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Good afternoon. My name is Melissa Wigginton. I am the Vice President for Education Beyond the Walls and Research Professor of Methodist studies here at Austin Seminary. I'm delighted to welcome you back for this afternoon,

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which will begin with a lecture by dr Evelyn Parker and be immediately followed by a moderated conversation among all of our lecturers. Dr Parker as you know, if you were with us. Yesterday is recently retired

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from a long season of teaching scholarship and administrative leadership at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. In academic year 20, she had a Fulbright scholarship to go to Cape Town South Africa and study how

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pastors are responding to preventing and intervening in situations of teen dating violence. And I lift this up out of her many accomplishments because it exemplifies her lifelong commitment to young people, two young women and especially to

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young women of color. So of all the things more I could say about my friend Evelyn, I want to say that she is above all and all the time, a person of the church and I

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truly value that about her and her presentation today. You know, yesterday she introduced us to ruby Doris smith, whom I had not known. And as she was telling us about her, I remembered an

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exercise that we had done with a group of church people and pastors many years ago where we asked each of them too personify their congregation. If your congregation were a person, what would they look like?

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How old would they be? How would they dress ? How would strangers perceive them? How would they spend their time? What would they like? And as I thought about that yesterday, I imagined that

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probably not many of us would personify our congregations as ruby Doris smith. So clear, ensure of our calling so bold to march back and forth alone in protest or to take a bible to parchment. Well

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, to go to Parchman prison in Mississippi to be so singular in dedication, so zealous and so strong willed. But also wondered if in fact it might not be the case that somewhere within us there is

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a ruby Doris smith, an identity that perhaps we have grown distant from with time and age and the relentlessness of life. And so as we listen this afternoon, I wonder if we might conjure up that

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image, retrieve that young person who is in fact part of who we are, as the church who embodies those twins of courage and christian faith, those twins that were formed in the same womb, that

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we might conjure up that image. And just let it sit beside us, that image of the young true believer formed by the church singing the songs of the church, the songs of freedom and spirit and

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refusing to take no for an answer to the need for racial healing reconciliation and the flourishing of all creation . So I invite you to imagine that person and just sit her right beside you as we listen to

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Evelyn Parker. Please join me in welcoming her. Thank you so much melissa. You're a dear friend for many years as we've worked together, David, you and I to lift up God's gift of of

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teenagers. And thank you also ted for this invitation . Thank you our virtual audience as well as those who are here in person for uh taking the time to share with us uh doing this this this time

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of of lectures in your annual event. During my February 21 through 25th visit to Dallas. Last year , I came upon a group of young people, all white, About 20 of them that appeared to

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be high school and college age marching south on Hillcrest street approaching Snider Plaza. They carried placards and banners that had images and words compatible to the words that they were chanting Black Lives Matter. I hocked my

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car horn at the young crowd at the young crowd in affirmation of their protest march and wade. And I smiled. A blond haired blue eyed girl crossing the street in front of my car, made eye

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contact with me and she smiled back as she raised her placard and chanted loudly Black Lives Matter. I was amazed to see white youth protesting in Highland Park . Yeah, I wanted to interview them to ask

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what motivated their commitment to protests were they afraid of the consequences they might experience from such a public affirmation of the humanity of black people. What are your parents thinking? What are they saying? What is

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the source of your courage to participate in the Black Lives Matter movement. In this lecture, I will review my definition of courage, explore fear as it relates to white christians, their faith and white fragility

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and what we can learn from the courage of ELISA Garza, Patrice Cullors and opal committee founders of the Black Lives Matter movement and the protagonist, Lauren Ola Menina of Octavia E Butler's novel Parable of the Sower

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. I will just suppose, fear and courage among these groups and move towards practical implications for the church specifically for christian congregations. Courage, as I indicated on yesterday, is unsure outed courage. That is

