Red Letter Christians

RLC Book Club with Angela Tucker
2023-11-26 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | PA
We are humbled to be joined by Angela Tucker as our book club guest in conversation with Diana Oestreich.
Tucker wears many hats: she is the CEO of the Adoptee Mentoring Society, cultural commentator, filmmaker, podcast host, inspiring speaker, and author. Tucker is a transracial adoptee and is the Founder of The Adopted Life and the Adoptee Mentoring Society where she is challenging dominant adoption paradigms by centering adoptee voices in the mainstream. Tucker lives in Seattle Washington with her husband, Bryan Tucker.
Her new book, You Should Be Grateful: Stories of Race, Identity and Transracial Adoption is the subject of the documentary Closure, chronicling the search for Tucker’s biological family. The book centers the experiences of adoptees to share deeply personal stories, it is comprised of well-researched history and engrossing anecdotes from mentorship sessions with adopted youth. Tucker centers the experiences of adoptees through sharing deeply personal stories, well-researched history and engrossing anecdotes from mentorship sessions with adopted youth. These perspectives challenge the fairy-tale narrative of adoption, giving way to a fuller story that explores the impacts of racism, classism, family, love, and belonging.
Register Here Now or join us live on Facebook or YouTube.

Churches for Middle East Peace White House Candlelight Prayer Vigil
2023-11-20 18:00 - 19:30
WHITE HOUSE CANDLELIGHT PRAYER VIGIL CALLING FOR CEASEFIRE AND END TO VIOLENCE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS
Candlelight Prayer Vigil
Ceasefire Now!
All Are Welcome
Monday, November 20, 2023
6 p.m. – 7:30 pm ET
Lafayette Square
Washington, D.C.
What: A candlelight prayer vigil led by national Christian leaders calling for a ceasefire and an end to all violence between Israel and Hamas. The speakers and sponsoring organizations are in agreement calling for a bilateral ceasefire, immediate and adequate humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and the release of hostages. All are welcome.
* Please note: Flame candles are allowed but only with protectors.
When: Monday, November 20, 2023, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.
Who: Speakers include: Bishop William J. Barber, II, Repairers of the Breach and Yale Center for Public Theology and Public Policy; The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Washington; Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP); Shane Claiborne, Red Letter Christians (RLC); Michelle Dunne, Franciscan Action Network (FAN); Hassan El-Tayyab, Friends Committee for National Legislation; Susan Gunn, Maryknoll Office of Global Concern; Lisa Sharon Harper, Freedom Road; Bridget Moix, General Secretary, Friends Committee for National Legislation (FCNL); Bishop Leila Ortiz, Metropolitan Washington D.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Rev. Adam Taylor, Sojourners; Leslie Copeland Tune, National Council of Churches (NCC); Ekemini Uwan, Public Theologian.
Sponsoring Organizations: Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), Christian Church Disciples of Christ, Christians for Social Action (CSA), Determinetruth, Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Evangelical4Justice (E4J), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Franciscan Action Network (FAN), Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), Maryknoll Office of Global Concern, National Council of Churches (NCC), Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East (NEME), Presbyterian Church USA, Red Letter Christians (RLC), Sojourners, United Church of Christ (UCC).
Registration: https://cmep.org/event/candlelight-prayer-vigil/

Faith Forum with Dr. Vonnetta L. West: Spiritual Formation and Nonviolent Organizing
2023-11-16 19:00 - 20:00
This special Red Letter Faith Forum will explore nonviolence as a spiritual discipline and provide key insights on how the application of nonviolent principles both affects our daily lives and effectuates social change.
About the facilitator:
Vonnetta L. West wears many (commendable) hats. She is a Leadership Architect, the CEO of Go West Consulting, a Cultural Consultant, Pastor of Our Neighbor’s House, a Human Rights Advocate, a podcast host, a Content Officer and Senior Trainer with The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center). She is also a self-described Love Monger and Good Neighbor. Vonnetta is an educator who has helped found a computer and professionalism school in Liberia, West Africa, where she resided for two years. Under her leadership, Our Neighbor’s House is building an Educational Center in Liberia.
All are welcome! Join us on November 16th at 7pm ET live on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live. You can also register to join us in the Zoom room!

