Freedom Road Podcast

In this episode we are joined by Rev. Julio Hernandez, Executive Director of the Congregation Action Network, based in DC and serving the DC, Maryland, Virginia area (aka the DMV). We invited Julio to talk with us on Freedom Road about the nearly invisible struggle taking place in the immigrant community in the U.S.. They are receiving the tip of the spear in the current administration’s policy of mass deportation and authoritarian rule. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa ⁠@lisasharper⁠ or to Freedom Road ⁠@freedomroad.us⁠. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to ⁠freedomroad.substack.com⁠. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! ⁠www.threads.net/@lisasharper⁠ ⁠www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us⁠ ⁠freedomroad.substack.com www.congregationactionnetwork.org

This episode we are joined by Rev. Dr. Charles Lattimore Howard, the University Chaplain and Vice President for Social Equity and Community at the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater. Rev. Dr. Lattimore Howard is also the author of several books, including: The Souls of Poor Folk, The Awe and The Awful, Black Theology as Mass Movement, and Pond River Ocean Rain, a small book about going deeper with a big God. His newest work is Uncovering Your Path: Spiritual Reflections for Finding Your Purpose. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com www.churchpublishing.org/uncoveringyourpath

This episode we are joined by, Rich Logis, former MAGA podcaster who is now the founding executive director of Leaving MAGA and author of the short e-book, My MAGA Odyssey, available at LeavingMaga.com. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com leavingmaga.org

This episode we are joined by Isaac Samuel Villegas, author of the new book, MIGRANT GOD: A Christian Vision for Immigrant Justice. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com

This episode, we are joined by Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, Director of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice—a project of the Bethlehem Bible College—and Pastor of the Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. Rev. Dr. Munther is the author of The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope and his new book, Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza (available now). We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com

In this episode, we are joined by documentary filmmaker, Ilana Thrachtman, director of several films, most recently, “Ain’t No Back on a Merry-Go-Round” about the 1960 Civil Rights Movement in Washington DC that you never heard of. This is a powerful film that resonates with us today. It reminds us of where we’ve been in a not-too-distant America and how we overcame. Ilana was invited to talk with us on Freedom Road about the insights she gleaned from this little-known corner of the Southern Freedom Struggle. In these days when many of our national leaders seem hell-bent on taking us back to the pre-Civil Rights Movement era, we need to be reminded how far we’ve come. And we need to be equipped with the wisdom they gained in their struggle.  We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you

In this episode, we are joined by the Reverend Dr. Otis Moss, III. Dr. Moss is senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. He is a preacher, poet, activist, author and filmmaker with an eye toward justice and equality, as evidenced through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Reverend Dr. Otis Moss, III was invited to be in conversation because we are entering into a new phase of our world. It's called a non-democratic phase of life in America. One can see it just by the the nominations for the next administration's cabinet. One can see these are anti-democratic people. Their goal is to actually tear apart the institutions that make democracy possible. And we also are in a time when the "Middle East" (and that is put in quotes because of what is discussed in this episode) where that region is now on fire. And it's dangerous as in what happens there can affect everybody. So this conversation is ultimately about how to pastor the church through all this. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Inst

In this episode we are joined by womanist theologian and author, Rev. Dr. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas, an African-American Episcopal priest, womanist theologian, and interim president of Episcopal Divinity School. She was previously the inaugural Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary. She also serves as Canon Theologian of the Washington National Cathedral. She has written seven books, including The Black Christ (1994), Black Bodies and Black Church: A Blues Slant (2012), Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God (2015), and Resurrection Hope: A Future Where Black Lives Matter (2021). Rev. Dr. Canon Douglas was invited to join us on Freedom Road to help us understand the repercussions of the results of election 2024 and the recent study published by The House of Bishops Theology Committee of The Episcopal Church, titled, “The Crisis of Christian Nationalism”. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're

In this episode we are joined by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author, Eliza Griswold, author of the book, Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church. In Circle of Hope Griswold explores how conflict around anti-LGBTQ inclusion, white supremacy and roots in the church growth movement eventually led the network of congregations to dissolve in January 2024. Eliza was invited to talk with us on Freedom Road to give us a window into the most consequential struggle within the church today. The struggle to love everyone. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com us.macmillan.com/books/9780374601683/circleofhope

This month we are joined by Maya Moore Irons and Jonathan Irons! Basketball icon, Maya is a two-time NCAA champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, four-time WNBA champion, and WNBA MVP. In February of 2019, Maya revealed that she would miss the upcoming season to focus on family and ministry dreams. Later that year, in a New York Times feature, Maya first went into detail about Jonathan Irons and his wrongful imprisonment and later opted to miss the 2020 season to continue focusing on Jonathan’s case and was ultimately successful when his conviction was vacated in March 2020, and he walked free that July. Maya has since come to be recognized as one of sport and culture’s most important social justice icons. Jonathan Irons was only eighteen-years-old when he was wrongly convicted by an all-white jury for a crime that occurred when he was sixteen. With no physical evidence tying him to the crime, Jonathan was handed a fifty-year prison sentence, of which he served twenty-three years. After a twenty year long

In this episode we are joined by Corey Nathan, host of Talkin' Politics and Religion Without Killin' Each Other, producer of Freedom Road Podcast and the founder of SCAN Media. We invited Corey to join us on Freedom Road for a frank, raw conversation meant to help us process the results of election 2024 and their implications for years to come. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com www.politicsandreligion.us

