Living Reconciled
Living Reconciled
EP. 59: Living Reconciled Celebration 2024 Preview
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Join hosts Brian Crawford, Neddie Winters, and Austin Hoyle in this episode of Living Reconciled, as we prepare for the 2024 Living Reconciled Celebration. The guys highlight the significance of this event and its approach to dealing with reconciliation holistically. Get a sneak peek at the conference starting in the afternoon and the evening banquet, which will include worship from the Word of Life team, a keynote panel, and luminary awards celebrating those making significant contributions across the state. This episode is packed with great previews and great insights!
Special thanks to our sponsors:
Nissan, St. Dominic's Hospital, Atmos Energy, Regions Foundation, Brown Missionary Baptist Church, Christian Life Church, Ms. Doris Powell, Mr. Robert Ward, and Ms. Ann Winters
This is Living Reconciled, a podcast dedicated to giving our communities practical evidence of the gospel message by helping Christians learn how to live in the reconciliation that Jesus has already secured for us by living with grace across racial lines. Hey, thanks so much for joining us on this episode of Living Reconciled. I am your host, Brian Crawford, and I am with a distinguished group of men. My co-host, Nettie Winters, Austin Hoyle. Gentlemen, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2:When you said distinguished group of men, I was anticipating something a little bit more exciting than Nettie and I.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was thinking that we had some guests, surprise guests or something that he hadn't told us about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was getting excited. Yeah, but that's us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but thank you for the promotion. We're excited to be distinguished.
Speaker 1:I am man, you guys are telling yourselves way too short. You are very distinguished, incredibly distinguished men.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I'm going to tell people you called me distinguished. Yeah, absolutely, I'm going to expect them to call me distinguished as well. See what happens.
Speaker 3:When I shake hands with people now, I say my name is Nettie Winters and according to Brian Crawford, I'm very distinguished.
Speaker 1:Yeah, y'all don't hold your breath before anybody else, to follow up with the same compliments that I just gave y'all.
Speaker 3:But anyway, and that's why I'm going to accept that regular introduction there. Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it. We want to give a quick shout out to our special sponsors, other distinguished men and women, folks like Nissan, st Dominic's Hospital, atlas Energy, regis Foundation, brown Missionary Baptist Church, christian Life Church, ms Doris Powell, mr Robert Ward, ms Ann Winters. Thank you so much for everything that you do. It's because of what you do that we're able to do what it is that we do, and today, what we are doing, gentlemen, is talking about the 2024 Living Reconciled Celebration, hosted at the Brandon Civic Center on September the 26th, starting with a 2.30 pm conference and a 6.30 pm banquet in which we will culminate the celebration, banquet in which we will culminate the celebration. I'm so excited about it. I'm incredibly excited about it. I think it's going to be a phenomenal event. Nettie Austin, this is for us, this is the Super Bowl, as we said last year the Super Bowl of Mission Mississippi, the World Series of Mission Mississippi, the Stanley Cup of Mission Mississippi. Why should people come to this event?
Speaker 3:Natty, you know, I had that same thought in mind, that same question why should people come to this event? You know, when you call it the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, all of that, I would think that anybody and anyone in Mississippi that's on a leadership role or not, want to be on a leadership role or not. We want to be on a leadership role or not, a common, ardent, everyday citizenship. We want to be a part of this community because they'll talk about neighboring, and neighboring well, through living out reconciliation in the body of Christ. So I think that's an exciting reason for us to be there.
Speaker 3:We've been called as Christians to live out this reconciliation that we have in Jesus Christ, and he says love your neighbor as yourself. And so I think it would be incumbent on every person in the state of Mississippi that identify themselves as Christians to become a part of this and be present, be in the place and be a part of this discussion. It's great, you know, when I think about the workshop that I'm sure that you're going to talk about later on, talk about the health and wellness, mentally, emotionally, and so forth. It's my opinion that 95-plus percent of our population is somewhat clinically depressed and we don't even know that, and hearing this discussion will help us recognize not only the others but recognizing ourselves, how we can live this reconciliation out emotionally, mentally, as well as physically and spiritually. So I think that's it, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why should people come to this?
