Learn and Lead Podcast Missouri Annual Conference

On this special edition of the Learn and Lead Podcast, we are taking a break from our regular programing to highlight some important conversations happening on the Faith and Race Podcast. In this episode of the Faith and Race Podcast, we'll learn about one of our Historically Black Churches in Kansas City, Missouri, St. James United Methodist Church.

About This Episode of the Faith and Race Podcast Kansas City, Missouri. St. James United Methodist Church launched in 1973 when two small churches combined. Listen in as current pastor Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Cleaver III, Robert Silvan and Leola Evans share about the history and experience of the Historically Black Church.
In This Episode 00:00: Church History Narration
4:30 1950s Change of Kansas City Landscape and the Beginning of St. James UMC
7:30 Taking A Stand and Doing Something About It
18:00 The Merging of a White and Black Church
22:20 Involvement in Politics
24:30 Raising Awareness in Younger People
26:00 A Long History of Involvement In Social Justice
28:30 Birthed Out of a Need for Social Justice and Action
30:30 The Congregation of St. James
35:00 How Would You Identify St. James
38:30 Leadership Demographics
44:00 White Flight and Neighborhood Churches
48:00 Disappointments with the Larger Church
54:00 Ivan Newton
60:00 Kansas City Police
65:00 Refocusing the Worship Effort

About the Faith and Race Podcast The Faith and Race Podcast is designed to help faithful people host conversations about race, faith and the Church. Every episode has a specific focus to help listeners intentionally think about the intersection of history, institutions, scripture, prayer, race and justice. The audio recordings bring diverse insights and experiences into churches, homes, and hearts across Missouri and beyond.

“The Saints Before Us” is the theme and focus of season three of the Faith and Race Podcast. It draws on both Hebrews 11, and its description of the cloud of witnesses, and Ephesians 4 with its directive to equip saints for the work of ministry. The phrase “saints before us” invites listeners to consider the duality of its meaning: In that, the new season of the podcast focuses on Missouri’s Black United Methodist Churches and highlights both the work of the saints that came before us and offers an invitation to the saints currently before us to carry that legacy.

In a conversation that highlights churches in rural areas, Rev. Allen T. Stanton describes the challenges and opportunities facing churches in small town America and the unique position they have as potential agents of change within their communities.  
About Allen
Rev. Allen Stanton is the Chief of Mission Integration and Outreach at the University of Tennessee Southern, where he also serves as the Executive Director of the Turner Center for Rural Vitality. Allen is an ordained in the United Methodist Church. He is the author of Reclaiming Rural: Building Thriving Rural Congregations and holds degrees from Wake Forest University and Duke Divinity School. Allen lives in rural Tennessee with his wife and two daughters.
RESOURCES
Check out Allen’s book, Reclaiming Rural, Building Thriving Rural Congregations (30% Discount RLFANDF30) Connect with Allen on Twitter at @atstanton or by email at ats@utsouthern.edu Certified Rural Training Ministry BeADisciple

“Churches do not get healthy and then do mission; churches get healthy by doing mission.” Check out this conversation with Rev. Dr. Michael Beck on Fresh Expressions and how you can form a new faith community in places where people are already gathering in contemporary culture.
About Michael Beck Rev. Dr. Michael Beck is a pastor, professor and author. He is a spiritual guide who helps people heal, love and unleash imagination to create better lives, organizations and communities. Beck and his wife Jill are co-pastors of Wildwood UMC in Wildwood, Florida; St. Marks UMC in Ocala, Florida; and a network of 13 fresh expressions led by laity that gather in tattoo parlors, dog parks, burrito joints and digital spaces. They direct an inpatient rehab center, a shelter for those experiencing homelessness and an anti-racism movement.
He serves as the director of Fresh Expressions for the Florida Conference of the UMC, director of the Fresh Expressions House of Studies at United Theological Seminary and director of ReMissioning for Fresh Expressions US. Beck has a passion for helping laity and clergy plant new forms of church. He helps church leaders across the globe follow Jesus in fresh and exciting ways. In addition to teaching as an adjunct professor at several seminaries, he coaches, trains and educates leaders internationally across a broad theological spectrum and has consulted with hundreds of churches, districts, denominations, networks, synods and dioceses.
Beck earned a Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary and a Doctorate in Semiotics and Future Studies at Portland Seminary with his mentor Leonard Sweet. He’s the author of eight books and is considered a global thought leader in the missional church movement.
You can learn more at: Dr. Michael Adam Beck – Your Weakness Is Your Superpower
Find Michael's books at: Amazon.com: Michael Adam Beck: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

