The guests on The Unfinished Church podcast were not chosen for their credentials or their significance on our cultural stage. Rather, they were selected because of their passion. Each has awakened new thoughts and put their ideas into action in their own unique ways.
There’s something inspiring about listening to a person who is fully alive, whose life is bright with meaning and purpose. We can’t wait for you to hear these conversations and to allow the ideas that are shared to intersect with your passion and faith.
These are the featured guests on The Unfinished Church, in the order, they’ll appear in the series:
Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber is an ordained Lutheran pastor and public theologian; founder of the House for All Sinners & Saints church in Denver; the creator and host of The Confessional; and the author of three New York Times bestselling memoirs: Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith Of A Sinner & Saint; Accidental Saints: Finding God In All The Wrong People and SHAMELESS: A Sexual Reformation. She possesses one of the most unique and genuine voices in the Church today. Learn more.
Eboo Patel is an author, speaker, and the founder and president of Interfaith America, an organization created around the idea that religion should be a bridge rather than a barrier. He is inspired to build this bridge by his identity as an American Muslim navigating a religiously diverse social landscape. Holding a doctorate from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, Patel has written Acts of Faith, Sacred Ground, Interfaith Leadership: A Primer, and Out of Many Faiths: Religious Diversity and the American Promise. Learn more.
Opal Lee is known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” but on her website she calls herself “just a little old lady in tennis shoes getting in everybody’s business.” A resident of Texas, she is hailed nationally for her unwavering witness that, “None of us are free, until we are all free.” Learn more.
Rev. Fred Shaw is a Shawnee storyteller who chairs the United Methodist Native American Comprehensive Plan and directs a national school for American Indian United Methodist pastors. He is a retired pastor who served in the West Ohio Conference for 41 years, and now works using photography and story to unite people and cultures, believing that each of us are connected in life-giving ways.
Rev. Brian McLaren is a prolific author and spiritual thought-leader who is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of religion.” He is a faculty member of The Living School and podcaster with Learning How to See, which is part of the Center for Action and Contemplation. He is the author of many best-selling books. His latest, published in May, is Do I Stay Christian? Learn more.
Rev. Willie Jennings is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale Divinity School, a poet and prophet whose love of theology calls him to deeply explore the intersections of Christian identity and race. He has written several books, including The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race; and After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. A Baptist pastor, he is now working on a major monograph provisionally entitled Unfolding the World: Recasting a Christian Doctrine of Creation as well as finishing a book of poetry entitled The Time of Possession. Learn more.
With light hearts, profound faith, and significant insight, the passions of each of these guests will unfold when they talk with Bishops LaTrelle Easterling, Mike McKee and Gregory Palmer. Listen in.