As we bring Season 3 of Along the Road to a close, your hosts Martha Miller (Nourish) and valerie izumi and Manuel Silva-Esterrich (Encounter) give thanks for a season full of conversation, laughter, and learning in our engagement with each other but especially with our guests and with you, our audience! We hope that you have found engaging with Presbyterian identity meaningful and fruitful. We encourage you to continue to reflect on how and what that means to you and share your thoughts and reflections with us at alongtheroad@pcusa.org.

Until the next time, take good care and we will see you along the road, peace!

Faith came alive when Andrew Shen became involved in the feeding ministries of Friendship Presbyterian Church. Feeling called to serve has transformed his life and reinforced his faith and values. 

For more information about this congregation and its work in the community, read this article and view the accompanying videos. 

Hello Church People! In this episode, Rev. Mienda Uriarte, Deputy Executive Director, and Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk and Executive Director of the Interim Unified agency, reflect on the importance of doing mission in partnerships and what it has meant for our denomination and churches since the adoption of the document "Presbyterians Do Mission in Partnership" by the 215th General Assembly (2003), the transforming essence of Mission and the partnerships that are to continue to form in the future. You can access the document by clicking on this link. Stop, listen, and be inspired by this reflection on our recent history on Mission.

Sometimes we all need a reminder of the impact that we make in the lives of others. Krista Langley, deacon and ruling elder, shares her journey and how family, church leaders, and her faith have made a real difference in her life and how she continues to live out what she has learned from and through them. 

Join Shawna Bowman as they share how embracing change from a Reformed theological perspective created a new thing that brought life and light to the covenant community of faith and the mission and ministries they support. 

For more information: 

Chicago church finds a home in the homes it supported | Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 

and Friendship Presbyterian Church at info@fpcchicago.org

We'd love to hear from you! Please share your thoughts with us by writing to alongtheroad@pcusa.org. Thank you!

Using Matthew as a basis, Amos Mendez connects coffee to our spirituality; encouraging us to build up our spiritual lives to avoid getting burnt up and creating bitterness 

Join Neal Presa as he shares why we cannot keep God's joy to ourselves. That by working and praying together in community for justice - where everyone is valued and included, that all will flourish, we live out God's call upon our lives. That is worship - not just in church on Sunday but throughout our Mondays - Saturdays as well.

We'd love to hear from you! Please share your thoughts with us by writing to alongtheroad@pcusa.org. Thank you!

Music can touch our souls and connect us to God. Bill Buchanan joins us to stir our curiosity in various genres of music and encourages us to expand our horizons as we listen to find new ways that God may be speaking to us. 

As an added bonus, Bill has provided his own Spotify playlist of soul music 

Hello Church People. Today, our guest, retired minister Carmen Rosario, shares with us the history of Presbyterian identity in her family, ministry, and the work she has done and continues to do with the National Presbyterian Hispanic and Latino Caucus and the communities that develop Latin American leadership in the PC (USA). She also shares the resources and networks Mid Councils have with Hispanic Latino leadership.

We'd love to hear from you! Please share your thoughts with us by writing to alongtheroad@pcusa.org. Thank you!

Lauren Sanders helps us learn and understand more about what a land acknowledgment is and what it shouldn’t be, how we can educate ourselves beyond the importance of the names, and some of the actions we can take to live into our call as Christians. 

Join our guest Kerri Allen as she talks about Reformed theology and how the practice of naming where and how we encounter the Holy can help shape how  we approach our daily life and engage the world with our theology shaping and informing all that we do

We'd love to hear from you! Please share your thoughts with us by writing to alongtheroad@pcusa.org. Thank you!

The Foundations of Presbyterian Polity, the first section of the PC(USA) Book of Order, helps address our “why”. Barry Ensign-George gives more insight into this important part of our constitution as we all continue in our journey as church leaders.

For additional insight into the Foundations, follow along with our series of articles within Regarding Ruling Elders: A Monthly Series for Serving Faithfully. Get more information here and subscribe to receive the monthly links. 

Hello Church People! Our guest Dr. Marcus Hong, dives into the connections between the practice and theology of Worship and our Presbyterian identity. Why is Prayer central to the heart of Worship in Presbyterianism and Reform tradition? This an other questions will be answered in this episode.

