The Missing Voices Podcast

In this episode we will hear what it takes to build a web of support around young people in the foster care system. Jay Panther is the director of “Impacting Hearts” a ministry focused on surrounding young people in the foster care system with the love and support they need. This episode points to a very different approach to youth ministry, one that is profoundly communal and working within the system. Enjoy!

In this episode we hear from Gregory Boyle, the founder and director of “Homeboy Industries.” Father G explores themes of friendship, the poor, and how kinship might offer a way to reimagine ministry and relationships across social difference.

The next few episodes will be focused on our experience in Los Angeles with the lead innovators of the Missing Voices Project. In this episode I give some context to that trip and how we hope to share as much of what we learned with you all through this podcast!

Fil Anderson is a spiritual director and close friend of the Missing Voices Project. Together we discuss the nature of having a spiritual life in the midst of this pandemic. Grief, gratitude, busyness, and having a rule of life are just some of the topics Fil explores. 

Andy Root, Professor and author from Luther Seminary, helps us reflect on the nature of relationships during this pandemic. Together we explore themes of Youth Ministry that we have been forced to revisit due to the current constraints we are all living with.

Angelina Devincenzo, Wes Ellis, and Rachael McNeal are Youth Workers on the front lines of ministry today. Angelina is a first-year Youth Worker who only months in found herself in quarantine re-imagining youth ministry. Rachael and Wes are long time veterans of youth ministry and reflect on the changes taking place today. Together they share their insights and experience of this complicated season.

Megan DeWald is the Assistant Director of the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary. In this interview, Megan shares the resource she compiled in hopes of providing one central location of numerous resources to help youth workers do their important work. It is an incredible gift!

An ordained PCUSA clergywomen of Long Island, New York, Aqueelah Ligonde invites us to consider the church as an extended family moving beyond our buildings into a deeper engagement with the surrounding community. She shares powerful stories and practical tips for the minister who finds themselves longing for resurrection hope. 

Makenzie Knowlden and Dustin Aagaard are Youth Workers on the front lines of ministry today. Mak is a first-year Youth Worker who only months in found herself in quarantine re-imagining youth ministry. Dustin is a 20 year veteran of youth ministry and oversees all children, youth, and family ministry at his church. Together they share their insights and experience of this complicated season. 

Trey Wince, from Ministry Architects and Ministry Incubators, points out the uniqueness of being a leader during the COVID19 pandemic.  As ministry leaders we are given permission to try new things, especially in this crisis.  This is an opportunity to leverage the moment and build new ways of being while we lead our people through the struggle of survival anxiety and learning anxiety.