Speaker 2:event. Well, everything that Eddie just said, really, that whole focus on mind, body, soul, and I think that that is going to be something that is going to be strongly felt and known throughout the program. So this is going to be my second Living Reconciled celebration that we have. I was able to go to the one last year and facilitate a panel on kind of the next generation taking the mantle, and I'm really excited about the panel that I'm going to be able to facilitate, this upcoming Living Reconciled celebration focusing on that emotional health.
Speaker 2:You know the very fact that, nettie, you said that 95% of our population, in your opinion, is clinically depressed. You know, we may not know the exact number, but we do know that we have such a significant number of persons who are growing up with significant mental illness, either anxiety, depression, just a feeling of isolation. And you know some of the things that we'll explore, at least in my panel, is why are we doing that? It's one reason we become so socially isolated from one another because of different things like social media. The very thing that's supposed to bind us together is actually bringing us apart in terms of human-to-human interaction and really going into it. That is the number one reason why I think we should go to the Living Reconciled Celebration is that one-on-one human interaction that you do receive in a place like that.
Speaker 2:And really Mission Mississippi, living Reconciled Celebration is the only place and just the programs like it is the only place that I'm even aware of where you can get all of these different people in the same room to have authentic conversations, not prescribed conversations, not, not, not, just not, you know, uh, prescribed conversations, not um, not uh, just uh conversations, very stilted, unscripted, authentic, you know, all of all of that that maybe some pioneering, exactly, and it's that thing that we all crave, it's that thing that we all want and desire that real deep connection with other people. Two, probably even more, of the very categories that I have often kept, not just Mississippians but us in the church in general, from being able to have that kind of deep-seated fellowship, koinonia with one another, which is race, and our silos into different denominations and just we intentionally try to break down some of the deep-seated things that have the potential to really tear us apart, but in the hands of the gospel, in the hands of the faithful people of Mission Mississippi, it actually brings us together.
Speaker 1:You know I'm incredibly excited. There's a lot of reasons why I'm really really excited about this year's event. One reason I'm excited about this year's event is because we are really in the middle of an incredibly divided and divisive period in our collective story as Americans.
Speaker 3:I mean we are Brian, you might want to tell the audience what you mean by collective stories, because we're in the middle of that divisive thing that you're talking about and we're so accustomed to the conversation being identified as Black or white or Hispanic or whatever else. So what do you mean by collective?
Speaker 1:Yeah, when I'm saying collective, I'm talking about all inclusive. Every people group, every person in the country, past, present, is involved in this story that I'm speaking of. And so you know we talk about here at Mission Mississippi that black history is American history. Hispanic American history is American history. Asian American history is American history. There's a collective, interwoven story that we're all a part of, and what we have to do a better job of is bringing all those stories to bear on the on the whole, on the whole story of America, and not try to ignore or alienate or push aside one story or the other because we get a better glimpse of ourselves. Well, you know that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and what you just said is a new language, it's a new terminology. It's new in the sense that most people don't approach those conversations as collectively or corporately as it relates to that. But we're so accustomed again to that and I think part of Mr Mississippi's effort in this conference and in our daily dialogue is for us to change our terms, change our language, to be more. We talk about inclusive, we talk about collectively. It's our history. You can call it whatever you want, but it's our history in terms of that. So I'm glad that we're moving in that direction. I submit of that. I think it's time for communication.
Speaker 2:I think that whole understanding of history just being able's style with communication? Yeah, definitely, and I think that whole understanding of history just being able to hold into tension all of the stakeholders and the different stories that need to be told. And one of the things I like about Mission Mississippi and about this conference in general is that it is an endeavor to hold all of those things in good tension so that we can listen to one another and grow with one another through the um, the understanding of our tension, our various tensions, if that makes sense I'm gonna commend you, uh, brad, for taking on this conversation with austin and I, because you have a tough time roping us in there, because we're both really excited about what's going to happen.
