Where Ya From? Podcast

In this episode of VOICES’ Where Ya From? podcast, Dr. A.R. Bernard teaches us that there are no small churches or small impact—just small thinking. Learn how God took A.R.’s four-member, store-front church and expanded it to the Christian Culture Center and understand that we all can make positive change in our communities by being faithful to whatever plan the Lord has in store for us.Guest Bio:A graduate of Alliance Theological Seminary, Dr. A.R. Bernard is a visionary whose teachings have lifted his church, the Christian Cultural Center (CCC), to become New York’s largest house of worship. In addition, he has been awarded Honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from Wagner College and from Nyack College/Alliance Theological Seminary. His wife, Karen, left her career with the Queens County Supreme Court to raise seven sons and copastor with her husband. Together, they have successfully experienced 48 years of marriage and 42 years of ministry.Notes & Quotes: “Essentially, culture is man’s attempts to order his society and determine the best ways to live in it. Now contrast that to the kingdom of God, which is the reign and rule of God or the government of God or God’s way of doing and being, which [also] means a culture.” “God’s presence has to be present within the culture in order to affect change.” “What makes us different? Our Christian identity. What does that mean? Secondly, how far do we adjust to the culture without compromising our Christian convictions? How far do we blend into the culture without losing our Christian identity?” “There are no small churches or small projects. There’s only small thinking.” “We live life on levels, we arrive in stages. Begin where you are, and build upon that.” Links Mentioned: Visit our website to sign up for emails: whereyafrom.org Leave us a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/where-ya-from-podcast/id1581145346 Check out our Voices Collection from Our Daily Bread Ministries Follow Where Ya From? on Instagram: @whereyafrompodcast Extra resource: This Far by Faith reading plan A.R. Bernard’s website: https://www.arbernard.com/ Verses Mentioned: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”: Genesis 1:27  “On earth as it is in heaven”: Matthew 6:10 Adam and Eve sin: Genesis 3 Dominion mandate: Genesis 1:28 “The least of these”: Matthew 25:40 God in Christ reconciling the world: 2 Corinthians 5:19–20 The Word became flesh and chose to dwell among us: John 1:14 Sent his word and healed them: Psalm 107:20  Salt of the earth: Matthew 5:13 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When two worlds, cultures, or concepts collide, what happens? Often, there’s a sense of conflict. But what if, instead of facing these collisions with conflict, we met them with a willingness to understand? In this episode of Where Ya From?, Rasool Berry shares his own story of faith, culture, and identity. Listen as we discuss his experience of growing up in Philly and going to boarding school, his feelings of rejection and realizations of forgiveness, and how authors like Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, and Malcolm X inspired his identity and journey of faith.Guest BioRasool Berry’s name (meaning “messenger” in Arabic) reflects who he is and what he is passionate about: impacting young adults through translating spiritual truths from Scripture into the language and ethos of our time. Rasool serves as teaching pastor at The Bridge Church in Brooklyn, New York, and he is also the director of partnerships and content development with Our Daily Bread Ministries. Rasool graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in Africana studies and sociology. He is committed to helping people live out a biblical framework for social justice. He hosted the travel documentary series In Pursuit of Jesus, where he journeyed across five continents exploring what he can learn about Jesus through others. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Tamica, and their daughter Ire’Ana, and he hosts the Where Ya From? podcast.Notes and Quotes: “Because of civil rights activists, Martin Luther King Jr. actually came to the school to call for its desegregation. It was finally desegregated, and so I ended up going and enrolling as a fourth grader in a boarding school in North Philly.” “Very early on, I was an outsider. And that really shaped a lot of who I became as a person because nothing came easy. I wasn’t athletic. I wasn’t cool. I was not smooth at that point. And there was nothing about me that drew people to me. And so I found myself on the outside looking in, and that was tough. But it was also something that over time kind of caused me to be more observant about people and curious about people because I was kind of observing a lot.” “I decided to just confess to the other girl that I had cheated. I was searching and trying to find a sense of how I could even, not just be the lowest piece of scum on her face of the planet, I guess. I didn’t want to live with the secret anymore. So I just confessed, fully expecting to get another well deserved tirade about how bad I was. And she said, ‘I forgive you.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And she was like, ‘I forgive you.’ And I said, ‘Why?’ I had no frame of reference for it. And she said, ‘Well, Jesus has forgiven me for everything that I’ve done. So I don’t think I should hold this against you.’” “Sometimes there’s this tendency to just say, ‘Oh, we should just forgive everything and forget.’ And it’s like, well, forgiveness is a huge part, but there’s also, ‘We need to speak the truth.’” Links Mentioned In Show:  Leave us a review here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/where-ya-from-podcast/id1581145346 In Pursuit of Jesus: Available now on YouTube at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPOUA7GLxXIGkFacDNE39s62HJ43Mcojr  Follow Where Ya From? Podcast on Instagram: @whereyafrompodcast Visit our website to sign up for email: https://www.whereyafrom.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Culture change only happens when we change culture. So how do you become a culture maker versus simply a culture consumer? In this episode of Where Ya From?, Andy Crouch discusses the implications and applicable processes of Christians understanding better how to speak to and influence culture versus talk against it. Listen as we discuss culture, being creators, and the implications and influences technology has in our culture today.Guest Bio Andy Crouch is a musician, author, advisor, editor, husband, and father. He currently serves as a partner for theology and culture at Praxis, an organization that works as a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship. He studied classics at Cornell University and received a Master of Divinity summa cum laude from Boston University School of Theology. From 1998 to 2003, Andy was the editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation of culturally creative Christians. In addition, he served as a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University for more than ten years. He is the author of The Tech-Wise Family, Strong and Weak, Playing God, and Culture Making. His writings have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Time magazine.