BTB 8th Anniversary Episode – REENGAGE with BTB Community Groups and the BTB Youth & University Program!

Lauren Brown
Have you gotten your copy of “Brown Faces, White Spaces” by Latasha Morrison yet? The New York Times best selling author of “Be the Bridge” calls people of faith to be a part of a lasting challenge and help heal the racial disparity in our country together. We might think of systemic racism as an unfortunate part of American history, something that happened back in the day, but the systems were never truly dismantled in our country, leaving artifacts of injustice that continue to affect every aspect of life for black and brown Americans. Many of us feel overwhelmed by the problem, unsure how we can make a difference. Yet, God calls the church to stand firmly committed to racial reconciliation, and for each one of us to make choices that lead to healing. In Brown Faces, White Spaces Latasha Morrison explores nine aspects of American life, where systemic racism still flourishes. Through story, historical context and present realities, she looks at what it means to recognize and confess the truth about inequities in the system – preparation. Commit ourselves to changing the system – dedication. And move into true freedom as a society – liberation. This honest hope filled book shows us how we can reform historically white spaces and create systems that work for the good of all. Join the bridge building movement that is listening, learning and working together for equity in every aspect of our lives. Find all the information at BrownFacesWhiteSpaces.com. Be the Bridge community, it’s June! And June around here means we celebrate because it’s our anniversary month. 2024 marks eight years of Be the Bridge. Can you believe it? It’s crazy, right? We are taking this month to look at the work we are doing and the impact we are making collectively. Thank you for listening and for supporting us as we empower people and culture toward racial healing, equity and reconciliation.

Tange Johnson
Hi, everybody, my name is Tange Johnson. I’m the Chief Transformation Officer with Be the Bridge. I am here with our programs department, which consists of our Youth and University department and our Groups, our community group’s department. I am also here with a couple of representatives who have participated in both of those departments. And we want to tell you a little bit about who we are and what it is that we do. So, I want to start off by having everyone introduce themselves and give their titles. We want to start with Jefferson. Who are you and what do you do?

Jefferson Jones
Hey everybody, I’m Jefferson Jones, I’m the Youth and University Program Manager. I look over I look over over look groups, whether it be college level, high school and middle school, also facilitate trainings that are curated for this age group that I lead and traveled to different universities across the nation and also school systems to establish groups and a few other things in that.

Tange Johnson
Okay, we’ll get to those few other things in a minute. What about you, Andrea? Who are you in? What do you do?

Andrea Middleton
Hi, everyone. My name is Andrea Middleton, and I am the Director of Community Engagement. What I do with Be the Bridge I, like Tandy had mentioned earlier, groups is a big part of what I do with the organization, manage, help facilitate the community groups. I also do event planning, such as our BTB Live events that we’ve had in Atlanta and Ohio and North Carolina. Also, I just really try to increase engagement between the BTB community

Tange Johnson
Okay, that’s great. Tanya, I see your face what is it that you do

Tanya Rogers
Hi, everybody! My name is Tanya Rogers. I am the online community groups manager and I’m also the BiPOC educator with Be the Bridge

Tange Johnson
Okay, great. Great. And we have two faces that well, we see a lot in some of our communications, but I want to introduce them to the podcast community. Cole, can you let the viewers know or listeners know who you are? And what it is that you do?

Cole Middleton
Yes. Hi, everyone. My name is Cole Middleton. I’m a student athlete, a rising senior at Anderson University. I play basketball. And I this is my second year interning with Be the Bridge. I’ve just been around a lot. I’ve been a part of some groups, led a group, and I’m starting another one this summer.

Tange Johnson
Great, great. Cole is one of our favorites. He’s consistent, has been a constant voice in the Youth and University Department. And we are so grateful to have him here. What about you, Ben?

Ben Scholes
Hi, friends!

Tange Johnson
Who are you and why are you here?

Ben Scholes
I’m asking that question all the time to myself wherever I go. My name is Ben Scholes. I am a volunteer with Be the Bridge, long term member. I’ve been on board since 2016. And have led seven or eight groups and been in groups with some of the people in this room.

Tange Johnson
Perfect. I love it. Okay. All right. So, I want to focus in a little bit on groups. So groups has been the, I like to say the lifeblood of the organization. This is a space where an organization, church organizations, nonprofit organizations, schools, corporations, can have access to Be the Bridge curriculum, and use that to guide them towards spaces of racial healing and racial reconciliation. So, Andrea, I know that we are in the process of tracking our groups to be able to account for the actual number that we have. But on the if you can give me an estimate of how many groups we have in nationally and internationally. And and give me an just an idea of the work that they do in groups, what is being done in groups currently?