Speaker 3:I am really excited to when I look at the agenda. We're talking about replay in Marks, mississippi, and the work they're doing, the work that's happening out of the medical mall that has happened out of the medical mall here in Jackson. You know I look at those opportunities to really highlight and uplift people leaving this conference with an understanding of how you really love your neighbor through living out the reconciliation in Christ Jesus. So you know, sometimes we don't make that connection to that. We talk about reconciliation, but then you know we will tie that to the neighbor, to the person next door.
Speaker 3:I must confess I know my neighbors that live next door to me, but my neighbors across town I may not know as well as I need to know, or my neighbors across America or across the state. I need to know their hurt, their pain, their stories, their burdens and how God has positioned me and others to work cooperatively together, get on the same page, be steadfast together. You know thinking the same thing, have the same mind about. Be steadfast together. You know, thinking the same thing, have the same mind about how we approach this thing. I think the opportunity to come to Miss Mississippi Living Reconciled Conference gives us some practical aspects of daily living and daily life that we can live this out just by showing up but just by having this information. This is not rocket science information. This is not rocket-slam stuff. It is not deep, hard, difficult work. It's just living out those things that we do on a daily basis. Except we've got to be thinking about crossing the lines of demarcations and the issues and things that we're at.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would say, when we're talking about this conference, we're talking about this celebration.
Speaker 1:Rather, you know, I mentioned that one of the reasons why I'm excited is because of the incredible tensions that we're experiencing in the country, and oftentimes we key in on those tensions, we focus on those tensions In the wrong way, I might add, not in the right way.
Speaker 1:Well, they occupy a lot of our mind space, they occupy a lot of our heart, they occupy a lot of our attention.
Speaker 1:All of the divisions, right, but the Living Reconciled Celebration is one of those occasions, one of those opportunities that we can focus on our unity, our oneness in the body of Christ, our oneness in the body of Christ, the reality that God has given us something that brings us together rather than separating us, and we're allowed to spend a day really directly focused on that reconciliation that we've been given and the opportunity that that reconciliation affords us, which is to live it out in real ways, in real neighborhoods, in real schools, in real businesses, right. And so this opportunity for me is incredible because we're going to continually be divided, especially in a politically charged election year like we're in right now. We're going to continually be divided. I'm excited because an opportunity, on September the 26th, to celebrate what we have as one body, as one community, and strive, even as one body, build one Mississippi and pull Mississippians together and be that catalyst and be that motivating factor to bring Mississippians together.
Speaker 3:I think that when people hear one Mississippi or one, they think that we got to all be the same, we got to all believe the same, we all got to vote the same. We can have our differences. Ie, my wife and I occasionally have voted differently. I'm not sure how she's going to vote this time. We talk about it, sometimes we don't, but, you know, we can have our differences without being divided and I think this gives us an opportunity to set at the table and listen and learn and live out in some sense of how we can have a collective story together and all the parts in the puzzle that's fitting and operating the right way without us having to, you know, just pitch the puzzle up against the wall and say go forward in terms of go ahead.
Speaker 2:Oh no, you're, you're good. You're good because what you're saying, I mean it's, it's all in the same category, so we're good. So what I was thinking, and I'm just looking at the lineup of what we have we have some focus on the local church. We're going to have Dwayne Higginson and Albert McGowan, amazing pastors, focusing on the local church, and then we have a couple of other people coming in there to focus on how they interact and and engage in the role of business.
Speaker 1:We have Lee Bush, tamika Simmons and Leslie Leonard and, uh, you know, I was just thinking that, even though Christians behave or should behave, and I'm sorry, austin, we got one more addition even to that business group, uh, sam Porter as well and so we got some some high capacity people in that in that business discussion. I mean, we're talking about incredible people that are both in in in academic spheres, that are in government sectors, that are in personal finance. I mean some incredible, incredible people that are going to be talking about reconciliation and neighboring in the world of business. I'm excited and what?