Morning Prayer with Robert P. Jones, Shane Claiborne, and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
2023-11-02 09:00 - 10:00
Our November Monthly Morning Prayer guest is Robert P. Jones. He is the president and founder of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). He is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future (published September 5, 2023), as well as White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, which won a 2021 American Book Award. He is also the author of The End of White Christian America, which won the 2019 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.
Jones writes regularly on politics, culture, and religion for The Atlantic, TIME, Religion News Service, and other outlets. He is frequently featured in major national media, such as CNN, MSNBC, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and others. Jones writes a weekly newsletter for those dedicated to the work of truth-telling, repair, and healing from the legacy of white supremacy in American Christianity at www.whitetoolong.net.<
He holds a Ph.D. in religion from Emory University, an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a B.S. in computing science and mathematics from Mississippi College. Jones was selected by Emory University’s Graduate Division of Religion as Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 2013, and by Mississippi College’s Mathematics Department as Alumnus of the Year in 2016.
Jones serves on the national program committee for the American Academy of Religion and is a past member of the editorial boards for the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and Politics and Religion, a journal of the American Political Science Association. Jones served as CEO of PRRI from the organization’s inception in 2009 to 2022. Before founding PRRI, he worked as a consultant and senior research fellow at several think tanks in Washington, D.C., and was an assistant professor of religious studies at Missouri State University.
We are excited to have him join us in fellowship and in prayer. We will be live on all our socials; register to join us on Zoom: Meeting Registration – Zoom.
Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free!
Register to join on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

RLC Book Club with Kat Armas: "Sacred Belonging"
2023-10-05 19:00 - 20:00
“An invitation into a deep, expansive, and healing way of encountering Scripture”
In this 40-day devotional, Cuban American writer Kat Armas shows us that reading the Bible with fresh eyes allows us to experience God in new and liberating ways.
Highlighting biblical passages that point toward decolonized themes centered on creation, wisdom, spirit, the body, and the feminine, Armas helps us see how Scripture directs us to live a liberated faith–a faith where we belong to God, the earth, and one another.
“What a delicious book. We are invited to taste and see biblical narratives with a new palate that decenters and decolonizes and disrupts limited ways of knowing.” -Rev. Dr. Jacqui J. Lewis, senior minister, Middle Church; author of Fierce Love
About our Author Guest
Kat Armas (MDiv and MAT, Fuller Theological Seminary), a Cuban American writer and speaker, hosts The Protagonistas podcast, where she highlights stories of everyday women of color, including writers, pastors, church leaders, and theologians. She is the author of Abuelita Faith and has written for Christianity Today, Sojourners, Relevant, Christians for Biblical Equality, Fuller Youth Institute, Fathom magazine, and Missio Alliance. Armas speaks regularly at conferences on race and justice and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
Join Red Letter Christians on Zoom with Kat Armas and Diana Oestreich on October 5th at 7 PM ET to take a deep dive into her book, “Sacred Belonging“.
Register to join us on Zoom or join Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Morning Prayer with Shane Claiborne, Alma Ruth, and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
2023-10-01 09:00 - 10:00
Join us for our Monthly Morning Prayer on the 1st of October – we will be joined by special guest Alma Ruth, Founder and Director of Practice Mercy Foundation in reflection and prayer with Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove!
We’ll be live on all our socials at 9 am ET. Register to join us here: Meeting Registration – Zoom.
Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free!
Register to join on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

