The Better Samaritan Podcast

On the Better Samaritan we often talk about how to make 'the road' safer. This stems from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s sermon, pointing out that helping the wounded person in front of us is not enough; we also have to look up the road and determine what is causing it to be so dangerous. In humanitarian work, of course, these are known as systemic challenges.Terence Lester, our guest on this episode, knows a thing or two about systemic challenges—and evaluating streets for safety. At more than one point in his life, he has lived among the homeless. (Listen to the episode for more on that.) Now, as an author, activist, speaker and founder of Love Beyond Walls, he's a great example of a Better Samaritan. His new book, When We Stand, casts a specific and hopeful vision for the church: one in which every member knows their strengths, has margin, and makes themselves available to the broader church and to God's calling.Here's Terence's take on our analogy—how to make the road safer for future generations:More people are needed on the road. If we use this as a metaphor from the [Better] Samaritan parable, we talk about the context of Jericho, and we gotta wrassle with: what produced the robbers? What is the social context which created the climate? Was it dark on the road? Was more lighting needed on the road? Who made the decision not to put lighting on the road? Why weren’t there any officers guarding the road? Where were the people who could have been volunteering on the road? Would more people have provided extra protection for this community? All of these things that your imagination can run with in talking about that... There’s safety in community. Because we are a part of the family of God, there's this sense of protection and safety when we show up together. —Terence LesterRESOURCESTerence's book: When We Stand: The Power of Seeking Justice Together, out May 18, 2021 from InterVarsity PressTerence's organization: Love Beyond Walls (@lovebeyondwalls on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) "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 | @imterencelester(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

Questions we had for David in this episode: Tell us about the song and iInspiration behind "Turning Over Tables," the theme song for our podcast? Can you unpack the relationship between imagination, faith, and discipleship? What are the advantages—both in art and peacemaking—to being comfortable with dissonance? Listening has been a theme on this podcast, and it's something we discuss with our graduate students. How do we listen well? RESOURCES:Undaunted Podcast: Conversations with Radical Peacemakers through TelosPrinciples and Practices of Peacemaking by TelosFind music and more by The Brilliance on their 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 | @brilliancemusic | @davidgungor(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

Pastor Jean Pierre Gatera landed in Minneapolis with his wife and three kids in September 2016. He later told CT, “Resettlement was like getting thrown into the sea."President Biden has already promised to raise the admittance ceiling to a relatively conservative 125,000. Is the American church prepared to start welcoming refugees again?Gatera would know; he is now a pastor of pastors, serving other refugee churches across the U.S. with the International Association for Refugees, and advising them on both high-level and granular logistics relating to running their church in a new country.In this episode, he joins hosts Kent Annan and Jamie Aten to talk about misconceptions of refugees, how his church cared for him when his family contracted COVID-19 last summer, and the one thing guaranteed to offend a newly resettled person.RESOURCES:Christianity Today 2018 feature story on Pastor Gatera and his ministry in MinneapolisSign up for updates from the International Association for Refugees, where Pastor Gatera ministers"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 | @IAFR(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

Women and children across the globe spend 200 million hours per day carrying out one vital task: collecting water.What if they could instead spend that time going to school, building businesses, and earning income for themselves? That’s the unleashed potential of bringing access to clean water to everyone in the world, according to Dr. Greg Allgood. Allgood is VP of Water for WorldVision. He also founded and spent 26 years directing the Procter & Gamble Children’s Safe Drinking Water program, during which time he worked with the Clinton Global Initiative, Gates Foundation, UNICEF, WHO & USAID. According to Allgood, the average walk for water is 6km—and half of that is accomplished while carrying up to 40 lbs of water. It’s backbreaking work.“If you’re going to a healthcare center, for example, and you’re a pregnant woman about to deliver a baby,” Allgood said, “—the last thing you want to be doing is bringing your own water to be washing yourself and your baby after you give birth.”But WorldVision has a goal of bringing clean water to everyone, everywhere they work by 2030. And that goal is actually in sight.HIGHLIGHTS:  Last year during lockdown, some rivers in India experienced a 500% reduction in pollution, and the Grand Canal of Italy turned clear. What do these phenomena mean for organizations fighting for clean water across the globe How does access to clean water amplify other poverty issues? What does WorldVision do about broken water pumps? How do you ensure this is a sustainable solution? What are lessons learned overseas about providing clean water that can help us in the U.S., in places like Jackson, Mississippi and Flint, Michigan? RESOURCES:Give the gift of clean waterJoin the 6k for Water—as an individual or a church—on May 22, 2021Amid a global pandemic, World Vision reaches goal of bringing clean water to 20 million people worldwide"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 | @DrGregAllgood(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

