The Feature by World Outspoken

On this bonus episode of the Mestizo Podcast, Emanuel sits down with last years Scholars in Residence to discuss their work for the year. They share about who they were listening to and how they were listening to serve. Support the Mestizo Podcast by giving today.Have a question you want answered on the podcast? Leave us a message at 312-725-2995. Leave us a 30 second voicemail with your name, city, y pregunta and we’ll discuss it on the last episode of the season. You can also submit a question using the form on this page.Merch: Whether you want a t-shirt, hoodie, baby onesie, journal, mug, or sticker, tenemos un poquito de todo. My favorite is the recently released "Product of Abuela's Prayers" crewneck, celebrating the theology we inherit from nuestras Abuelitas. Check out our New merch store by visiting our store. Courses: Want to take courses that prepare you to face the challenges of doing ministry in the hyphen? Visit learn.worldoutspoken.com today and enroll in one of our newest courses. Learn more about the SIR: Here is the link to the Scholar in Residence Program.

How can the Church thrive even in times of crisis? Roadblocks are nothing new to the Venezuelan church. In fact, they have been ministering through national crisis for years. We recently interviewed Pastor Jose Hernandez to ask how his pastoral ministry has developed as the layers of crises grew in his context. There is much we can learn more about how to minister from our Venezuelan brothers and sisters. The interview is partially in Spanish, but the conversation that follows is edited and condensed version that can be read in English.Question 1- IntroductionHi! How are you guys doing? My name is Pastor Jose Hernandez. My family is doing well, thank God, although we are currently in quarantine. We’re just trying to take safe precautions, that’s our motto around here.Question 2- ProfileI’ve been pastoring Centro Evangelistico Peniel (CEP) for 4 decades. Prior to being a pastor at CEP, I was an itinerant evangelist for 7 years. After my time as an evangelist, my wife, Esther, and I planted CEP.At first CEP was a community of believers that organized a series of evangelistic gatherings in Valencia, Venezuela in order to start a church and they invited me to come to preach. During the course of these gatherings, the organizers begged me to stay as their Lead Pastor because they had not found one yet (lol). It’s been a while and they still haven’t been able to find another Lead Pastor so I’ve stayed. Thus, I’ve been pastoring CEP since 1981; a church that has been influential in our city and a church community that has done a great job in developing pastors and ministries.Question 3- La CrisisThe Venezuelen humanitarian crisis dubbed, ‘La Crisis’, has been in effect for a number of years now. Interestingly, ‘La Crisis’ helped both pastors and the church mature in Christ, but we must understand the dimensions of the crisis. First of all, ‘La Crisis’ has everything to do with political ideology. When the current governing authorities came into power, they entered a capitalist form of government but made it their agenda to install communist form of government. This created polarization between those who sympathized with the government and those who opposed the government; even between pastors and therefore the church. The tension was so tense in the church that many churches in Venezuela divided. Thus, pastors became a sort of ‘referees’ between both sides. That was our initial experience with ‘La Crisis’. Second, the conflicting worldviews of ‘La Crisis’ brought forth much societal strife, which impacted the economy. Because it impacted our economy, Venezuela then entered a humanitarian crisis.In the midst of ‘La Crisis’, our church made many adjustments to our work. First, we had to adjust our worship services. For example, we used to have multiple services throughout the week, but now we only have 2 worship services. As a matter of fact, we have had to reschedule the days and times of our services. Another adjustment we had to make was in regards to the way we did discipleship. Our discipleship method used to be more centralized; we used to have discipleship classes offered on 2 different campuses. However, we had to decentralize these classes. Our people could no longer access our building due to the absence of public transportation. Furthermore, if public transportation was running, prices were too high to afford because the sector was experiencing an economic deficit. Hence, we’ve had to adjust in order to survive.Although ‘La Crisis’ has impacted the church severely, it has not stopped the work that God has called us to do in Venezuela. This is very important to highlight because since ‘La Crisis’, the church in Venezuela has done more than ever before.Question 3b-Ministry at CEPCEP has been a church that has experienced significant growth. When we first planted CEP, we had 1 pastor, a leadership board, and the congregation. Later we grew into having a pastor, a volunteer ministry staff, and the congregation. Now my wife and I serve as lead pastors, we have a pastoral team, a leadership team, a volunteer ministry staff, and we have the congregation. This is to say that our leadership structure has grown as the congregation has grown.The ministry philosophy of CEP can be summed up in one word: care. We believe that growth must give a great amount of attention to caring for the holistic needs of one’s humanity. This means we care for the family unit too: young