United? We Pray

Overview: "O God, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you." (2 Chronicles 20:12).During the coronavirus outbreak, there has been panic, fear, and disruption to our lives, both individually and corporately as churches. But praise God, we're not the only Christians who have had to weather this kind of storm. On Nov. 3, 1918, Francis J. Grimké, pastor of 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C., preached a sermon to his church, which reopened after public gatherings were banned amid the epidemic of influenza—an epidemic in which 3,000 D.C. residents lost their lives. Grimké gave 8 remarks to his congregation, and answered questions such as:What is the meaning of this epidemic? What were God's purposes in it?What does it teach us about race prejudice?What do we learn about the value of church and of faith in Jesus Christ?Come and be comforted by brother Grimké's words as he preaches to us still today.Links & Show Notes:Grimke's Sermon (for phone)Grimke's Sermon (for print)How DC Churches Responded When the Government Banned Public Gatherings During the Spanish Flu of 1918 (9Marks)Spurgeon and the Cholera Outbreak of 1854 (The Spurgeon Center)Support the showTo learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website. Please consider rating the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe using your favorite podcast client to hear more!

Overview: Austin has a curious interaction while hosting a booth at a recent conference. This makes Isaac and Austin reflect on why exactly it is that we do what we do here at United? We Pray. Surely it’s not for cool points for being part of the “social justice fad”? Why do we care so much about this conversation as it pertains to God’s Church? Listen in as they discuss:How do we help our friends enter the hard conversation of race?How can we encourage confession instead of shame when it comes to their racial realizations?How can we promote humility in our racial conversations without tolerating apathy or antagonism?Links & Show Notes:Check out Isaac Adams, H. B. Charles Jr, and Mark Vroegop’s breakout session at T4G 2020: “Taking Racial Struggles to the Throne of Grace: A Time of Corporate Prayer for Racial Strife Between Christians”Support the showTo learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website. Please consider rating the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe using your favorite podcast client to hear more!

Overview: Isaac catches up with friend and original co-host Trillia Newbell! Isaac and Trillia talk Black History Month and how they and their families are celebrating it. Listen in as we discuss:How does understanding history help us understand our current historical moment?How does understanding history help us love our neighbor?Why do we have black history month?What are good ways to celebrate black history month?Support the showTo learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website. Please consider rating the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe using your favorite podcast client to hear more!

Austin was surprised find out that one of his former bosses in Christian ministry was a former member of the Ku Klux Klan. Having been redeemed by the Lord from his former nature, Thomas Tarrants now shares with us insights into the ideology of his past. Support the showTo learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website. Please consider rating the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe using your favorite podcast client to hear more!

Overview: Isaac has a new co-host! Isaac and Austin introduce season 5 and give a preview of what's to come. They take some time to mourn the death of Kobe Bryant, and discuss how it affects the African-American community. Austin also reflects on a recent talk he gave about race, and the outcome of it.Support the showTo learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website. Please consider rating the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe using your favorite podcast client to hear more!

Overview: “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.” (Luke 18:11)Collin Hansen, Editorial Director of The Gospel Coalition, joins Isaac Adams to discuss the wounds of racism in the South. From the history of the University of Alabama football team to 16th Street Baptist Church, the brothers discuss how racism affects all facets of life. Most tragically, instead of being beacons of light, too many churches in the South became bulwarks of ongoing resistance to racial integration. Join the brothers as they discuss whiteness as an identity, why Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s questions in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail are just as pressing today as they were when he first wrote them, and other questions like these:What led you to think deeply about race?Who are you educating? How are you educating them?Racism and church membership rolls—what do they have to do with each other?How should we think through the retort, "Just preach the gospel?"Show Notes:Talk: "History of Birmingham" by Collin HansenArticle: "More Christian Than Black or White" by Isaac AdamsSupport the showTo learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website. Please consider rating the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe using your favorite podcast client to hear more!

Overview: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)"Racial logic is the air we breathe." If this is true, how does this affect our understanding of race and racism? Why are these issues about more than personal, individual morality and how do we see them manifest in structures and systems? Moreover, how might Christians faithfully disrupt patterns of exclusion and injustice? Join Isaac Adams and David Leong as they talk about race, place, and their connection; listen for an encouraging testimony of how one church's stubbornness and faith has borne beautiful fruit, by God's grace. Other topics the brothers discussed include:Racial identity formation, white fragility, redlining and gentrificationLament and sitting in places of discomfort and painNot rushing to "fix racial problems" but realizing that this tendency in some of us may be a part of the problemSupport the showTo learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website. Please consider rating the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe using your favorite podcast client to hear more!

"Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?" (Psalm 94:20)"Lament is a prayer in pain that leads to trust." Why is understanding songs of sorrow so important for our thinking about race? Why is lament so important that a third of Psalms are lament? Join Isaac Adams and Mark Vroegop as they answer these questions:What does the Scripture teach about the grace of lament?What is the importance of Christians understanding race? How does understanding the grace of lament apply to the issues of race?What about colorblindness that some people read into Colossians 3:11?What is the distinction between repentance and remorse, and why does it matter for the conversation on race?How have you used civil rights trips within your congregation?Why does it matter that your church looks like your community?How do you think through urban renewal and foreign missions?Support the showTo learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website. Please consider rating the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe using your favorite podcast client to hear more!

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1)Despite division over their alma maters, Thabiti Anyabwile and Isaac Adams come together to talk about hope and its importance for the work of racial reconciliation. The brothers considered these questions:• What do you do when the race conversation feels as if it’s moving backward rather than forward?• What do you do when you’re in a season of unbelief about racial reconciliation in your church?• Why did you issue that apology? Why is pride deadly to unity?• How are you trying to not just talk racism down but to live it down? How are you encouraging your church to do this work?• How has there been progress in terms of racial reconciliation?• What encouragements for the coming generations do you have as they think about race?Support the showTo learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website. Please consider rating the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe using your favorite podcast client to hear more!

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor." (Ecclesiastes 4:9)In this episode, the rest of the leadership team join Isaac to talk about what roles they play on the United? We Pray team, and why they do what they do.Support the showTo learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website. Please consider rating the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe using your favorite podcast client to hear more!