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Syrian civil war–a conflict which has already killed and wounded 12,000 children. So we asked Jeremy Courtney, whose organization Pre-emptive Love works with Syrian refugees, to get raw with the Better Samaritan about journeying from privilege into ministry, and back again... a constant grapple between pride and service.Preemptive Love is a global coalition of peacemakers confronting fear with acts of love. The coalition performs emergency relief for families victimized by ISIS, lifesaving heart surgeries for children, peacemaking in conflict-zones, empowering grants for small business owners, education for at-risk children, and provides counsel to policymakers in D.C., London, Baghdad and beyond.Episode Highlights from Jeremy:"[Pre-emptive Love is]...Undercutting the narrative of us vs. them, rich vs. poor. If you’re getting shot at, I’m getting shot at." "When your economics go down, you become a lot more vulnerable to violence spreading through your community." "If you feel like this world is yours by default… we can make the world a lot safer by lowering our fists, by choosing postures that get our fists down. By seeking to live in an open posture of vulnerability and welcome. It’s a discipline and practice that we’re trying to undercut generations of default programming. But we do have to give it up, if our goal is to make the road safer." RESOURCES:Join the work of Pre-emptive Love"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 | @JCourt(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

It's been one long year.What started as a nebulous threat has dragged on for twelve long months, killing more than half a million people in the U.S. alone, and affecting nearly every system in modern life.Here at the Humanitarian Disaster Institute, we study crises of all kinds, from hurricanes to pandemics, and the ways people recover from them. Using our research, we can draw on experiences from other disasters on how to grieve and move forward with hope. And we have found that marking tragedies, as with an annual anniversary, is an incredibly helpful way to navigate grief and build resilience.Join HDI founders and disaster psychologists Kent Annan and Jamie Aten to learn the four ways you can mark this milestone: Remembering lives lost, Getting help for those struggling,  Sharing appreciation, especially to frontline workers, Serving community. RESOURCES:National COVID-19 Day Website—take action, find resources (like our COVID-19 Mental Health Handbook), and more.Spiritual First Aid Summit—On Thursday, March 11, 2021, mark National COVID-19 Day with us during this free, online gathering designed to help us navigate the grief, but also find encouragement and hope for the future."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

"There’s a demand. It’s an unapologetic demand generated by people who don’t think too much about the consequences of their choices. It’s evil and a heinous crime. But sometimes it’s inconvenient to dig deeper."—Anu George Canjanathoppil, IJM CanadaWhile conspiracy theories continue to make actual justice work harder for many organizations, Anu joins the Better Samaritan to clarify the real situation: trafficking flourishes in countries where the public justice system does not work for the poor… where the perpetrator has no fear whatsoever of the implications of his crime.40.3 million people around the world are trapped in slavery, and conservative estimates are that one third of these—around 11.3M—are from the region where Anu grew up, in South Asia. Join this gripping conversation with a leader whose work has resulted in the rescue of 10,000 individuals from forced labour slavery. RESOURCES:Experts told CT this was an issue back in July 2020.Sign up for email updates from IJM here."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 | @anugeorgecanThe Humanitarian Disaster Institute (HDI) equips volunteers and professionals ministering to victims of war, trauma and trafficking. Join us on Thursday, March 11, 2021 for a free online event on assessing and addressing five core emotional, spiritual, and practical needs that HDI has identified as critical in the wake of trauma. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"Climate change is not just an environmental issue—it is a threat multiplier. It takes everything we care about including the most devastating humanitarian crises, and makes them worse. It’s like a hole in the bucket." —Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, atmospheric scientistAccording to Katharine Hayhoe, we’re stuck in a system that must change. As a scientist, professor, director of the Climate Center, founder and CEO of ATMOS Research, and a principal investigator for the Department of Interior, Katharine's work has resulted in over 125 peer-reviewed papers, abstracts and other publications. She has led climate impact assessments for numerous American cities, the findings for which have been presented before Congress and used across the country.But here’s what Dr. Hayhoe really wants you to know: you don’t have to be a certain kind of person to care about, or act on, climate change. All you have to do is to care about it, as a person living on planet Earth.Dr. Hayhoe’s TED Talk: “The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: Talk about it.” (November, 2018)“The Bible doesn’t talk about climate change, right?” video from Global Weirding with Katharine Hayhoe"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

