Midrash Nyc

We're excited to welcome Forefront's Deacon Jim Rohner to deliver the message. Jim explores the story of Job. It's not a story that can be broken down into simplistic, easily conveyed morals. Instead, it's a complicated and nuanced look at a culture trying to find meaning amongst uncertainty, which in turn gives us permission to question the easy lessons that have been told we should believe. In fact, the story of Job has great relevance to what we're facing today with so many crises at our doorstep. With an ongoing COVID pandemic, climate change, an economic roller coaster, and social unrest, accepting uncertainty about the future has never been so difficult, especially when powerful forces seek to advance a narrative of certainty that keeps them in power.

Language is life. Storytellers have great influence. Who gets to tell or interpret stories has a lot to do with privilege and power. Often times we find storytellers may not tell the most truthful or Just version. They may contort a story to fit their beliefs, or worse. This sermon touches on how storytelling through the lens of oppressive systems shape our lives and how we need to take control of the narrative. The sermon, broadly speaking, touches on poverty, immigration, and the myriad of oppressed identities. What if we're supposed to not only think about those whose lived experiences are being ignored or diminished but make sure those stories are told in the places and spaces where they’ve historically been left out? Keli Young, who took part in our Preaching Bootcamp, takes to the stage as we continue the series "What in the ....?". Keli is a Black Christian lawyer, community organizer, and Brooklyn native working towards Black liberation. After graduating from NYU Law, she worked in local and nat

A full house at the Roulette for this powerful, emotional and uplifting experience. We celebrate change and disruption, we reaffirm Vision and Mission, we give thanks and gratitude for the William's family for nurturing Forefront Church to a strong, solid community; for setting the foundation for a new Christianity. We continue the work to usher in the next 500 years of Christianity. In Jonathan Williams' final Sermon for Forefront, the Church he co-founded a decade ago, he talks about miracles and asks us to reclaim our imaginations. We shouldn't care whether or not miracles happen. Instead we should ask, "What can be accomplished when you imagine miracles happening?" Read our announcement about Jonathan at: www.forefrontnyc.com/blog

In this joint sermon with outgoing co-founder of Forefront Church, Jonathan Williams, and new Teaching Pastor, Rev. Venida C. Rodman Jenkins, Jonathan inspires us with the Vision and Mission of Forefront and Venida speaks women in the Church. Why are people so opposed to women leading in ministry when the first preacher of the Gospel was Mary? Read our announcement about Jonathan and welcoming of Venida at: www.forefrontnyc.com/blog

We did it again, y'all - another pastor who never had any intentions of being a pastor has been hired at Forefront! Venida has been recently hired as Forefront's Teaching Pastor, filling the role left vacant with the recent announcement of the stepping down of longtime pastor and church co-founder, Jonathan Williams. This is a disruptive and transitionary period for the church for sure, but we're excited to have Venida on board to help us usher in the next 500 years of Christianity and we want to help you get excited too! So, Deacon Jim Rohner and Executive Producer Makenzie Gomez sat down to hear Venida's story of the long road that led her to Forefront and just what's in store for the future. ABOUT VENIDA Rev. Venida C. Rodman Jenkins is Forefront's Teaching Pastor who hails from Teaneck, N.J.. Venida's mission is to provide visibility, encouragement and spaces of belonging to underrepresented groups. She carries this out as a minister, educator, and advocate. Venida is the Director of the Speicher-Rubin W

In this sermon, Jonathan Williams explores how disruption is a place where God is perhaps most present. Disruptions mess with our lives and what we know. They take away our comfort. And worst of all, they make us grow. We hate growing. But these are the times when the divine is really up to something. On theme, Jonathan used this sermon to announce that he is leaving Forefront to pursue new challenges. He is choosing disruption in order to grow and learn. Read our announcement about Jonathan at: www.forefrontnyc.com/blog

In this second sermon of our “What in the…?” series, Joel Field, a “graduate” of our Preaching Bootcamp, tackles one of the strangest scriptures and uncovers how Jesus shows his love through the miracle involving a fish.

It's one thing to be a Christian in a public space, but it's quite another thing to bear the mantle of being a "Christian band" when you're in your early 20s and playing music for millions of people around the world. Chris Dudley is a devout Christian and his band, Underoath, started out with the label of being a "Christian band" releasing their two most popular albums under the Tooth & Nail record label. But what does it mean to be a "Christian band?" What are the expectations thrust upon you? How do you answer questions that you're not equipped to answer as an inexperienced youth? How does the label shift and change as individual philosophies change and priorities shift? Chris talks through his experiences answering all these questions through Underoath's rise in popularity to their breakup to their reunion and redefining themselves as a group that has moved away from, as they say in their own words, "the realm of seemingly impenetrable polemics." ABOUT CHRIS Chris has played keyboards and synthesizer

We welcome our second Forefront Guest Speaker, Emmy Brett. Emmy takes us on a fascinating journey into the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah isn't just about fire and brimstone, but about choosing holy resistance against evil and refusing to be a voyeur to systems of oppression.