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Music is a universally loved language of expressions and melodies. But what if the music you love, create, and share gets mislabeled by your own church and community? In this episode of Where Ya From?, musician Ruth Naomi Floyd shares her story of growing up in Philadelphia and caring for the wounded and alienated and how that, paired with her faith, led her to unapologetically create jazz music that blends theology and justice.Guest Bio Ruth Naomi Floyd is a vocalist and composer who has created a discography that highlights theology and justice with a multi-faceted progressive jazz ensemble sound. She lectures and performs her music internationally and has been a presence and is active in the areas of the arts and justice throughout her career. Ms. Floyd’s recent body of work is the “Frederick Douglass Jazz Works,” and she received a National Endowment of the Arts Project Grant in 2021 for her new body of work, “The Frances Suite.” She is also a music educator who is the first African American woman to establish a university jazz program. She is currently an artist-in-residence with Temple University. Floyd lives in Philadelphia, where she continues her creative work and justice work.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode with Dr. Alma Zaragoza-Petty, we explore the educational systems in place that hold back so many and her work to challenge the system as part of her God-given purpose, the difference in experiences of growing up in Mexico and Los Angeles, and the pivotal moments in her faith-filled journey.Guest BioDr. Alma Zaragoza-Petty was born in Los Angeles and raised in Acapulco, Mexico, for most of her early childhood. She earned her Master's in Counseling and her Doctoral degree in Education. For over 20 years, she has worked in higher education, both in and outside of academic institutions. She is currently working for a nonprofit with a concentration in research and evaluation. Co-host of The Red Couch Podcast, where she and her partner offer "brown-eyed social and political commentary with a hood twist." She is also the co-founder of the Prickly Pear Collective, a faith-based, trauma-informed collective at the intersections of community, church, and therapy, bringing people together to move toward healing. In addition, she is working on writing her first book about social justice, mental health, and identity.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode with Daniel Hill tackles the uncomfortable but necessary conversations about the intersections of race, culture, and faith that the church has often ignored. It's time to stop ignoring the blind spots that exist and instead acknowledge them and take action to erase them.Guest BioDaniel Hill is the founding and senior pastor of River City Community Church located in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. The church members long to see increased spiritual renewal as well as social and economic justice in the neighborhood and city, demonstrating compassion and alleviating poverty as tangible expressions of the kingdom of God. Daniel has a business degree from Purdue University, a master of arts in theology, and a doctor of ministry from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of White Awake and White Lies. Daniel is married to Elizabeth, and they are the proud parents of Xander and Gabriella.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode with Lecrae, we discuss the challenging but enlightening moments of healing from past trauma, reconciling with perceptions people have of us and realizing we don’t have to fit that mold, and finding the power of restoration.Guest BioLecrae is a leading figure in the gospel-rap movement, singer, songwriter, record and film producer, actor, and entrepreneur. He is the president, co-owner, and co-founder of Reach Records and co-founder of the film production studio 3 Strand Films. Lecrae’s debut album, Real Talk, was released in 2004 via Reach Records. He has since released multiple award-winning albums and mixtapes, including Rebel, Gravity, Church Clothes, and Anomaly. His most recent album, Restoration, was released in 2020. His albums and mixtapes have nearly reached the two million mark in sales, and he has received numerous awards, including a Billboard Music Award, multiple BET, Soul Train, and Dove awards. In addition, he has an honorary doctorate of music to go along with his two Grammy wins.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week’s episode with Mark Charles shows the need for us as a society to face the truths even when uncomfortable, describes the steps he is taking to help decolonize the gospel for the Navajo Nation, and demonstrates how our own trauma can lead to understanding and reconciliation.Guest BioMark Charles is a dual citizen of the United States and Navajo Nation. He is an activist, public speaker, consultant, author and Reformed pastor. Mark is the coauthor of Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery and regularly contributes as a correspondent for Native News Online and journalist for the Wirelesshogan: Reflections from the Hogan. The son of an American woman and a Navajo man, he teaches and speaks to the complexities of American history regarding race, culture, and Christianity.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode with Dr. Soong-Chan Rah explores the need to listen to the voices of the disenfranchised in our society and our church, his experience of growing up as part of an immigrant family, and why we need to go beyond one culture's assumptions and biases of the way "things are done."Guest BioDr. Soong-Chan Rah is currently serving as the Robert Boyd Munger Professor of Evangelism at Fuller Seminary. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Rah served as the Milton B. Engebretson Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary.Rah has authored or co-authored several books, including Prophetic Lament, The Next Evangelicalism, Many Colors, Unsettling Truths, Forgive Us and Return to Justice. He holds a ThD from Duke Divinity School, an MDiv and DMin with a concentration in urban ministry leadership from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a ThM from Harvard University, with a thesis on the immigrant church.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week's episode with Carolyn Custis James, you will learn about the "Blessed Alliance," and why a Kingdom strategy is strengthened by women and men working together; how to listen to our calling about and taking action to make a difference; and why it's essential to ask the big question of "why" for our theology. Guest BioCarolyn Custis James is an advocate for women worldwide and an award-winning author. She specializes in strengthening relationships between men and women and writing about what it means to be a female follower of Jesus in a post-modern world. She serves as an adjunct faculty member at Missio Seminary in Philadelphia and is married to Frank James. Twitter | WebsiteLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices