Rev. Dr. Paula Stone William’s life is rich with successes, in every area of – with family, in the church, in education, and in business. In her words, “Everything I touched turned to gold.” While she is still turning things to gold it has become more challenging as she has transitioned outwardly to who she has always been inside: female and transgender.

Coffee with Paula Williams

Hello, friends. I'm Father Cathie. &nbsp;I'm an Episcopal priest in North Carolina, serving congregations and people with the freedom to go where I am called. That's why my ministry is called Free Range Priest — instead of serving one church or group, I serve in many places and many ways. Through teaching and discussing Christian practice in everyday life, I help clergy and congregations re-imagine relationships and connect with audiences through digital evangelism. I became a Free Range Priest after a decade serving in Episcopal congregations in New York City, Durham, NC and Wichita, KS,&nbsp;then another five years serving regionally on a bishop's staff, where I worked with clergy and congregations through mission and ministry development. Today I consult and teach for Backstory Preaching, an online preaching program, as part of my Free Range Priest Ministry, along with blogging, speaking,&nbsp; coaching, and leading worship. I’m married to the love of my life, and together we raise my two dogs and his three kids (but don't call me a stepmom). I’m an avid runner, a pretty committed vegan, and a champion coffee-drinker. Jay: Coffee drinker!?!? Well then, Cathie, you've come to the right place! Welcome to the show and thank you for the introduction. &nbsp;As most of you know, I'm your host at Coffeepot Fellowship and a bit of a free range priest myself. If you were to browse the web pages for Free Range Priest and United Faith Leaders you would quickly understand why I am so excited to get to know Father Cathie. &nbsp;Cathie brings great experience and expertise to her ministries. One of the areas of expertise that has caught my attention has to do with her conceptualization and language. Her bachelor of science degree from Georgetown University is in Linguistics and her master of divinity is from The General Theological Seminary in NYC. What does a pastor with a linguistics degree - a degree in the study of language - feel or say when she is holding The Word of God in her hands, called to transfer, teach or communicate that holy body of words? Does it feel possible? Is it a burden? Does it feel futile? Or, rather, is it an easy joy? Jesus is the Living Word; is that even more marvelous to a Christian with a linguistics degree? Father Cathie shares that we each carry that Word - Jesus Christ - in us, that the Word is alive. The beauty&nbsp;is that we have been reading and communicating the Word, this Love, to one another for centuries. It is&nbsp;infinitely creative and mysterious. Each one of us is "translating" it and adding to that conversation all the time. This linguist is also a Biblical literalist, "a real one," she declares!&nbsp;You'll have to listen to this podcast episode to hear her make her case. Last but not least, Cathie also shared that she is at the beginning of this magnificent, risky, and exciting endeavor. Find ways to stay tuned and stay involved while the brainstorming and development take place. Father Cathie, with others, is facilitating a better, more creative future for God's beautiful Church and world. Let her know that you are interested in becoming certified as an official Free Range Priest. (By the way, you cannot simply start calling yourself a Free Range Priest without the certification. The name is actually Cathie's property.) To stay tuned in you can: follow her on Twitter and like the Free Range Priest Facebook Page. Links: United Faith Leaders United Church of Christ (UCC) Free Range Priest (the book!) by Fr. Cathie Caimano Free Range Priest Website Free Range Priest on Facebook Father Cathie's Blog (subscribe in right margin) Twitter: @frcathie RomanTEC on Facebook Presiding Bishop Michael Curry George Lakoff Backstory Preaching (don't forget to subscribe!) Backstory Preaching on Facebook