adults, children, women, men, and youth. Up until this point, I’ve been speaking about our ministry within the church.We also have ministry from the church to our wider community. We call this initiative, “The Church Outside the Walls.” This initiative does everything from street evangelism to creative intercessory campaigns; praying with the community and for the city. Also, CEP provides food for hospitals and jornada integrales in the poorest neighborhoods of our city [jornadas integrales are outreach fairs that include food distribution, medical help, evangelism, performances, and prayer]. In addition to this, we do cross-cultural missions to places in Venezuela that have indigenous/native populations.Question 4- COVID-19 in VenezuelaTo be sure, the COVID-19 pandemic has created chaos in Venezuela. It has produced significant changes in our context. Obviously the church has not been able to escape the realities of this pandemic. We are currently ordered to practice social distancing and to be in quarantine [per the government] to the degree that the church has not been able to gather in the same way as before. As of right now, our public worship services have been canceled. We are still wrestling with the prolongation of our canceled in-person services.In facing this crisis, one of the essential practices that we’ve developed as a church is prayer. If there is 1 good motivation that has developed through this pandemic, it’s a motivation for prayer. And I’m not just saying this for just CEP, I am also noticing this among my pastoral colleagues and their churches. I’ve even noticed this motivation to pray on social media. So I would say that this has been amazing because this means the church is winning and will ultimately be victorious through this process of suffering.The other essential practice we’ve had to adopt is to stay connected through social media as a church community. However, this is difficult because we have internet connection that is extremely slow and is unreliable. Yet we are doing everything we can to make things work.Question 4b- Pastoral Development in VenezuelaMy pastoral formation came about more than 40 years ago, and I’ve lived through various turning points in CEP and through various turning points in Venezuela’s history. With that said, I think pastoral formation must include a keen awareness of their particular social context. What I am about to say is different from when I was training for pastoral ministry. Current pastoral training must take into account that our pastoral theology remains, but our theology must work itself with a high capacity to engage sociological themes. More specifically, pastors need to know how to engage new ideas pertaining to sexuality and the breakdown of the family. Nowadays we need to put much emphasis on the character of the minister and integrity because we live in a world that is extremely broken. Furthermore, society can only be transformed if we have pastors that are holy and that really challenge hell.Question 5- Ministry Practice in COVID-19What I think is playing the greatest role in the church in Venezuela right now is social media. Social Media has helped us cultivate relationships even though we are not able to hold public services. In terms of church structure, every pastor is assigned a group of ministry leaders to provide oversight and care; every ministry leader has leaders under them; and then there are congregants. In this format, the lead pastor, which is me- Jose Hernandez, sends voice messages through Whatsapp that can be passed down through the chain… you know, these past few days I’ve been thinking about what I call, “Floaters.” I refer to “Floaters” as folks who are not as engaged with the church and more of Sunday attenders. These are the sheep that concern me the most. However, I’m glad because we have been able to connect with our cell groups via their leaders on social media platforms like Whatsapp. [Cell groups from CEP exist all over the city of Valencia.] So this is what we are doing to stay connected relationally.The other thing I’m doing is preaching via live stream on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram. I do this to orient people toward God, to teach God’s Word, to edify and to motivate. And this actually helps with relationship building because it helps us to mobilize our evangelistic efforts. As a matter fact, I was recently speaking to our church leaders via Zoom. I told them the church buildings are closed, but the church is still open, which means that the church is still speaking. Frankly, there is a voice that is speaking and that’s the voice of the church- the voice of every man and woman- that is speaking about Jesus in one way or another. We are preaching about the signs of the times, how we should live, and about deliverance from these times. That’s evangelism to the degree that the church preaches the Gospel to the greatest dilemmas of the world.Hence, I believe that the church will come out strengthened because our leadership is already seeing it. We’ve heard from our ministry leads and cell groups that many people are coming closer to Jesus. Some have even placed faith in Jesus! Others have asked for prayer. What I’m saying is that the church is alive and active; praying, caring for one another, and preaching the Word of God.Question 6- Lessons from VenezuelaAttempting to teach something to the brothers and sisters in America requires some good analysis and evaluation. Surely, it's one thing to speak of learning theology or evangelism, topics the chur

