Join us in this enlightening episode as our host, Mo King, delves into the intricate landscape of Christian ethics with esteemed scholars Dr. Traci West  and Dr. Lisa Asedillo. Dr. West is an author and Professor of Christian Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School. She offers profound insights into gender-based violence, intertwining race and religion, and the pivotal role of hope in facing global crises. Dr. Lisa Asedillo is an ethicist, liturgist, and currently serves as Assistant Professor of Worship and Ethics at Pacific School of Religion. She shares her passion for nurturing spiritually rooted leaders at PSR, emphasizing the importance of teaching methods and facilitating deep conversations in the classroom. Together, they explore critical topics such as religion, activism, ethics, and community leadership. We hear about the value of creativity and spirituality in navigating challenges, the need for solidarity and mutuality in liberation movements, and the importance of centering anti-racist perspectives in theology and ethics, Tune in as these scholars explore how faith transforms into tangible action and illuminates the path towards ethical living and social justice in today’s world. This episode offers faith leaders perspectives that inspire hope and ignite change.

To get more content like this and learn more about ignite and PSR go to psr.edu.

On our Season premiere, our host Mo King sits down with spiritual leaders Rev. Adriene Thorne, Senior Minister of the historic Riverside Church in NYC, and Rev. Dr. David Vásquez-Levy, President of Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA, as they delve into their experiences leading dynamic communities, their challenges, and the resources they use to overcome them. From navigating vulnerability in religious spaces to forging interfaith collaborations, they explore the topics of identity, spirituality, and ministry, offering insights on leadership, prophetic voice, and inclusivity. While reflecting on their shared connection through PSR and how it informs their approaches to leadership, they highlight the importance of faith, trust, strategic planning, and community meaning-making. We also hear about the importance of resisting fear in various contexts and the role of artists and creatives in helping people see a future that isn’t here yet, but is coming. This episode provides valuable resources for leaders navigating the complexities of modern religious landscapes.

In a global culture that has perpetuated sexual violence, and a recent shift to more people talking about it than ever before, how can we as leaders truly be in community with survivors of this kind of abuse? In our Season Finale, we sat down with Lydia Matioli, Program & Partnerships Director of Freely in Hope in Kenya and Zambia, to talk about her own story and how this shift in mindset is helping her be more expansive in her vision, in terms of advocacy.  Born and raised in Kibera, East Africa’s largest slum, Lydia has experienced the effects of sexual violence, lack of education, and poverty firsthand. Now, at Freely in Hope, she coordinates, designs, and implements programs that exemplify best practices on ending the cycle of sexual violence. She shares with our community how listening to survivors’ stories and telling their stories in a dignified way, helps them to shift the blame from them to their perpetrators and begin the healing process. We learn specific pathways to take, so that we can all become active survivor advocates as well as how therapy, contemplative practices, and having an attitude of gratitude can keep leaders in this work grounded and nourished.   Lydia also talks about teaching children the importance of preventing sexual abuse through bodily autonomy, speaking up, consent, and safe touch.

Pick up Lydia’s book here: https://buy.pendospower.com/

*This episode contains mature content

Co-designing is an ancient practice, and the world is experiencing a paradigm shift from designing for people to designing with people. We sat down with Dave Dawkins, communication design lead at IDEO.org, to talk about this change and the importance of summoning radical imagination in this time. For so many on the margins, it’s an act of resistance to dream. Dave shares the importance of looking to ancestral knowledge for solutions to all the bad we see unfolding around us and supporting communities most impacted by the system by ensuring their valuable generative ideas are making it to the table. It’s about activating the spiritual discipline of building wonder! We also hear about Dave’s life, work, faith crisis and how failure can be a good thing that leads to the future seeds of something else growing! Wielding beauty for justice and belonging, Dave offers inspiration to our community with the application of human-centered design through an equity lens to address systemic challenges!

Checkout Dave’s open letter to fellow creatives: HERE

With everything happening in the world today in politics, cancel culture, and extreme barriers of division, Leland Melvin is helping to transform these ills by using his life story as an athlete, astronaut, scientist, engineer, photographer, and musician, to help inspire the next generation of explorers to pursue S.T.E.A.M. careers. Leland is the only person drafted into the NFL to have flown in space, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame honored his athletic and academic accomplishments by placing his Detroit Lions jersey under glass in Canton, Ohio. Through these professional experiences working on high stakes teams, he’s developed a deep and nuanced understanding of effective team dynamics. In this episode, we hear an astronaut’s story of the challenges he’s accepted, the opportunities he’s seized, and the changes he’s seeing. Leland talks with us about the power of the blue suit, activating community, breaking bread, and what is possible when you knock down the barriers of division. He also shares why as leaders and people, we all need that  one person who is there for you no matter what and who has your back.