Find more information about Dr. Hong's project with the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the "Sun-Walking Fellowship" by contacting him at mhong@lpts.edu 

We'd love to hear from you! Please share your thoughts with us by writing to alongtheroad@pcusa.org. Thank you!

Satoe Soga, Chaplain Educator at Houston Methodist Hospital, shares her story of call as a journey of cultural transition and claiming identity in which she discovered her gifts along the way. 

Join us as our guest, Galen Zabala Sherby, shares his inspiring journey from being a pastor's child to becoming a labor rights advocate and community organizer. Now a young adult Ruling Elder in the PC(USA), Galen illustrates how political justice is integral to the Presbyterian identity, all in pursuit of the greater good of the Great Commission. Don't miss this enlightening discussion!

We'd love to hear from you! Please share your thoughts with us by writing to alongtheroad@pcusa.org. Thank you!

Ecumenism, connecting with other churches and denominations, is a part of our Presbyterian DNA. Dianna Wright, PC(USA) Director of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations, helps us understand why these relationships are important and how we can grow within them.

Spend some time at the Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations webpage for more information or contact Dianna directly

Join Mirna Wasef and her father, Mofid Wasef as they share the importance of knowing our identity -- what it means to be a Presbyterian - who we are, what we believe, and why we are called as a church "to go forth as agents of God's mission in the world." [Book of Order, W-3.0502]
We'd love to hear from you! Please share your thoughts with us by writing to alongtheroad@pcusa.org. Thank you!

Many current Presbyterians do not have backgrounds within the denomination, including Ryan Knauber who grew up Catholic became Buddhist and is now a Presbyterian. Hear Ryan’s story and reflect upon your own while thinking about what it is about being a Presbyterian that is most important to you. 

Scott Anderson was called to be a pastor in the PCUSA when he sixteen years old at a time when our polity did not allow for the ordination of LGBTQIA+ people. Yet he stayed in the church even when he could not openly claim his authentic self. Scott, the first openly gay person ordained to teaching elder in the PCUSA, shares how his sense of call and advocacy with More Light Presbyterians and the community of support around them sustained him and his ministry as a PCUSA pastor.
We'd love to hear from you! Please share your thoughts with us by writing to alongtheroad@pcusa.org. Thank you!

Katrina Pekich-Bundy shares how the spiritual practice of reading has played a part in her curiosity to learn more about the world, neighbors near and far away, and has enhanced her relationship with others and with God. She even provides a list of recommended books!

Join guest Annanda Barclay as she reflects as a Black queer woman on the disconnect between the values and beliefs that we profess as Presbyterians and our actual social relationships. As a chaplain, she shares how the “heady stuff of theory meeting the road of praxis” can provide care in the healing of the "moral injuries" that create fissures within the covenant community.
We'd love to hear from you! Please share your thoughts with us by writing to alongtheroad@pcusa.org. Thank you!

As we grow in faith and understanding, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary professor, Cynthia Rigby, explains and unpacks some of our foundational Reformed beliefs - Sovereignty of God, Christocentrality, Tenacity of Grace, Goodness of Creation, and Hope 

Let's review together how we have served during the year in opening our mission and ministries towards a diverse community of people that when included, expand the vision of the Kingdom of God in our congregations, mid councils, and the communities we serve towards equity. Our guest Amanda Craft, Manager of Advocacy in the Office of Immigration Issues of the Interim Unified Agency, helps us highlight how our Presbyterian identity moves the body to explore the multiple branches of the vine of how D.E.I. expands and calls for the Church to be full of care for everyone around the table Jesus has prepared. We talk about the important work of welcoming immigrants, the young, and people with different abilities, among other topics. 
If you would like to contact Amanda to help you with these topics, she can be reached at amanda.craft@pcusa.org. 

Camden Thomas-Bush shares his experience serving as a deacon in his congregation while in high school. We have much to learn from and with young people as they grow in leadership alongside us! 

On this episode of Encounter, Jeff Japinga shares his reflections on how we can be intentional in naming who we are as  Presbyterians. We explore why it matters as we explore the distinctive characteristics and particularities that make us PC(USA) Presbyterians.
We'd love to hear from you! Please share your thoughts with us by writing to alongtheroad@pcusa.org. Thank you!

In this podcast we mention Jeff Japinga's Reformation Day sermon, "Why We Choose to Be Reformed," at Westminster Presbyterian Church. You can listen to his sermon here.