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a gift to us from the reverend doctor Katie Geneva Cannon. And as I have some aerated what she talks about in terms of unsure outed courage. I think courage is the persistent and unrelenting determination to dismantle

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demonic death, dealing systematic oppression. The theo ethical idea of courage that dr Cannon offers us at its very core. As I said yesterday, it's communal . It ushers forth from black the black community where

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courageous black women and men bravely act to affirm their humanity even as they fear it might mean their ultimate sacrifice. Courageous people are not selfish. The courage is for the sake and salvation of this is not

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for the sake and salvation of the self, but courage is for the good of the community. It is also dynamic. It moves towards racism, racism . It moves towards Sexism towards Classism towards homophobia and

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patriarchy. Courage is a persistent disposition. Our character trained learned. Yes, strengthened yes. Over time with experience and practice of courageous activities. And as Karen baker fletcher said God gives us courage and the

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Holy spirit is with us within us to empower us . To be courageous, genuine Christianity and courage must be practiced devoutly. Even when we walk through the valley of the Shadow of death, courage that confronts

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white supremacy. Head on is not void of fear but uses fear to propel courageous thinking and acting. In the hallway of the jerome McNeil juvenile detention center in Dallas texas. There is a painting on the

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wall created by one of the incarcerated youth. It has this caption, Courage is Fear that prayed. The wisdom in the caption connotes spontaneous in the moment . Need for courage. A courageous person fights for

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social justice, acknowledging their fear prayerfully in the midst of courageous actions. What might this imply for christians , particularly white christians? How might we think about fear, Faith and white fertility? A courageous action

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is carried out despite danger. Personal risk and are painful difficulties involved in carrying out the action. Courageous action on behalf of God's oppressed people happens in spite of fear. Let's I remind us what scripture says

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about fear The writer in 2nd Timothy 1st 1 Chapter one in 7 states. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self discipline.

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The king James version states fear instead of cowardice. To talk about fear among white christians. We need to talk about white fragility. I have learned from Robin Diangelo about white fragility in her book of the

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same title, allow me to quote extensively from dr D'Angelo as she explains, white fragility as an insider . A white person speaking to other whites. White people in North America live in a society that is

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deeply separated and unequal by race, and white people are beneficiaries of that separation and inequality. As a result, we are insulated from racial stress at the same time, we come to feel entitled to and

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deserving of our advantage given how seldom we experience racial discomfort in a society we dominate. We haven't had to build our racial stamina socialized into a deeply internalized sense of superiority that we either are unaware of or

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can never admit to ourselves. We become highly fragile in conversation about race. We consider a challenge to our racial worldview as a challenge to our very identities , as good moral people. Thus, we perceive

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any attempt to connect us to the system of racism as an unsettling and unfair moral offense. The smallest amount of racial stress is intolerable. The mere suggestion that being white has meaning often triggers a rage,

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a range of defense responses. These include emotions such as anger, fear and guilt and behaviors such as argumentation, silence and withdrawal from the stress inducing situation . These responses work to reinstate white equilibrium as they

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repelled the challenge, return our racial comfort and maintain our dominance within the racial hierarchy. I conceptualized this process of white fragility. She says the white fragility is triggered by discomfort and anxiety. It is born

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of superiority and entitlement. White superior White fragility is not weakness per se. In fact, it is a powerful means of white racial control and the protection of white advantage. Using D'Angelo's concept of white fragility

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, I posit that white christians fear to confront and dismantle racism and white supremacy as well as intersecting forms of marginalization for the people of God, including patriarchy . Heteronormative Itty classism, Sexism able ISm because of

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white fragility it hinders the church, its individual members and its collective congregation from living out its mission. Because of white fragility. White fragility is central to fear. That awareness of white supremacy is an ideology

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and by that, I mean, an overarching political , economic and social system of domination that this ideology will be jeopardized. White fragility is fear of losing the central place of being considered the norm for humanity

