Be the Bridge 8th Anniversary! REIMAGINE with BTB Trainings and the BTB Academy!

Lauren Brown
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
Hello, everybody. My name is Tange Johnson. I am the Chief Transformation Officer with Be the Bridge, and we are excited because we are celebrating our eighth anniversary, and in doing so, we are highlighting all of the amazing things that we have going on here at Be the Bridge, to include our training department, And we have some amazing trainers here today, not the complete list of people who are facilitating our training, both in the Academy, which we’ll learn about, or in person trainings, but we have a good group of our MVPs here today, so I want to go around the proverbial room and introduce each, well, have you introduce yourselves and let the audience know what it is that you do and in and out of Be the Bridge. How about to start with you, Gina?

Gina Fimbel
Hey everybody. I am Gina Fimbel, and I live in Wilmington, North Carolina, and I have been lucky enough to be part of Be the Bridge since I like to say the beginning. I started stalking Tasha after I found her blog. I think it was 2016. I for Be the Bridge I have played different roles, depending on what was needed in the organization, but I’m currently instructing the Foundations course for it’s an introduction to bridge building for white people. And I also am the coordinator of our trainings. And so I talk to organizations and churches who may be interested in having Be the Bridge come into their communities to conduct a training. And aside from that, I’m a mom of four. I am getting ready to see my twins graduate high school. Thank you, Lord. And I have, I have twin boys who are 18, and then two girls, 13 and nine. So they keep me busy outside of Be the Bridge.

Tange Johnson
I love it. It’s an exciting time. Elizabeth, I see you over there. Tell us.

Elizabeth Behrens
Sure, sure. Hi, I’m Elizabeth, and I work remotely for Be the Bridge from Kansas City, Missouri, and kind of like Gina, I’ve been around since jump. And you know, if you’ve been ever in the nonprofit world, you know that in a small nonprofit, especially starting up, you have your role, and then you have all of the things you also get to do. So I’ve had a lot of those for about five years I was the online community manager. So, if you are watching this on YouTube or whatever, and you see my face in a little square, and recognize that, that’s probably what you recognize me from. But in the training department, I help facilitate our in person trainings. I also record courses for the Academy in the midst of right now, recording a lot of courses on history and white supremacy, as well as teaching a couple live courses, one called Change Agents, and that is for white people who are, they’ve done a lot of our work, and they’re wanting to really figure out, what does it mean to be active in the work of dismantling whiteness and so working within spheres of their own theology, and then also in structures, and then also right now, because it is 2024 and politics feels a little bit like it’s on fire right now, myself and a long time volunteer with Be the Bridge Corregan Brown are co teaching a Politics as Bridge Builders class to help people figure out, how in the world do we begin to navigate having bridge-building style conversations, And how do we approach voting as bridge builders, and Corregan and I laugh. And it is not a course that could be labeled like how to be a moderate. It’s how to be true to yourself, true to your values and true to the values of bridge building within that.

Tange Johnson
That’s wonderful. I know that that course specifically has gotten a lot of traction over the past couple of weeks. That’s great. Dion tell us a little bit about who you are.

Dion Evans
Oh, okay, okay. My name is Dion Evans. For Be the Bridge, I help facilitate the in person training, as well as other trainings when I’m asked. I also am a audio-visual, tech, merch, media. You know, many hats that I wear for Be the Bridge in that regard as well. I’m a father that three, married to one. I am also am a pastor of Imago Dei church in Suwanee, Georgia, and that’s my little little snippet of stuff.

Tange Johnson
Okay, great. Love it. Alright, last but not least.

Darryl Ford
Yeah, hey everybody. My name is Darryl Ford. I am one of the trainers here at Be the Bridge. Also met Tasha, because during my time the better part of about 15 years, I served as a pastor, and for some of those years, I was a pastor of a church called Ikon, the Greek version of Imago Dei, Ikon Community Church. And where I met Tasha, she was a member there at that church, and I currently serve as an attorney here in the Atlanta area.

Tange Johnson
Great, great, perfect. So we spoke a little bit about training, our in-person training. So, can one or two of you who are well, all of you have done some in person training. Tell us a little bit about what the, what the trainee, the organization, the, can expect by participating in one of our trainings.

Gina Fimbel
I think that they can expect a lot of information, but they can also expect the information to be given them, given to them in a way that’s digestible. The way that we conduct our training is through the five bridges. We do this through a bridge to a foundational understanding of diversity. We talk about the bridge to personal cultural awareness, the bridge to professional cultural development, the historical bridge, and then our final bridge is the bridge of hope. So we take organizations through a two and a half day experience of those bridges, and that’s how we frame our discussions.

Elizabeth Behrens
I was just gonna add to that, you know, I have it been on the other side of of trainings around things that some people might call DEI or, you know, diversity training, or things, and I know sometimes they can feel a little bit like they’re a check the box sort of thing. But one thing I’ve loved with our Be the Bridge trainings and the feedback we’ve gotten from people is that, you know, they’re learning things they like, they’ve engaged this work for a long time, and they’re still learning. They learned new things in our training, or they were really surprised that we engaged it from the from the place that we did that we do such a focus, a focus on history, a focus on understanding how we got to where we are. And what does that mean for them, both personally and professionally, rather than just feeling like, Oh, it’s a, it’s a, training to try to make white people feel bad, or to make, you know, be able to say on our website that we do this. But rather, we have found that people, even that came in really skeptical, have left with a strong feeling like they actually had a, had a direction they wanted to go and now they’re engaging with it.