Venida Rodman Jenkins joins us again as Guest Preacher and closes our "Sex Positive" series. Many of us have been taught that our "flesh is a mess" which can lead to body shaming. Let's unpack this message and more as we seek to reclaim our bodies.

We're excited to welcome the first Guest Speaker from our "Forefront Preaching Bootcamp". Frank M. Espinal, a long time Forefronter, took to the stage and opened our new series "What in the...??" Frank explores the difference between forgiveness and redemption.

Can you be Pro-Choice and still be a Christian? Jonathan Williams tackles the church and their role in politicizing women's bodies. We're talking about abortion, which has become a Christian rallying point in the past 30 years. Our Pro-Life theology is actually way more political than Godly.

Sex Workers and their prominent role in the Bible There is an active movement going on nationally and in New York to decriminalize sex work, and I think as a church we have to participate in this movement due to how purity culture has contributed towards the criminal punishment of sex workers and how our own Scriptures call us to honor sex workers. During this Sermon Series “Sex Positive”. Sarah Ngu explores the role sex workers played in Scripture and how we as a society need to come to grips with this today and respect sex workers.

Do you want to know what the Bible really says about marriage and sex? There is no biblical definition of sex and marriage unless you count sleeping with your father in law, marrying your brother, having 700 sex slaves, or becoming a eunuch for the sake of the gospel. So what does healthy sex look like? Here's Jonathan Williams preaching about Marriage and Sex in our "Sex Positivity" Series.

As a Colombian woman, Jo has experienced firsthand how quickly privileged identities are to demonize marginalized identities, preferring comfort and power to creating safe spaces for people with experiences outside of their own. After alienating the leadership in her church with her all or nothing approach and working through personal deconstruction and decolonization, Jo boldly and unapologetically arrived at a conclusion: "Marginalized identities do not have an obligation to make privileged identities comfortable. At all." Jo speaks out against power structures that the Church upholds between "first class Christians" - white, hetero men - who preach about the comfort of their identity and "second class Christians" who sit down to listen about how their stories and experiences are invalid. She expresses the importance of forming safe spaces for marginalized voices who are the only ones who can truly speak to what it takes to crawl out of hell to in order to move towards heaven. ABOUT JO Jo Luehmann is a Co

In our second Sermon in the series "Sex Positive", Sarah Ngu walks us through the Song of Songs, the book medieval Christians commented on more frequently than any other book in the Bible. The Song of Songs uncomfortably dares us to hold all our human experiences, including our sexual ones, as a mirror by which to see God and ourselves. The relationship between the two lovers in the Song of Songs can be seen as an allegorical metaphor of the relationship between God and God’s people.

Unlearning Purity Culture and Shame. How do we move from Sex Toxicity to Sex Positivity? Many outside of Christianity are moving towards a sex positive way of life. Churches can and need to catch up. Watch Makenzie Gomez speak to this important topic as she starts off our new Series: "Sex Positive." Purity Culture and The Purity Movement is an Industry that came about in the 1990s. It's a predatory theology that has distracted us with controlling rules and restrictions to keep women quiet for the sake of men's egos, resulting in toxic sexual ethics and shame that blocks us from truly connecting with God.

It may seem like the rise in recent anti-Asian hate crime is new, but the choking weeds of anti-Asian bigotry and hypersexualization of AAPI women in America were planted generations ago. The mission of Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry, or PANAAWTM, is to contribute to transnational feminist theological conversations and to constantly challenge the Christian church and the interpretations of scripture that have proliferated division and hatred. PANAAWTM board members K. Christine Pae and Lisa Asedillo utilize their staggering intellects to help decolonize status quo tradition, construct community, and preserve what is liberating. As Lila Watson said, "If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come here because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” ABOUT CHRISTINE Keun-Joo Christine Pae is Associate Professor and Chair of Religion at Denison University. As a Christian social ethicist and transnational femini

Guest speaker, Venida Rodman Jenkins, joins Forefront for the first time and speaks on "The Gospel of Community". The Gospel of Community is about bringing people in rather than excluding them. Here's something to ask yourself: "How can you work with others to be an agent of change?" Venida C. Rodman Jenkins is committed to providing visibility, encouragement, love, and brave spaces to underrepresented groups. She has carried out this work for many years as a minister, educator, and advocate. Venida is the Director of the Speicher-Rubin Women’s Center for Equity and Diversity at New Jersey City University, and she is the founder and pastor of EMBRACE Church (IG: @embracechurch2020). Venida is also an Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University and New York Theological Seminary.

What if heaven isn't an escape chute? Heaven isn't a place we're whisked to after we die; it's God's order of justice and mercy coming towards us. In this, we know that God cares about community, God cares about suffering, and God is actively pursuing our good. In this 5th sermon in our EasterTide series, Guest Speaker Shay O'Reilly discusses the coronavirus pandemic, its uneven impacts, and the pressure to move on. Shay is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian Social Ethics. After graduating, he has worked in the climate movement for six years, including five years in his current position as an organizer for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. He lives in Flatbush with his husband, daughter, and cats.