This episode we are joined by indigenous theologians and practioners, Randy and Edith Woodley, authors of the new book Journey to Eloheh: How Indigenous Values Lead Us to Harmony and Wellbeing. Randy and Edith are the founders of the Eloheh Indigenous Center for Earth Justice, based in Oregon, which focused on developing, implementing and teaching sustainable and regenerative earth practices. They are also senior consultants with our Freedom Road Consulting group. We invited Randy and Edith to join us on Freedom Road today because our world is writhing right now. We need medicine. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com https://www.eloheh.org/ https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/produc

In this episode we are joined by theologian and author, Khristi Lauren Adams. Speaker, writer and youth advocate, Rev. Adams is an ordained Baptist Minister. She is the award winning author of Parable of the Brown Girl, as well as Unbossed: How Black Girls Are Leading the Way. Khristi was invited to join us on Freedom Road to explore the value of children, particularly Black girls, in all of our process of knowing God. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com khristilaurenadams.com

In this episode we are joined by innovator and podcaster, Tim Whitaker, founder and host of The New Evangelicals podcast and growing organization. I also found out he’s a sought after professional drummer! Who knew?! You’ve probably seen Tim’s short, power-packed videos on Instagram and YouTube. We invited Tim to join us on Freedom Road to explore what it means to be a New Evangelical in a political moment when the political alliance between evangelicals and the MAGA movement has all but killed the credibility of that stream of the church. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com https://www.thenewevangelicals.com/podcast/ https://www.youtube.com/@TheNewEvangelicals https://www.instagr

In this episode we're joined by the amazing duo of award-winning Truth’s Table Podcast and Foundation, Dr. Christina Edmondson and the inimitable Ekemini Uwan. Cofounder and cohost of Truth’s Table Podcast and Foundation, Dr. Christina holds a PhD in Counseling Psychology and is a certified Cultural Intelligence facilitator, speaker and trainer. Ekemini Uwan is co-host of the award-winning podcast, Truth's Table and Get In The Word With Truth’s Table. Ekemini and Dr. Christina also co-authored the book, Truth’s Table: Black Women’s Musings on Life, Love, and Liberation.   We are so excited to bring you this special conversation that took place in the Evangelicals for Harris booth at the DNC! Lisa could think of no one she wanted to talk to more than the women of Truth’s Table while experiencing that historic moment. So, buckle up and get ready for a ride with Truth’s Table on FreedomRoad. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Sub

This episode features three of our favorite people on the planet—Lisa's cohosts on The Four Podcast which cut a blaze of glory in 2022! The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, III is senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. He is a preacher, poet, activist, author and filmmaker with an eye toward justice and equality, as evidenced through the gospel of Jesus Christ. He founded The Unashamed Media Group. The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis is the first African American and first woman to serve as the senior pastor of Middle Collegiate Church in New York City—the oldest continuous Protestant Church in the U.S. Founding Visionary Leader behind the Freedom Rising Conferences, Rev. Dr. Jacqui uses her gifts as an author, activist, preacher, and public theologian toward creating an antiracist, just, gun violence free, fully welcoming, gender affirming society in which everyone has enough. Rev. Michael-Ray Matthews is the principal of The Prophetic Foundry, LLC, a consultancy co-creating wisdom, resources, and futures

This episode we are joined by one of our favorite people shaping the political landscape right now! The inimitable Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas 30th District, basically Dallas County). You might have seen the viral clip of Congresswoman Crockett handing it to Marjorie Taylor Greene in the middle of a hearing on Capital Hill. The term was “Beach blonde bad built butch body.” As AOC said, “Don’t dish it if you can’t take it.” But we’re hear to talk about something more important today: This election and the stakes with Project 2025 looming on the horizon. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com https://crockett.house.gov/about

This episode we are joined by Daniel Bannoura: PhD Candidate, Palestinian theologian, Qur’an scholar, Podcaster, and Entreprenuer. Daniel was invited to speak with us today, because he was one of the authors of the October 2023 Palestinian leaders’ call for western church leaders and theologians to repent. We wanted to talk about the condition of the western church and its response to what is happening in Gaza. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com https://danielbannoura.com/ Tony Deik at Christ at the Checkpoint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTw5U6fLO5Q

This episode we are joined by Dr. Paul Zeitz, a preventative medicine epidemiologist, author, and award-winning champion of global justice and human rights. Zeitz is the initiator of the Unify Movements, a movement building platform dedicated to catalyzing new, social, economic, and political systems committed to our collective repair, justice and peace. We invited Dr. Zeitz to speak with us today about his new book, Revolutionary Optimism: 7 Steps for Living as a Love-Centered Activist. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com unifymovements.org revolutionaryoptimism.com

In this episode we are joined by speaker, educator and author, Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil, who is Associate Professor of Reconciliation Studies and Director of the Reconciliation Studies program at Seattle Pacific University. Rev. Dr. Brenda is also associate pastor of preaching and reconciliation at Quest Church in Seattle, Washington, as well as the author of several books, including Becoming Brave, Roadmap to Reconciliation, Roadmap to Reconciliation 2.0, and the classic, A Credible Witness. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com www.saltermcneil.com