Igniting Imagination

What happens when the promises we make at the baptismal font stop being liturgy and start being a way of life?This episode of The Unfinished Church brings host Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer together with Bishop LaTrelle M. Easterling, Resident Bishop of the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Conferences of the United Methodist Church. Bishop Easterling is one of the original architects of this podcast's first iteration, alongside Bishop Palmer and Bishop Michael McKee, which makes this conversation something of a reunion and a return to the questions that gave the show its name. She also leads the Council of Bishops' ongoing work on anti-racism, which she helped transition from a temporary task force into a permanent part of the Council's life.The Unfinished Church takes its name from a Wesleyan conviction: that we are always going on to perfection, not as a claim of arrival but as a prayer. Bishop Easterling grounds that conviction in the waters of baptism. We are not saved as isolated individuals. We are saved for community, and that community has obligations to the world outside its walls. The church's work on race, justice, and belonging is not a response to a news cycle. It is what the baptismal covenant has always required.Together, Bishop Palmer and Bishop Easterling trace that conviction from the font into discipleship and public witness. They talk about why the anti-racism work of the Council of Bishops was never meant to be episodic, what it looks like when a commitment stops belonging to one committee and starts belonging to everyone, and how to name white supremacy and Christian nationalism honestly in a moment that would rather look away.Bishop Easterling's hope is not sentimental. It is rooted in a long view of how movements survive and in a Wesleyan yearning to love completely, which she names as the church's most unfinished and most urgent work.GuestBishop LaTrelle M. Easterling serves as the episcopal leader of the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Area of The United Methodist Church. She was assigned to serve the Baltimore-Washington Conference in September 2016, becoming the first woman to lead this historic conference. She became the bishop of the Peninsula-Delaware Conference in September 2021, when the two conferences were affiliated. Prior to being elected, she served as superintendent of The Boston Metro District, the most diverse and inclusive district within the New England Annual Conference. She was also selected to serve as Dean of the Cabinet. Easterling was elected a delegate to General and Jurisdictional Conferences in 2012 and 2016. Before her election to the episcopacy, she served as a pastor, district superintendent, and dean of the cabinet in the New England Conference. A lawyer, preacher, speaker, and author, she's served in leadership roles focused on anti-racism, immigration, and Hispanic and Latino ministries within The United Methodist Church.ConnectVisit our show's website at https://wesleyanimpactpartners.org/the_unfinished_church/.#TheUnfinishedChurch #FaithInAction #FaithAndJustice #ChurchLeadership #SpiritualFormation #ReimaginingChurch #HumanFlourishing #AntiRacism #BaptismalCovenant #WesleyanTheology #BelovedCommunity #UnitedMethodist

