The Better Samaritan Podcast

As disasters increase each year across the globe, research shows that the vulnerable suffer disproportionately from them. Fortunately, the church is uniquely suited by its design to bring much-needed assistance to the vulnerable.That’s why in 2011, disaster psychologist Jamie Aten founded the Humanitarian Disaster Institute (HDI) at Wheaton College. Its mission: to help the church prepare and care for a disaster-filled world.HDI uses research to create resources and events geared toward students, survivors, helpers, and researchers—and offers a M.A. in Humanitarian and Disaster Leadership (HDL). You’ve heard them each week on the podcast. Now take in the HDI origins story:  the disaster that prompted Jamie to start studying resilience; the thing Christian nonprofit CEOs kept asking for that prompted the start of the graduate program; and the areas HDL students focus on in their research—and places they end up after graduating. RESOURCES:Humanitarian Disaster Institute website"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch (Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shane Claiborne, of Red Letter Christians, just spent a few days participating in the “We the People Ride” along the southern border, a story-telling effort to meet the people who live, serve and work along the border.and those who have the best way forward for our immigration and border practices. He joins Kent and Jamie in this episode to describe what he realized there: that hope abounds, especially in places we might be inclined to think are the most hopeless.Listen for more on scarcity mindset, making a choice between love and fear, and how people can take action—at the policy level—on the border crisis.RESOURCES:We the People Ride websiteVal Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch | @ShaneClaiborne(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Philip Yancey grew up confused by the contradictions: “We heard about love and grace, but I didn’t experience much,” he says.Throughout his fifty year writing career, this is the book he has contemplated all along: “I truly believe this is the one book I was put on earth to write.”Today Philip joins the Better Samaritan podcast to discuss his new memoir, Where the Light Fell. He reveals what has happened between his mother & brother since writing his memoir, compares the response to the polio with the response to the COVID-19 vaccine, and talks about recovering from a toxic church. Plus, exclusive for Better Samaritan listeners: enjoy 5 ½ hours of Philip’s favorite writing music on our Spotify playlist. RESOURCES:Where the Light Fell: A Memoir (available now)"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch | @philipyancey(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“The question most Haitians are asking [is], what is working today in the country? Because everywhere you turn it’s just one crisis after another.”—Jacqueline CharlesTurmoil keeps broiling in Haiti, with gangs growing increasingly powerful. In addition to recently kidnapping 17 missionaries, gangs also control fuel supplies, preventing internet use, hospital care and more. Haiti was also the last country in the Americas to receive COVID vaccines. Schools are closed, and can’t meet online. But the U.S. has still deported over 10,000 people, mostly Haitians, back into the country, some of whom haven’t been there for 10 years.Award-winning journalist Jacqueline Charles has been covering it all for the Miami Herald, and an immigrant herself. She says that everywhere you turn in Haiti, it’s one crisis after another. In this episode, Jacqueline reveals the political deterioration that has led to gang control of Port-au-Prince, as well as the migration trends, the disappointing role of the U.S., and where she believes the future of Haiti lies.RESOURCES:Read Jacqueline’s coverage in the Miami Herald"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch | @Jacquiecharles(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We started the Better Samaritan with the goal of addressing two things. Both were inspired by Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermon on that parable: How can we better help the hurting person in front of us? How can we make the road safer for those to come in the future?  To that end, at the close of every episode of our podcast, we ask the same five questions: What has surprised you in your work? How are you learning to do good, better? What does humility look like in your field? How can we make the [Jericho] road safer for those coming in the future? How do you sustain hope?  