Coffee with Cathie Caimano

Sushama Austin-Connor has degrees from Emerson College, Fisk University, and Harvard Divinity School. &nbsp;Today she is part of the Princeton Seminary Continuing Education staff where&nbsp;she directs the&nbsp;Black Theology and Leadership Institute. She&nbsp;worships with her husband and two boys in the United Church of Christ and appreciates coffee from Dunkin' Donuts. (Sometimes the world really does run on Dunkin'!) Sushama describes herself as "faith leader, mom, wife, religionista, and media generalist."&nbsp;She'll hit each one of those in our conversation for listeners. Some listeners will definitely identify with a struggle Sushama is experiencing as she pursues ordination. Friends of this podcast will know that we love and support the Christian denomination called the United Church of Christ, UCC. It is the&nbsp;denomination which Sushama happily aligns herself to with its social justice values. You'll here her say, regarding her ministry/job at Princeton about choosing a theme for the Black Theology and Leadership Institute, that if they're not doing social justice then she doesn't know what they're doing. It's that important to her sense of Christianity and theology at Princeton that one might expect a social justice denomination like the UCC to wholey celebrate and quickly affirm that value in a candidate for ordained ministry. While some faith traditions are broadening their lenses about what ministries qualify for ordination, even the UCC is slow to empower a clearly otherwise strong candidate. I pray that our listeners stay connected to Sushama to find out how her ordination story develops. Maybe we can start an "Uncle Tony Campaign" to help Sushama. (You'll have to listen to the episode for the inside joke.) As you can hear in Sushama's voice and see in her pictures,&nbsp;Sushama definitely has the ability to "let it all hang out" and have a great time. &nbsp;Thanks for the boldness and security in who God made you to be, sister. Links: Sponsor: United Faith Leaders Black Theology &amp; Leadership Institute (BTLI) Princeton Theological Seminary Harvard Divinity School Emerson College Fisk University Reinhold Neibhur Documentary Prof. Preston Williams United Church of Christ (UCC) Twitter: @Sushama

Coffee with Sushama Austin-Connor

Rev. Dr. Lisa Cressman is the Founder and Steward of Backstory Preaching. She is the&nbsp;Assisting Priest at Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Houston, Texas. Her Doctor of Ministry is from&nbsp;Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana,&nbsp;and her Master of Divinity is from&nbsp;Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California. Lisa also has her Bachelor of Science in Nursing&nbsp;from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.&nbsp; "Let your life speak" is an old Quaker adage and the title Parker Palmer has given to his popular book which is common reading at every seminary. For any&nbsp;preacher, like Lisa Cressman, the adage would become "let your life preach." Put better by Lisa herself, you will hear her adieu at the end of our interview as "be good news to preach good news." First we must be the Good News. Then and only then we can preach the Good News. If this is the life, promise and love you want to preach then you have come to the right place to get all the pieces in place that you will need to bring your preaching life into one accord. In my own mathematical, engineering undergraduate existence I developed an understanding that none of us gets to be a non-factor in life. While a lot of people try to effect nothing and no one, attempt to do no damage or no harm. That is not an available option. We are all a factor. If an equation of life could be written, like "Life = 7R x 8Q(3T/4P) - 2B + 9D," then what would you be? Yes, we get to choose. Of course, my job is to be asking myself, "What will I be? Will I be a plus or minus in the equation?" Even if I tried to be a zero, I'd fail. Try it yourself and you'll see, you only end up hurting people (minus). There's more. Multiplication is repeated addition, right? That's an option. As is division. And while superscripts aren't an option with my editor here, in life we can strive to have exponential effects.&nbsp;  Saving the world from one lousy sermon at a time  This mathematical construct may seem strange but it is what I was reminded of when Lisa talked with me about everyone preaching all of the time with the lives that they are living. When we recognize that we're already being a factor - that we cannot be otherwise - then we can choose to do it as well as possible. You're already preaching with your life you might just as soon preach well. Whatever we asses ourselves to be in life, with my equation, why don't we improve our impact (our role in the equation and in life, and, in this case, in our preaching)? Somewhere I read that Backstory Preaching is saving the world from one lousy sermon at a time! Lisa says,&nbsp;"Anybody can preach in the pulpit! Absolutely anybody can learn to do this." She gives us these critical questions:  What does 'an effective sermon' mean? How do you recognize one? How do you produce one?  What do we do with those questions now? Did I mention that her Doctor of Ministry is in PRACTICAL Theology? That means she won't give you theory without praxis. Try these.  Craft An Effective Sermon By Friday (PDF e-course) Sermon Boot Camps  Now let's finish where we usually start, coffee. Lisa is also a doctor of coffee and gave us these words:&nbsp; &nbsp;  "Coffee is an event; it is not a beverage."  Links: Backstory Preaching Sponsor: United Faith Leaders Preaching Through Uncertain Times (instant access, self-paced course) Craft an Effective Sermon by Friday 1:1 Sermon Coaching Sermon Summer Bootcamp The Preacher's Trust (forthcoming book) Free Range Priest Father Cathie Caimano Coffeepot Fellowship Interview Festival of Homiletics&nbsp;San Antonio, TX, May 15-19, 2017 Seminary of the Southwest Church Divinity School of the Pacific Christian Theological Seminary Episcopal Church of the Epiphany University of Wisconsin-Madison