What if the word unfinished is not a verdict on the church, but an invitation to it?The Unfinished Church begins with a simple conviction. The church is unfinished, not because it is failing and not because God has abandoned it, but because every generation is invited to discern again what faithfulness looks like. In this first conversation, Rev. Dr. Blair Thompson welcomes Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer to talk about the phrase that gives this show its name, the earlier season of work it grew out of, and the questions worth carrying into a moment of extraordinary change.Bishop Palmer has served the church for more than four decades with wisdom, humility, and a pastor's heart. He traces the roots of this podcast back to a season of national grief and reckoning around race, and then further back still, to the verse he claims as his life verse from the first epistle of John and to the Wesley hymn that prays, "Finish, then, thy new creation.” Out of that comes a vision of a church that can affirm what it does well and still critique itself honestly, along with a conversation wide enough to include people of faith, people of other faiths, and people of no faith at all. As he puts it, everybody has a stake in a church that is in the process of becoming.Listen as Blair and Bishop Palmer explore why retirement has sharpened, rather than softened, his sense of urgency, what it means to turn walls into bridges and walk across them, and why the first place we find the power to do any of this is less in isolation and more in conversation and community.#TheUnfinishedChurch #FaithInAction #FaithAndJustice #ChurchLeadership #SpiritualFormation #ReimaginingChurch #HumanFlourishing #WesleyanTradition #FaithfulImagination #ChurchAndCommunityHostBishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer is senior advisor for Texas Methodist Foundation and Wesleyan Impact Partners. He works closely with Rev. Lisa Greenwood, president and chief executive officer, and the executive team to shape initiatives to establish and deepen relationships with leaders and ministries across the Wesleyan ecosystem.Bishop Palmer is currently serving as the Council of Bishops' executive secretary and in 2008, he served a two-year term as the Council of Bishops’ president. He has served as president of the General Board of Higher Education and as a board member of numerous organizations, including The United Methodist Publishing House, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, United Theological Seminary, and OhioHealth.Bishop Palmer earned his undergraduate degree from George Washington University and a Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School. In 2000, Bishop Palmer was elected to the episcopacy and was the resident bishop of the West Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church before retiring in September 2024.Co-HostRev. Dr. Blair Thompson is Chief Learning and Innovation Officer at Texas Methodist Foundation and Wesleyan Impact Partners, where she leads the organizations’ work to form leaders, ignite imagination across the church, and generate and share learning for a changing landscape.ConnectVisit our show's website at https://wesleyanimpactpartners.org/the_unfinished_church/.

What if the most hopeful thing about the church is the work it has not finished yet?The Unfinished Church is a new podcast series from Wesleyan Impact Partners and Texas Methodist Foundation, hosted by Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer. It is a conversation for people willing to hold the questions that do not resolve neatly, and who believe the church still has real work to do in the world.This season, Bishop Palmer sits down with Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, Dr. Ashley Boggan, Rev. Dr. Candace Lewis, Rev. Dr. Edgardo Colón-Emeric, Bishop Sandra Olewine, Reba Collins, and Rev. Dr. Kathleen McShane. Together they reckon with what it means to repair and restore alongside people wounded by incarceration, to pursue Christian unity when the questions have been shaped too long by the global north, and to sing about the goodness of God on Sunday while facing a week full of systems that harm other children of God.The Holy Spirit is never done with us, and neither is this work. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join us as we explore what God might be doing in and through an unfinished church.

What does faithful leadership look like when the landscape is shifting faster than anyone can teach us to keep up? In this season finale of the Igniting Imagination® podcast, host Rev. Lisa Greenwood sets aside the usual interview format for a genuine conversation with her colleague, Rev. Dr. Blair Thompson, chief learning and innovation officer at Wesleyan Impact Partners and Texas Methodist Foundation, where she helps church leaders navigate change through discernment, learning, and innovation.Looking back across a season of conversations about loans, grants, property, generosity, and organizational health, Lisa and Blair notice that the surface topics keep giving way to the same deeper question: God, what are you calling us to do right now? Together they trace the themes that surfaced again and again: the movement from anxiety and scarcity toward curiosity and hope, the invitation to see the church not as a building but as its people, and the quiet courage it takes to prune what is familiar so something new can grow.This is a warm, reflective exchange between two leaders who are still asking questions themselves. Listen as Lisa and Blair explore why listening has become a sacred leadership practice, how learning journeys open the imagination in ways a strategy deck never could, and why the joy of the Lord might be one of the most prophetic gifts a leader can offer in this moment.GuestRev. Dr. Blair Thompson is chief learning and innovation officer at Wesleyan Impact Partners and Texas Methodist Foundation. She leads a portfolio of initiatives funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. — including Courageous Congregations Collaborative (C3), Courageous Leadership Imperative (CLI), Phygital Preaching Fellows, and the All the Good You Can Storytelling Initiative — alongside additional cohorts for clergy and nonprofit leaders. She also facilitates the UMC District Superintendent cohort and is the creator and producer of the Igniting Imagination® podcast.An ordained Elder in the Horizon Texas Conference, Blair is a speaker, writer, preacher, and facilitator focused on expanding imagination, discerning purpose, and developing leaders across the Wesleyan ecosystem.Before joining TMF in 2020, she served for over a decade in pastoral ministry in Texas and Kansas. She holds an M.Div. and D.Min. from Perkins School of Theology, where she studied pilgrimage as a formative practice for clergy leadership.ConnectPodcast: https://ignitingimagination.org/Igniting Imagination YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-8qT0_yWfBe6LXM7ATfUHwRev. Lisa Greenwood: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-greenwood-5419772a/#IgnitingImagination #FaithInAction #HumanFlourishing #ChurchLeadership #SpiritualInnovation #SpiritualFormation #FaithAndJustice #FaithAndTechnology #ReimaginingChurch #ChurchInnovation

