27/08/2024
Can you talk to your Christian friends about politics?
Seeking Jesus, Confronting Injustice. Podcast: https://apple.co/2Q4MRKh. Partners: Walton, Sy Hoekstra. Web: KTFPress.com
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Can you talk to your Christian friends about politics?
"It made people suffer." wants all voters, and especially second or third generation immigrant voters, to know that your vote for president matters this November. Presidents have enormous authority to set an immigration agenda that can really hurt people. "Things got way worse in very practical, specific ways under Trump."
Our latest episode of Shake the Dust: MAGA vs. the Church on Immigration with Robert Chao Romero. Listen now wherever you get podcasts.
If Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world”, why do Christian Nationalists preach that the United States is God’s Country? It's because it's not actually Christian at all. The mission, vision, goals and desired outcomes are substantively different and opposition to the shalom that God intended. We pray that followers of Jesus bear witness in a way that leaves the world curious about our Christ and a desire to be more kind.
This week was alot...here are some highlights y'all:
- Conservatives Use Olympics misinformation to push an anti-trans agenda
- Praying for International Politics instead of centering America
- What we can learn from the history of mental health treatment
- Cori Bush loses a primary race after AIPAC spends millions
- And stay grounded with some reflections on James Baldwin’s 100th birthday
https://www.ktfpress.com/p/ousting-cori-bush-olympic-transphobia KTF Press
Plus, some thoughts on Baldwin's 100th Birthday
Are you applying critical thinking to everything? Even what your pastors tell you?
Listen to Shake the Dust episode "How Christians Get into and Out of Conspiracy Theories with Matt Lumpkin" wherever you get podcasts.
How are you coping with the social and political turmoil all around us?
Don't the headlines overwhelm you. We put together a free guide for engaging with the news of American politics and the wars abroad. It provides practical steps toward taking meaningful action in line with your values, utilizing your gifts, and taking seriously your limits as an individual. It will help you build community, structure your thinking about activism, and grow spiritually, while decreasing the anxiety and pressure we all feel when we think about how much work there is to do.
Download "Hope Amidst the Headlines: How to Engage in Times of Crisis" today at ktfpress.us/engage
Together, we can navigate the challenges ahead and work toward a better future.
New podcast! and Sy talk with Mark about:
- How Mark went from fundamentalism to loving his neighbor via political protest
- The cost of leaving a fundamentalist world and speaking out against injustice
- Why the beatitudes should guide our discipleship and voting
- How discipleship is practicing the way of Jesus, not learning doctrine, and more!
Listen now wherever you get podcasts and visit ktfpress.com to subscribe to our free mailing list for newsletters, commentary, and new pods!
We've all been in these situations.
"At the end of the day...sometimes the answer is leave immediately. Get out of there. At other times, God is calling you to stay at least in the short term time. And it's important to be discerning and not just reactive to when is the right situation presenting itself." Pastor joined and Sy Hoekstra in conversation on the latest Shake the Dust podcast.
Listen to the episode "Juneteenth, Christianity, and Critical Race Theory with Pastor Rasool Berry" wherever you get podcasts.
The story of Pentecost is central to seeking Jesus and confronting injustice. God said, "I will pour out my spirit on all people," which includes EVERYONE. So, the next time you hear someone say _______ is not loved or worthy of all God offers, remember the upper room and the words Peter quoted from Joel 2:
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
- Wealthy White folks in Louisiana form a new, segregated city
- The tension of spending resources on art while the world burns
- Israel’s pattern of attacking humanitarian workers
- Who’s left out in a world built around cars
- a powerful, short documentary
KTF Press newsletter this week is a good one featuring articles, documentaries and podcasts for seek Jesus and oppose injustice. Check it out!
Plus, the IDF keeps attacking humanitarian workers
If you admit that colonialism wasn't what God wanted, then you have to deal with sin, and White churches don't have a theology of forgiveness or grace powerful enough for that.