Andrea Middleton
Absolutely, you know, I have a heart for groups. I have seen and led groups with Ben, on here. And I’ve seen the transformation that happens in the group members’ lives. So, I will always advocate and push for groups. But, we have had actually upwards of over 2,000 groups within the US and and several other countries. A couple of years ago or last year, actually, we had one of our group leaders travel all the way from the Netherlands. From the Netherlands, here to our very first Summit. So, the way our groups are set up, there is a curriculum that coincides with the book that Tasha, Tasha’s first book that she she wrote back in 2019. And there’s a set of ten sessions that the entire group goes, they all do do together. And there’s typically a group leader, and a group, a group leader and a co-lead to people that lead the groups together. I really try to encourage, you know, the groups to stay around six to 12, you know, participants. Once you start getting up into, you know, 15, 16 or more people, it becomes kind of difficult to manage or it can. But while in groups, every other week, you have about you know, like I said six to 12 individuals that are going through each chapter that Tasha has written, such as awareness and acknowledgement and lament, and confession and reparations, and just to name a few, but you’re going through a set of questions. And you know, it really is a time where you are answering the questions, but you’re developing a sense of community with the other members, sharing your experiences, getting to hear other people’s, you know, their, the way they you know, their background and their experiences and to really walk out, you know, what it means to listen, learn, and lament. So that’s just a small little bit of what groups has provided for myself, and for, you know, others who are on this call.

Tange Johnson
So Ben, you have been a part of a group, correct? Can you let us know what group you are what group you are a part of, and how long, and just your experiences with that group?

Ben Scholes
Sure. I just finished what I’ve been calling my best group ever. We had a men’s group that lasted about a year and a half. More than any other group, we had full participation and just full buy-in from from every single man involved in the group. It was a it was a men’s group. I’ve co-hosted several different types of groups, this, this was an all men’s group. And going into those groups, I’m always concerned that there’ll be a lack of vulnerability or just enough. Enough space taken up by everyone, sometimes I worry about men just kind of shutting down and just being there to listen. But did not find that at all with this group. Everyone just came in with their full authentic self was free to share vulnerabilities, fears, missteps in the past, the whole gamut. And like Andrea was saying, not only did this lend us to transformation, but it drew us together as a tightly a tight kinship. I’m also doing a current group with my work with The Salvation Army. We have a city of Atlanta task force that we’ve called Bridge Building Task Force. And we spend time every week together, just discussing issues of race, globally, locally, and especially how they affect those of us who work in The Salvation Army and what we can do to increase awareness and the steps towards reconciliation within employees of the Salvation Army.

Ben Scholes
Yes, a little with a community group. I think there’s a little bit of a stronger buy in and if we’re doing the community group, right. White folks in the community group have gone through Be the Bridge 101. And I think that’s an extraordinarily important step, because I’ve been in groups where we haven’t done that and there’s been certain tensions and just people that just aren’t quite ready for the conversation yet. And so without that prerequisite, that can that can be difficult. And so we did not do the prerequisite with my Salvation Army group, because we’ve all come into this task force with a certain level of understanding of what we’re talking about. And I questioned whether or not we should have. We probably should have, but the group itself was made up of, of many different races. And so I didn’t want to take the whole group through Be the Bridge 101. It’s really intended for a wide audience. So we skipped that. That’s probably the biggest dynamic, but what I found is that in my work group, the people of color in the group are so energized and engaged in this group that they’ve been extraordinarily gracious for missteps and things like that. And because of my long history with Be theBridge, I’ve been able to kind of assure them that, hey, I’m having these side conversations when something goes a little wrong in the group, I can pull people aside and have conversations there. And so with the work group, there’s just a little more of probably, I have a little bit of a higher elevated position than I normally do in a group just because of my long experience with Be the Bridge and kind of bringing everyone along with it. Whereas, in community groups, there’s, there’s, there have been other people in the in the organization as long as I have.

Tange Johnson
Okay, and are you using the same building bridges, groups curriculum that we have, that you would use with your community group? And the reason I’m asking is, there are typically some questions that I get about using our faith based or traditionally faith or proprietary, rather faith based curriculum in spaces that are not traditionally faith based, and we do have values based curriculum, but I just want to know the effectiveness in both spaces like essentially crossing two different spaces.

