As we approach MLK weekend, we invite you to lean into the truths of our shared story so we can rediscover our shared humanity and reimagine a new chapter for ourselves, our communities and our nation, together. We have to be willing to learn from the injustices of our past and be willing to trace them back to the roots, both in our systems and our hearts, if we're ever going to see these wounds heal.Hear special guest Pastor James White wrestle with the question of where we go from here, chaos or community, in next week's JUST podcast double episode finale.
0:00 Episode starts
0:43 Personal check-ins start
1:47 Rob talks about how excited they both are about the guest
4:34 Jes talks about Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and being re-inspired by the new year
5:10 Pastor James White joins the conversation
6:40 Rob introduces James
9:24 Rob asks about one to two words that he would use to describe today
10:50 James talks about Martin Luther King, Jr. and reframing how we live in a nightmare to living in a dream
14:26 Jes asks about his story and who inspires him
15:25 James talks about being born in a post-racial illusion
20:26 James talks about growing up with two different parental views of working hard
22:24 James talks about learning how to navigate white cultures from a young age being the first in his family to go to segregated school
25:00 James talks about living in a way that your life makes a difference
29:29 Rob talks about the weight and influence of Luther’s story on his work in justice
31:32 James talks about how the black church was critical to helping these people grow into themselves after getting out of slavery
35:02 James talks about how Dr. King was exposing systemic problems at a level that made everyone uncomfortable
37:15 James talks about how Dr. King teaches in a way that he dealt with things through changing systems
38:49 Interlude
39:44 Jes asks about how he learns lessons from failures and how to practically implement that into his work and how he wants to leave the YMCA changed
43:06 James talks about the difference between his work at the Y versus through the Y
45:10 James talks about being a healthy spirit, mind and body and addressing the systems that are inequitable
49:36 Rob asks the church’s role in all of this and to do justice in a way that communities need
52:00 James talks about going to Africa to speak at a conference to present on the impact of the Middle Passage
54:04 James talks about the problem between the difference of church and who we are outside of it
59:12 James talks about being afraid when people who call themselves Christians aren’t moved to empathy when they hear stories of injustice
1:01:56 Jes asks about the biggest obstacle
1:03:57 James talks about missing how we see each other as humans and that humanity means that we are connected together
1:08:30 Jes encourages listeners to understand how Pastor White’s ideas are true for each of them and how that plays out in their lives and their communities
1:09:15 Rob asks how listeners can show-up and engage in the work Pastor White is doing
1:09:47 James acknowledges that this conversation requires courage and living authentically into our own stories to make peace with that
1:16:55 Conversation ends
1:16:57 Outro
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