Art of the Sermon Podcast Feature

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AOTS_045-3Friends,

Check out my feature on Art of the Sermon, a podcast for people with an interest in preaching/public speaking and church communication. My podcast explored the church’s relationship to single mothers and how this unique ministry opportunity is one that churches often miss. We talked scripture, intersectionality, shame and single motherhood, conservative views of sex outside of marriage (oh snap!) and pop culture.

I was asked about what I’d say to someone who may have a conservative view on sex outside of marriage re: single motherhood. My response?

Continue reading →

Underground: If Not for the Women…

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Last week, the groundbreaking television show Underground premiered its second season and I couldn’t be more excited! Besides being a fan of the show, I was hired to write the Underground Season 2 Faith Study Guide, a 28-page resource that churches around the country will use to engage in the theological and social implications in the show. I consider this project one of the most important things I’ve ever written and I wanted to share the resource with you!

Click Underground Faith Study Guide | Season 2 to access and download the PDF and join me for some real-time engagement on Facebook and Twitter tomorrow when episode two airs on WGN America at 10 PM EST!

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Something About Mary

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Merry Christmas, everybody!

Friday, as I was traipsing through the City finishing some last minute tasks, I met a homeless woman.

She was sitting on a crate outside a busy Chipotle on Broadway. With every passerby, she’d say “Merry Christmas, can you please help me with some spare change?” Most people ignored her. Including me. Continue reading →

Book Review + Giveaway: Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower

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Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower: Finding Answers in Jesus For Those Who Don’t Believe*
By Tom Krattenmaker
245 pp. Convergent Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC $25
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Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower: Finding Answers in Jesus For Those Who Don’t Believe by Award-Winning USA Today Columnist Tom Krattenmaker is an honest assessment of one’s personal and spiritual development into, around, and out of the Christian faith.

As a person who has been a Christian all of her life (in varying degrees — those twenties were tough years), I acknowledge my biases toward Jesus. I am biased. I think He’s dope. He’s the reason I do what I do. “Christian” is a label I wear proudly and take seriously. But I also hold in tension the way Christianity has been an invasive, violent force in the world. Its doctrine and believers have used its theology to oppress marginalized people for centuries and touts itself as a moral and social ideal to be reached. Christianity has propelled itself as a money-making-machine that often capitalizes on the very people who the religion says for which we should be working. Christianity pits its own followers against each other — singles against married folk, the poor against the wealthy, the uneducated against the degreed.

Yet, I still self-identify as a Christian. And for Krattenmaker, it was those aforementioned divisions that make his affinity for Christianity non-existent. Continue reading →

Clear the Clutter: A Focus on Vocation

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Inspired by my blog, Leaving Room, where I explored the idea of clearing the clutter in our lives to make room for God to do new and innovative things, I gave an hour-long talk at Union Theological Seminary about clearing the clutter to focus on vocation. How do we begin to clear the voices, the opinions, the social pressure to be (insert occupation here) when we hear God calling us in a different direction?

The good people at Union Theological Seminary recorded the audio from the talk and you can find it by clicking here. Attendees’ questions and answers are also featured! A note: the audio is a little distorted so turn down your speakers a bit before clicking play!

We had such a great time talking and thinking through the possibilities of vocation. I share my story of how my dream to move to New York was ten years in the making, why saying “no” to opportunities that crowded my vocational aspirations set me up for the perfect “yes,” and why taking a leap of faith requires more of God than it does of us!

Much thanks to Union Seminary and the  Vo/Career Initiative for inviting me to speak! If you’re interested in having me do a talk around vocation at your college, church, or small group click here!

On the Vocational Chase,

Alisha L.