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Rev. Charles Garriott joins us to share his experience caring for people in the aftermath of violence. This is a must-listen for any ministry leader who isn't sure how to react to this week's attack on the US Capitol!

We close out our mini-series on the scariest passages of the gospel with a look at why bearing fruit and fitting the description of a Christian isn't enough.

Christian Civics Executive Director Rick Barry shares how Jesus' promise to bring a sword prompts him to ask himself uncomfortable questions about his friendships and his church life.

Executive Director Rick Barry continues this miniseries of reflections on the passages of the synoptic gospels that frighten him the most. This episode also includes a guided prayer, and information on how to support our work ahead of and following a divisive election. A full transcript is available on our website, christiancivics.org.

Jesus' warning not to cause even a single child to stumble is a lot scarier than we give it credit for—and should lead most of us to be a lot more cautious about how we respond to politicians. Executive Director Rick Barry continues our miniseries of personal reflections on the most intimidating passages of the gospels.

Executive Director Rick Barry shares a reflection on his favorite book of the Bible, and shares a prayer request for an unexpected challenge that came up in our work today.

A couple weeks before accidentally falling into a month-long social media fast, Rick Barry talked with Jeff Porter about the challenge of navigating social media in a Christlike manner and what secularization can teach us about White Supremacy. In the end, Rick leads us in praying through and praying in response to John 17.

A conversation about public shaming, private shaming, and growing in maturity turns into a conversation about race, repentance and shared responsibility. Steve Park of Little Lights Urban Ministries joined us last week for what turned out to be a very different conversation than the one we expected. Shownotes will be available at christiancivics.org on June 13.

In the first installment of The Christian Civics Book Club, we discuss Jonathan Haidt's "The Righteous Mind." Christian Civics co-founder and Executive Director Rick Barry is joined by Christian Civics teaching faculty Rev. Charles Drew and Executive Board members Nathan Leamer and Thomas Turner. The next book club episode will cover Soong-Chan Rah's "Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times."

Our Executive Director shares a personal reflection on the protests that have sprung up over the past week, and leads a brief prayer for how we respond to them. A full transcript of this episode and this prayer will be available at christiancivics.org beginning June 3.

Interview (1:55) Small Group Bible Study Guide (25:07) The Lord's Prayer Challenges Conservatives and Liberals (26:35) Prayer Exercise (28:31) Christian Civics Executive Director Rick Barry sits down for a revealing conversation with Rev. John Onwuchekwa, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and author of Prayer: How Praying Together Shapes the Church. They talk about how prayer was modeled in Pastor Onwuchekwa's childhood home, how group prayer saved Rick's faith, and why prayer is an important part of outreach and church growth. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE (Links available in shownotes at christiancivics.org/podcast) Prayer: How Praying Together Shapes the Church by John Onwuchekwa Light to the World: Navigating Politics in Light of the Christian Story Journey in Prayer: Learning to Pray with Jesus by John Smed and Justine Hwang

Christian Civics executive director Rick Barry's keynote address at the 2020 Montgomery County National Day of Prayer Virtual Prayer Breakfast. The prayer and reflection exercise mentioned in the talk is available at: https://christiancivics.org/blog/getting-out-of-the-blame-game/

Rev. Charles Drew offers a homily and prayer for those of us worn out by news about the novel coronavirus and the effect it is having on our communities. If you are in a position of formal or informal leadership, the Caring Connections Knowledge Base provides up-to-date, easy-to-use resources for navigating the new challenges presented by the COVID-19 emergency measures: https://trello.com/b/6SE4fiNG/caring-connections-knowledge-base The first meeting of the Christian Civics Book Club is coming up soon! Get your copy of the book THE RIGHTEOUS MIND and submit your questions, comments and observations about the book here: https://christiancivics.org/blog/announcing-the-christian-civics-book-club/

Our guest this episode is Talitha Phillips, CEO of Claris Health, a women's and reproductive health clinic with multiple locations in Los Angeles, California. Talitha shares how the COVID-19 pandemic is compounding the difficulty of providing social services and medical care to a vulnerable community—and what it's like to try to do this work out of her bathroom instead of out of her office. Visit our website, christiancivics.org, for a transcript of the prayer at the end of this episode, as well as more information on Claris Health and one small step you can take to use this episode to shape the way you and your church serve your neighbors.

Our guest for this minisode is Marian Hutchins, Executive Director of Father's Heart Ministries in New York City. Marian shares with us the effects COVID-19 emergency measures are having on soup kitchens, food pantries and programs that serve at-risk youth. She also shares some encouragement about how Christians who care about those issues can continue getting involved even in the face of emergency measures. Visit our website for shownotes, including more information on Father's Heart and a transcript of the prayer offered at the end of the conversation.

Dr. Amanda Eckhardt of RestoreNYC joins us to talk about how COVID-19 is re-shaping anti-trafficking work and how we can pray against trafficking in an informed way. This is the first in a short series of "minisodes" covering how several issue areas that are common passions for people in the church are being re-shaped by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Our guest this week is Heather Rice-Minus. She's vice president of government affairs and church mobilization for Prison Fellowship. Prison Fellowship is in a rare spot where some of the work they do is responding in a simple, direct way to simple direct commands in scripture—to not forget those in prison and to visit prisoners. But another part of what they do is taking big, broad principles that we're supposed to dedicate ourselves to and finding specific ways to apply those themes in a complicated, multifaceted system. Prison Fellowship is a great example of a collection of Christians humbly trying to figure out the best way to be a practical, visible example of the kingdom that is to come in the middle of the here and now. They don't shy away from engaging with a very hard, very complicated form of brokenness, and they do it while leaving room for people who don't share their approach to still exercise their best wisdom. We recorded this via Skype, so the connection is not great, but the questions Heather raises—"What is the purpose of the justice system?" "How do we as Christians take our thoughts about crime and punishment captive to the gospel?"—are worth wrestling with even over a poor-sounding connection. Visit christiancivics.org for links to the research, resources and events Heather mentions during our interview.

For the 2020 election season, we are going back to our roots, bringing you weekly podcasts featuring prayers for the public square. We begin this series with a prayer for our response to the coronavirus pandemic, based on Psalm 46. Look for a transcript and shownotes on our website later this weekend!

The coronavirus and its economic, social, and mortal fallout are obviously dominating the news and changing the way many of us are ordering our lives for the next few weeks. For our first episode back, we welcome Dr. William Petri, a UVA public health researcher, to share with us what this outbreak looks like to a Christian who works in public health and lead us in prayer for his colleagues as they work on responding to this pandemic. We're grateful that Dr. Petri took time off of literally working on a Corona Virus vaccine to talk with us on short notice, and hope that this offers something instructional, helpful or comforting to you. Our podcast will be back next week, but in the mean time, follow us on Facebook for ongoing updates, prayer prompts and reflection material related to the COVID-19 response.

Pastor Charles Drew shares where his concern for the church in the face of political polarization comes from, and why he thinks Christians shouldn't let fear of excess prevent them from learning to engage politics responsibly. We also share the first of several upcoming events, and how you can join us for that event even if you aren't in the DC area. A transcript and shownotes will be on the Christian Civics website on Monday, April 22, 2019.