Jonathan Walton discusses What is Christian Nationalism? And Why Do White People Love It So Much? In our latest bonus episode of Shake The Dust. Join us on Spotify or at ktfpress.com for this episode and our upcoming season as we seek Jesus and confront injustice.
Our feeds are often marked by so much suffering that it can be difficult to see beauty and life. We find it genuinely the case that if we are apart from God - not grounded in His love, steadfast in His justice, then we can be tempted to think that all hope is lost. But as the flowers bloom, birds begin to sing, and new shoots sprout forth, we are reminded that joy comes in the morning, his mercies are new every day, trouble doesn't last always, and to everything there is a season. God give us all strength to endure and persevere in this difficult stretch. Lord, have mercy.
The anxiety and fear around the potential results of our election season is palpable in nearly every sector of society. This includes the Church, but it doesn't have to. The fall traditionally is when the harvest comes. Followers of Jesus should plant seeds now in our individual lives and in the places where we have influence so that when November comes, we are bearing good fruit, no matter the outcome. Because our Messiah doesn't live in Washington but is Lord over it.
Our free weekly newsletter curates essential media around culture, politics, and faith to help you grow in discipleship and political education. Join our community at ktfpress.com
Trump is peddling a Bible that he's probably never read and most certainly doesn't hold highly. Fortunately, there are many who take faith in Jesus seriously, and laid out clearly that ways that we can resist the idols of America and follow the Jesus of love and justice.
Meet many of those voices through our anthology, Keeping the Faith: Reflections on Politics & Christianity in the Era of Trump & Beyond. Learn more at keepingthefaithbook.com.
On Good Friday, more than 150 people joined us in New York City to advocate for a cease fire. We walked in prayerful solidarity with the people of Gaza. Thank you to everyone who joined our . We long for a ceasefire, all prisoners, hostages, journalists, mothers, fathers, and children to come home. We long for aid to flow to all who need it and for an end to occupation.
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Are you free enough to imagine something new? Diamond Walton says, "We need to be a bit more active, creative, and imaginative" to establish systems where Black people can thrive.
Listen to 's conversation with Tamice Spencer-Helms and Shake the Dust hosts titled "Invest in Black Life" wherever you get podcasts. We discuss how to meet needs without being paternalistic, how to come out from under predominantly White organizations, and much more.
What do you think about the 2024 presidential election, and why is it important to you?
That's the topic our Shake the Dust hosts Sy Hoekstra and Jonathan Walton discussed in our latest bonus episode. Our upcoming fourth season of the podcast will focus on the election. Before we begin that exploration with guests, we wanted to share - how can we sort of contextualize these issues within history and theology from the perspectives of marginalized voices, to give us just kind of a broader understanding of kind of the real consequences and really what's going on this year?
Listen to our bonus episode "What Happens If Trump Wins Again?" wherever you get podcasts or read the full transcript at the link our bio. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
The founder of Critical Race Theory, Derrick Bell, wasn't inspired by Karl Marx; it was Jesus Christ. shares his insights on the methodology of CRT in his essay, The Promise and Perils of Critical Race Theory.
Read our anthology, Keeping the Faith, available at the link in our bio.
"You know how people need to be cared for because they're your community members," said . "You know that if there’s, something bad happened, you know who the person is to call. You know, whether or not that's the guy at the bodega who you know is going to call your grandmother, and your grandmother is going to come there… We have been keeping ourselves safe for a very long time, and I don't think we've been naming that as public safety."
We spoke to lawyer and community leader Keli Young on the Shake the Dust podcast in 2021. In response to overpolicing she poingnantly asked, "What do we do when we don't have the option of throwing someone away?" Listen to the episode titled "Abolition, Public Safety, And Who are the Experts?" wherever you get podcasts.