Gina Fimbel
And it does require so much vulnerability and even humility, and that’s my favorite part as well, is the interactions that we have with the participants of the training. It’s not a one size fits all. We really try to make relationships and have meaningful discussions while we’re there, and get to know people. So, now I feel like I know people from all over the country, which is an amazing gift.

Tange Johnson
All right, give me an example of who, what organizations or individuals that you would typically train or have trained in the past.

Elizabeth Behrens
Yeah, I can add that up. We’ve, you know, we’ve worked with individual churches. We’ve worked with church districts where, you know, a bunch of churches are coming together who are all part of the same denomination or district within a denomination. You know, every denomination has their own way they set those things up, but they’ve, you know, come together to bring us in. We have worked with social workers, with adoption agencies, with we’ve worked in schools. I was able to help lead a training in Atlanta with a whole room full of classroom teachers and administrators, and that was really fun. My own background is in elementary and middle level education, so it was fun to get to talk curriculum and talk, okay, like, let’s, here’s this great information, but how do you then put that in language that you can teach a room full of fourth graders the same thing, but in a way that’s digestible and meets them where they’re at. So, you know, we’ve been able to tailor, you know, whether it’s when working with an adoption agency, saying, like, how do we take this information and make sure parents that are considering transracial adoption understand these nuances and these details, or how you know it’s it is tailored to for pastors when you give them information on how to how to pastor in a way that embraces this. If it’s social workers, how to be a social worker that understands and knows this. If you’re teacher how to give this information to children, you know there’s, there are ways that we can tailor our trainings to whatever group we’re working with.

Tange Johnson
And it’s interesting that you say that, or it’s appropriate that you say that, because I think it’s important to stress that we, although our organization is, the curriculum is centered on the Bible, that we also offer values-based training. So, for those schools that you mentioned, corporations and other spaces who need the message, but need us to tailor it in more of a values based as opposed to faith-based format. All right, I wanted to kind of hear a little bit from you, Darryl. I know that I participated in a training that you helped facilitate, and that one of the topics was on biblical diversity, or diversity in the Bible, right? So this, I am putting you on the spot, I know, but I want you to, can you possibly share a little bit, like, a little summary of what that course, would entail?

Darryl Ford
Yeah, that is, thanks for putting on the spot. That’s great. Yeah, I think that a little bit, a little bit of that, as I see it, is helping people identify the ways in which the early church were able to bring the way the gospels that went forth and during the early church, bringing people from so many diverse backgrounds together that diversity isn’t new. Diversity isn’t novel. Diversity isn’t something we made up. It’s something God created, and that God embraces and redeems. And so seeing, and through that redemption ensues. And so I would love, you know, we would walk through an example of just how the early church started, the fact that you’ve got 10s of different types of nations that are there on the day of Pentecost, the fact that all of these people, it was a, it was a literal powder keg, if you look at some of the historical writings about what it looked like when the first Christians were called Christians, and where that was in Antioch, and what the makeup of that area was, the fact that only the gospel could bring diverse groups together in ways that they sought each other’s flourishing. And so we would love to walk through, I think that we see that example though not just there, but throughout Scripture. Scripture is replete of examples where God is constantly bringing image bearers to Himself through this incredible mosaic of diverse image bearers.

Tange Johnson
Hey, great.

Dion Evans
Great opening statement, counselor.

Tange Johnson
I knew you would I knew we wouldn’t have a problem being put on the spot. I told you our team was pretty amazing, right? Okay, all right, now it’s your turn.

Gina Fimbel
I do love that story, though. Well, I just want to say I do love that story, and I’m really glad you brought it up, because the early church was full of so many ethnicities and so much diversities, but it was, it was that early church where they were first called Christians, right? They were known for their unity despite the diversity. And we’re not just talking about diversity of skin color, but entire cultures and languages. So, yeah, that was really learning that. I remember just reading that in the Bible and feeling stunned that that’s how the early church, that God chose to display, the early church was through that that diversity. I thought that was really cool. Yeah,

Tange Johnson
Alright, great. You’re referencing the early church, and I’m going to move over to Dion over here. You’re a pastor, and what we also offer is training for church leadership and focus, with the focus on pastors who are engaging in this racial justice work. Is there anything that you can share with the audience about the training that we offer that you think will be relevant and or is necessary to those people in leadership who are in this space?