RLC Book Club with Andrew Whitehead
2023-09-28 19:00 - 20:00
Power. Fear. Violence. These three idols of Christian nationalism are corrupting American Christianity.
Andrew Whitehead is a leading scholar on Christian nationalism in America and speaks widely on its effects within Christian communities. In this book, he shares his journey andreveals how Christian nationalism threatens the spiritual lives of American Christians and the church.
Whitehead shows how Christians harm their neighbors when they embrace the idols of power, fear, and violence. He uses two key examples – racism and xenophobia – to demonstrate that these idols violate core Christian beliefs. Through stories, he illuminates expressions of Christianity that confront Christian nationalism and offer a faithful path forward.
Andrew Whitehead’s latest book “American Idolatry” published by Brazos Press, encourages further conversation about what Christian nationalism threatens, how to face it, and why it is vitally important to do so. It will help identify Christian nationalism and build a framework that makes sense of the relationship between faith and the current political and cultural context.
Join Red Letter Christians on Zoom with Andrew Whitehead and Shane Claiborne on September 28th at 7 PM ET to take a deep dive into his newest book, “American Idolatry“.
Register to join us on Zoom or join Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Morning Prayer with Shane Claiborne and Dr. S. Todd Yeary
2023-09-01 09:00 - 10:00
For September’s Monthly Morning Prayer, we are absolutely delighted to be joined by Dr. S. Todd Yeary.
He is Chair, Board of Directors at RLC and serves as the senior pastor of the Douglas Memorial Community Church, a Covenant Congregation, and is an adjunct professor in the College of Public Affairs at the University of Baltimore.
Additionally, Dr. Yeary serves as the chief executive officer of DMCC’s two community development corporations – Douglas Memorial Community Church Village and Camp Farthest Out. Dr. Yeary’s social justice work includes serving on the national board of National Action Network, in the immediate past with Political Action, Co-Chair for the Maryland State Conference NAACP, as co-founding principal of Community Churches for Community Development, Inc., and as a former steering committee member of OneBaltimore, Baltimore City’s collaborative public-private coordinating organization.
Dr. Yeary is a founding principal and policy director of SALT (Strategic Advocacy and Legislative Thinktank), a faith-based public policy collaborative that works on regional and national empowerment strategies impacting the African American community. Dr. Yeary often provides commentary, public testimony, and insight on a variety of public policy and leadership concerns, and he has presented in a variety of forums.
Dr. Yeary holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management from National-Louis University, a Master of Divinity from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and the Graduate Certificate in African Studies in addition to the Doctor of Philosophy Degree (Ph.D.) in the area of Religion in Society and Personality from Northwestern University. Dr. Yeary is also member of the 2012 class of the Board of Preachers of the Martin Luther King, Jr. College of Preachers and Laity of Morehouse College.
We are delighted to have him with us in prayer and fellowship along with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Shane Claiborne.
We’ll be live on all our socials at 9 am ET. Register to join us here: Meeting Registration – Zoom.
Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free!
Register to join on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

RLC Book Club with Mark Beckwith, "Seeing the Unseen"
2023-08-27 19:00 - 20:00
A bishop and gun safety activist offers a way forward from opposing viewpoints.
Instead of dismissing those whose views and experiences are different from our own, the author argues that we must look directly at them and see the goodness that is inherent in all things. From the language we use to the imperative to understand and include, we have a duty to work through opposition and build community.
Bishop Beckwith describes it this way: “We are trained to think, yet the cultural emphasis on thinking has not be applied to our ability to see . . . We are not as well trained in seeing the world’s fullness—pain and joy, compassion and cruelty. We regularly receive glimpses of pain and joy, but they are often presented in such a way as to reinforce our thinking.”
Ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1979, Mark Beckwith served parishes in Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Elected Bishop of Newark (NJ), he served in that capacity for twelve years until his retirement in 2018. As an active bishop, he helped reorganize the Coalition of Religious Leaders of New Jersey and served as President. In the wake of gang violence in Newark, he helped found the Newark Interfaith Coalition for Hope and Peace. With a local Rabbi and Imam from that coalition, he appeared several times on Morning Joe, and did two PBS interview shows hosted by Jon Meacham. The three of them co-hosted A Matter of Faith, a NJ Public TV show that focused on local issues. He currently serves as the Bishop Liaison for Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a network of 100 bishops he co-founded after the Newtown, Ct. killings in 2012. He is the co-founder of Faith Leaders for Ending Gun Violence, a national ecumenical group of diverse religious leaders. He has been part of the leadership team for Braver Angels, a national movement that seeks to depolarize America. He is the author of Seeing the Unseen: Beyond Prejudices, Paradigms and Party Lines (Morehouse Publishing, 2022). He offers spiritual direction and coaching for clergy. A graduate of Amherst College and Yale Divinity School, he lives in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. His passion is to invite people to look beyond and beneath their political and theological positions, which in today’s climate of polarization can be overly confining and find hope and blessing – and a way forward.
Join Red Letter Christians on Zoom with Mark Beckwith and Shane Claiborne on August 27th at 7 PM ET to take a deep dive into his newest book, “Seeing the Unseen“.
Register to join us on Zoom or join Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Morning Prayer with RLC
2023-08-01 09:00 - 10:00
This month’s monthly morning prayer will focus on the theme, “peacemaking.”
Join Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove in reflection and prayer at 9 am ET; we will be live on all our socials.
Register to join on zoom: Meeting Registration – Zoom.
Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free!
Register to join on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