"To vote for what is best for the immigrant, prisoner, hungry, and sick is to vote with Christ on the throne of our hearts." traces imperialism and white supremacy from America's roots to Pope Nicholas V's Doctrine of Discovery in his essay, "White American Folk Religion Contrasted with Real Christianity."
Get our 2020 anthology, Keeping the Faith: Reflections on Politics & Christianity in the Era of Trump & Beyond, to read his full essay.
"It is not those with political power who are the test of God’s peace, but the most marginalized in a society." works at the intersection of faith, justice, and politics to take our theology back from the ideas and systems that oppress.
Brandi Miller contributed "What American Evangelicalism Has Lost and Needs to Find" to our 2020 anthology. Get the book, Keeping the Faith: Reflections on Politics & Christianity in the Era of Trump & Beyond, to read her full essay.
Lawyer knew instinctively the people who were the experts on how systems fail. It's the people directly impacted. "I take the cues from my leaders. They tell me what they think is important. They tell me where they want us to show up and I coordinate that."
A Black Christian lawyer, community organizer, and Brooklyn native working toward Black liberation, Keli Young joined us on the Shake the Dust podcast in season one. Listen to the episode, "Abolition, Public Safety, and Who are the Experts?" wherever you get podcasts.
In her powerhouse debut, Faith Unleavened, identifies how the idol of whitness keeps Christians captive, and how we can burn the idol down. "The stories we tell, that we enjoy, that aid in our own liberation are often about people daring to believe that God is who they hoped God was."
Faith Unleavened was published by KTF Press. Order the book at the link in our bio or listen to our interview with Tamice on the Shake the Dust podcast.
"My ancestors were not allowed to read or write, but they knew that what they were told about their lives and their worth was false," writes in her book, Faith Unleavened. "It didn’t matter what the master told them the Bible said, they knew intrinsically that it was wrong. White slaveholders spoke in the name of the Bible in an effort to claim its authority and harness its power."
In 'Faith Unleavened: The Wilderness Between Trayvon Martin & George Floyd,' Tamice Spencer-Helms takes us on the painful but liberating journey of extracting the leaven from spirituality, and rediscovering the parts of ourselves that a colonized Christianity seeks to suppress. Her powerhouse debut was published by KTF Press. Check the link in our bio order your copy.
This Black History Month we're reaffirming our commitment to centering and elevating marginalized voices in the Church. All February we'll be featuring Black leaders who have contributed to our Shake the Dust podcast, books, and newsletter. We'll be exploring culture, politics, and faith as we disentangle Jesus’ kingdom from the idols of Western Christianity. Join the discussion this month here and at ktfpress.com.
We dropped a special bonus episode of Shake the Dust yesterday: "How We Stay Grounded While Engaging with Injustice." Jonathan and Sy talk about what keeps them going in the work that KTF does. Check out our episode for their thoughts on:
✨ The spiritual and emotional practices that keep Jonathan grounded
✨ Why Sy only prays when he feels like it, and consumes a lot of fiction
✨ The importance of the image of God and living in shalom with your surroundings to Jonathan
✨ How Privilege and anxiety interact with each other
✨ Why Sy wants to show people another way of living is possible
✨ And Jonathan’s recent newsletter recommendation about a massive, nearly untouched national park and the important environmental and cultural questions surrounding it
Listen or read now: https://www.ktfpress.com/p/bonus-episode-how-we-stay-grounded
Do your 2024 goals balance the delight and the struggle?
If wealth is on your list of goals and resolutions for 2024, are good deeds also on the list? What good deeds do you hope to accomplish this year?
Jesus came to liberate us of our oppression to economics. But are we ready for the divestment, restitution, and reparation it he asks of us?
Explore liberation from wealth with S3E2 of the Shake the Dust podcast. Full episode titled "Economic Justice for Your Neighborhood" available wherever you get podcasts.