We thought it would be fascinating to to compile all the answers to each question, one after the other, in order to notice what themes emerged. (Each full episode is linked, so you can go back and listen to the ones you find interesting.)Our guests work diverse fields: public health, racial conflict, climate change, politics, and displacement, just to name a few. We found the resulting product to be fascinating. Compiled in this episode are answers to our fifth and final question: How do you sustain hope?RESOURCES:"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We started the Better Samaritan with the goal of addressing two things, inspired by Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermon on that parable: How can we better help the hurting person in front of us? How can we make the road safer for those to come in the future? To that end, at the close of every episode, we ask the same five questions: What has surprised you in your work? How are you learning to do good, better? What does humility look like in your field? How can we make the [Jericho] road safer for those coming in the future? How do you sustain hope? We thought it would be fascinating to to compile all the answers to each question, one after the other, in order to notice what themes emerged.Our guests work diverse fields: public health, racial conflict, climate change, politics, and displacement, just to name a few. We found the resulting product to be fascinating. Compiled in this episode, the answers we got for our fourth question: How can we make the [Jericho] road safer for those coming in the future?RESOURCES:"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Better Samaritan podcast, we’ve had the great privilege of interviewing many humanitarians doing critical work around the world.To close every episode, we ask the same five questions:  What has surprised you in your work? How are you learning to do good, better? What does humility look like in your field? How can we make the [Jericho] road safer for those coming in the future? How do you sustain hope? We thought it would be fascinating to to compile all the answers to each question, one after the other, in order to notice what themes emerged.Our guests work diverse fields: public health, racial conflict, climate change, politics, and displacement, just to name a few. We found the resulting product to be fascinating. Compiled in this episode, answers to our third question: What does humility look like in your field?RESOURCES:"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Better Samaritan podcast, we’ve had the great privilege of interviewing many humanitarians doing critical work around the world.To close every episode, we ask the same five questions:  What has surprised you in your work? How are you learning to do good, better? What does humility look like in your field? How can we make the [Jericho] road safer for those coming in the future? How do you sustain hope? We thought it would be fascinating to to compile all the answers to each question, one after the other, in order to notice what themes emerged. (Each full episode is linked, so you can go back and listen to the ones you find interesting.) Our guests work diverse fields: public health, racial conflict, climate change, politics, and displacement, just to name a few. We found the resulting product to be fascinating. Last week, we listened to a compilation of answers to our first question: what has surprised you in your work? Compiled in this episode are the answers to our second question: How have you been learning to do good, better in this work?RESOURCES:"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tensions in Haiti have been high ever since President Jovenel Moïse took office in 2017, with increased violence, tensions, and kidnappings. The opposition had even disputed the date of the end of his term, saying it ended in February 2021 according the Constitution. Moïse refused to step down.Meanwhile, Marc Antoine, Haiti Country Director for global Christian nonprofit Tearfund, estimates that the actual level of poverty in Haiti is far greater than the 60 percent reported on the World Bank website. He says that's just the general poverty rate, and another 20 percent of Haitians live in 'extreme' poverty.Now, for the next few weeks, Haiti is under a State of Siege, meaning borders will be closed and food insecurity will be worse than ever. Just a few weeks ago gang violence drove 14,000 people out of their homes... and it's hurricane season.Listen for more from Marc Antoine, Haiti Country Director for Tearfund, on how political instability has already torn apart the country—and how Christians can pray for Haiti, right now.Haiti has been tangled in a web of corruption, unrest, instability, political turmoil over the past three decades... Whenever you have tensions like these, it exacerbates the risk families are already facing.—Marc Antoine, Tearfund Haiti Country Director RESOURCES:Tearfund website, Instagram and Facebook"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Better Samaritan podcast, we’ve had the great privilege of interviewing many humanitarians doing critical work around the world.To close every episode, we ask the same five questions:  What has surprised you in your work? How are you learning to do good, better? What does humility look like in your field? How can we make the [Jericho] road safer for those coming in the future? How do you sustain hope? Compiled in this episode are answers to our first question: What has surprised you in your work?Our guests work diverse fields: public health, racial conflict, climate change, politics, and displacement, just to name a few. We thought it would be fascinating to to compile all the answers to each question, one after the other, in order to notice what themes emerged.We found the resulting product to be fascinating. Join us and listen in.RESOURCES:"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices