Listen to this conversation with Joseph Dicks, church planting catalyst for North American Mission Board in Washington DC,, on the necessity of discipleship and a holistic view. The gospel not just on Sunday mornings, but the framework for every aspect of your life. Joseph shares his experience of growing up in church, scared into baptism and knowing what to say “yes” to, but without the freedom that only saving grace can bring. He also talks about 1-on-1 discipleship, pursuing the gospel community, the presence of prejudices amongst diversity, and initiating new church works in unchurched areas.

This episode is part of our summer series: stoop conversations with friends.

Support the show at www.onehope.gives/donate

Alejandro Molero pastors Iglesia Bíblica Sublime Gracia, a Spanish speaking church in the Washington D.C. neighborhood of Colombia Heights. Alejandro shares how God shepherded him from his Catholic upbringing in Venezuela to becoming a full-time pastor in the States. Listen in as Stephanie, Joel, and Eric discuss with Alejandro the challenges of ministry among undocumented and illegal immigrants. Alejandro’s congregation and ministry context are filled with those often vulnerable to exploitation, overwork, and underpaid jobs. What is the Biblical approach to caring for those who might be undocumented, running from the law, or running for their lives? What does church planting among immigrant communities in America look like and how should we think of supporting Spanish-speaking churches? Come on the Stoop and join the conversation.

*Additional Resource - Read Alejandro’s latest piece on Pastoring Undocumented Immigrants:

Support the podcast at www.onehope.gives/donate

In continuation of last week’s episode, director of the Edmiston Center in Atlanta, Karen Ellis, shares ways Christians are to be a completely different community to the world, belonging to a God who renders diverse people as the same by the blood of Christ. Stephanie, Eric, and Joel chat with Karen regarding her concerns for the current church in America. If it’s not about Christian nationalism, not about social justice, what is the church to be about? In a world hostile towards Christianity, Ellis discusses a need for the basics: how to pray under pressure for kingdom advance, moving forward on your knees; not your will, but His be done. Listen as Karen offers hope for a divided church in despair.

Support the podcast at www.onehope.gives/donate

Can we ever be content? From childhood to adulthood, nothing is ever enough. We believe that we will be content if we receive. And then we receive, only to discover continued discontentment. Christians are not exempt from this problem. Pastors and ministry leaders can be driven by a lust for more. Church members are often discontent with the state of their church and the maturity of other members. Is there hope for contentment? In this episode, Eric, Joel, and Stephanie chat on the stoop, seeking contentment. Listen as the crew explores how to be content.

Is seeing community change a good thing? Absolutely. Can “Change the Community” become a false gospel. Absolutely. While “Transform the Community” is a tag used by many non-profits, churches, and developers alike, is that the “good news” of the church? Is bettering the community be the mission of the church? Is a blighted, unchanged community a sign that the church is not loving their neighbors? How should Christians think of Gospel-centeredness and community transformation? Listen as this final episode on “false gospels” examines how a “Change the Community” false gospel can be stumbling block to truly reaching the community.

This week’s episode looks at another common excuse used to reject the gospel: God knows my heart. Many cling to the belief that salvation can be found in having good intentions, in being “less wicked” than your neighbor, in the hope that good deeds will outweigh the bad. God does know our heart, but do we? Are we autonomous and good intentioned, or actually in bondage to sin? To recognize our guilt without hope is a burden that crushes the spirit, overwhelmed with the reality that we are never going to be good enough. Listen as Eric, Joel, and Stephanie examine the phrase “God knows my heart” through a theological and Biblical worldview. But they don’t stop with a critique. The Stoop crew presents a Savior who can remove our hearts marred by sin, and replace in us, a heart that holds the promise of eternal life.

Brian and Dawn Sessions were both raised in Baltimore and in the church, but seeing the beauty of reconciliation through the gospel did not come immediately. God used their love of the arts to help them find their identity in Christ, and now they use the arts as an avenue through which they can share that same hope with youth in Baltimore. Their lives are not separate from their ministry, but shared through it, and their success is not an end-marker, but daily fulfilling the mission of sharing the gospel. Listen to the end to hear a preview of Brian's new song and check out our website for links to Brian and Dawn's ministries.

More Info on Brian and Dawn’s Work:

R.O.C. Enrichment: www.rocenrichmentprogram.com

Brian’s music: “Jesus Loves Me” By Brian Sessions on all digital streaming services

Grace Abounds Dance/Mentoring: graceaboundsmentoring.org

Before he died, Jesus prayed for us. He prayed for our display of Christian unity. In a polarizing culture, even the church can find itself on opposite sides of a divide. In this episode, the Stoop squad calls up Isaac Adams, an associate pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist in D.C., to talks about unity and prayer. Prayer is as simple as it is powerful, but when it is lacking, we are led by our pride. Divisions flourish. What is Christian unity and how does prayer play a role? Listen in as we discuss concerning divisions. Be reminded of the vision for the church as be a powerful witness in the world. It begins with prayer.