Ben Scholes
Sure, I love this question, because I get to help us brand. Not everyone knows, but the Salvation Army is a church. And we are a Christian church and a Christian organization. So, we are absolutely using the same curriculum. I’m, we started this one when, before 3.0 was out. So we’re still using 2.0. But I almost want to go through it again with 3.0. because I think that’s part of why my last group was the best it’s ever been. I think it started with the curriculum, and I think the 3.0 curriculum, the step that it took from 2.0 is just incredible and brings more people in and is, is far more engaging. So yes, we’re absolutely using the curriculum and love the Christ-centered approach. And it really helps with us as we’re all bought into our mission, which is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tange Johnson
Amen, and amen. All right. Okay. I want to bring thank you for that, Ben. I want to bring Tanya into the conversation. So Tanya, you manage our online community, our our platform form that we use currently is Facebook. So I wanted to kind of talk to you about the process, like the onboarding process. How do people join this online community? I will I do want to, I guess, give the disclaimer that we are migrating to a different, more, I guess. A, I think it’s a little more seamless platform that will have all of the same bells and whistles and functionality that Facebook did with a few other things that will make it a little easier for our participants and participants to navigate through. But yeah, tell us how somebody currently can get involved in the Facebook community and what that onboarding process looks like.

Tanya Rogers
Sure, so the Facebook community is, actually there are several different groups on Facebook, but we have one large Facebook community, which we call the main group. And that group, right now can be found on Be the Bridge. If you go on Facebook, and just search the title Be the Bridge, you can find it but on our website BetheBridge.com you can also get access to the online group through that website as well. And what we do is we have people fill out a brief questionnaire to join the group, you answer questions like: How did you find out about this group? What is your interest in the work of racial justice? Different questions along those lines. Do you agree to follow the guidelines of the admins in the group? And after the person fills that out, we then come back and have some moderators can go through those questions and go through the answers rather and just do a brief check to see what the answers are like. We do want to make sure that people are respecting the larger group, everyone in the community we have people with BIPOC and white people in the group and so we want to make sure that it’s a space that’s a brave space but also a space where there is minimal harm being done. To BIPOC even though we do understand that sometimes the white people coming into the room may not have a lot of background in this area, so there are going to be some mishaps and stumbles. But we just want to make sure that that people will be willing to receive guidance and correction if that happens. So that’s what our initial questions are all about. We also have a great practice of asking everyone who joins the group to be silent for the first three months while they’re in the group, so that they can read, right? A lot of time people haven’t educated themselves on these conversations and might have a lot of thoughts and opinions or even grief and pain. And so, sometimes it’s good to sit in silence for a while to see the conversations that are happening to to listen to what’s being said and we also have a pretty robust training course or training readings that people can go through and not only read, but listen to, and, and watch. So we have videos, we have articles, and we have books, as well as podcasts. We have a lot of information for people to review during the time that they’re not verbally engaging in the group, so that they can get on board with kind of the direction that we take as as Be the Bridge, as we approach racial justice, they can learn how we go about that, and what the ethos is what we believe is a healthy way to approach racial justice. And so a lot of times that helps to address you know, kind of minor problems that might come up if people don’t have that background, sort of like what Ben was talking about, with the Be the Bridge 101, which by the way, I think is an excellent approach. Ben, when I lead groups, I always have the group’s do Be the Bridge 101 first, even as a whole group, so that we just bypass a lot of challenges that way. And so we do something similar in the main group, even though the main group is more of a space for broad engagement and community building and learning. Whereas, I think that some of the in-person groups can be a bit more intimate, and a space to develop relationships and also to, to, to do life together with people in this work. The larger group is is a pretty large group, so it’s a bigger space. So it’s a little bit harder to do that, but it is a great space to have these broad conversations, to listen to people, to learn to be quiet, to learn to receive correction, and not balk at it. To learn to correct wisely and with grace. So it’s a pretty steady, pretty straightforward process, you you put in the regular groups request form that Facebook has, you are responded to, once you get approval, you’re silent for a few months while you read through the materials that we have and then you can begin to engage in the group. That’s our main group. We also have smaller groups that are more focused on specific areas like we have a BIPOC Care Group, which was designed, I want to say about 2017, 2018, and it was because there was a lot of pain that you can hear being expressed from BIPOC. And we weren’t always able to share that in the main group for various reasons. Either it just wasn’t a space where we can get appropriate and relevant feedback. Some people didn’t feel as comfortable sharing in a space where they were sharing pain, or they were sharing something difficult. And they didn’t want to share that in front of white people, which I think is a reasonable discomfort given our history. And so the BIPOC Care Group with a space where people could come, it’s not a separate Be the Bridge group for BIPOC. It’s a group where people go and receive care. They can share some venting some lament that people can stand with them, uphold them, encourage them, even give them input or advice on how to handle a situation. We also have a Ministry Group, because there are a lot of ministers faithfully trying to figure out this racial justice work. And not everyone is going to have to figure out the same things that a person in ministry or a person pastoring a church would need to know how to navigate. So, this group is for people in that position who want to know, how do I do this work? How do I love my congregation in the midst of this space? How do I shepherd people, while walking this out? I know there will be challenges. I know there will be pushback, how do you handle this? Right? So it’s a community space for people in that position. We also have a Leaders Group, which Andrea oversees which is a group of Be theBridge in person group leaders who can come in and gain insight guidance direction on that process of being a leader and I’ll leave that Andrea because I know that you have been running that group and have had amazing conversations and input. So I won’t delve too much into that one. But we have a lot of different communities that are able online that are able to give guidance and to help people in this work. We also have state groups. Groups that are local, so that if people are looking for a community in their area, or maybe they’re trying to figure out how to get connected, there are groups that I know in Texas, there’s a group where Be the Bridge was started, in Austin, a lot of the people still get together. In the Austin Facebook group, they plan events, they do things together. And this is a great way to connect with people in your local area who are interested in doing the same work.