Dion Evans
Oh, yeah, for sure. Thank you for that. So, I think one thing, there’s a few things, but I think one thing, something I’ve seen actually in our in person trainings, because many times when we do the in person trainings they are comprised of lay people, but as well, as well, also leaders and pastors within the denominations that we are working with. So one thing that we kind of lean into, especially for leaders, is that there is a cost counting cost, cost counting that needs to happen, that doesn’t always happen. And so, many times we have leaders who are excited about the work they want to do the work, and so sometimes they’ll just jump in, and we appreciate and we admire the hutzpah, the enthusiasm. But many times that that enthusiasm gets cut short, because when they go back to their congregation, or their parishes, or their conferences or their leadership teams, what they kind of expect. They expect maybe an open arms kind of reception of these new ideas, or these, this new revelation of ideas that they have, but they don’t get that. And so helping them to count the cost, to say, I am going to experience X, Y and Z pushback, and this is how I can combat that or this, or even just the encouragement and the inspiration to give them some spiritual stamina to keep going. Because one thing that I found through conversation, through research and even through some of the comments we get in in person trainings from leaders, is that many, many times what stops them from making some of the leaps or even some of the baby steps towards moving in areas of racial justice, racial reconciliation, is that cost to benefit ratio. I’ve known, and the data suggests, and even in conversations, that there have been pastors who’ve lost, you know, huge chunks of offering, and this is what helps their churches go and huge chunks of membership, because they mentioned something post 2016, post 2020, that had racial implications that weren’t the norm, I mean, that espoused diversity. So, just kind of giving pastors and leaders that you know that cost benefit analysis before you go in, this is what you’re going to experience, and kind of testing their mettle before going out there, half cocked, before they really considered what this fight, what this push is all about.

Gina Fimbel
I think we can name that pushback at Be the Bridge. We call that the white racialized response. We have been heavily socialized when it comes to race in our country, and oftentimes, as white people, when we begin to engage in these conversations. We have a script of things that we’ve been told since, you know, we were young, and so helping pastors and staff learn how to engage some of that concern and some of that pushback is really crucial. I think.

Dion Evans
And so, thank you for that, Gina, but just to kind of chime in with that and add a piece to it which kind of makes the and what we do at Be the Bridge, even a little more holistic in that way, is that sometimes, and depending on the denomination, depending on the place, because I’ve seen also where you even if there is a a diversity, even sometimes ethnic diversity, in a church, you can still get pushback because, like, to your point about maybe some of the things that have been ingrained everybody, sometimes can receive that. And you may get pushback from someone, like, if it is a white pastor, you may get pushback from some one who is black or Hispanic or Southeast Asian, because there is a narrative that’s been held on to, that if, because the thing about it, for both parishioners and for leadership and for this work to happen, you have to really, they have to kind of grapple with, oh, the scales are falling from my eyes, and I have to let go of kind of what I’ve held on to. And if I don’t have this to identify me by, what do I hold on to and then we are, we’re here is be the bridge, not just to help the scales fall, but I think, to help to rebuild what the story is, and rebuild the framework for them to have a more healthy idea of ethnicity and race within their church context. So yeah. So thanks for that, Gina.

Darryl Ford
And if I, if I, if I could jump, jump in with the good Bishop, I would I would add on. I think that what he just said makes so much sense, and it connects on so many levels. I also think that it’s, we talk about the scales falling from our eyes, as Dion just said, I think that we also, I think the training that we bring helps people kind of have a paradigm shift, and that’s uncomfortable, but there’s a paradigm shift and how they think not just about how they think about racism, but how they think about the all encompassing nature of the gospel. And I think that what I mean is, for many people, the way that they’ve been taught about racism is the way they often just think about any other sin, purely individual. And so for many people, it is a huge paradigm shift to to enlarge their view of sin, from from not just including individual acts, but the idea of larger systems right that create disproportionate and disproportionate disadvantages for disproportionate advantages for different groups. And so, when you start thinking about how God’s gospel is not just redeeming broken people, but also redeeming broken systems, that is a complete paradigm shift with the way people understand the gospel.

Dion Evans
That’s awesome. Can I chime in? I don’t want to You said you mentioned you want this to be conversational, and I think Darryl just sparked something that was amazing. And I’ve mentioned, I’ve mentioned this to my church over not even so much in terms of ethnicity, but over the last several years, we’ve kind of jumped on this idea that many times, in the way we do church, I’ll say the way we do church in a western context, that we’ve exported many times, it’s very individual. It’s very focused on the individual. Now it’s not to say that’s not individual stuff, yes, and to my one of my favorite sayings is not my own, but I love to say it two things can be true. There can be an individual suck and a corporate suck. And I think many times we we focus on the individual to the exclusion of the other. And if we to your point Darryl, I think if we go back and really look at the Bible, as it said, how it’s put out there. It’s nothing but communal stuff. Um, we we did for um, going working through Nehemiah 9 and as these, these new crop of people after this, the walls of Jerusalem were built. They said, “We repent for what our ancestors did.” We are changing a line of demarcation here, and we see it through 9 through 13, about a change that they’re making, or stuff they didn’t even do, because there was a systemic idea of what Israel understood, how God operated, even throughout the New Testament. We see the same thing we talked about Pentecost, how everything was communing. Everything was all of us., um, the prayer to Jesus, and that Jesus did in John 17. Help them be one as we are one, and they’ll know you sent me. So all these things, I think, for us to present this to churches and to people in general, that when we talk about systemic ideas, whether it be racism or otherwise, we’re not talking, you know, out of the side of our necks, we’re talking very biblical, that this is something that God’s heart is for a system to be changed, not just an individual, because systems are made up of individuals. So it’s got to be not either or, but both and. So, thanks for sparking that Darryl and I’m gonna shut up now.