Speaker 2:I was saying is what that?
Speaker 2:What that gives us is how we live the gospel out. Um, as just just Christians in every other sector that we're in. You know. So that if you find yourself in the business sector, that, even though it's going to have different expectations of the local church, because we're in the local church, it's a, you know, it's a hospital for sinners, it's where people can go and be grown in God, and whereas businesses has a whole set of other motivations and intentions behind it, but it still shows the whole point of the time behind all of this is that all of the different sectors, christians can still be significant in living out the calling that God has placed upon their hearts and has given them, has tasked them to do with their lives in all of these different places. You don't have to, you know, go to secular businesses and secular government or government jobs and positions or even spaces, and not take with you the work of the Holy Spirit everywhere you go. And I think that's one of the key things that we get out of our celebration as well.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. I mean even you mentioned one of those breakouts, laboring reconciliation in the local church with Pastor Albert McGowan and Pastor Dwayne Higginson. These are two gentlemen that are leading phenomenal multi-ethnic churches, one in Hattiesburg, one in Jackson. Different theological convictions, probably, or underpinnings, so to speak, in terms of when you talk about secondary and third level doctrine. So they are coming from the same traditions and same backgrounds, but yet they're both committed to seeing a church that is diverse in its gender, in its class, in its ethnicity and culture, and they're not just simply committed to seeing it, but they're committed to making sure that each one of those different groups have a place in that church. Nettie talks about all the time that unity isn't necessarily uniformity, that they don't have to become somebody else in order to find a space in the local church that they can bring that is so critical. That is so critical, absolutely, absolutely. So I'm incredibly excited to have them talk about what does it look like to neighbor? Well, when you have all these different groups and different backgrounds and different people groups and different experiences and different histories that are coming together, what does it look like to navigate neighboring as a local church and reconciliation in that kind of context, reconciliation in that kind of context.
Speaker 1:But then the other breakout in that second round, because that's the second round of breakouts. Also in that second round of breakouts is a conversation around neighborhoods and we have a group of folks that are specifically thinking about the neighborhoods. Bishop Ronnie Cruder in his church is very much directed and focused on the neighborhood. Scott Fordenberry at Soul City Church is directed and focused on the neighborhood. Scott Fordenberry at Soul City Church is very much focused on the neighborhood. Jill Buckley at Stew Pot is very much focused on the neighborhood, and so we get an opportunity to learn and to glean. What is it going to take for me as an individual to participate in what God is doing and reaching the neighborhoods around me? Because when we talk about neighboring well, well, part of neighboring well is reaching out to our neighborhoods and engaging our neighborhoods. So I'm incredibly excited about about that opportunity and that and that breakout.
Speaker 3:You know, brian, I'm really excited about what you just said, because oftentimes we look out to do mission work and it ends up somewhere else other than in our neighborhood. I'm reminded of what the Acts says, dr Luke, and what Jesus said to his disciples. He said first start at home, right here, inoperta, and then to the uttermost parts of the world. And oftentimes the church has gotten this a little mixed up in terms of where we ought to stop. You can get a load of folks to go on mission trips, as long as it's out of my area. You know, get out of my area, right. What about a mission trip in my neighborhood? Or if it's not that, then we don't see the need of mission work or outreach work in our neighborhood because for some reason we think, well, we got it all together. Well, we don't have it all together, then I think, well, then we talk about that.
Speaker 2:Well, actually I think it's the opposite reason. I think people don't do mission work in their own neighborhood because it'll expose to them that they aren't doing what they should be doing on a regular basis.
Speaker 3:I want to say it in a nicer way, Austin, but thank you.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you guys are talking about this kind of tension.
Speaker 1:I put some T-tunes Overseas and here in the States and the reach that God has called us to.
Speaker 1:Like you said, nettie, jerusalem, samaria, right, jerusalem, judea, samaria and the uttermost parts of the world and the earth.