Tange Johnson
Wonderful. Thanks for that, Tanya. Sure. It’s important to note that what we are doing is making sure that every department is connected. So we are interconnected, you’re going to learn more about our Academy or many of you already know about our academy. And what we are doing is making sure that our our Academy, which is our learning and development platform, our Youth and University department, our Group’s department, our Online Communities, department, all of those things connect, so you will be able to get the care and I liked the the word that you use Tanya, the care you need, in different in all different communities, all different platforms, many different areas, to meet the needs of your respective group members, or the leader communities or your congregations or your organizations. So I love that we’re moving towards that. And, and making sure that we have just like our we strive for our bridge building community to be interconnected and dependent upon one another, that our internal infrastructure mirrors that as well. So in that, I guess in that vein, I want to talk about a department that is also very near and dear to me, which is our Youth and University Department led by Jefferson Jones. So, Jefferson, I know we have groups and I know you have training, but I want to talk about some of the other ways for those people who are in school systems and those people who are leading youth departments at church, or those people in universities who want to get started on it with a group like how, what are some of the things that we offer with Be the Bridge? How can you be a resource? And definitely, Cole, chime in wherever you feel necessary wherever you can with this topic.

Jefferson Jones
Awesome. Yeah. So with the Youth and University arm, of Be the Bridge, always, I always like to tell people that everything would Be the Bridge does for all the grown folks, for the adults. That’s what we do. But I focus on college, young adults, and high school, middle school. And so as even I love how we are just continuing to have groups set up in the same way that we have the adult groups and, you know, reaching out to me to begin to have that conversation. There’s a way to even go through the website. And so, not only groups, not only are groups available, also, I’m available for leading what we love to do, which is Discussions and Desserts, which is a program that we set up that adults do as well. But it’s more fun for us, where we have all these desserts, and we ask questions we facilitate. I facilitate conversation there, there’ll be tables set up, students will sit at these tables, and they will answer questions and then they can pull cards and go to those questions. And if they don’t know the answer, they can cheat and get their phone and look things up and do their little research at the tables. And this was very interactive. The questions can be challenging, the questions can be very easy. And it causes does a deeper dive in understanding race, understanding the history of race in the nation, but then also getting into the experiences of different students. As we’ve traveled to Tennessee, and I was able to work with another organization there. And there were parents and teens and the conversations were amazing. And it just opened up a door for them to have this space where they could share what they’ve navigated through in their schools. And we’re continuing to have those conversations. But what that does is it opens up a door for students to realize that they have people, adults, who are advocating for them allows them to see that they have a space where, not just safe, but in this even as courageous in conversation but also brave space and safe enough for them to know that their voice is going to be heard in in that capacity. And then we also have these conversations happening on the college level., but then also trainings happening, we were able to go to Amherst, Massachusetts, and work with some organizations there to do a one day curated training. And this training was customized in a way that met the needs of those students, and also able to integrate the history of the university, and they learn things that they didn’t even know. And so that just really serves as a catalyst to get them moving and to encourage them to advocate for themselves, for them to have agency but then also just allow that work to begin there, knowing that they have Be the Bridge right here supporting them, walking along with them in the journey. We also have, which is a big deal, what we’re about to walk into with United Methodist Church, Great Plains, out in Kansas. So we so we have that going on. And the Reverend there who is the director of the United Methodist schools and campuses, which is I think it covers about 13 different groups, 13 different campuses, we are in the process of having conversation about, you know, taking these small steps of getting starting to trainings, then doing a Discussion and Desserts, maybe going to another location to go to a museum and have a Discussion and Desserts, simulcast where other schools can come in from where they are, and have this this virtual experience, but then also possibly a retreat through the United Methodist Church. So there are a lot of different things that we have going on things that are brewing things that are starting up, and then even locally, tapping into the school systems here, to begin to have even greater presence in the schools on a regular basis. So the students can see us get to know us more intimately. And then we can also learn the culture of the different schools in the area, and then allow these groups to birth out of the school system. And then but then also to tap into the churches that exists. Because we know that there are a lot of different churches that different students go to, but then that just serves as another avenue to get into their communities where they actually live, and even in the churches, where they serve. So

Tange Johnson
Great, great, great. Thanks for sharing that. One of the things that was resonating with me while you were speaking was, yeah, we have all these things going on. But to what end? What are we trying to accomplish, like when we have these conversations, and everyone is brave. We don’t want to leave you without continued resources to be able to heal, hence our groups and hence our training. But another thing that I feel is important that takes place when you start providing a safe, a brave space for our young people is you are building up the next generation of advocates and bridge builders and leaders. And one of those advocates, bridge builders and leaders would be Cole. So, Cole, can you tell us a little bit about your journey through Be the Bridge and what you are doing now?