This Black History Month, the Better Samaritan sits down to talk about the sermon that inspires our theme.Join us for a conversation with Dr. Peniel Joseph of the University of Texas at Austin to discuss King’s sermon, "On Being a Good Neighbor," as well as his place within American society.In the sermon, King points out why the Priest and Levite may have passed by the wounded man on the road. Perhaps they were too busy with important ecclesiastical meetings, he says, or perhaps their temple regulations demanded that they touch no human body for several hours before their temple function began. Or, King says (presumably tongue in cheek), they could have been on their way to a meeting to organize a 'Jerico Road Improvement Association.' “Certainly this was a real need,” King writes. “It is not enough to aid the wounded man on the Jerico Road. It is also necessary to work to change the conditions of the Road which made robbery possible. “Philanthropy is marvelous, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the need for working to remove many conditions of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary. So maybe the Priest and the Levite felt that it was better to cure injustice from the causal source than to get bogged down with one individual effect.”Joseph says that sometimes, King left people on the side of the road too. He says that we may laud King and use him as a heroic signifier of American exceptionalism, but his life proves the opposite: that American exceptionalism is a lie.Listen for more on King and Dr. Joseph’s take on how King moved from using a ‘carrot and stick’ approach in his early years, to the later years in which he became like an Old Testament prophet—calling out not just the inequities, but the iniquity within American society.“The reason why we shave off those harder edges of truth [surrounding King] is that in our own time, we have lost the moral purpose for American democracy.” —Dr. Peniel JosephResources:Race and Democracy—Peniel Joseph’s podcast out of the University of Texas at Austin Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public AffairsThe Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcom X and Martin Luther King, Jr. —Latest book by Peniel Joseph"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 | @penieljoseph(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

“Institutions and systems and ministries are not Christ, nor is Christendom the same as the living body of Christ. Christendom, like all threatened institutions, tries to protect itself.” —Dr. Diane LangbergDr. Diane Langberg started practicing psychology 45 years ago—when the only way to understand trauma was by studying her clients, rather than her books. She joins the Better Samaritan podcast to discuss power and abuse in the church, how to respond when a friend opens up to you about abuse, and what abuse victims should do: find a safe person. Now, Dr. Langberg directs a group practice in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, staffed by Christian psychologists, social workers and counselors. She has spoken around the world and authored numerous books. Her latest, “Redeeming Power: Understanding Abuse and Authority in the Church,” is available now. (Rachel Denhollander called this book “a must-read for spiritual leaders and for every Christian.”)(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.)Interview highlights:Similarities shown between victims of traumatic acts, and veterans of warHow Diane learned about trauma in the 70's—when it wasn't yet defined by the psychology establishmentWhat listeners should know if an abused friend has confided in themHow to make the road safer (a Better Samaritan theme) for those to followResources mentioned:“Redeeming Power: Understanding Abuse and Authority in the Church” by Dr. Diane Langberg, available nowFurther reading and resources from Dr. Langberg’s 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