Gina Fimbel
Well, quite frankly, I’ll add on to that. That’s why our training is so helpful. I think because we can help organizations and churches really define what some of those terms are, because we know that’s how conversations go crazy, is we can say the same word and have wildly different definitions, and even racism being one of them. So I can say the word racism and be talking about individuals. You can say the word racism and be talking about systems. It’s really important that we have a shared terminology. So

Tange Johnson
How do you, as a trainer, I mean, this is heavy stuff. You’re talking about systems. You’re talking about being things, being ingrained. You know, you socialization. This two and a half days of training is not going to, you know, solve all the issues, if that is something that we can do. What are the next steps that we take within Be the Bridge to make sure that our organizations and leadership teams have access to resources that will help along the process?

Gina Fimbel
Well, one of the things that we always offer as part of our training package is to have two consulting calls with the organization after we leave. We don’t want to leave them, and, you know, have them never hear from us again after we leave their organization or church. And so, organizations are able to use that time in the way that they feel best serves their congregation or their people. And so, oftentimes we’ll debrief, debrief the training, but many other times we’ve talked about next steps. What does make sense for this organization at this time and place? And that that’s what I really appreciate about Be the Bridge, is we’re not just going to go in and and throw, you know, a truth bomb, and we’re going to leave and you’re never going to hear from us again. We really have a desire to walk with you through this and to help you navigate these issues, because all of us knows that it can be difficult, but it’s also, it’s so worth it, right? It’s hard, but this is important, holy work.

Elizabeth Behrens
That makes me think of, Gina, a not maybe a name as an organization. That’s one we’re working with who, after our training. You know, they had been meeting as a leadership team, and they said, you know, multiple of them felt like, “””Hey, I’ve been processing what we were taught, and I, I’m suddenly seeing some areas where there’s bias in our hiring processes that I was totally just oblivious to before we engaged in thinking in some of these ways. So, they’ve been talking as a team, and they come up with some ideas of, here’s some things, some changes we could maybe make, or here’s some things we’re thinking about. And then we had the follow up call with them just a couple weeks later after they were thinking that way, and we’re able to walk them through, okay, these are the changes you’re thinking about. Here’s some additional things I want you to be thinking about. Here’s some, here’s the latest research on, you know, getting bias out of hiring practices. Here are some ways we can consider and things you can trial and see what happens, and then make additional adjustments and let us know how it goes. And then when we did our second follow up, it was after they’d done a big round of hiring and interviews and things, and they were able to say, Oh, like this, this piece was so much better, but we as soon as we did that, this other hole that we didn’t even think about came up. How can we think about fixing that as well? And just that, continuing partnership with them was really helpful, because they were seeing the issue. We weren’t even having to point it out to them, but then we’re able to help them, make them, you know, live up to the to their values, not even living up to our values, or trying to impose our way of thinking on them. But they were saying, No, this is what we want for us as an organization. This is how we want to be perceived in the world – help us live that out. And to be able to walk with them was really rewarding, really rewarding, really rewarding.

Lauren Brown
Have you gotten your copy of “Brown Faces, White Spaces” by Latasha Morrison, yet the New York Times Bestselling 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,

Tange Johnson
Great, great, now we’ve also, last October, rolled out our new learning and development platform, the Be the Bridge Academy, which is a space where you can continue the conversation and get access to courses that may be specific to the needs of your organization, your church, even individual study. Included in the academy is different tracks, so we have our BIPOC track that includes several courses. We bundle, you can buy these. You can, sorry, you can purchase these as individual courses, or you can purchase them as a bundle. And they have, you know, your BIPOC 1.0 live course and 2.0 and we have a Church Leadership, Ministry Leadership track and and we have a Whiteness track. So I wanted to speak with you, since all of you at some point have touched the Academy of either facilitated courses or or will be facilitating courses. Kind of let the audience know the format, some of the courses that are available there, and some of the courses that are to come.

Tange Johnson
Yeah.