RLC Book Club with Dr. Jemar Tisby, "How to Fight Racism"
2023-07-23 19:00 - 20:00
How do we effectively confront racial injustice? We need to move beyond talking about racism and start equipping ourselves to fight against it.
In this follow-up to the New York Times Bestseller The Color of Compromise, Jemar Tisby offers an array of actionable items to confront racism. How to Fight Racism introduces a simple framework—the A.R.C. Of Racial Justice—that teaches readers to consistently interrogate their own actions and maintain a consistent posture of anti-racist behavior.
The A.R.C. Of Racial Justice is a clear model for how to think about race in productive ways:
Awareness: educate yourself by studying history, exploring your personal narrative, and grasping what God
says about the dignity of the human person.
Relationships: understand the spiritual dimension of race relations and how authentic connections make
reconciliation real and motivate you to act.
Commitment: consistently fight systemic racism and work for racial justice by orienting your life to it.
Tisby offers practical tools for following this model and suggests that by applying these principles, we can help dismantle a social hierarchy long stratified by skin color. He encourages rejection passivity and active participation in the struggle for human dignity. There is hope for transforming our nation and the world, and you can be part of the solution.
Jemar Tisby is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the Church’s Complicity in Racism, How to Fight Racism, and How to Fight Racism: Young Reader’s Edition. He is also a Professor of History at Simmons College of Kentucky in Louisville. Jemar has been a co-host of the “Pass the Mic” podcast since its inception seven years ago. His writing has been featured in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and the New York Times among others. He is a frequent commentator on outlets such as NPR and CNN’s New Day program. He speaks nationwide on the topics of racial justice, U.S. history and Christianity. Jemar earned his PhD in history and he studies race, religion, and social movements in the 20th century. You can follow his work through his newsletter, Footnotes, and on social media at @JemarTisby.
Join Red Letter Christians on Zoom with Dr. Jemar Tisby and Shane Claiborne on July 23rd at 7 PM ET to take a deep dive into his newest book, “How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice”.
Register to join us on Zoom or join Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Morning Prayer with Shane Claiborne and Death Penalty Action
2023-07-01 09:00 - 10:00
Join Red Letter Christians for our monthly morning prayer with our special guests and co-conspirators, Death Penalty Action.
Death Penalty Action (DPA) works to stop executions and abolish the death penalty, through advocacy, education, and action. It provides high visibility resources, leadership, support, educational and direct action events and activities within the broader anti-death penalty movement. DPA assists various local, state, and national groups in their work to end the use of the death penalty.
Join us this month in reflection and in prayer with the incredible team at Death Penalty Action in conversation with Shane Claiborne. We will be live on Facebook and YouTube; register to join us on Zoom: Meeting Registration – Zoom.
Join Shane Claiborne and Death Penalty Action for morning prayer on July 1st at 9 am!
Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free!
Register to join on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Death Penalty Action's 30th Annual "Starvin' for Justice" Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty
2023-06-29 08:00 - 2023-07-03 11:00
Red Letter Christians, in partnership with dozens of other national and local organizations, is sponsoring this summer’s annual “Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty” from June 29 to July 2 in Washington, DC. You’re invited to join us!
Thursday, June 29 through Sunday, July 2: The 30th Annual “Starvin’ for Justice” Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty at the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC. This highly visual symbolic protest event draws death penalty opponents from across the country and from other countries.
The purpose of the event is to maintain a presence at the Supreme Court between the dates of anniversaries the death penalty was ruled unconstitutional in practice in 1972, and when new laws were upheld in 1976.
For these four days, death penalty abolitionists from around the country will gather at the steps of the Supreme Court to call for an end to capital punishment in the United States. It is an energizing grassroots week of training, advocacy, action, community and education. Tens of thousands of tourists and locals, from all over the U.S. and throughout the world, pass by our vigil and table, so the opportunity for dialogue and discussion at a real grass-roots level is invaluable to the movement.
Additionally, each evening we hear stories from murder victim family members, death row exonerees, death row families, and leaders in the national abolition movement. Note that fasting is optional, and participation can be as much or as little as you want it to be – come for all four days, or just for a few hours. You can also join the online component to watch and listen to our daily teach-ins virtually.
Find out more and register at www.abolition.org.
Programs starting at 6pm each evening of the four days will feature leading figures like Rev. Sharon Risher, whose mother and two cousins were killed in the Charleston church shooting, noted death penalty expert Robert Dunham, Randy Gardner, brother of the last man executed in the US by firing squad, Charles Keith and Rodrick Reed, brothers of high-profile innocent prisoners awaiting exoneration, Ohio’s Kevin Keith and Texas’s Rodney Reed, Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood, a spiritual advisor who has accompanied two prisoners to their executions so far this year, and many more. All activities take place on the sidewalk in front of the US Supreme Court.
Find out more and register at www.abolition.org.

