori Lightfoot.

Lori has an extensive background in the law, including as a former assistant U.S. attorney,  Chair of the Police Accountability Task Force created by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and President of the Chicago Police Board. If elected, she would be the Chicago’s first black woman and first openly gay mayor. We talked about the challenges facing Chicago and what it takes to run for political office.

You can find out more about her at her website.

Conversation with Elaine Heath

My guest this week is theological scholar and author Elaine Heath.

Dr. Heath's research interests focus on community as a means of healing trauma, emergent forms of Christianity, and alternative forms of theological education. She is the author of numerous books and articles, including The Mystic Way of Evangelism and the most recent of which is Healing the Wounds of Sexual Abuse: Reading the Bible with Survivors. Heath’s vocational journey includes having served as Dean of the Divinity School at Duke University, and the McCreless Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. We talked about a wide array of topics including the state of the church, mysticism and evangelism and, of course, how what spiritual practices can help us persevere in the midst of failure.

Conversation with Bishop Karen Oliveto

My guest this week is Bishop Karen Oliveto, bishop of the Mountain Sky Conference of The United Methodist Church.
 
Bishop Oliveto made news in 2016 by becoming the first openly LGBTQ person to be elected bishop in the UMC. She has two books that have come out in 2018 that explore the call for spiritual renewal in the church and her own spiritual and vocational journey.

One can't help but be hopeful about the future of the church when experiencing the bishop's enthusiasm and joy for living out her faith journey.

Conversation with Heidi Stevens

My guest this week is Heidi Stevens, a columnist at the Chicago Tribune.

Heidi is the author of “Balancing Act,” a column that comes out five times a week and explores a wide variety of issues with a focus on how we can balance all the things that make us who we are. She wrote a column a few weeks ago that caught my eye. The headline was: Are we setting our kids up to do the one thing we haven't taught them to do well: Fail?

She is a parent of three herself and we had a great conversation about what kids face these days how we as parents protect them and yet allow them to experience setbacks.