Looking back at 50 years of ministry, Tim Keller says this about the Western church: “While many Christian leaders were bemoaning the cultural changes, Western churches continued to minister as before – creating an environment in which only traditional and conservative people would feel comfortable … All they preached and practiced assumed they were still in the Christian West, but the Christian West was vanishing.”[1] The church got stuck moving to the same rhythms, singing the same songs, year after year until the world around them no longer understood the melody. Today, as non-Hispanic whites already are less than 50 percent of the youth population in 632 of America’s 3,142 counties, worship leaders like Sandra Van Opstal introduce us to The Next Worship.This is not about updating the playlist for relevancy or belittling the old hymn. It is about worship that captures the full picture of God’s Church, His mestizo people. How do we worship God in a diverse world? Should a monocultural church really sing songs in different languages? What forms of leadership do we need to make the diversity of the Church plain in our context? What if we don’t have the musicians to pull this off? We explore these questions and more with your host Emanuel Padilla and our guest, author Sandra Maria Van Opstal.

I was recently in Israel touring the historical sites. Early in the trip, my guide asked, “It’s violent there, right?” when I said I was from Chicago. To think, across the world, in a place marked by conflict and decades of war, my guide – who had never visited the city – still imagined Chicago to be a dangerous and undesirable home. Apparently, this story of Chicago is everywhere, but what happens when a group of young girls decide to tell a new story of the city? What happens when they take the broken shards left by violence and restore them to beauty? What does that make the city? What does that make them?On this episode of The Feature we sat down with Hannah Olson, the director of Arise Creations, to hear stories of what drew her to Chicago, what keeps her here, and how a jewelry making program is changing the story of her neighborhood. She tells us about the urban hope necklace and the girls who make them. She introduces us to a beauty that emerges from the violence of the city.

We are excited to share the story of Dr. Nathan Luis Cartagena, one of our new scholars-in-residence. Dr. Cartagena shares his testimony of faith, the migration journey of his family, and how he hopes to contribute to the World Outspoken community. Support World Outspoken by giving today.More On Dr. CartagenaA son of the US South (Mom/Madre) and Puerto Rico (Dad/Padre), I was born in Charleston, South Carolina and raised in Somerset, New Jersey. Both sides of my family have been committed Christians for generations. And both sides encouraged me to pursue my teaching gifts to edify the Church catholic. After finishing my PhD in philosophy at Baylor University, I became an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wheaton College (IL), where I teach courses on race, justice, and political philosophy, and am a fellow in The Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies. I serve as the faculty advisor for Unidad Cristiana, a student group working to enhance Christian unity and celebrate Latina/o cultures, and a co-host for the forthcoming podcast From the Underside. I am currently writing a book on Critical Race Theory with IVP Academic, and am excited to join World Outspoken as a scholar-in-residence committed to loving God and neighbor through my work for and from the Church. I look forward to contributing neighbor-loving resources through WOS.

We are excited to share the story of Dra. Itzel Reyes, one of our new scholars-in-residence. Dra. Reyes shares her testimony of faith, how language shapes the experiences of the marginalized, and how she hopes to contribute to the World Outspoken community. Support World Outspoken by giving today.More On Dra. ReyesAs an academic from el barrio, I strive to engage in scholarly work that honors and gives visibility to my community. My identity as a U.S. Latina woman of faith and as a daughter of immigrants who was a first-generation college student and a teenage mother is an integral component of my academic formation. My faith drives my passion for justice as I seek to reveal the ways in which certain language ideologies are constructed to operate unjustly against our communities. My work acknowledges language as a powerful tool and promotes linguistic diversity in its different manifestations. Bicultural and bilingual identities are at the center of my work. I am a Spanish professor by vocation and truly enjoy teaching my family’s language as a second language, to students who might not have a strong background in Spanish, and as a heritage language, to Latina/o students who are relearning or enhancing their skills in their heritage tongue. These passions, understood from an academic and experiential perspective, will drive my contributions at World Outspoken.

