Forefront Podcast

From Generation to Generation | Room For Every Story

Pastor Josh kicked off our advent series, “From Generation to Generation” with a kid-friendly sermonette by highlighting the generations of Jesus' ancestry from Matthew 1. In that long list of names, we remember the trauma and triumph of those who came before; each name holds a story and their story gives way to Christ’s story. What is your story? Who is part of shaping your story? And how are you loving and living to shape the next generation?

The Antidote to Racism | Counter inUrgency

A sense of urgency at work, in life, and certainly for the cause of justice, sounds like a good idea. But in reality, a culture of urgency can be soul-killing and undercut our essential work for justice and to fight racism in our world. We must identify the tyranny of urgency and choose to fight with a counter (in)urgency.

The Antidote to Racism | Collectivism over Individualism

In the third week of our antidote to racism series, Rev. Josh RaderLee shares how he first became aware of his own individual privilege which opened his eyes to see racism as something that went beyond individual bias or internalized racism. But instead, we must actively let go of supremacy complexes that one way is better or normal. Remembering that deeming some people or cultures as "better" and "normal" requires that we dehumanize all those designated as "less than" and "abnormal."

The Antidote to Racism | Cherish The Messiness

Pastor Angela continues our series on The Antidote To Racism, with the topic: Cherish The Messiness (One Right Way and Perfectionism). Inspired by the movement to dismantle White Supremacy Culture, we will discuss antidotes and explore scriptures that dispel the practice of exclusion and division.

The Antidote To Racism | Tell Me More: How Is It Racism?

Pastor Mak kicks off our four week series, The Antidote To Racism, with the topic: Tell Me More: How Is It Racism? (Denial and Defensiveness). We are drawing from the White Supremacy Culture Characteristics and their accompanying antidotes and looking at the story of Peter denying Jesus 3 times (Luke 22:31-34, 54-62; John 21:15-17). Read more about Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture here: https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/characteristics.html

What Motivates Our Values | Love

Pastor Josh will wrap up Our Values series by highlighting how love of God, self and others informs every part of our values and theology. We will explore how we can be intentional to foster a deeper understanding of God’s love for us, so that we can grow in our love for ourselves and ultimately then extend that love to others. Many of us have been taught in fundamentalist forms of Christianity that we are inherently evil, bad, broken, and flawed. It’s hard to love yourself when you’re taught that you’re not loveable. It’s no surprise then that the same folks who are taught to believe they are inherently evil, don’t love themselves and in effect do a really shotty job loving others. Because they truly are loving others as they love themselves, which is not very much. So let's recalibrate our love this Sunday!

Our Values | Theological Distinctives of Forefront

Rev. Josh RaderLee wraps up a series on our values by highlighting our theological distinctives as a community. Many churches and denominations have a beliefs page, doctrinal statement or creed that defines who they are. However, as an interdenominational church, we are united by our shared values not our beliefs. Under the banner of these values that gives space for a lot of different theological believes to be held at Forefront. While there are common theological distinctives that many at Forefront may hold we do not expect anyone to ascribe to those distinctives to be apart of our diverse community of faith.

Our Values | Radical Equity

Rev. Venida promotes a message of fierce, intentional, radical equity which is the result of the generous, disruptive, and unconditional love of God. The message centers a portion of the story in the Gospel of John where Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus goes straight to the place that some people would avoid, and this sermon encourages us to boldly do the same to meet needs and creating access for those who society continues to marginalize.

Our Values | Uncommon Kinship

Denia Pérez offers an interpretation of Ruth 1:16-17 that centers platonic intimacy and suggests that it is a way to understand and grow closer to God.

Forefront Conversations with Margaret Kamitsuka

With the recent SCOTUS Dobbs decision, Christians who have long been declaring abortion to be Biblically condemned rejoiced as their conservative theology was validated. But does the Bible actually explicitly condemn abortion? In her book, "Abortion and the Christian Tradition: A Pro-Choice Theological Ethic," Margaret Kamitsuka uses rigorous academic research to debunk the assumption that the Bible is inflexibly anti-choice, examining the patriarchal structure that early church leaders established and that contemporary church leaders reaffirm to oppress and dehumanize pregnant people. ABOUT MARGARET Margaret Kamitsuka is Professor Emeritus at Oberlin College in Ohio. After getting her PhD in theology from Yale University, she taught at Oberlin College for over 20 years, where she focused on courses in gender and religion. Now she does research and writing in the area of theological ethics--specifically reproductive issues. Her most recent book is titled Abortion and the Christian Tradition: A Pro-Choice Theological Ethic, published in 2019. She and her coeditor have just completed a textbook that will come out later this year titled, The T & T Clark Reader on Abortion and Religion: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives. Margaret and her husband David are the parents of twin sons, now age 21. Legal and advocacy resources to further explore: Abortion Conversation Projects: http://www.abortionconversationprojects.org/mission-and- vision Catholics for Choice: https://www.catholicsforchoice.org/ Exhale: https://exhaleprovoice.org/pro-voice/ Faith Aloud: https://www.faithaloud.org/ Interfaith Voices for Reproductive Justice: https://www.iv4rj.org/ Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice: https://rrlc.thinkific.com/ Sister Song: https://www.sistersong.net/ Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice: https://faithvoicesforreproductivejustice.co.uk/