Gina Fimbel
Elizabeth

Elizabeth Behrens
So I have, I have a couple different courses that I’m heading up in there right now. One of the ones that we call it Structures, basically it’s, it’s got its name based on, we have foundations. That’s intro one, and then from there, once you have a foundation, you can start building a structure on it. So that’s sort of the thought process there. But structures is pre-recorded. And it is, it’s a combination of, there’s some values based and some faith based things in there, but there are pre-recorded classes. And then, as well as once you’ve watched that class, then the next thing that pops up for you in the academy is, like some some homework, I guess maybe you’d call it, but some additional resources, some PDFs you can download, some ways you can engage in some of the things we talked about in the recorded class with a little bit more depth as well as a self-reflection journal. So, some guided questions, because we know that just listening to something only sinks so deep into your brain. But when you actually make yourself process it and write about it, you actually, you know, more deeply internalize some of that thinking and it pushes you. So as well as that Structures class has, each class has a spiritual guide that goes along with it’s sort of like a devotion that goes along with the teaching that says, hey, we didn’t we’re not just pulling this out of nowhere, like we’re not assuming. We’re not just trying to overlay this onto the Bible or something, but actually, this comes from some concepts in the Bible. And so, offering some guidance there for those who would like to engage with that piece of it. So, that’s sort of how the pre-recorded classes that I’ve made tend to go. The live ones, we always teach them live, but record them as well. Because, you know, as a mom of four kids who’s working and doing all of the things like, there can be the best of intentions to watch something live, right and then and then life happens. And so, we always do record those and put them in the Academy, so you can watch it later as well if you need to. But it is fun to teach them live, because after teaching, you know, I usually stay on for a while, and if people have questions or things they’re processing or, Hey, I didn’t want to, you know, this maybe isn’t applicable to everybody, but I have this really specific thing I’m trying to work through in my in my own life or relationships, and so being able to coach people through some of those things is nice, but in those live classes as well, we offer up those additional resources, self reflection journals, just ways that people can engage, and then also give those class participants the ability to contact one another, if they’d like someone to to put us like, hey, I can we hop on we do a zoom happy hour or something, right? We all got so used to that during covid, but for our class participants, where they’re like, I just need to talk about this. I just need, I just need to verbally process. And so, I’ll connect my verbal processors together and allow them to have a chance to talk it out. Because I do think that processing piece is really important, because we can take in lots of information, but unless we actually engage with it, it doesn’t, it’s not as transformational.

Tange Johnson
Okay, so thank you for that. As part of our highlight reel, can you throw out some names of some of the courses? So that will entice our listeners to go and take a look at the Academy?

Elizabeth Behrens
Oh, yeah. So I mean beyond, beyond Foundations and then Structures. And in Structures, it’s really, you know, it’s saying, like, what are these core concepts? If I can make sense of these, I can really engage more deeply. Right now we’re fleshing out the History and White Supremacy class. That one is going to be there’s a timeline. So, that class starts with a timeline, and not your standard timeline. It’s a 40 plus page timeline of historical events to make sense of race in America. And they each there’s throughlines, there’s narratives through each of those. And so we’re pulling those narratives apart with with shorter videos to explain eras in history, or maybe a few videos digging into the history of immigration policy and then what do we do about that now? Digging into what’s been the role of the church in the creation and maintenance of racism or white supremacy, and so there’s going to be you can see those events on the timeline, but slowly, those videos are going to be dripping out as well to kind of help people make sense of it, especially if you’re not a learner who just wants to sit and read 100 books about all this stuff. Instead, you can watch a few videos and get and get a grasp on it that way as well. But like we mentioned, the politics class, and we’ll probably be offering that one again in the fall, as we’re coming up on an election that will surely be tumultuous, shall we say? So, hopefully giving people those that ability to to engage that way. But those are the main ones that I’m involved in right now. But I do know that there is just a ton in there, depending on like, we have a great Transracial Adoption course in there we have, like you mentioned, those Pastoral Leadership. We’ve got places for BIPOC to engage with one another without the Gina and I’s of the world in the space. Because, yeah, we all need those.

Gina Fimbel
The Karens, right,

Elizabeth Behrens
All right. So, so yeah, there’s, there’s just a wide variety, and there’s always new things coming out as well.

Dion Evans
Can I just comment real quick on something Elizabeth said? Just for people who are watching, I want to just plug the the politics class in the academy, if you are serious about going into your polling places for local, national elections, whatever, and engaging in a Godly way, it is imperative. And I only sat in on one of the classes. But what I’m what I’m saying is the information and what I know Elizabeth’s heart is around it, and what’s being presented is imperative that whoever’s serious about, really being a Christian and having that influenced our politics, and not letting the political tribe tribalism influence your Christianity, it is bar none. It needs to, you need to participate in that class. So just saying, just saying.

Gina Fimbel
And I can go ahead and talk a little bit about our transracial adoption course that we released that as a guide some years ago, and we’ve now transferred that into the academy, and the official name is Race, Foster Care and Adoption, but that is a great place for anyone who cares about the well being of a child who is being raised in a cross racial way. And so whether you’re a grandmother, a social worker, whether you’re a transracial adoptive parent or if you’re just someone who cares about our foster care system, it’s one that has been ravaged by white supremacy in many ways. It’s just a great way to get information. We also have adoption agencies, foster care agencies, who are using that resource as part of their training for potential adoptive parents and even social workers, which is really, really cool. We do have a course coming up in the fall called Embodied Bridge Building, that is a course that I’m a part of and so excited about. I’m partnering with Milton Stewart, who is an Enneagram extraordinaire, and he’s going to be talking about how our Enneagram number kind of intersects with the way that we do justice, or the way we work for justice. And I’m also teaching that course with a friend of mine who lives here in Wilmington. Her name is J’vanete Skiba, and she is a community resiliency advocate, and has her master’s degree in Community Trauma and Resiliency. And so, we are going to be talking about the trauma of white supremacy and white bodies and BIPOC bodies. And then, how do we really embody being a bridge builder? How do we embody anti-oppressive practices? You know, depending on the day, you know, I could feel like I’m having a really great day trying to be, work for those anti-oppressive practices, and then other days, I am just going along with the tide of white supremacy. And so, it’s really just helping us to continue to build, build our actions and to build our lives in a way that really embodies the values that we proclaim to have. And we are also partnering. I think I can mention it. Tange, if I can’t, just stop me, but we, we have recently been in touch with Dr. Tiffany Puett, who does a lot of great work in Texas through the Civic and Diversity, Center for Diversity and Civic Life, but she is going to be teaching a course, either in the fall or winter, about Christian nationalism, and I think that is one that is especially relevant to where we are right now, and as Christians, it is especially relevant. So I myself am looking forward to that course and sitting under her teaching. But Elizabeth mentioned, and I’ll just say one last thing about the Academy, it really is a place where you are going to find what you need. So, if this is a time in your life where you need a self-paced course, because you have, you know, so many other responsibilities you’re going to find that at the academy. If this is a season in your life where you do want to make contact with people, you want to talk to people who are trying to do this work, the Academy is also a great place, because we have live courses, so we really do try to meet you where you are. And that’s, that’s what I love.