Bienvenidos to The Feature, a podcast where we highlight individuals who are doing great work in the culture, bearing witness to the Kingdom, bringing about justice, or addressing a cultural change. In honor of Women’s History Month, we partnered with scholars Sito and Ina Esquilin to bring you the stories of two Latina ministry pioneers of the Hispanic church in the US. As second and third generation Latin@ church leaders, we need reminding of the rich heritage of faith and theology that was given to us by our abuelitas. To honor the legacy of these women, the following interviews are en Español. We hope that these stories will remind you to treasure the history of the brown church in the US.

According to recent UN estimates, there are 22.5 million refugees globally. In a country like Greece, the solutions to the refugee crisis had come from somewhere beyond government aid programs. Crises like these force the Christian community to wrestle with the connection between the gospel and human needs. One Greek pastor, writing about the movements in Athens, saw two types of responses from the church. He wrote, “At one end of the spectrum is the fundamentalist trend, which views the refugees chiefly as objects of evangelism, only to be clothed or fed if it leads to an opportunity to share the gospel. At the other end is the social gospel trend, which views sharing bread already as sharing Christ and considers verbal gospel proclamation unnecessary and even undesirable.” What you are about to hear is a conversation with Masoud and Matt on this question. This was recorded during our time in Greece at the Anastasi conference, so you’ll hear some ambient sounds and some fluctuations in our voices. We apologize about that in advance, and we’re confident the conversation will still be enriching. In a world needing a story that makes the city whole, Matt and Masoud share compelling testimonies of integration, hospitality, and grace. If you would like to financially partner with Mercy Ministries, please follow this link: https://hellenicministries.org/give For more information or ways to get involved please send us an email at info@hellenicministries.org.

There is a short film about a young, Dominican man named Miguel “Sugar” Santos who moves to Iowa to play in the minor leagues. He dreamed the dream of many young Caribbean-Latino, young men; all he wanted was to be a professional baseball player. However, the movie highlights the challenges of being an international player, and the ending is a bleak reality-check of the more likely outcome. Sugar never makes it big, and the audience last sees him playing pickup baseball in an amateur league. Few “Sugars” make it to the minor leagues, and even fewer make it into the MLB. Because of this, some people question Major League Baseball’s relationship with Latin-American countries like the Dominican Republic. Is the MLB good for Latin America? We had the opportunity to sit down with Joel Araujo, an MLB executive responsible for international player development, to discuss his work overseas. Joel is himself Dominican-American, and his work reflects his commitment to the growth of baseball AND the health of the countries he serves. In the video below (in Spanish), Joel shares his vision for players who become healthy, whole, and active citizens whether they make it to “the Show” or not. Joel is a bridge-builder, a link between two worlds that brings flourishing to both. Listen to this week’s podcast and watch the video below to learn more about Joel’s work supporting the countries he serves. About Joel Araujo Joel Araujo is the senior manager of Major League Baseball’s International Talent Development Department where he leads the group’s talent development efforts abroad. Since joining MLB in 2008, he has been involved with nearly every aspect of international baseball operations, from contracts and visas to winter leagues and international talent procurement. He founded the Major League Baseball Amateur Prospect League, which gives Dominican prospects a weekly opportunity to showcase their talents before officials from all 30 MLB Clubs, and the first-ever MLB Elite Development Program for Puerto Rican high school players. He now oversees MLB's Elite Baseball Development Programs in Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Curacao and South Africa. Araujo also established the MLB International Showcase, an annual event which allows Clubs to view and evaluate the best international amateur talent on the market, as well as the Coach Development Program, a two-week course that trains coaches from around the globe so that they can better develop players in their home countries. MLB now holds multiple showcases in various countries each year (some of which are attended by upwards of 300 Club scouts), and over the last four years, more than 500 coaches from 30 different countries across four continents have completed the coaching curriculum. He continues to work to expand MLB’s baseball development efforts into new markets.