Cole Middleton
Yeah, um, so. Well, I mean, you can probably tell my mom is Andrea Middleton. She has an official position with Be the Bridge. So Miss Latasha is like my aunt. We I grew up like always, you know, around her and my mom had been close friends for a long time. So I just kind of watched from a distance, right? I said I was a student athlete basketball took over my life when I was probably like mid middle school like seventh eighth grade. But I always saw from a distance what Be the Bridge was doing. And at that same time race kind of was like in my face, if that makes sense. I remember, I think I was in fourth grade when Trayvon Martin, was murdered. And we were protesting, and we got home that night and I just asked my dad, you know, like, why? Like, like, Why did I have to wear? You know, we were at this church protesting in Smyrna. And I asked my dad, you know, what was the significance of me wearing, you know, my favorite gray hoodie? Because I wear it all the time, but at that specific protest, you know, they went to the store and bought me a bag of m&ms, right. I, they told me to wear my gray hoodie and they explained what happened. And to me, it was very, it was very heavy. And it was emotional because that just as easily could have been me. You know, I’m born and raised in Atlanta from the south. So I see a lot of prejudice and biases within my white peers, as I’ve grown up, you know, same with my teachers. Same with my friend’s parents. Um, so watching Be the Bridge from a distance, you know, while dealing with all of that I kind of it kind of captured my attention. And I was like, huh, I, I feel really comfortable. It’s easy for me to talk about race, I’m good at, you know, sharing my feelings and my experiences and being vulnerable. And so that was just something that I enjoyed, you know, outside of playing basketball, right in my free time. But I grew in that a little more. When I got to high school. I went to Pace Academy, which is a predominantly white, private school, you know, we’re at bat. We, they were a basketball school, especially when my team, you know, my class was there. But I’m just Pace was one of three private schools in Buckhead, you know, that were the last to desegregate in the 60s, they were founded in the 60s. So like, that was, you know, the whole purpose of them of Pace being built was to allow a lot of those white kids, you know, in the rich part of Atlanta, to attend school there, you know, to avoid being around black kids. And so, you know, I went there, and you can see a lot of that in high school. So just being around Be the Bridge, like and noticing that things that my mom was a part of a Miss Latasha was doing and how, you know, building relationships with people. And I mean, the, the number one word that I correlate with Be the Bridge is groups, right groups involves multiple people. You build individual relationships with, with people, you know, more than one person, and you have that intimacy. That’s how we grow, you know, as people, but I learned about you, I’m vulnerable with you, I share, you know, my story, you share your story. And once we have that connection, then we can start to, you know, grow and maybe change ideologies. You know, why do you think this way, this is, you know, what our country was really built on, you know, I was taught that the civil rights, or the Civil War was on states rights, right? Not, not that it was about slavery. But we can start to talk about those ideologies, once I build that relationship with you, you know, and individually. And so I noticed all of that, and I found that I kind of had an attraction to that I was, I was like, I really enjoy talking about this, you know, with my peers. So my junior and senior year, me and one of my close friends, we became the two co-presidents for our Black Student Alliance at Pace, and we kind of did a hybrid, I mentioned earlier that I led a group that was half a lie, because we did a hybrid group, because we met maybe like twice a month, throughout those two years, but we were following the youth, the youth and university course. So you know, talking about a lot of systemic oppression and, but we mix it in with things we were each experiencing at Pace, right? My experience is a little different than some black kids at Pace because I’m an athlete, so I was oblivious to some things that my peers, you know, did experience right? Like, we I had the same English teacher, but I don’t remember, you know, my English teacher reading a book and saying the N word and then having a conversation about it, you know, but, I mean, maybe that teacher didn’t want to have that conversation. You know, when I was in there, I’m a big black dude, so my presence is a little threatening. Um, so, you know, our experiences are all very different. And just just leading leading that and being the head of that conversation, right forwarding that, has just been such a joy for me, I just have fun, like talking about this. Basketball still primarily is my life. So working with Be the Bridge has kind of been on the back burner, but I’m looking forward to starting a group this summer. I gave my life back to Jesus in 2021. So this is I’m going to attempt to go through the faith based course, that Be the Bridge offers with all of my peers, all of us are in college, I’m 21, I think the oldest oldest person we have right now is like 22. So everybody is, you know, 22, like 22, we’re all around the same age, we all think very similarly, we’re going through the same thing, as you know, we’re, like energetic, young adults, right, we want to be heard, well, you know, if something goes awry we’ll be in the streets. In 2020, I was out there protesting, and I wouldn’t, you know, doing all the crazy stuff. But I whipped my mask on, and I was I was out there. But but that’s how you know that that’s how we all are. And I feel like because of the age that we’re at, now, our minds are very malleable. And so this is the perfect time to talk about some things that we all, you know, have questions about, but some of us are just a little afraid to have that conversation and to be vulnerable. And then for me, you know, as a believer in Jesus, we’re all called to spread the gospel, that was one of Jesus’s that was Jesus’, like last command for his disciples and the disciples that will follow them, and so on and so forth. So, you know, not only do I get to talk about racial reconciliation, which I enjoy, but I get to sprinkle a little Jesus in there. You know, so so I just, I just have fun. Starting this, God has been moving a lot this summer, and I’m just starting to see a lot of his plans come into fruition, which is really exciting. Um,