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Jesus didn’t come to promote a political ideology—His kingdom isn’t of this world. So, how do we live out our faith today? As followers of Jesus, we’re called to resist the gospel of power and steward our influence for the flourishing of all people. Let’s embrace this good news and seek shalom in a divided world. "What Does the Bible Say about Political Discipleship??" On our latest episode of the podcast, Sy and Jonathan question the good news shared by Jesus. Listen to Shake the Dust wherever you get podcasts. #shakethedust #podcast #christianmedia #ktfpress #christian #decolonizefaith #election2024 #gospel #christianpolitics
There's power in: 🗨 - "Oh, I didn't know that." 🗨 - "I was wrong." 🗨 - "Let me go back and post something different." @jonathanpanwalton hopes to see Christians whoa re willing to stand up, admit when we're wrong, and point the focus back on the people who are actually being persecuted. Join the conversation in our latest episode of Shake the Dust. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. #christain #Christianlife #podcast #shakethedust #fyp #foryou #foryoupage
"Go girl!" @tamicenamaespeaks held her grandmother's hand as Kamala Harris was sworn in as our first Black, female Vice President. After marching for voting rights and participating in sit-ins, the occasion was more than just a celebration of representation for her. "I think my grandmother knew that day would come." Listen to the full excerpt from Tamice's book Faith Unleavened on our YouTube, link in bio, or listen on the Shake the Dust podcast. #shakethedust #2024election #election2024 #election #representationmatters
Have you ever listened to Shake the Dust with headphones? 🎧 Our founder, Sy Hoekstra, edits our podcast audio to help you feel immersed in the conversation. With separate speakers and surround sound, you have a seat at the table of every conversation. Happy Disability Pride Month! Here's a glimpse into Sy's process of editing our audio. He uses audio assistance to navigate through the programs and create our quality sound. Our podcasts and content always feature immediate transcripts, human-powered transcriptions, captions, and alt text everywhere. We want accessibility for all. #disability #disabilityadvocate #disabilitypride #disabilitypridemonth #podcast #blind #blindcommunity
How are you feeling after that presidential debate? 😬🙃🫤😟 Don't let the complexity of American politics overwhelm you. We put together a free guide for engaging with the crises and injustices you encounter every day. It provides practical steps toward taking meaningful action in line with your values, utilizing your gifts, and taking seriously your limits as an individual. It will help you build community, structure your thinking about activism, and grow spiritually, while decreasing the anxiety and pressure we all feel when we think about how much has gone wrong and how much work there is to do. Download "Hope Amidst the Headlines: How to Engage in Times of Crisis" today from the link in our bio. Together, we can navigate the challenges ahead and work toward a better future. #election2024 #presidentialdebate #socialjustice #americanpolitics #seekingjustice #christianpolitics #bidenvstrump #trumpvsbiden #activism
Making doctrine the most important thing in discipleship made White Christians argue pointlessly, kill each other, and become hypocritical. When the church does not reflect the love of Jesus, it invites disdain. @randywoodleyauthor joins Shake the Dust for to discuss What Defines a White Worldview. Listen to the episode now wherever you get podcasts. #dualism #shakethedust #podcast #christianpodcast #decolonizefaith #americanchristian #americanchurch #church #indigenous #indigenousscholar
WE'RE BACK! 🎙🚀 Our Shake the Dust podcast returns today to begin our season-long journey to keep the faith through this election cycle. We're starting strong with Indigenous professor, activist, farmer, and author, Dr. Randy Woodley. Head straight to your favorite podcast app for our discussion with @randywoodleyauthor on: 🔴 How dualism defines White worldviews, and how it negatively affects White Christians 🔴 How love and vulnerability are central to a life with Jesus 🔴 Why our voting decisions matter to marginalized people LISTEN to Shake the Dust now wherever you get podcasts! SHARE this post or the podcast episode with your friends and family to help us grow the conversation. COMMENT and let us know what you're looking forward to exploring with us this season. FOLLOW us here for episode videos all season long. JOIN our community of Christians seeking Jesus and confronting injustice at ktfpress.com #ktfpress #podcast #newseason #podcasts #christian
SUBSCRIBE NOW - Introducing Shake the Dust Season Four: Keeping the Faith during an Election. This season, we're helping you navigate the election cycle with guests from our anthology: Keeping the Faith. Over the coming months, we'll help people seek Jesus, confront injustice, and resist the idols of the American church that got us into the religious and political mess we're in right now. We're so excited to share this with you all. The season trailer is out now, listen wherever you get podcasts, and subscribe to be the first to hear our first episode. Link in bio + ktfpress.com.