Tange Johnson
I love that as well. I There’s a couple of things I want to say. I am going to put Daryl on the spot one more time. We’re talking about horses that are, are are coming in, like that. We are going to to bring in the next quarter. And it’s important for me to let the audience know that what we try to do is make sure that we bring subject matter experts in who can speak to the issues knowledgeably so don’t bring me in to speak about many different things, but

Gina Fimbel
I it, Tanji, I would let you speak about anything. But I know you’re running behind the scenes,

Tange Johnson
but we are looking to include different, I mean, include courses that appeal to everyone, as you mentioned, Gina, and the needs of of everyone in different with of different ethnic in different ethnic groups, because that is important. Topic wise. I know that we discussed Daryl facilitating a course in race and law, and since that’s your area of expertise, once again, can you give us. Us an overview of what that would what that course would entail.

Darryl Ford
Yeah, I think, I think it’s I think everybody here would agree, and thankfully be the bridge has recognized that need, because we do have portions of some of the courses that we have that include some of the racialized histories within law. So I think building on that is something we’d love to see more of. I think that a lot of people, specifically in some of the regions in which we’ve done training, a lot of those regions have not been trained to look at the on a state and local level, what laws have been passed that have been heavily racialized. And I think one of the helpful things about the training as a whole is it helps people get some of those practical, still practical skills, to identify and interpret some of those biases that have been kind of implicit in some of the lawmaking. So for me, it starts with history, making sure that people have a mind so often within just the church as a whole. People, they get into the scriptures, and they divorce them from history and context, and then they do that when we have these racial conversations, but when people have a good there’s nothing better than theology and history in concert, because now we can holistically deal with the problem. And so I so for me, classes like that would mean we go through, what are the what are the histories behind this particular law. What are the histories behind how housing looks you might live in a certain city where you just noticed by observation that there are groups that live pretty concentrated in certain areas. That wasn’t just because people just all chose one day to live in the dilapidated side usually, usually, there’s a history behind that, and I suspect that there are people who are afraid to dig because you might feel that either you or people with to whom you related are complicit in those in those decisions that have been made right. But hopefully, when talking about those types of issues, it does to go back to something that was brought up earlier. It helps people think differently about how and why they vote in local elections the way they do. Because if we as a people have been able to disenfranchise people in certain, you know, suspect class, if we’ve been able to disenfranchise groups before through the power of the vote and the lever of the law, then we’re going to have to use the power of the vote and the lever of the law to remediate such things, and so the histories married to theology is going to be so necessary. And so classes to that end is something that I know that we’re working on great.

Tange Johnson
I’m so excited about this team. It’s the team that, yes, I do lead, but it’s also so I don’t have to worry about. So that definitely makes a couple notes on the academy. So,

Gina Fimbel
hey, tangy, before we continue, Can I say one thing I made a comment earlier about tangy, I would let you speak anywhere. And I just want to say, ew. Like, first of all, I don’t give you permission to speak anywhere. And what I meant to say is I would want you to speak anywhere, but thank you for giving me grace. Y’all see, this is what it is to be white sometimes stick your foot in your mouth and you’re like, I did not mean that to come across that way. So anyway, sorry. Crazy thing is, I

Tange Johnson
didn’t I knew exactly, because I know you, I knew exactly what you were

Gina Fimbel
saying. Okay, thank you. Look at this working

Tange Johnson
in real time. Everyone. Okay, I just wanted to point out I’m definitely plugging the academy. It is, yes, we have all of these great courses that you have, you’ll have access to it is also our repository for all things resource related for bethebridge com, so we have our guides for our groups and housed in the academy. We have tools for for any learner to you can sign on and have access to our free and our paid resources, we also will have, we have a youth and university track in there, so all things related to youth and university videos, we have discussions and desserts, cards and just all these great things in that space. In addition to that, everyone may be aware that that we Latasha Morrison just launched her second book, brown faces, white spaces this past Tuesday. Uh oh, I shouldn’t have done that. He launched it on May 21 and and we’re going to have a book study in the academy and other master classes. So stay tuned to some just for some phenomenal things that are going to take place in this portal. So you don’t Yes, please by all means, hire us to come. Out and facilitate this training. We’re a fun bunch of people. We have a good time. We cater it to the needs of your specific organization. Occasionally, we take you to dinner and have additional conversations with you. It’s a good time. We’re fun. However, if you cannot bring us out to where you are, you can come to us via the the academy, alright, one of our focuses for the past several months within be the bridge, has been hope. We talked about the state of well, we well maybe I’m talking about state of the economy right now we’re talking about the political climate, just just personal things that are going on in our lives. This is sometimes a difficult most times a difficult work. It doesn’t really matter what role you’re playing. It can it can pull at you. I’m wondering, in spite of and in tandem with all that is going on, what brings you hope? Want to go around the room and everyone just let me know and let the audience know, what, what? What gives you hope? Right now,