Speaker 1:Because our podcast recording before a live audience is going to be with Brent Barnhill at the Reclaimed Project and Brent and his team have an incredible vision because their work has taken them all the way to the other side of the world, in Africa, and their work has taken them right down the road to March Mississippi, and so we're going to be talking to Brent about neighboring in both Africa and March Mississippi and many of the challenges that they are faced with in Africa and reaching brothers and sisters or bringing a kingdom vision to the communities that they serve in Africa are the same challenges that they are facing in bringing a kingdom vision to the communities that they serve in Africa are the same challenges that they are facing in bringing a kingdom vision to the community of Martz, mississippi and laboring and working with fellow Christians in Martz Mississippi as well as fellow Christians in Africa to mobilize churches, mobilize communities, to serve their neighbors in effective ways, and they are doing incredible work.
Speaker 1:They're pulling people from across the country, and not only are they getting people, in a sense, for short-term missions, to come to March, mississippi for a day or two, but they're getting people to come in and to invest their lives, to be integrated into the schools as teachers, as educators, as administrators, and to invest with decades-long vision in mind for the sake of their neighborhoods and for the sake of their communities. And so I'm excited because Reclaimed is really holding that tension, so to speak, between reaching the uttermost parts of the earth for Christ as well as reaching the Jerusalem and Judea for Christ, and so it's an incredible opportunity, nettie. I'm excited about that.
Speaker 3:I am as well, because my neighboring, even here in Jackson, when you go talk about Bishop Grudem, he had that same kind of aspect in his ministry where they're often doing things in Africa as well as here in Jackson, mississippi and across the state. You know, in terms of that Not only, but there are so many opportunities out there like that, but I'm glad that we are highlighting this neighboring, loving neighbor. Well, by loving them through living out the reconciliation God has for us in Christ Jesus, loving them through living out the reconciliation God has for us in Christ Jesus. So this I'm really excited, brian, that you have taken this to the next level of understanding, that you know the aspect of taking this living reconciliation above the race issue, above the economic issue, above the poverty level, if I can say that, to understand how all these different parts, I like the puzzle illustration is that how all of these parts fit together and make the whole. You know this vision, you know you look at somebody and say, well, how do you start with a 200-piece or 1,000-piece puzzle? Well, first of all you look at the box.
Speaker 3:The puzzle comes in the box and on the box is a picture of how the puzzle ought to look, and that's where you start in this ministry of reconciliation, in this ministry of loving neighbor's will, is that we look at the box, and the box is the Bible. And when you look at the Bible, you know, you know where to start Bible. And when you look at the Bible, you know where to start. I started with Nettie. That's my Jerusalem, that's my Samaritan. I started with Nettie and Nettie's household and I venture out to the other most parts of the world, down my street, down my neighborhood and across the church. Folks that I gather with on a regular basis are together. We make a difference in the community we're in, and so I'm excited about that. Amen.
Speaker 1:Amen. I want to put a bow on our podcast today, nettie, but I can't do it without talking about a little bit about our evening, because we spent a lot of time talking about our afternoon and the cost.
Speaker 3:You just got to talk about food man Go for it.
Speaker 1:Well, we got so much happening besides the food. We got some great food, by the way, Make no mistake about it, Chef Donald. Now you know, people want to know about the food. Man man, listen, Chef Donald is going to have a phenomenal spread, Nettie. As a matter of fact, he has truffle potatoes, Nettie, I don't think I've had truffle potatoes, I've had them man, they're delicious, but listen, if you keep talking, man, I'm going to bail out here and go get lunch.
Speaker 1:And so the food is going to be good, nanny, but we got so much more than food. That's going to be in that evening event. We have the Word of Life. Our worship team is going to be here. Oh my goodness, they have a phenomenal worship team. I'm incredibly excited to have them share their gifting with us. That night.