Why pray? For some Christians, prayer seems unnecessary. In some churches, prayer has become a mere transition between the songs and ceremonies of the service. In contrast, prayer should be our natural habitat, as water is to a fish. Is prayer absent in today’s church? Does prayer feel too holy, mystifying, boring, or awkward? In this episode, Joel, Eric, and Stephanie discuss public prayer, what holds us back from it, and why it’s vital for our spiritual well being and growth.

Burnout is not simply being tired, but a state of physical, emotional, social, and spiritual exhaustion. Burnout can stem from a wrong perspective, measuring worth in what we produce, and measuring ourselves against others. When our eyes are set on outward performance, our ego can work us like slaves. Eric, Joel, and Stephanie discuss the signs of approaching burnout, and how we can avoid or recover from it, even when our lives are “crazy busy”.

In scripture, elders are addressed as a plurality, not as a role to be served by a single individual. Joel and Eric, both pastors at The Garden Church, share insight into the importance of having both paid and lay (unpaid) elders serving the inner city church. What does it look like for an elder to have full-time secular work, but still hold the same authority as the senior Pastor? Listen in as we discuss various challenges and dangers from the lack of a plurality of elders, to unchecked authority and the weight of ministry. God’s grace remains necessary in equipping all elders.

In this episode, Marla Walker, a member of The Garden Church and ONE HOPE intern, shares her story of addiction, shame, and feeling not good enough to go before God. Being introduced to alcohol at only 8 years old, Marla was put on a path to drug dependency and a series of recoveries and relapses. From trap houses to recovery houses, Marla’s life represents the cycle of so many. Yet, unlike many others, Marla has found forgiveness and healing in Christ. No depth and no transgression could hide her from the reach of God. Through the love of Christ and the church body, listen to how God has set Marla on a new path of reconciliation and redemption.

In this episode, our continued conversation on addiction looks at how the church should respond to the broken and downcast. Churches can become structured only for the “clean-cut” of a certain socioeconomic status, neglecting those who may disturb our comfortableness. Discussed are ways in which the church can be a community that humbly works towards restoration for all, knowing that God’s grace reaches to all. How to love the addicted with Biblical wisdom, in the hope that they will experience the community of church, and find it more loving than the community of the street. 

When the subject of addiction enters a conversation, it is easy to deflect and downplay its gravity. It is easy to dehumanize those caught in substance abuse, failing to recognize their worth; people made in the image of God. Addiction is both willful rebellion and simultaneously held in bondage to a substance. It devastates, not only the individual, but families and communities. Substances can alter the mind and mute suffering, but suffering plays an important purpose in our lives.

This episode seeks to define addiction and humanize the addict. It looks at the hard realties, necessary humility, and hope of a savior for the addict. Jesus knew the pain of living in a world broken by sin, and took on suffering greater than any of us face. Jesus is the only hope that offers an eternity free from the bondage of all sin.

In 2007, Mez McConnell was hired as a pastor for an outreach post in a Scottish scheme. As a scheme is similar to any project or inner city neighborhood, few members of this “mission” actually lived in the neighborhood. Mez, himself, was encouraged to live elsewhere by those who hired him. Listen to our conversation with Mez on how he moved into this neighborhood, re-planted a church, and now leads a congregation who lives there. In this episode we discuss living near your church in poor communities, safety issues, the idolatry of family, and why Mez tells Christians who live elsewhere to find a church where they live.

Intentionally living in a poor neighborhood for ministry might appear spiritually upright, but it can easily give root to gentrification and a savior mentality. In the third episode on intentional living, conversation centers on how to love your neighbors and be witnesses, without the goal of fixing a neighborhood to fit your preferences. How the wrong approach, the wrong hope, brings about despair, but the revitalization all are in need of, is only through the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. 

“Intentional” may be a buzzword of contemporary Christianity, but what does it tangibly look like for the church to be living with intention? 

Joel Kurz, Eric Hill, and Stephanie Greer discuss the benefits and difficulties of intentionally living in the same neighborhood they serve. In a city like Baltimore, where many might see only a ministry “project,” they have seen a home and how a constant presence, and investment, extends the scope of evangelism. 

In this episode, we hear what shaped their decision to be planted in the uncertainty of violence, and how intentional community helps the church fulfill the commands of Jesus, to love, encourage, and bear the burdens of one another.