Elizabeth Behrens
I can go. So I just finished up the second round of teaching the change agents class, and the first three weeks of that have a focus on theology, and we spend two weeks going through the history of the Western Church and its role in that creation and maintenance of white supremacy. And it is. It is not a hopeful couple weeks be honest. It’s a it’s a rough couple weeks to teach. It’s a rough couple weeks to sit through. But week three we then we actually engage theology. We crack open our own Bibles and think about what would it look like to engage theology outside of that that lens, outside of that history, how do we how we read scripture in new ways? How do we engage scripture in new ways and out of the second round of teaching it, I, you know, got messages of thanks and things, but at one, one email in particular, I was just thinking about as we were talking, and a woman messaged me who said, you know, I, you know, there’s a I have a lot of church hurt. I haven’t walked into church in five years. I went cracked open my Bible, probably in more than that. She’s like, yesterday I ordered a Bible, and I sat down and realized I’d spent three hours digging into one of those stories you brought up because I was trying to make sense of it. And this from this new way. I was like, Oh, okay. And but I get that because that’s a lot of where I was to until I was able to I think, particularly in the arena of race, there is so much hurt. Of ways the church has been been happy to uphold systems of oppression rather than tear them down. And when we can actually engage theology in in new ways when we can engage in thinking outside of that, that lens that has been utilized to uphold those systems of oppression, um, Scripture just opens wide like it’s a whole it’s a whole different book when it’s not read that lens of, how can, how can these verses be used to maintain a higher a social hierarchy. So I am hopeful because, because of my inbox, in part, because of people who have gone through our trainings, have gone through our courses and say, I feel like I can engage again. I feel like I have a way forward. I feel like I know how to go into my workplace and and bring some of these things up. Now, right? I’m I’m raising, I’m raising, you know, white children, and I really want to do this better, and I feel like you all have given me the tools that I can, that I don’t have to raise kids who are simply going along with the status quo. So I would say that our participants give me,

Tange Johnson
I love it. Thank you.

Dion Evans
That’s awesome. Uh, I’ll go. I will go. I was gonna see if Jared, could I go? I want to, I don’t want to push, push up in line. However, I’m going to try to do this without, without preaching. But as Daryl knows, it’s kind of hard to get away from your thing. But I think what gives me hope, I’ll take that back. I know what gives me hope is that there are leftovers, so that there’s a remnant, and two parts of the remnant give me hope. On one end, when we go to trainings and or even just outside of trainings and conversations and just observation for seeing, for my white brothers and sisters, when, when the eyes do open, and that you still have people who are willing, even if they’re not in the majority to have these conversations, to grapple with these truths, to to re engage with not just the race conversation, but with Jesus or in these times. That’s hopeful for me, because I don’t need a ton of people to do anything, but if I got a few people willing to do a big thing, it’s very helpful. So that part of the remnant, but also even the part of the remnant, even for for black folk, because you have a lot of black folk who look like me, who have disengaged from the conversation in a way, not to where they don’t see it as an important thing for justice and all that kind of different thing, but because they’ve unplugged and because they’ve gotten upset, they are like, screw everything. I’m burning everything down, and there’s no reconciliation, no redemption. It’s not happening. I’m just tearing everything apart. And so my encouragement from that remnant comes that that’s not everyone’s story. So when I was doing the bipoc 101 class had several people in there who were just excited about the fact that they have found their tribe, other black folk who were still engaged in a hopeful way, still engaged in these conversations in a Christ centered kind of fashion. So that, for me, is hopeful, because not every black person is beyond thinking that something can change is not beyond thinking that there’s still something that could be done, even if we don’t see it in our own lifetime. We are still pushing because there’s still there’s still hope. But I think that that is, and I’ll say this, and I’ll be done, I think that is indicative of what we see just in history as black folk engage issues, is that it’s kind of, well, I don’t have scientific proof for this, but that hope is woving into the DNA of who we are as people, and so it’s hard for us to get away from even though everything outside of us says, No, so that’s that’s my that’s what’s giving me hope in this season. So try to keep it concise. But no, I didn’t have an organ to shut me up. So you know,