Speaker 1:We have a great keynote panel with Dean John Anderson, the Dean of the School of Law at Mississippi College. Primus Wheeler, the Executive Director of the Jackson Medical Mall, who has done phenomenal work, and then we're going to be celebrating some people that have been doing the work on the ground and providing some luminary awards for both Generation Next types of people that have been doing the work, people that have been doing the work in the local church, people that have been doing the work as nonprofit, doing the work as nonprofit, and so we can't wait to celebrate the people around this state and around the community that have been on the ground neighboring well, and so that's going to be an incredible, incredible evening that I don't want us to miss. Yeah, I don't want you to put a ball in quite yet.
Speaker 3:Let me say this I've been familiar with Paramedic Willis for a long time but more importantly, I saw the Jackson, what is now designated the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation. But before it was the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation, it was a crumble of rubbish from my perspective. An old Jackson Mall had been there for decades and unhoused, uninhabited. Maybe there might have been one venue there or something and they turned that from not only making that geographic location a I don't know how to say it my auntie, but that I just couldn't. I could not see that where it came from to where it is now, auntie, if you just look at that location of the viability and all the things that are happening just on that location, the medical group it's like a one-stop shop for both rich, poor, whatever it's there, man, it's got surrounded by stores and I don't want to tell the story. I promise I'll do that, but I want to give people an understanding of you could bring somebody to rubber. It reminds me you know I'm a biblical guy it reminds me of Ezekiel when he talked about the battle of Deerball. Can he boldly? When people look at that middle ground, they say what you know. Most people say let's get the bulldozers in here, let's get rid of this. This is odd, you know, but it's come out of the rubbish and it's affecting people as far north as Memphis, as far south as New Orleans. And there are other things that have come Cafe refuel and some other things have come out of what is taking place at the medical mall. So I'm excited that Primus and his team are going to be there.
Speaker 3:But one of the things we elected to say during this podcast is that there are going to be a generation of people that are now in the universities at Mississippi College, bell Haven, jackson State, alcorn State, ole Miss, mississippi State. Students are coming from those locales to be a part of this conversation and we will have the opportunity to set at the table and get a part of this conversation. And we will have the opportunity to set at the table and get a sense of this generation that many people are saying are going to hell in a handbasket. But these people are going to be in the room and we have an opportunity.
Speaker 3:As old phobias I speak for me we will have an opportunity to listen to their voice, their conversation, how we can reach them Not only reach them, but, but collectively, have our stories together. So I think this, this, this, this generation of young adults in college and high school folks coming into the world and having that mix with us in there, brian, I thought this is, this is where the rubber meets the road. This gives people an opportunity to see the big picture, see that picture on the box, so they can go back home and take their parts and put it into the puzzle and make it work in their local environment. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a great day, nanny, and if you have not yet purchased your tickets, uh, you need to I got three.
Speaker 3:Man I got mine.
Speaker 1:I'm inviting my guests amen, amen, and and for and for those listeners. You need to be following netty winners and go get yours and invite some other guests to join you. Maybe you can, maybe you can even grab a table, uh, there at the event. And bring your guests and you guys can have some incredible dialogue, incredible conversation, and learn a ton while you're there and just be energized and motivated that there are people around this state who care just as much about oneness in the body of Christ as you do and they're willing to pursue it, because it's what Jesus has pursued for us and it has won for us, and so I can't wait to see you on September the 26th. It's been a great podcast episode with my good friend Nettie Winters and my good friend, austin Oil.
Speaker 1:Please like, share and subscribe to the Living Reconciled podcast. You can use any podcast app to get to us. Just search within that podcast app for Living Reconciled by Mission Mississippi and you'll find us Nettie Winters, austin Hoyle, brian Crawford signing out saying God bless, god bless, god bless. If you would like more information on how you can be a part of the ongoing work of helping Christians learn how to live in the reconciliation that Jesus has already secured, please visit us online at missionmississippiorg or call us at 601-353-6477. Thanks again for listening. Thank you.