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, that all other human beings must acknowledge and bow to whiteness as the norm that is promoted globally through movies, Mass media and corporate culture and advertising. White fragility is fear. It is essential to fear

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and outrage of being outed after saying and doing something racist. Why fragility is central to fear when assumptions about the centrality of whiteness are challenged. White fragility essential to fear that resisting racism and racist practices will

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cause you to be categorized as a terrorist. My point is that white fragility is the engine for fear that renders white christians unable to confront white supremacist powers and practices. I mentioned fear of being called a

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terrorist against us government to transition to a lesson on courage that we can learn from the co founders of the Black Lives Matter movement. Patrice Cullors Alicia Garza and Opel Committee. You may recall in 2013,

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after the acquittal of the man who murdered 17 year old Trayvon Martin Alicia Garza posted what she calls a love letter to black people. She wrote black people , I love you, I love us our lives

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Matter. Patrice Cullors a friend and organizer like Gaza responded to the facebook post Hashtag Black Lives Matter. The Black Lives Matter progressively gained the attention of the masses on social media. Gaza and colors contacted their

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friend Opal committee and strategize for their global movement that exists today. Hashtag Black lives Matter. While the collective and individual courage of Gaza colors and committee merit our attention. I want to focus on Patrice Khan

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Cullors that's her that's in the single folo to the left. You're right and how she's courageous and how her courage from her experiences of coming of age, afraid of the police that persistently terrorized her family and

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neighborhood in her memoir when they call you a terrorist . Patrice tells her story of coming of age in los Angeles California, Her formation unfolds on the pages of her memoir as one who identifies as black queer

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, a professional organizer with earned degrees in religion and an ordained minister. She writes, our fore parents imagined our families, they imagined me a mother and a wife, a community organizer and queer an artist

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and a dreamer learning to find hope while navigating the shadows of hell. Even as I know it might have been otherwise, she notes the twin terrors of poverty and the police as she narrates details of her

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fear of the police. She grew up watching police repeatedly accosting her brother Monte, who suffered from schizoaffective disorder and also watching police harass and incarcerate her father as a small child, she would see the police

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stopping young brown and black boys in her neighborhood, pinning them to the ground, looking out of her family's apartment window, she would see police stop and frisk monty on many occasions. Even as a married

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adult, she witnessed L. A police coming into their home in ST Elmo's Square and dragging her husband out of the bed, handcuffing him on a fabricated charge of a possible suspect, breaking and entering homes

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in their neighborhood, the unending horror of police terrorizing her brother father, neighbors and herself and imprisoning Mantei and her faith were and her father were unbearable. Yet amid the fear of the police, she found

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refuge and hope for her future When she attended Cleveland high School, a charter school centered on social justice and the arts amid having the freedom to ask questions and seek answers to those questions. In high school

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, Patrice sought to find a place of worship that felt honest. She said the Jehovah's witness religion of her mother's family didn't invite her questions about God. She wrote the Kingdom Hall with its men over everyone

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and literal interpretation of the bible, just doesn't feel honest. After further critique of the Jehovah's witnesses, the religion of her mother that cast her mother out upon becoming pregnant outside of marriage, Patrice goes on

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to say that she wanted mentorship and guidance so beyond the doors of the Kingdom Hall, she sought to find God and find her spirit so that she could find herself High School College and graduate school enhanced her

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proclivity as an activist since age 16, She writes , I became ordained in 2004, primarily because I was determined to marry queer people. Despite what then , was the marriage inequality in California and the nation

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. Her life experiences Educational training and commitments to dismantle white supremacy merged in 2013. In the aftermath of the acquittal of Trayvon Martin's killer. When Patrice Alicia and Opal organized black lives matter governmental and state terrorism

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intensified against them. While Patrice worked from los Angeles California Alicia from Oakland California and Opal from new york city, they built a global movement that addressed injustice for black and brown people. The movement mobilized protests