This Lent, we're reflecting on some of the things that we do to stay grounded. What are some of the spiritual disciplines, some of the emotional health practices that you do to keep yourself from losing yourself in the anxiety and everything as you go through stressful news events? @jonathanpanwalton shared his practices for dealing with difficult subjects in theology and politics and oppression on the Shake the Dust podcast. 🎧 Listen to a preview of the episode wherever you get podcasts or subscribe at ktfpress.com for the full conversation. #lent #socialjustice #shakethedust #podcast #christianpodcast #activism #grounding #meditation #selfreflection #selfreflect #stopscrolling
Why people just can’t process what Aaron Bushnell did - that's our top story in this week's KTF Press Newsletter. @jonathanpanwalton, like Brown University political science professor Deva Woodley, believes the radical protest requires more reflection. Every week, we give you resources to help you in discipleship and healthy, informed political engagement. Now, the newsletter with over 5,000 subscribers is fully free for all readers. We want to help as many people as we can seek Jesus and resist the idols of the White, American church. Will you sign up to read weekly at KTFPress.com or share the newsletter with just one person in your community? #aaronbushnell #freegaza #freepalestine #ktfnewsletter #protest #stopgenocideingaza🇵🇸 #stopgenocide #ceasefirenow
The suffering of our world today was familiar to Jesus. In our most recent bonus episode of Shake the Dust, we discuss our big-picture thoughts on the 2024 presidential election and the possibility of a second Trump term. "When we actually lean into [the scripture], we can say yes, what Trump says he's going to do is terrible, and not new." - @jonathanpanwalton Listen to the episode wherever you get podcasts, or at ktfpress.com. #2024election #decolonizefaith #freepalestine🇵🇸 #occupied #jesus #shakethedust #christianmedia #ceasefirenow #freegaza #lent #lent2024
CNN Journalist and author John Blake believes Americans need to renew our interest in the idea of integration if we want to make meaningful change on matters of racial justice. And in a country where 86% of churches lack any meaningful racial diversity, the church was where he first experienced a model for what he calls "radical integration." "You have to have interracial communities. You have to have interracial relationships along with policy changes and power." Do you have experience in a diverse church? How was power distributed in those spaces? Listen to this full episode of Shake the Dust wherever you get podcasts. #integration #churchdiversity #segregatedspaces #bhm #racialdiversity #radicalintegration #antiracist #antiracisteducation #colonizedfaith #diversity #dei
"The words of Maya Angelou's 'Still I Rise' remind me that, though I feel burdened and pressed down, there is a power, a joy, and a wonder within me, within Blackness, within anyone rising up with pride from history's oppression." @jonathanpanwalton Our weekly newsletter has a new section: what's helping us stay grounded as we wade through the heavy political and theological issues of today. Join our newsletter at ktfpress.com for something special in your inbox each week. What's helping you stay grounded this week? #mayaangelou #mayaangelouquotes #poetry #bhm2024 #Christianmedia #christianpodcast
"I was using God to achieve an end for myself. It was not a relational, I wasn't there to commune with God, I was there to use God as a stress reliever." Host Sy Hoekstra became more grounded in his spiritual practices when he stopped talking to Jesus out of rote obligation. Join this conversation in our bonus episode of Shake the Dust, "How We Stay Grounded while Engaging with Injustice," at ktfpress.com. This is the first time we've recorded a video with our Shake the Dust podcast! Would you like to watch our discussions and interviews on video platforms? #prayer #pray #spiritualgrowth #mindfulnesspractice #emotionalhealing