Tange Johnson
I am really excited, I’m actually I have been, I’ve only been here I’ve been here less than a year. And I’ve had the opportunity to witness all of the hard work, the passion, the enthusiasm, but also the God calling that on everyone who works here. This is tough work to be a part of, emotionally, sometimes physically. We do events, and we are carrying boxes, and you know, like, oh, my God, I’m still sore from the other day. But it speaks to the, the people who Tasha has on her team, the good people, the committed people. And, you know, you can’t do this kind of work, I don’t believe, without calling without God giving you that, that that calling to do even if it’s volunteering, like I said, because it’s tough work. I, I want to end this segment by asking every one of you what gives you hope. But prior to doing that, I want to let everyone know how they can get connected. This is our eighth anniversary. You know, we’re celebrating that in June this month and it’s really exciting. And there’s so many things that are going on some new things that are happening. And it’s really fast paced, I mean, like, you’re going to see all kinds of social media ads. And so there’s just so many things going on that we want everyone to be a part of, so you can get and stay connected by going to our website www.BeTheBridge.com You’ll be able to access the Group’s landing page, when you there’s some dropdowns that will connect you to Groups there’s dropdowns that will connect you Youth and University you’ll find out how to register your existing group. If you have a group going on right now that has not been registered. Let’s say you started it in the pandemic you’ve got the the you downloaded, you purchased and downloaded the guide and you just went running and we appreciate that, we are excited that you did that we’re happy. We’re just trying to account for all of our teams so that we can connect them better connect them with our new on I mean our new and improved online community we mentioned earlier to keep you in the know of what’s going on with Be the Bridge, to make sure that you’re aware of all of the great things that we have going on. Also to in to let you know that well, here’s like a sneak peek into what’s coming. We are rolling out a new Be the Bridge app that will further allow you to connect with all the great things mobiley. So that is a we’re high tech over here Be the Bridge, y’all. So we’re doing some great things, you’ll be able to tap into the resources, Groups resources on that platform, and all the other great things. Alright, so I wanted to end it by asking each of you what gives you hope. So you had a minute to think about it. Who wants to go first? Cole does, all right, Cole.

Cole Middleton
Yeah, I go first, I want to I want to get mine over with. I think what gives me hope is knowing that there are other people like me, you know, that love the Lord that are passionate about this that want to talk that want to listen, that aren’t afraid of being corrected. That was something that you said, Miss Tanya, that I really love. And I tell people this all the time, especially white people, like I’m not gonna know what you’re really thinking what you’re really feeling if you don’t communicate that to me. So, say it the way you say it, and we can fix the verbiage later. Because I know if I have that kind of relationship with you, then I know your heart. And I know that you’re not going to say anything with any malcontent, you know, towards me. So ask me what you want to ask me. You know, if you want to talk about the N word we can talk about that. If you want to talk about my beliefs about politics, we can talk about that. If you want to talk about, you know, the history of our country, let’s talk about it and have a very raw conversation and then fix the diction later. So that you know, you don’t go to somebody else who may not be as gracious, you know, as I think I am, at least, it may try to, you know, put you on blast right on social media. But it gives me hope to know that there are people like me. So, when I got back to Atlanta from being in Anderson, you know, the whole school year, I just put on my Instagram, if there’s anybody that believes in Jesus and lives in Atlanta, hit my DM, I’m starting a Bible study group and a Be the Bridge, Be the Bridge group this summer. And I had like, 12 people DM me is like 13 of us in this group chat now. And so it’s, it’s exciting, right, I get to, I get to, you know, wake up with the joy that like, Alright, I’m about to, you know, I’m gonna read my word, I’m praying as God when He wants me to do today, like, let’s let’s get the ball rolling. That, that gives me hope. I get to build that relationship with 13 new guys who can go and build that relationship with 13 other people individually, right? So I don’t, I’m not super good at math, but whatever 13 times 13 is right. So so you know, now they can they can go reach is 169 people that, you know, may not be super equipped to have in depth conversation about you know, social injustice, but their minds are thinking about it right there on that path to have in the language to talk about it. Right? Jesus is in their mind now. So, you know, I’m not, I’m not gonna save you, you know, I can just I can just get it in your head. And as long as it’s in your head, God is going to do the rest. So that gives me hope.