Coffee with Lisa Cressman

Sarah Are is about to graduate from Columbia Theological Seminary near Atlanta, Georgia and relocate to Dallas, Texas! Sarah's courage to move as she answers her calls brought her through my own Richmond, Virginia for a summer while she completed her Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and where she reconnected with her undergraduate alma mater, Virginia Commonwealth University. With that same courage and the belief that&nbsp;God finds us all in various ways, Sarah&nbsp;helped launch a ministry called Sanctified Art&nbsp;with the mission of&nbsp;bringing worship and art together. The Are family, Sarah included, are storytellers. For that reason, at the end of this interview you will surely have a new appreciation of communion and you will know a certain four things. I am quite excited myself at the idea of spreading this family story of four things, even just among our mutual friends that she mentioned. I know that those friends (Amanda Hill, Scott Biggers, Laura Kelly, Daniel Burch, Matthew White, and Nathanael Blessington) will not be able to resist listening to this interview and retelling Sarah's stories in their ministries, which will certainly reach thousands of people. I will let the storyteller tell her own stories in the episode&nbsp;but I will pen the four things for listeners.  I am responsible for myself. Every decision has a consequence. I am baptized. I am loved.  Sarah, thank you for being a friend to the podcast. Thanks for being so honest, vulnerable, strong and straight-up being yourself. Links: Sponsor: United Faith Leaders Sanctified Art Sarah's Website Sarah's College Vegetarian Food Blog&nbsp;"A Rented Kitchen" Coe College Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Columbia Theological Seminary Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church,&nbsp;Designated Pastor for Youth and Young Adults (as of July 2017) Morningside Presbyterian Church (Interim Director of Youth Ministries at the time of the interview) Village Presbyterian Church (father, Rev. Tom Are) Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church (Overland Park, KS)

Coffee with Sarah Are

Lisa Sharon Harper confirms here that one reason President Obama was able to create the DACA program was because of a broad coalition of evangelical Christians advocating for major immigration reform? 

From Ferguson to New York to Germany and South Africa, Lisa leads trainings and helps mobilize clergy and community leaders around shared values for the common good. A prolific speaker, writer and activist, Lisa is the founder and president of FreedomRoad.us, a consulting group dedicated to shrinking the narrative gap in our nation by convening forums and experiences that bring common understanding, common commitment, and common action toward a just world.

In 2015 The Huffington Post recognized her as one of “50 Powerful Women Religious Leaders to Celebrate on International Women’s Day.” Most recently, Relevant Magazine recognized The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong can be Made Right as one of “Six Books that Will Change the Way You See the World” and Lisa as one of “Seven Leaders to Follow in 2017.”

Coffeepot Fellowship Podcast

Coffee with Lisa Sharon Harper

Grab the cream and sugar or drink it black at The Coffeepot Fellowship Podcast. Jay McNeal is the Director of United Faith Leaders and the host of the podcast. Catch show notes at coffeepotfellowship.com and all the awesomeness on Facebook. Thanks for listening and participating!