Thursdays at the Table

‘Speaking Life, Speaking Hope,’ with Homeboy Industries’ Father Gregory Boyle and Fabian Debora

Fabian Debora, an artist who was a former troubled youth who discovered hope and redemption at Homeboy Industries, joins Father Greg Boyle, the founder of this life-transforming gang intervention, rehabilitation and reentry program, in a conversation with Bishop LaTrelle Easterling about justice, restoration and the power of being seen. Guest Bios Father Gregory Boyle, S.J., is a Catholic priest of the Jesuit order. He is the founder of Homeboy Industries (https://homeboyindustries.org), the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world, and the former pastor of Delores Mission in Los Angeles. He is the author of the 2010 New York Times bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion; Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, and his most recent publication, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness. Fabian Debora is the executive director of the Homeboy Art Academy in Los Angeles. He became acquainted with Homeboy Industries when he was 10 and now serves as one its leaders. He is a noted Latino artist whose work has been showcased in solo and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad. See some of his artwork and story (https://www.fabiandebora.com/).

Life Built on Mission with Pastors Rudy and Juanita Rasmus

In this episode, Bishop LaTrelle Easterling explores the “yin and yang” partnership and world-changing ministry with Rudy and Juanita Rasmus, the founding pastors of St. John’s Downtown United Methodist Church [https://www.stjohnsdowntown.org/] in Houston, TX. Together, they explore what it means for the church to have a heart for service, how to find balance and wholeness amid woundedness, what it means to build the church God intends, and how to become a manifestation of Jesus – wherever we find ourselves.Guest Bios:In 1992, Pastors Rudy [https://www.rudyrasmus.com/] and Juanita [https://www.juanitarasmus.com/] Rasmus, two United Methodist lay people, started St. John’s UMC in Houston, Texas, with nine people. The church grew to more than 9,000 members and has changed the region’s cultural landscape.  Celebrated as “urban prophets,” the couple recently entered “rewirement,” and serve as directors at Bread for Life and continue their ministries as authors, speakers, and spiritual entrepreneurs, helping to define spirituality for our times.

The Next Faithful Step with Bishops Marianne Budde and Leila Ortiz

Bishops Marianne Budde of the Episcopal Chuch, and Leila Ortiz of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, join Bishop LaTrelle Easterling as the first women to serve as episcopal leaders in their judicatories. In this lively conversation, the three share the joys, challenges and lessons of leadership they’ve been experiencing and how each of their distinct identities shape the way they’re living out their call.  Guest Bios Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde [https://edow.org/about/bishop-mariann/] serves as spiritual leader for 86 Episcopal congregations and ten Episcopal schools in the District of Columbia and four Maryland counties. She also serves as the chair of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, which oversees the ministries of the Washington National Cathedral and Cathedral schools. Prior to her election as a bishop, she served for 18 years as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis. She is an advocate and organizer in support of justice concerns, including racial equity, gun violence prevention, immigration reform, the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, and the care of creation. Bishop Leila Michelle Ortiz [https://metrodcelca.org/leaders/the-rev-leila-ortiz/] is a pastor and theologian in The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Felca.org%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR07vefKVeQZCaUCVsacgjxGlEFlEpzbD1_pb_zf9ejLTCzswHvTFDHJpZ4&h=AT0ZrCiiphCFKoDaWJ_aaEkc_7VOkK0PLnI_jggGTc6UhUiinj-BwZprNXyOY3vQ3GtDjEdk6LadbOBcjVqO35KZMWgaEEz9QnKUEm2KBOMJ5Q206qMgzmop31mNXT-t](ELCA) and serves as the Bishop of The Metropolitan Washington D.C. Synod [https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmetrodcelca.org%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3lFZBsxDv-0k-Un1udbxeXFR7RlTyu6q8yWcZaaB16Fv4yTwE_gSwUJFU&h=AT092CSNUrG6D751hcNn-NJsNm2UL402b0-oEFpkPtWWUmwY7cPPbvy0hNZ_1tvrT9upSNhCfqjhLg9adyAlBSbMQsikMl_az5j67MeO6LNTQ4QvFYrSzuaoPtDKdury] since September of 2019. She works alongside pastors, councils, and church members as they discern their call in the church for the sake of the world. She joined the synod staff in 2016 as Assistant to the Bishop. Ortiz is an alumna of the 2015 Lewis Fellowship, at Wesley Theological Seminary and describes herself as as a Luthercostal. Among her many interests is the impact of Latina hermeneutics on Lutheran ecclesiology.

Going to the Margins with Father Gregory Boyle

If you are longing to enter more fully into the uniquely bold and joyful power of transformation, don’t miss this interview with Father Greg Boyle [https://homeboyindustries.org/our-story/father-greg/], founder of Homeboy Industries [https://homeboyindustries.org/?gclid=CjwKCAjwvrOpBhBdEiwAR58-3I92D6uw4ncCFGz1iEkdWbbUPcjfthz8spy63HO7ofFpiYMNxAiq2RoCQLYQAvD_BwE]. During this conversation with Bishop Easterling, he shares his wisdom from 30 years working – heart and soul –  in a community in Los Angeles that was the poorest neighborhood in the diocese which had two different pain points. At first it was primarily a community of people who were immigrants and migrants and ten years later experienced the highest concentration of gang activity . In their conversation, he shares his spiritual strategies, the importance of rolling up our sleeves to work alongside the afflicted in society’s margins, and how churches can better invite people into lives in fullness and abundance. Guest BioFather Gregory Boyle, S.J., is a Catholic priest of the Jesuit order. He is the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world, and the former pastor of Delores Mission in Los Angeles. He is the author of the 2010 New York Times bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion; Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, and his most recent publication, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness.

Special Episode - Love Fiercely with Jacqui Lewis

During the Next Level Speaker Series in October 2022, Bishop Easterling had a conversation on fierce love with the Rev. Jacqui Lewis, who shared stories filled with mother-wit, growth, setting boundaries, making bold choices, and opting to live and love outloud. Together, the pair illuminated what it means to love – God, the world and ourselves – with ferocity and grace. Guest Bio The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis [https://www.middlechurch.org/jacqui/], the author of Fierce Love, A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World, is the Senior Minister for Public Theology and Transformation at Middle Church in New York City. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and Fordham University, Lewis  created two national television programs: Just Faith, an on-demand television program on MSNBC.com, and Chapter and Verse at PBS. She uses her gifts and her national platform as a speaker, Presbyterian pastor and author to create a world based on a public ethic of love.