Ben Scholes
I’d like to go because Cole Middleton gives me hope. That’s that’s not my answer. But after listen to that, it’s that is my answer. My original answer to your question, what gives me hope is my personal journey. I’m not the same person that I was 30 years ago, and certainly not since I started Be the Bridge, pulled my wife into this work, and she’s not the same either. Watching her from the outside is a little easier to see than my own journey. So I’ll talk more about that. But being able to see the lenses that she can now put in front of current events, or elections, or anything that happens in our life, and now be able to see multiple sides of things to be able to see a lens of justice that’s stronger than it ever was, gives me hope. Because she and I have not always been friends to people of color, either personally or in our actions. I don’t know that I’d go so far as to say we were enemies, but maybe? You know, along the spectrum of racism, we certainly weren’t where we are now in identifying it, rooting it out, unlearning, relearning those kinds of things that that we’ve been working on. And so to, to see those moments in her life, where she’ll still say, the first thought that comes into our mind. But then have that second thought and go wait a minute, that’s not right, because she now has an additional lens thanks to the work that we’ve done. And have been shown how to do through the Facebook interactions through the Groups through the resources that we’ve been guided toward through Latasha Morrison’s group Be the Bridge?

Tanya Rogers
Can I go on it? Okay, so, I am going to specifically say, Cole, what you shared. Actually, my first answer was not you as an individual, but your generation. Gen Z gives me hope. Because they don’t take junk. They don’t, they’re not here to play games. You know, every generation, every young generation needs wisdom. I don’t, I hesitate to say guidance, because sometimes the guidance can be trashed, but but you know, wisdom and guidance and help. But there’s a tenacity and a commitment to this concept of justice that really encourages me about this generation. And I do think that, um, I believe that generations have callings, and it encourages me to see and especially when, when God’s hand is on these young people, what he’s, what he can do through them, and I see a passion there for justice. And it, it just it, it helps me to remain hopeful that we’re not, this isn’t going to fall off, we’re not going to see the regression that looks like it’s coming for us because there’s a whole generation of people that just refuse to accept that. And I think with that is community, when I joined Be the Bridge, it was because I was without hope. And it was 2016, 2015. And I was just despondent, broken hearted, looking at the state of things, looking at the state of racial affairs in our country. And I found a community of believers, who had not in my estimation, like lost lost it. And it was so encouraging, so uplifting, and such such a place of hope that I’ve been able to stay in. So I think community and and Gen Z and the way Gen Z is about community and doing their thing. Those things have really, those are what helped me maintain hope.

Jefferson Jones
Yeah, so for me, for me, first is Jesus. He gives me hope. And that being said, because he doesn’t waver, and I know what to expect from him, he’s consistent, never failing. And when I think about the Kingdom of God, I think about things from an eternal lens. We know how this, this ends up in the end. And so, that’s just my my grounder, and on that it is the younger generations. You know, my son, I have two sons of 13 and 15. And then also young adults. And so these younger generations, give me hope, as I see their hunger, I see their boldness, I see their passion, I see their transparency, their vulnerability, and their willingness to do the hard work. And then also, I think, within the younger generations, there’s a there’s a larger gap from things that have happened in the past. And so, I think it leaves room for just a different type of imagination, the different type of creativity and it just leaves this this foundation that is fresh, they’re able to come with fresh perspective, fresh lens, the creativity, the ideas, and I just know that you know with these young adults, my in my teenagers and other teenagers just have so much room to dream, to expand on vision, and to create things out of the way that they lead, and I see it as like this, this partnership in being able to work with them and not just guide, but then also to learn from them as well. So yeah, that’s, that’s what gives me hope.