What if the way we invest our resources could become an expression of our faith? Most of us think carefully about where we give, yet we spend far less time considering where our money is invested and what it is doing while it rests there. And those investments have the power to shape companies, communities, and the future we are helping to build.This week on the Igniting Imagination® podcast, Rev. Lisa Greenwood welcomes two leaders who have devoted their careers to the intersection of faith, investing, and long-term stewardship. Jake Barnett is managing director of sustainable investment strategies at Wespath, where he leads a team focused on investment stewardship and ESG integration, works closely with partners across The United Methodist Church, and helps faith-based investors align their portfolios with their deepest values. He is joined by Derek Casteel, director of investor services at Wesleyan Impact Partners and Texas Methodist Foundation, who supports churches, nonprofits, and endowment committees as they steward resources for both mission and financial health.Together, Lisa, Jake, and Derek reframe investing as an act of participation in God's work of human flourishing. They explore what faith-based investing actually means, how to match assets to a congregation's purpose, and how the practices of investing can shape real outcomes, from affordable housing to worker safety. Listen for a hopeful look at the generational and worldwide shifts opening new possibilities for faithful stewardship, and practical first steps any leader can take.Timestamps00:00 - Intro06:00 - What Drew Them Into Faith and Investing08:18 - Defining Faith-Based Investing11:31 - Matching Assets to Mission and Purpose16:02 - Impact Investing That Improves the Human Condition19:26 - Invest, Engage, Avoid: A Framework for Stewardship28:51 - Generational Shifts Giving Hope34:35 - A Worldwide Perspective on Stewardship38:05 - Rapid Fire: One Faithful StepGuestJake BarnettAs the managing director of sustainable investment strategies for Wespath and its subsidiaries’ investment programs, Jake Barnett leads a team that focuses on investment stewardship and ESG integration. In addition, he interacts with key partners in The United Methodist Church to foster collaboration and coordinates Wespath’s preparation for General Conference. Jake currently serves as the North American Steering Group representative of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance and is a board member for the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.Derek Casteel, CFADerek joined Wesleyan Impact Partners and Texas Methodist Foundation as director of investment services in 2018. He is primarily responsible for the management of institutional client relationships and the pursuit of growth opportunities. Prior to his current position, he served as a managing director at Wespath Institutional Investments, where he led the team responsible for growth and the retention of institutional assets under management within Wespath investment funds. Derek was also senior vice president at Community Capital Management, where he marketed the firm’s fixed income strategies to nonprofit institutional investors and their investment consultants. ConnectIgniting Imagination® podcast: https://ignitingimagination.org/Igniting Imagination YouTube: / @wesleyanimpactpartners Rev. Lisa Greenwood: / lisa-greenwood-5419772a Wespath: https://www.wespath.org/Wesleyan Impact Partners: https://www.wesleyanimpactpartners.org/Texas Methodist Foundation: https://www.texasmethodistfoundation....#IgnitingImagination #FaithInAction #HumanFlourishing #ChurchLeadership #SpiritualInnovation #SpiritualFormation #FaithAndJustice #FaithAndTechnology #ReimaginingChurch #ChurchInnovation