A recent Metropolis article opened by asking, “If Jesus were alive today, would he be a property developer?” The question is being asked by a writer who is recognizing the Church’s behavior as a reflection of Jesus’ character. Because churches are partnering with developers to create new places of worship and community service, the writer identified this as a potential testimony of who Jesus would be today. It isn’t clear if this writer fully grasps the implications of what she asked, but her question says something about the work of gospel-preaching and ministry. To quote another journalist, “Shouldn’t it be our moral responsibility to finally make it our city's top priority to aggressively rebuild parts of [the city] that in some ways our city leaders have had a hand in helping destroy?” Dr. A.R. Bernard and his congregation have answered yes to this second question, choosing to address the gentrification of Brooklyn, New York with an astonishing development plan. In partnership with a developer and working with the city’s existing policies, the Christian Cultural Center is working an aggressive plan to build an 11-acre Urban Village equipped with a performing arts center, local retailers, affordable housing, and everything necessary for a walkable community. The project, an estimated $1.2 billion endeavor, will begin as early as next year. Speaking at the 100 Cities Summit, Dr. Bernard said this about the project: “In cities like New York, there is gentrification taking place. Gentrification could be racial, it could be economic. For us it is economic. Individuals who are working class or in a certain income range are being squeezed out. We wanted to respond by creating affordable housing. We didn’t want to do what has typically been done over the last 70, 80 years in America and that is warehousing people with one income, which perpetuates poverty and perpetuates inner city condition.” We sat down with Dr. Bernard to discuss the Urban Village, asking him about the way the project developed for the church, how they chose their partnerships, and how this project could be replicated. At a fundamental level, this church is making something new of the city, choosing to shape a large section in response to the broken structures of New York and as a testimony of the kind of community that is promised in Scripture. In this way, the Urban Village is a new World Outspoken, a story told in concrete buildings that point to what Jesus is doing in the city. Listen to the podcast to learn more. About Dr. A. R. Bernard A.R. Bernard enjoyed a successful career in finance before opening a small storefront church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. From a handful of members the church has blossomed into the Christian Cultural Center (CCC), one of America’s fastest-growing churches with 40,000 members. Considered by many to be the most influential and respected Christian in America, A.R. Bernard has been featured on Fox News, CNN, NBC’s Today, MSNBC, CBS News, and BET — and has his own weekly show on Daystar TV. Revered as the “Power Pastor” by The New York Times, Pastor Bernard was recently a guest on Oprah Winfrey’s SuperSoul Sunday, where he discussed his bestselling book, Four Things Women Want from a Man.

Ballet, as with many of the “fine arts,” is perceived as art for the aristocracy. The art form is commonly expensive, exclusive, and occasionally elitist, but Ballet 5:8 subverts these common values to provide accessible, high-quality dance training to students of all ages, levels of ability, and ethnic backgrounds. Their school commits to fostering a nurturing environment where instructors care for the students’ spirits and bodies. This is Ballet reimagined. This is a studio telling a different story. Ballet 5:8 is a non-profit dance company and school changing the way this art form is perceived and used in the Chicago-land area. Their faith-based commitments drive their pursuit of excellence in their craft and informs the outward focus of all their programming and performances. According to their handbook, “We see dance not as a means of self-glorification, but as a way to share the joy of our faith with the communities around us and to invite others into meaningful discussion of faith topics.” We sat down with Ballet 5:8’s Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer Julianna Rubio Slager to discuss their commitment to share their faith and make quality ballet accessible to all. Watch the video below, then listen to the podcast to learn more about Ballet 5:8 and the city they make. If you are in the Chicago-land area, you should make it out to their upcoming show! The Space in Between | Elgin Saturday, February 16, 2019 | 7:00pm The Hemmens Cultural Center 45 Symphony Way, Elgin, IL 60120 Details & Tickets | Learn more about the program at ballet58.org/space-in-between