Andrea Middleton
I will know, you got to share what, what gives you hope. But I’m gonna also say, what gives me hope is my kids Cole Sydney, and Jaden, and my husband and I, there were some choices that we made. Once we started having children and wanting to put them in certain environments, that they wouldn’t, that it just wouldn’t be monolithic. And so, you know, we, we’ve chosen to put them in private schools, and we’ve chosen to, you know, be a part of churches that are will, they say they’re, you know, they, they look diverse, but not in leadership, but that’s another subject. But what gives me hope is that, an encouragement is, we are now seeing and able to see the fruit of what was so difficult. When we first started this journey of parenting, you know, we have family on here, or friends who are like family, where when we first started out, and, you know, being in that we were, we served together, when, gosh, I don’t know, 10 plus years ago, and served in children’s ministry for years and had very difficult conversations. And to see the growth of my community that has expanded beyond people who just look like me. You know, being in his family, they are like, they’re like family, you know, I can think of a couple of, you know, white families where I’m like, yeah, these are my people, like they, they love my kids, as if my own family or myself, you know, love my kids. And so, that gives me hope, when I can, you know, just seeing the relationships, that, you know, we I have built through community, through being in a BTB group, through the, you know, falling forward and getting it wrong and saying all the wrong things, and, and also, you know, holding each other accountable and growing and belonging and supporting each other through this, you know, racial reconciliation and justice work. It’s not just on paper, like this is, you know, this is real life relationship building, expanding our community. And so, that is what gives me hope. Seeing all of you, you know, on the call gives me hope. So,

Tange Johnson
Thank you for that Andrea. That kind of segues into my hope statement. What gives me hope is transformation. It dawned on me in this is, I guess, a separate thing that my title was Chief Transformation Officer, that there’s something that it says about me. I’m a doer, like I have the vision and I like doing, thinking about the vision and working my way backwards to the vision. So, that’s something that I’ve always, I’m like creative, I’ll see something and then I’ll try to figure out how to get to that point. But one of the things that bothers me the most is or it takes the wind out of my sails when I try and try or or working at something believing or hoping and desiring to see transformation, and there is no change or it keeps falling flat. It makes me feel if I if I am not energized by some kind of encouragement of sorts. The Bible talks about hope deferred makes the heart sick, like you it’s hard to kind of keep hoping for something when it never happens. But through this conversation Ben through what you said, Cole, what you said, Tanya, what you said Andrea and Jefferson knowing bits and pieces of your personal stories, the hope for me and the will to go on and to towards seeing additional or increased transformation is the fact that there is something that is working, that when God brought you to this point, to this point, when he brought you to Be the Bridge, or introduce you to Tasha introduce you to Andrea, who introduced you to Be the Bridge, there was God was connecting those dots intentionally for you to have this personal experience that extended past you to your family, to your communities, to your jobs to your schools. And in turn that creates a ripple effect. There’s duplication, Cole, and you talked about that, that extends beyond our bubbles, to see that the God that God is working, and that there are things that I might not see every day, that are that are happening towards the God vision that God has for reconciliation and peace. When was it John, who saw the vision of people from all nations, all ethnic, groups in heaven, that’s the that that was the vision and we’re working our way back. And just to be a part of it has been an awesome and hope filled thing for me. So, I want to thank each and every one of you for being on here. And happy anniversary to Be the Bridge. If you want to get any additional information, like I said www. BeTheBridge.com. Talk soon.

Lauren Brown
Hi, friends, we hope you enjoy that episode. Before we wrap up, we have a special story to share with you that illustrates the impact of Be the Bridge groups. We’d love to hear your stories of impact. Share them with us on social media, using the hashtag, I am a Bridge Builder.

Speaker 1
Hi, my name is Amy and I was blessed to be a part of several Be the Bridge zoom groups during the pandemic. As a person of faith, I just believe that our calling is to move toward the hurting, to pursue healing and toward those who are different from us in order to pursue unity. I believe that this is central to the practice of our faith. But I also believe that it needs to be done within the context of our faith. And I think that’s why Be the Bridge was so great, because it gave me a space to have much needed conversations about race in the context of my faith with other people who wanted to pursue unity in Christ and to bring glory to God through difficult conversations with love for the Lord at the center of that. Something that the Lord pointed out to me during the time that I was participating in Be the Bridge is that language was confused at the Tower of Babel, when everybody was trying to build their own tower to heaven together. The Lord confused the language there but we see everyone understand the gospel truth in their own language when the Holy Spirit descends upon the people for the first time. And I found that in Be the Bridge that even though sometimes it felt like we were speaking different languages and you were in tune with the Spirit, we were able to hear one another and you were able to hear our own stories. And so, again, I just feel like these conversations need to happen and for me, Be the Bridge was the place to do it because of the fact that it was centered around Christ.

Lauren Brown
Thank you for listening. We hope you reengage, recommit, reimagine, and reproduce with us this month and beyond. Together, we can bring transformation and flourishing. We appreciate every way you support our work. Subscribe to Be the Bridge podcast, jump into the Be the Bridge Academy, lead a local Be the Bridge group, head over to social media and follow Be the Bridge and Latasha Morrison and go to BetheBridge.com/give to financially partner with us. We are connected and the work continues.