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after the brutal death of Michael Brown in Ferguson. And doing an after events in Ferguson, the movement began to take shape as local chapters begin to organize all over the country Today. There are Black Lives

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Matters chapters around the globe With more than some 20 chapters across the United States in Canada and in the UK, all autonomous but all connected and coordinated In the aftermath of the 2016 election, Patrice Alicia and

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Opal were sued by a white winged who claimed they instigated riots. The terrorism. The experience between 2016 and 2020 is unimaginable. The Black Lives met a network has health and wellness directors dedicated to ending toxicity

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in their organization. Patrice has resolved to increasing practices of exercise, healthy eating, spending quality time with her family, traveling less and spending more time in prayer each day. These are ways she beats back

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the demons of fear so that she can act with courage as a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement . Patrice Cullors was demonized as a terrorist of the state as a threat to the U. S.

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Government and the local L. A. City. These various governments terrorized Patrice through militarized activities against her and her family systemic white supremacy and its actors are the culprits of terrorism. Patricia's life of courage amid

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fear gives the church a model for courageous living and action given the merit of what I have offered about courage for the church these two days the theological position of courage and christian faith as twins. That white

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fragility undergirds. Fear for white christians and that fear can be managed even amid terrorists or terrorist state. I bet you're asking what are the practices, what are the practical implications of lived faith? I want

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to propose. seven, rely on young people to model courage. I say that boldly trust, support and follow young people who act out their faith and courage. I believe that God's gift of idealism is

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through young people Sometimes around 2004 and 2005, a young woman dually aligned with the Presbyterian Church USA and the Mennonite churches contacted the reverend. The late reverend dr rubina Wimbush, ecumenical officer of the P.

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C. Usa, requesting that she support and give guidance to her application to be a steward at the forthcoming 2000 and 6/9 Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Allegre, brazil, reverend Wimbush agreed

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and provided the application and wrote a letter of recommendation on behalf of the young woman. Her application was approved and she became a steward at the WCC Assembly while attending the Assembly. This young woman was among

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the leaders of the youth delegates that organized and led protests. Yes protests against the WCC for marginalizing and silencing young people's voices as full participants in setting in setting and implementing policy the youth stage peaceful protest during

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the assembly business session and I apologize, I couldn't find my old pictures, they articulated their demands for full representation on the WCC commissions and committees. The WCC 9th assemblies. Youth requests were heard throughout the

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course of the conference. The assembly nomination committee's report included youth on all committees and commissions with voice and vote. Youth were given designated slots on all the levels of the central committee. The body that serves

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the World council of Churches between assemblies, the young woman and youth went on to serve the WCC and other capacities today she is the vice moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs where I also

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served. She is also a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize with I can for nuclear weapons disarmament. She is my dear friend and colleagues, Miss Emily Welty PhD a professor of peace at Pace University in

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new york city where she teaches and studies remember what you know about jesus, Jesus christ took place and his activism took place while he was in the adolescent . Mhm Ages 12 to 33 young adult idealism was

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embodied and modeled by jesus, who we confess that we follow that we emulate in our daily living as christians reclaim Christianity as a movement. Community organized organization is congregational organization, Elizabeth schussler. Fiorenza instructs us

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that Jesus organized the movement when he declared to usher in the reign the Kingdom of God. This movement first took shape with the calling of the 12 disciples . The movement has grown in a number and in

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kind of ordinary folk. Working class women and men Christianity embodied in the life and ministry of jesus was a movement. It has always been a movement, shouldn't we reclaim Christianity as a movement that it was

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created to be ritualized confession and repentance of white fragility and white supremacy rituals have the power to transform us and to form us spiritually and physically worship. It's songs, prayers, litanies, dynamic liturgical gestures should

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remind the congregation each time it gathers that racism is a sin and that fear and shame of talking about and acting against racism and the systems of white privilege and power is an abomination to God. Consider using

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Robin D'Angelo's book for an intentional study about white fragility . Use Chapter nine and I'm being specific here on white fragility and action As a resource for writing prayers and litanies as well as chapters 10 through 12 as