What has the farm to do with the city? How do they relate to one another? More often than not, the city is a parasite of the rural region beyond its limits. It attracts and often keeps the young talent born in the small town. It demands increased development to house commuting workers and their families, absorbing acres of farmland to that end. The city continues to leach from the land around it. When the local region reaches its limits, the city makes use of the global economy to continue to sustain its life. According to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), Illinois residents spend $48 billion on food annually, but roughly $46 billion is spent on imported food. At the time of CMAP’s original report, food consumed in Chicago traveled an average of 1,500 miles to get from farm to plate. The habits of Chicago and cities like it have become “increasingly violent toward the landscape.” This global food economy depends on industrial farms that produce efficient crops like maize, soybean, and grains. These industrial farms are highly subsidized by government agencies. They make use of genetic modification, seed homogenization, mechanized planting, fertilizers, and pesticides which enable more efficient farming, but they also have devastating environmental repercussions. “For instance, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations records food wastage in the world at 33 percent, with little over half of that occurring at the level of agricultural production and storage, a number that if more responsibly managed would halt deforestation for agricultural production in the Amazon rainforest altogether.” Whether we realize it or not, our choices about the food we buy and consume supports a system that affects everything from water shortages to insect populations and climate change. “How we imagine and use the land and its resources is a moral and religious concern as much as it is a practical one.” We need a new way of thinking about food, farming, and the city. Radical Root Organic Farm is one of a few Community-Supported Agricultural (CSA) farms surrounding the city of Chicago. Alison, a mother of two and co-owner of the farm along with her husband Alex, writes, “Instead of simply being careful not to harm the environment, we want to farm in way that benefits and contributes to the earth and to our communities.” This feature is a conversation with Alison about the food industry, CSAs, and their call to make a system that connects the farm to the city in new ways. They graciously received the WOS team to their home to record this feature and gave us a tour of the farm. Watch the video below, then listen to the podcast to learn more about ways you can support local organic food production and a new relationship between the city and farm.

In his Nobel-prize-winning book, El Hablador (The Storyteller), Mario Vargas Llosa tells of a young man named Saul, who abandons Peruvian society to become an Hablador (or Storyteller) of the Machiguenga. The Machiguenga is a tribe that lives as scattered family camps across the Peruvian-Amazon rather than live together as one complete community. In this unusual, dispersed way, the Machiguengas claim the entire forest as theirs, each family taking up their own corner of it and moving as food would require. Only one person traveled from family to family connecting them together. El Hablador. For the Machiguenga, the storyteller is of sacred, indeed religious importance. The storyteller’s job was simple enough: to speak. “Their mouths were the connecting links of this society that the fight for survival had forced to split up and scatter… Thanks to the storytellers, fathers had news of their sons and brothers of their sisters … thanks to them they were all kept informed of the deaths, births, and other happenings in the tribe.” The storyteller did not only bring current news; he spoke of the past. He is the memory of the community, fulfilling a function like that of the troubadours of the Middle Ages. The storyteller traveled great distances to remind each member of the tribe that despite their miles of separation, they still formed one community, shared a tradition, beliefs, ancestors, misfortunes, and joys. The storytellers, writes Vargas Llosa, were the lifeblood that circulated through Machiguenga society giving it one interconnected and interdependent life. The Machiguenga storyteller is “tangible proof that storytelling can be something more than mere entertainment … something primordial, something that the very existence of a people may depend on.” Stories are at the core of every culture. They have the power to shape whole systems. Thomas King writes in The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative (2003), "The truth about stories is that that's all we are" (p. 32). King continues, "So you have to be careful with the stories you tell, and you have to watch out for the stories you are told" (p. 10). King’s words and Llosa’s novel reveal that being a storyteller is a grave responsibility, a calling above all others. For that reason, we sat down for a conversation with Hugo Perez, a former journalist for the NBC News Network and current owner of Local Boy Creative. Hugo describes himself as a “storyteller for hire.” Our conversation with him took us through the history of his career and the ethics of storytelling today. We talked about recent “fake news” trends and spent time discussing some of the values that guide his storytelling. Reporters and Marketers are two kinds of Habladores (Storytellers) who shape society, and Hugo has been both. At World Outspoken, we are committing to actively making the city, creating culture, and pursuing a vision of justice and beauty. To do that, we need the help of storytellers like Hugo. As King reminds us, "Perhaps we shouldn't be displeased with the 'environmental ethics' we have or the 'business ethics' or the 'political ethics' or any of the myriad of other codes of conduct suggested by our actions … After all, we've created them. We've created the stories that allow them to exist and flourish. They didn't come out of nowhere. They didn't arrive from another planet … Want a different ethic? Tell a different story" (p. 164). Hugo’s experiences equip us with ideas to consider and roles to reevaluate. Listen to this podcast to hear about the power of storytellers in the form of marketers and reporters.