Have you ever wondered, “What is this Enneagram thing I hear my friends, family and coworkers talking about?” Perhaps you know about the Enneagram already and are looking for a deeper dive conversation and resources to live and lead more faithfully into the calling God gave you. In this episode, Beth and Jeff McCord dig into all things Enneagram, including the theological discussion behind the Enneagram.
Helpful Resources in this Episode: Free Enneagram Test Free Core Motivations download Free Mistyping Guide Discovering You course Learn about all 9 Types Becoming an Enneagram Coach course Should Christians Use the Enneagram I Origins of the Enneagram About Beth and Jeff  McCord are the founders of Your Enneagram Coach, an organization that uses the enneagram tool to help people see themselves with astonishing clarity through the lens of the Gospel, so they can break free from self-condemnation, fear, and shame by knowing and experiencing the unconditional love, forgiveness, and freedom in Christ. Beth (a Type 9) is an Enneagram speaker, coach and teacher and has been trained by enneagram experts and has poured hundreds of hours into advanced certifications. She is now leading the industry in simplifying the deep truths of the Enneagram from a Biblical perspective. Her husband Jeff (a Type 6) has a Master of Divinity as well as multiple certifications in pastoral counseling, family and church mediations, and Gospel coaching. The Enneagram transformed their life, family and ministry, and they have been helping others to do the same ever since. Beth and Jeff live outside of Nashville and has been married for 23 years. They have two adult children, Nate (a Type 6, Loyal Guardian) and Libby (a Type 2, Supportive Advisor).

A “3” on the Enneagram, mom to two toddlers (one with autism), serving two churches, and a daily rhythm of rippin’ and running’ to get it all done, Charity hit the floor. Literally. After what she describes as an “emotional heart attack,” she began a journey to find herself again and start living into the true purpose and calling God gave her while helping others to do the same.
About Charity Rev. Charity Goodwin serves as the Clayton Site Pastor of The Gathering in St Louis. She has served in ministry for over 20 years and is a certified coach, author, facilitator and sought-after keynote speaker. She is the founder of Speaking Life where she helps people discover their calling and break free from the over-worked, over-productive, over-achieving life. She is the author of the book, GET UP: Unearthing your Passion and Taking Brave Action in 50 Days - a devotional journey that will lead you from burnout to breakthrough. Rev. Goodwin is also the co-founder of Black Genus School – a virtual learning community that provides engaging and empowering experiences for Black families and their school-age children. She is mom to Levi Nicolas, who she describes as the ham in the fam, and Gabriel Jicotea, the budding engineer and computer tech of the family. Gabriel has autism and has shaped and textured her voice with an empathy and realness that cannot be manufactured. Charity loves to dance, listen to podcasts, watch period dramas and spend time relaxing in her big comfy chair.

Connect with Charity
Visit www.charitygoodwin.com to purchase the book, GET UP and learn about coaching. Click here to join the waitlist for the New GET UP Facilitator Guide!

Freddy and his wife Yuri along with their three children answered Gods call to leave Cuba and start a new Hispanic church in Kansas City.
About Freddy
Freddy is originally from Cuba. An accomplished artist with amazing paintings he has sold for significant sums, Christ called him into ministry in the Cuba Methodist Church. National President of Young Adults of the Cuban Methodist Church. 2003 – 2007. Later he served as a pastor in three churches in succession. Each of them grew dramatically, all under a government system that is officially atheistic. Freddy is also a husband to Yuri and father of three, Sophia 11, Natalie 9, Nicolas who is 7. He lives a life on mission for God! After a two-year immigration process, Freddy and his family were finally able to arrive in the Kansas City airport on December 9, 2021. The Missouri Conference has invited Freddy to come here to start a new Hispanic Church in partnership with Christ UMC in Independence.