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a resource for to strategize new thought and action about white fragility. God is outraged at white fragility. So the only way to please God is to confess and repent of white fragility in worship to God,

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repeat educational moments. This is a joint to number three practice continuous unceasing education about the sociocultural sociopolitical socioeconomic context of ministry. This suggestion is correlated to the ritualized confession as I've indicated, create formal and informal

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educational events that educate the congregation about the sin of racism. Use the Pc USA website for racial justice resources that include bearing witness that include presbyterians. Affirm black Lives Matter and also includes the Trouble the Water

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documentary series, partner with existing small groups and create new ones as educational settings to explore the topic of white privilege, white dominance, white superiority and other intersecting issues including patriarchy. Use art movement, film

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and music to discuss the theological and ethical dimensions of white oppression. Repeat these educational moments, repeat the content, allow prayers and litanies to surface from the learning experiences, receive organizations that aim to dismantle white

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supremacy systems, extend hospitality to and financially support such organizations, identify a local Black Lives Matter chapter or other similar organizations provides space free of charge for their meetings on the church property, provide other resources such

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as transportation, tie your tides and offerings of the church treasury in support of nonprofit organizations like the local Black Lives Matter chapter, financially support the P. C. UsA anti racist initiatives, financially support nonprofit

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organizations that consistently work for justice. Rethink the mission of the church. If that mission is no longer relevant and functional, rethink it, I'm going to go back, but I want to show this image

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because this is where Lauren Ola Minha comes in. If that mission is no longer relevant, I have said, let's rethink it so it can be functional . Lauren Alumina, the 15 year old protagonists and

00:34:21.300 - 00:34:37.680

Octavia E. Butler's novel The parable of the sore had the courage to critique the church where she grew up as the daughter of a pastor and a theological professor born of multiple intersections of marginalization that is black

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, disabled, female and poor. Lauren has the courage to protest her loved ones to protect her loved ones, a community that she collects in the aftermath of losing her father, family and neighbors who were

00:34:51.490 - 00:35:13.260

shell who who once sheltered themselves from the anarchy outside of their gated community in California In the year of 2024. Despite offering suffering from hyper empathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others, emotions and pains. And

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despite the crumbling world of global climate change and economic crisis around her, Lauren had the courage to create a new religion for her beloved community. All religion or religious institution didn't fit anymore. It wasn't relevant

00:35:32.590 - 00:35:54.060

enough, did not function in a salvage thick way for her beloved community. Law and rights and earth seed the book of the living changes the Galaxies move through space, the stars at night burn age,

00:35:54.540 - 00:36:15.940

cool, evolving God has changed God prevails. If the religious institution is alien to the church that jesus christ ordained and acts two, then create a new one, recreate a mission that is consistent with what

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jesus christ blessed who are the Lauren Ola Minhas among us realize the future with hope. Hope in God . Thank you and I invite our conversation together. Mhm Thank you so much Evelyn and we have the

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opportunity to have a few questions, I don't know if we have any from the the audience away, but also in this room. If any of you have questions, we have the opportunity to engage each

00:37:15.780 - 00:37:36.120

other and engage dr parker comments. Doesn't have to be a question. I saw some of you nodding your heads while she was talking. So I know you were thinking about something and it would be a

00:37:36.120 - 00:37:57.350

great time to share that dr parker, Thank you very much for your lecture. I think of all of the practices that you proposed, the one that I most appreciate his number four repeat it. We

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tend in many churches to do whatever act of justice or work of education we do, which is courageous and important and deep and meaningful once, but as the mother of an eight year old, I can

00:38:15.240 - 00:38:28.090

tell you you learn by repetition. It's it is the repetition that causes the learning. And so I really appreciate number four, we we, as people of faith, we know this, we we say