“Being with a community that believes in things that are bigger than your individual self, when you work together as a team, is transformative!” – Leland Melvin

*This episode features mature content.

How do we support the writers, artists, and thinkers in our communities in times of profound change? Andrew Proctor, Executive Director of Literary Arts in Portland Oregon, sat down with us to answer this question and shared how he’s engaged the literary world for over twenty years in the governmental, for profit, and nonprofit sectors. Andrew also talks with us about the beauty of art as a medium to process what’s going on in the world, the importance of modeling rest for your community, and what career resilience and growth really looks like. He also shared an incredibly impactful musical composition from  Gabriel Kahane that’s inspired us immensely!

“Everything doesn’t have to run on fumes because running your career or self on fumes makes you extremely vulnerable. It can seem heroic, but it is what endangers you the most.”

Andrew earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Music at Concordia University in Montreal, and later worked in London for the Cultural Attaché to the Canadian High Commission. In the UK, he also earned an MA in English Literature at the University of East. He’s worked as an editor for HarperCollins in New York City and then as the Membership and Operations Director of the PEN American Center, a global literary and human rights organization focused on the welfare of writers and editors.

How can Christian teachings, sacred text, and prophetic witness be brought to the issues calling for Love and Justice in our world today? Master educator, Rev. Tana Roseboro Marsh, Program Coordinator of Theological Education for Leadership (TEL) at PSR, sits down with us to answer that question through the lens of the TEL program. While actively working on issues concerning the LGBTQIA community and disadvantaged youth, Tana is also passionate about doing work in the area of Spirituality and Women of Southern African American descent. She talks with us about her leadership journey, ‘Healing the WOMBman’, letting spirit guide us, and the gifts in having spiritual children. This episode offers inspiration for clergy, laity, and spiritual seekers from diverse racial/ethnic communities to question everything on their educational and leadership journeys, for the betterment of All!

How can we “sit on the porch” to help others slowly unfold what’s on their hearts and minds? How can we be findable for intergenerational conversations? On this episode, Mo sits down with Phyllis Drennon King Hildreth, VP of Strategy and Chief of Staff at American Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee, small business owner, community and civic leader, wife, mother, and his beloved sister, to answer these questions more. She talks with us about why it’s critical to have close relationships across the generational scale and about Sankofa, the Ghanaian word that means “to go back and get” that which is at risk of being left behind. We also hear why in leadership it’s not just about being available, but about being found, like the elders on the porch.  This episode is an invitation for leaders to go “visit their own soul, open the windows, roll up the shades, and invite somebody else in to turn on the music and to play in that space!”

Dr. Hildreth’s rich insights spring from service as Chief Counsel in the Office of the Public Defender for the State of Maryland, as Deputy Secretary for the State of Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice, and as Managing Director for the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center. Dr. Hildreth earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a law degree from the University of Maryland, and a master’s degree in conflict management from Lipscomb University.

What we consume, whether it’s the movies that we watch, the books we read, or the short social media videos we scroll through, it all feeds our minds and souls and informs our sense of reality at a very subliminal level. To Payhuan Shiao, Founder and CEO of Immortal Studios, and lineage holder of the 1000-year-old martial arts fantasy genre of Wuxia, content creation is the artform of providing nutrition for the mind and soul. Payhuan talks with us about awakening the xia (Hero) in us all, the changes he’s seeing in the current landscape of global popular culture, and how storytelling is a powerful catalyst to bring optimism and a hope for a better future that’s grounded in the improvement of our internal spiritual and physical condition. Born in the East and raised in the West, navigating both worlds, Payhuan explores the spiritual connection between the two, challenges the notion there’s a deep divide, and shares that there’s more connectivity than separation. Payhuan’s presence in the film and entertainment industry highlights the importance of Asian representation in these spaces,  and this episode challenges leaders to think about the evolved perspectives it takes to bring people closer together.

Former 76ers athletic trainer and author of the Red Rubber Ball series of books, Kevin Carroll, has turned his childhood passion for playing ball into a bestselling franchise. Since leaving Nike to create his own company, Katalyst, Kevin has dedicated his life to advancing sports and play as a vehicle for social change and success. As an expert on creativity and innovation, and drawing wisdom from the playgrounds of his youth, Kevin’s books center the “red rubber ball” as a metaphor for the power of play and the driving force that propels us forward, to achieve our maximum human potential. He talks with us about the most important moments in his childhood, the power of perseverance, reverse mentoring, and staying in beta as a human being, constantly updating and continuously improving! We hear about the beauty in analog making a return and the importance of becoming a CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) for others in our communities. This episode offers leaders, makers, doers, and dreamers inspiration and tools for sustenance in our life’s work.

“We are the greatest app ever created. There is no app on a device or computer that is more powerful and amazing than us.” – Kevin Carroll