Click on this link or the picture below to view a recording of the panel discussion.

On January 26, 2021, I had the privilege of being invited to a Monticello Live Stream panel discussion about “Legacies of Religious Freedom” moderated by John Ragota, a historian at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, and a law and history lecturer at the University of Virginia. I was joined by Holly Hollman, Associate Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. We discussed the ideal of religious freedom and how it intersects with social movements and legal doctrine today.

Rev. Martha Dixon Kearse is Senior Pastor of Peakland Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA. She was formerly the Minister to Children and Family Life (2001) and Associate Minister (2012) at St. John’s Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC. I interview Dr. Kearse about her book, The Sun is Up: One Minister’s Awakening to Racial Reconciliation.

Jonathan P. Walton is an area ministry director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s New York/New Jersey region. He previously served for ten years as director of the New York City Urban Project. He writes regularly for Huffington Post, medium.com, and is the author of three books of poetry and short stories. I interview him about his recently published book, Twelve Lies That Hold America Captive: And the Truth That Sets Us Free.

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is a spiritual writer, preacher, and community-cultivator who has worked alongside Rev. William Barber. I interview him about his recently published book, Reconstructing the Gospel: How to Find Freedom from Slaveholder Religion.

John Pavlovitz is an author, pastor, activist, and storyteller who recently published Hope and Other Superpowers: A Life-Affirming, Love-Defending, Butt-Kicking, World-Saving Manifesto. I interview him about how Christians can get involved in social justice.

Dr. Tod Bolsinger is the Vice President and Chief of Leadership Formation and Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at Fuller Seminary. I interview Dr. Bolsinger about the implications and applications of his book Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory in racial justice work.

Mark Charles is a speaker, writer, and consultant. The son of an American woman (of Dutch heritage) and a Navajo man, Mark teaches the complexities of American history regarding race, culture, and Christendom in order to help forge a path of healing and conciliation for the nation. He was kind enough to accept the Charlottesville Clergy Collective’s invitation to speak during our “Charlottesville to Jamestown” pilgrimage on “The Heresy of Christendom and the Trauma of the Doctrine of Discovery.” The above video is a follow up conversation after his presentation.

Charles ends this conversation with this offering: “From Prophecy to Proverb” 28:41

Wise is the church that refuses to buy into the trappings of partisan politics
Remember my brothers and sisters, Jesus did not come to create a Christian Empire
He came to make disciples.
He came to offer his body as a living sacrifice.
He came to plant a church.
When the church merely lobbies one political leader and protests the other
When, for the sake of argument or political gain, the body of Christ turns a blind eye to one sin and magnifies another
We are not representing the headship of our body…
who is Christ.
As vile, repulsive and urgent is the separation of families at our border
it is not the first time…
Indian Removal,
the slave trade,
Boarding Schools,
lynchings,
Japanese Internment camps,
mass incarceration
the list of ways the United States government has worked to destroy the family structure of people of color throughout our history is as long as it is depressing.
So let’s stop pretending that President Trump is the God ordained savior, or the ultimate demise of our union.
The same with President Obama.
What our nation needs is not for Democrats to be better Democrats.
Nor do we need Republicans to simply be better Republicans.
We don’t even need our nation to be more Christian.
My brothers and sisters, the United States of America is not, never has been, nor will it ever be Christian.
Jesus did not come to create a Christian Empire.
He came to make disciples.
He came to offer his body as a living sacrifice.
He came to plant a church.
And wise is the church that refuses to buy into the trappings of partisan politics.
I agree with Kenneth Kaunda, the former president of Zambia, who said, “What a nation needs more than anything else is not a Christian ruler in the palace but a Christian prophet within earshot.”

~Mark Charles

Rev. Jan Rivero is the pastor of Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church, in Charlotteville. Rev. Rivero talks about her experience in the Charlottesville Clergy Collective, about August 12, and about being inspired by Rev. Willian Barber to organize the Charlottesville to Jamestown pilgrimage, October 6 to 20, 2018.

Rev. Brenda Brown-Grooms is the co-pastor of New Beginnings Christian Community in Charlottesville, VA. I interviewed her about the importance of community, authentic conversations, and paying attention to those around us.