00:38:28.090 - 00:38:37.570

the Lord's prayer every week. We say the toxicology every week. So, I'd love to hear you talk a little bit more about the importance of repetition . Sure, thank you for that question. Thank

00:38:37.570 - 00:38:59.690

you for being here. Um I agree. We we learn uh you know, things kind of settle in after you've left the formal educating educational setting, but if there's informal ways also that can help you

00:38:59.690 - 00:39:19.350

revisit or reconnect with those formal settings that solidifies what you have learned in the formal setting, I believe . And notice I also talk about ritual izing and saying that out of um the learning experience, there

00:39:19.350 - 00:39:40.360

could be prayers and litanies that surface and the repetition of those, even mantras can help reinforce the learning and I believe that learning has no value if it's not transformational. So I agree that this repetition can

00:39:40.360 - 00:40:02.140

help internalize these new ways of thinking and being, that help us to actually live out in new ways dr park. I had a question regarding one in six and where I see the connection between one and

00:40:02.140 - 00:40:20.340

six, relying on young people to model courage and rethink the mission of the church. My question here is if we're going to rely on the young people to model courage, then we need to somehow connect

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the wisdom from our elders to guide this this model because there's a sense of wisdom that is often lost um between the communities and then rethink the mission. Could I challenge that and ask when we look at

00:40:40.690 - 00:40:57.100

Micah six, I don't ever think that we really fulfill the mission just a thought. Yeah, I could go with that, that last part, but let me let me push back, let me push

00:40:57.100 - 00:41:13.970

back and say ah out of my own experience and my observations that um and and in history with those organizations like the lilly endowment that have allowed young people to have a voice and ask questions that they,

00:41:13.980 - 00:41:27.710

that were not invited when they were in congregations. And I'm thinking about youth initiatives that were uh, they're older than 20 years now. Um, those were places where young people had beautiful questions right,

00:41:27.720 - 00:41:42.770

that they never had an opportunity to ask. Now . I'm not saying that wisdom of persons who have gone before is not important, but that wisdom should not take precedence over what young people have to offer

00:41:42.780 - 00:41:57.740

. There has to be an opportunity for those to be in conversation with each other and to value the new thinking of young people about the same old questions in new ways. I know that some were concerned

00:41:57.810 - 00:42:15.600

that young people were joining Black Lives Matter and other organizations without consulting those who had been very active in the civil rights movement and uh, and uh similar organizations. Um, but I argued that there was

00:42:15.600 - 00:42:29.240

never a table that was prepared for them to come together and have a good conversation right in our own converse congregations, sometimes there are people who can share their stories and those sharing of stories of how they

00:42:29.240 - 00:42:43.360

got over. If I can use that phrase can help young people see that I have someone within my missed that actually can have a conversation with me and their experience is not that different from others. I

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talked about carol stem leon yesterday, she's gone into the great beyond, but had there been somebody around to tell the young people in wes Mitchell C. M. E. Church about carol and ruby Doris

00:42:57.530 - 00:43:08.370

. I think it would make a great difference, especially those young people were being a little timid to get involved in doing something that would make a difference . Uh there are so many young people who want

00:43:08.370 - 00:43:24.180

to make a difference, but they don't know how and when they do offer a suggestion, it's critiqued , heavily suppressed and they're shut down and silence, let it flow, let it out there and give

00:43:24.180 - 00:43:37.710

them opportunity to learn from what they are suggesting. If I air, I'm going to err on the side of the young person who just needs to speak up and speak out and until they get to a

00:43:37.710 - 00:43:52.760

point where they feel confident in what they're going to do and what they want to do, then I think it will enhance all of us. Um you know, um I am not saying that adults should

00:43:52.760 - 00:44:01.470

not have a conversation with young people, but I'm saying sometimes young people, adults need to sit down and just let young people have have their way, have have their say so. And one sunday is

00:44:01.470 - 00:44:15.240

just not enough. Yeah. Uh yes, I wanted to just make a comment and then go to you ted and that is Emily Welty was a product , not a product. She was a participant in