Tange Johnson
that’s perfect. Gina Darrell,

Gina Fimbel
I let pastor Darryl give us the last word on hope, because I’m the realist of the group. Taken me a while to think about an answer. I’m sitting in the state of North Carolina, and the University of North Carolina Board of Governors just voted to remove and gut all funding and the diversity, inclusion and equity office from, you know, our State campuses. That feels like a little bit of a gut punch, so I’m not feeling too hopeful today. That being said, and this probably sounds a little cheesy, but it’s the people I work with. I have seen Latasha and you Tangie and Andrea and Michelle, and just the many amazing humans that we work with who have you have the lived experience of being a person of color in the United States, and all the traumas and resiliency that goes along with that, But you are working in this fight and sometimes, like, I feel like such a wimp, because I feel tired, I get jaded, I get angry, I just get frustrated. I just, you know, even the way we talk about racial injustice, like this was a gross violation of human rights that we’ve had for hundreds of years in our country, it just so sometimes that can feel overwhelming, but, but Latasha and all of the staff at bethebridge com, you know, they’ve prayed with me. They’ve prayed for me. They speak life into me. They’re always pointing me to the hope of redemption, as Dion was just, you know going on about and so that’s what I’m really holding on to right now. And I feel grateful that, that I have this, this little, this crew as part of an anchor for obviously, God is the anchor for my soul, but you guys always help point me to God. So thank you for that wonderful

Darryl Ford
that’s awesome. I’ll actually tag on because I Gina, I actually think that. I don’t know that it’s that what you’re saying is antithetical to what I think any of us would be feeling. And I don’t know that what you’re saying is some somehow, I don’t want you to feel like I know we made the joke about pessimism. I don’t know. I think sometimes the church can be the source of toxic positivity because they won’t tell the truth about how bad a thing is. And so I want everyone who’s watching this to know that’s not what any that’s not what we’re about. Calling out the things that are broken is a part of what it means to be a redeemed image bearer. And part of what you know, mourning, the things that should be mourned, is a part of what it means to be a believer. So honestly, Gina, I appreciate, I appreciate that. I think we need that. And I feel I join you there. I as well since, and I think all of us here, we see the brokenness that we’re not trying to just run. To something just to give us artificial joy. In the midst of it, there is something that we get to hold on to for hope and and what, what I think about is our Jesus’s words in Matthew 16. We’ve heard it tons and tons of times and and yet, this idea that he says on this rock I built my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And honestly, there are times where those words sound good, but what I see looks like hell is prevailing, right. And I think sometimes the first part of being honest is to say, from pure observation, it looks like hell of prevailing, right from just observation, when, when, when legislation gets signed like what you just talked about, Gina, it sure does look like hell is prevailing. If we were to go to people who look like me and look like Dion or look like tangy and you look at people in the 17 and 1800s they would essentially there you could understand someone going, it sure does look like hell is prevailing. And yet what I think about, as far as what gives me hope, is the choice of words that Jesus uses. He uses these words the gates of hell, which tells us that these are defensive structures, which means that the truth of the gospel and justice is still the one that’s on the offense. It doesn’t feel like it, but it’s on the offense. And keep in mind, Jesus says this to a group of people that, within about a month or two, are going to be on the run. So he’s talking to people say he’s giving this us, this template that says, even when everything in our eyes says that we are the ones that are the hunted, God’s justice is the hunter, and death and hell ought to be afraid. So to me, when I think about that, you see, yes, the church becomes the symbol of hope, not the institution itself, because we know that there are brokenness throughout the institution, but the idea, as Dion said, This remnant of people, of believers, who stand for justice because God stands for justice, stand for compassion, because God stands for compassion, stand for love, because God stands for love, that embodies the principle that combats racial justice, that’s the thing that penetrates The Gate, right? And so if we look at racial injustice as the form of oppression, right, race becomes a racial injustice becomes like that systemic evil that perpetuates as we know, discrimination, inequality, violence based on race, manifests itself in various ways, but like the Gates of Hell, racial injustice seems insurmountable, yet hope persists. And so for me, the idea that, like, how do I find hope against that we find hope? Because I know, not necessarily, all of the people who claim to be a part of the church, or what have you, but I know the church, the invisible church, those who embody God’s heart stands firm against the same spiritual darkness, the people who stand up in communities that stand up against racial justice. I honestly, I feel like that’s where we draw our strength from, not necessarily from all the things I get to observe, but I trust. I trust when Jesus says, The Gates of Hell, the injustices that are there, then they will not prevail. They won’t prevail against the church. Hope then gets to prevail against racial justice. As we all come together, we take action, we work toward a more just and equitable world. That’s the hope that I hold on to.

Tange Johnson
Amen. All right, everyone, thank you for making yourselves available for this podcast. I appreciate each and every one of you and all that you not only brought to this conversation, but that you bring to the team and to be the bridge as a whole. Thank you and have a wonderful day.

Lauren Brown
Hi, friends. We hope you enjoyed that episode. Before we wrap up, we have a special story to share with you that illustrates the impact of bethebridge 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.

Tanya Rogers
My name is Tanya Rogers, and I started volunteering with bethebridge in about 2016 I have found such a space of community, family, encouragement and education and be the bridge. I came into be the bridge, broken hearted and despairing, and found a space where there were like minded people who could encourage me, lift my spirits, put language to the things that I was thinking and help educate me about where I was and how to share this work of racial justice with others, thank

Lauren Brown
you for listening. We hope you re engage, 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 bethebridge. Pass, 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, forward slash, give to financially. Partner with us. We are connected, and the work continues.