Unpacking 1 Corinthians 11! 📖✨ Often, we focus on examining our hearts during communion, but have you ever considered the social justice aspect? Paul calls out a church for turning the Lord's Supper into a feast for the rich, leaving the poor to watch. How can we ensure our gatherings reflect love and equality? Share your thoughts below! 👇 #communion #socialjustice #wealthgap #marginalizedvoices #feedthehungry #lovethyneighbor
Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. theology today. "Yes, suffering, injustice, oppression, pain, they make a claim on us. They make a real claim on our bodies and our situations, but God's claim is greater." Dr. Mika Edmondson joined us on Shake the Dust in 2021 to discuss MLK and Hard-Won Wisdom. His book, The Power of Unearned Suffering: The Roots and Implications of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Theodicy, is based on his doctoral dissertation. Listen to the episode to dive into King's emphasis on God's sovereignty, redemptive suffering, and civil rights history. #martinlutherking #mlk #mlkday2024 #theodicy #podcast #christianmedia #blackchurch #martinlutherkingjr
Jesus came to liberate us of our oppression to economics. But are we ready for the divestment, restitution, and reparation it he asks of us? Explore liberation from wealth with S3E2 of the Shake the Dust podcast. Full episode titled "Economic Justice for Your Neighborhood" available wherever you get podcasts. #EconomicJustice #podcast #2024resolutions #kingdomeconomics #ecosystmsofjubilee #grace #fellowship #collectiveaction #spiritualwealth
The scarcity mindset transforms neighbors into opponents. Dive into a profound conversation on the Shake the Dust podcast as Adam Gustine and Jose Humphreys dissect the detrimental impact of the scarcity mindset on biblical justice. We break down their book, "Ecosystems of Jubilee" and discuss how the fear of not enough leads to the three E’s of economic injustice: exclusion, extraction, and exploitation. Listen to "Economic Justice for Your Neighborhood" on Shake the Dust wherever you get podcasts. #Abundance #UpwardMobility #kingdomeconomics #EconomicJustice #2024resolutions #christianity #vulnerability #shakethedust #scarcitymindset #scarcity #neighbors
We need pastors who can say they are sinners and mean it. "This trickles down to Christians in general. We can only talk about a sin that we've overcome and are totally fine from. We can only communicate a struggle, so long as we communicate how hard we're fighting against it and all of the tools that are coming along with it, when in reality it's like for me I struggle every day..." 🎧"Why So Many Pastors Are Unprepared for the Job, and What We Can Do about It" Listen to S3E9 of Shake the Dust wherever you get podcasts. #pastors #perfectionism #vulnerability #christianity #FaithInGod #ministers #confession
'Being diagnosed helped me feel more human.' Join the conversation as @lamarhardwick opens up about the profound impact of receiving his autism diagnosis at 36. Understanding the distinction between neurology and character, he found newfound strength in authenticity. Join us for "Dr. Lamar Hardwick on Disability, Inclusion, and the Fear of Being Human" on the Shake the Dust podcast, S1E5. We discuss Dr. Hardwick's story of being an autistic pastor, learn what scriptures and ideas help us reshape how we understand disability, and explore how to build congregations around including disabled people. Shake the Dust is available on all podcast platforms. 🎧 #InclusiveFaith #AutismAwareness #DisabilityAdvocate #AutismPastor #DiverseTheology #ChurchCommunity #TheologyTalks #EmbraceDifferences #FaithAndInclusion #PastoralInsights #InspiringJourney #BreakingBarriers #HumanityUnveiled #FaithfulConversations #HealingThroughFaith #neurodiverse #EmpathyInAction #asd
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