00:44:15.240 - 00:44:32.190

one of the lily youth programs where David and I knew her when she was 17 and it's just a case in point to the story you're telling. So , uh, dr Wardlaw, dr parker, thank

00:44:32.190 - 00:44:45.610

you so much for being here. Um, I've taken a lot of notes today and I appreciate, uh, so many wonderful thoughts you're gonna leave us with. I want you. I was intrigued with

00:44:45.610 - 00:45:00.070

the definition of courage. Courage is fear that prayed . A lot of us are praying on a regular basis, but the things that we fear and the trends in the world in this country and whatnot that

00:45:00.070 - 00:45:17.700

are fearful. Can you, can you, can you give an example of a time when you experienced the kind of courage that came from? You're praying away fear, I just would appreciate that. Thank

00:45:17.700 - 00:45:30.230

you, thank you, Thank you for that question . Um, um, there are many times of the first one that comes to mind is uh, when this embodied black, full bodied black woman gets

00:45:30.230 - 00:45:45.070

up in front of her students that are predominantly white and I look on their faces and they are either smirking or laughing, are about to do something else . And then I go old school and old fashioned

00:45:45.070 - 00:46:02.280

and say I need your full attention and I demand that I'm praying at the same time. And I'm not saying that to be funny, I'm praying at the same time because um, it's, I know

00:46:02.290 - 00:46:15.310

that I have been given a responsibility and a call to be, where I have been on many occasions . I have asked God, why come, I'm not in a place that the people look more like

00:46:15.310 - 00:46:37.560

me and um and God doesn't say a thing back , but as time goes on and um students have come to me both as their teacher and then when I became an administrator and said um that have come

00:46:37.560 - 00:46:52.300

out to me where they have not had had fears to come out somewhere else as well as claim and talked about the blatant racism they experienced in the classroom and look to me to stand up on their behalf

00:46:52.780 - 00:47:08.500

. Then I hear God saying that this is why you're here at the same time, I'm praying and cussing those kind of work together sometimes simultaneously. Uh huh. Oh gosh, don't we have time for

00:47:08.500 - 00:47:21.820

just one more. Yes, we do. Gary , please. This is a question from the chat . It's going to be very quick um and it has to do with and I'm framing it a little

00:47:21.820 - 00:47:37.450

bit but the role of adults when you're standing and letting the young people go because there are wiser people who have experienced some kind of predictable backlash that can come when norms are violated and when structures are questioned

00:47:37.450 - 00:47:50.150

and I'm thinking about in the Black Lives Matter movement , some of the information that was circulated about the young women who founded that movement and I would just like to hear your thoughts on how as elders we

00:47:50.150 - 00:48:00.830

can perhaps prepare and help to navigate finding the truth when the inevitable backlash comes. Yes, so, thank you for that question. I think it takes more time than we actually have, but I want

00:48:00.830 - 00:48:15.080

to say this uh churches who are serious about letting young people give have leadership in their congregations need to prepare for that. They need to prepare before doing and after in other words, they need to sit

00:48:15.080 - 00:48:25.720

together and strategize how they're going to be supportive when these young people go out and be the public face of the church, and if they fail, they need to be prepared to be that that cuddling warm

00:48:25.720 - 00:48:37.150

pastoral presence to say that's okay, we're with you . It might not have worked that time, but we're going to be with you when you go back out again. I think it takes some strategic moving

00:48:37.160 - 00:48:52.250

through this whole process that has been asked about to help young people support and beast strength. Uh we can talk to Emily and find out Emily. How did you find Whitey? I So so it's it's

00:48:52.250 - 00:49:09.560

those types of people that we need to help strategize in an intentional way. Thank you. Thank you so much. Dr parker. Okay, let me ask you if you're here to please stay seated and

00:49:09.560 - 00:49:14.720

we will have a moment of setting the space for