A Conversation with Christiana Galea’i Early 20th century Chicago was a grimy place. From a town of a hundred people, the city reached a population of over two million, and this resulted in filth, smoke pollution, faulty sanitation, and street congestion that was dangerous for pedestrians. Living conditions were dreadful. Despite all this, the city’s leading architect and planner still wrote, “City life has attractions that make a strong appeal to human nature. Opportunities for wealth and power and social consideration, for amusement and instruction, for the increase of knowledge and the cultivation of taste, are greater for the average person in the city than in the country.” This architect, named Daniel Burnham, believed it should come as no surprise that the city constantly drew “young men and women of ambition and self-reliance, who are lured [to the city] by the great prizes … open to the competition of all.” But, what happens when an ambitious young woman, a perfect match to Burnham’s profile, decides to renounce the “great prizes” of the city to move back home to an Island in the Pacific?[1] Christiana Galea’i is an American Samoan singer and song-writer who was set to “make it” in Chicago, but she didn’t stay in the city, choosing to turn down a record deal to move back home to be with her people. Her dream was to inspire young musicians to produce excellent music right from the island, proving that Samoa has something precious to contribute to the global community. Christiana's costly decision reaped unimaginable reward. She’s inspired, enabled, and supported several budding artists who are now producing music of their own, making something new and good of the global city. Listen to this World Outspoken Feature to learn more about enabling culture-making musicians who are already telling a new story about the world. About Christiana Christiana Galeaʻi is an independent artist and creative writer who focuses perspectives of small island nations. Originally from Taʻū, American Samoa, she grew up traveling to places with different cultures from urban Japan, sunny California, and rural Alaska. These experiences inform her production of songs and writings that share native narratives from an authentic point of view. After studying music and biblical studies at the Moody Bible Institute, Christiana returned to her Polynesian home to teach. She continues her travels as an events coordinator that encourages local communities to share their unique stories. Christiana is an active member of the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa and has a desire to see loving reform amongst its members. Aside from public speaking and artist collaboration, she enjoys ice cream. Her favorite flavor is mint chocolate chip, but it depends on the mood! You may find her latest creations at christianagaleai.com. Footnote Sections of this article are from Seeking Zion: The Gospel and The City We Make, written by Emanuel (Ricky) Padilla. 2017. Quotes of Daniel Burnham are from his 1909 Plan of Chicago. Citation: Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett, Plan of Chicago, First Edition (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1993), 2pg. 33.

Young Culture-Makers make their own World It’s nearly 1 a.m. when it’s decided. Eight high school students from East Denver convince their bible study leader to help them start an art camp. Nearly 20 years later, the week-long camp has an avg. of 350-400 campers and provides classes on everything from hip-hop dance to videography. For the original eight, camp was resistance. Camp was protest. Camp was proof their world was theirs to own. When Artz N the Hood was founded, it was a response to budget cuts in the Denver public-school system. The arts were among the cuts, leaving students with limited and costly access to creative outlets. So, on that night, eight students decided to run an art camp right from their church parking lot. Artz N the Hood is an inspiring story of young culture-makers. The city they envision includes access to art education and a significant role for young people to contribute in real ways to making their city. Their story is a reminder that culture is always what we make. Culture is always communal. Q Nellum, the Bible study leader enabling these young culture-makers, shares our conviction that the city we make is fashioned from a diverse community of makers, including black and brown high school students. In our interview with Q and Sandra Jennings Curry, we hear the story of these culture-makers and what they produced: an intentionally wild environment of creativity and fun, where high school students lead and the whole community is involved. Artz N the Hood is a work of place-making best practices. Students learn about cooperation, leadership, social justice, and inclusion. They work together to make their city and reflect God’s Kingdom. Listen to this World Outspoken Feature to learn more about enabling young culture-makers making their city together.