RLC Book Club with Dr. Terence Lester, All God's Children: How Confronting Buried History Building Racial Solidarity
2023-06-25 19:00 - 20:00
Terence Lester (PhD, Interdisciplinary Studies, Union Institute and University) is a minister, speaker, community activist, author, and founder of Love Beyond Walls, a not-for-profit organization focused on poverty awareness and community mobilization. His campaigns on behalf of the poor, including #LoveSinksIn, have been featured in USA Today, Black Enterprise Essence, and Reader’s Digest. They have been viewed by millions of people globally on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS News, NBC, Upworthy, and “The Bright Side” with Katie Couric. His books include When We Stand, I See You, Getting Past Stuck, Simple Prayers for Hurting People, and Identity Theft.
In 2018, Terence led the March Against Poverty as he walked from Atlanta to Memphis (386 miles). He finished the march and spoke at the historic Lorraine Motel for the 50th Anniversary of MLK’s assassination. He has spoken on the same platform as other civil rights activists such as: Bernice King, Roland Martin, Gina Belafonte, Michael Eric Dyson, Tamika D. Mallory, and many others. Terence’s unique approach combines storytelling and digital media to help illustrate social justice issues with practical approaches to solving these ailments. In 2019, Terence launched the first museum in the U.S. that represents homelessness out of a shipping container called, “Dignity Museum”.
Join Red Letter Christians on Zoom with Dr. Terence Lester and Shane Claiborne on June 22nd at 7 PM ET to take a deep dive into his newest book, “All God’s Children: How Confronting Buried History Building Racial Solidarity.” You don’t want to miss it!
Register to join us on Zoom or join Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Shane Claiborne: United Kingdom
2023-06-03 00:00 - 2023-06-12 00:00
Shane Claiborne, Co-Director of RLC USA is going to be visiting England with RLC UK this June.
Do come say hello!
Here’s the schedule:
June 2nd and 3rd: ‘Empowering People’ Conference, Nettle Hill Venue, Coventry*
June 4th: Gas Street Church, Birmingham, 9:30AM, 11:30AM, and 6PM services
June 5th: Oasis Church Waterloo, London, 7:30PM–9:30PM**
June 7th: Newbigin Public Lecture, Lodge Road Community Church, Birmingham, 7PM–9PM** (Featured Red Letter Christians UK event)
June 9th: Malvern Link with Cowleigh, Malvern, 7PM (Details forthcoming)
June 11: King’s Cross Church, 10 am and 12 pm
*Event requires payment and pre-booking
**Free event but requires pre-booking

Morning Prayer UK with Shane Claiborne, David Mann, Dr. Sally Mann, and Faith van Horne
2023-06-01 09:00 - 10:00
Join Red Letter Christians for our monthly morning prayer focusing on the theme: Care for Creation. This month, we are joined by special guests David Mann, Faith Van Horne, and Dr. Sally Mann from Red Letter Christians, UK.
David Mann is on the Red Letter Christians UK Board of Directors and has three decades worth of church leadership and charity work experience.
Faith Van Horne is the new co-director of RLC, UK. She received her Masters of Divinity from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio and is currently a postgraduate researcher in Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham, UK.
Dr. Sally Mann is a minister at Bonny Downs Baptist Church and an author and editor to boot. She was one of the early RLC UK team members and continues to be a proud Red Letter Christian!
Join us in conversation and prayer with Shane Claiborne. We will be live on Facebook and YouTube; register to join us on Zoom: Meeting Registration – Zoom
Join Shane Claiborne, David Mann, Dr. Sally Mann, and Faith van Horne, for morning prayer from the UK on June 1st at 9 am! Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free!
Register to join on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

RLC Book Club with Sharon Tubbs: They Got Daddy: One Family's Reckoning with Racism and Faith
2023-05-22 19:00 - 20:00
Sharon Tubbs began her professional career as a newspaper reporter and editor. In a career that spanned seventeen years, she worked briefly for the Philadelphia Inquirer then for the Tampa Bay Times. As a journalist, she covered various beats that included small-town government, local crime, and national religious issues. Today, Sharon Tubbs is a writer, inspirational speaker, and the director of a nonprofit organization that empowers under-resourced residents in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to live healthier lives.
This book, They Got Daddy: One Family’s Reckoning with Racism, has been called “an unforgettable journey through racism and faith across the generations.”
January 15, 1959—a day that changed one family forever. White supremacists kidnapped and severely beat rural Alabama preacher Israel Page, nearly killing him because he had sued a White sheriff’s deputy for injuries suffered in a car crash. After “they” “got Daddy,” Israel Page’s children began leaving the Jim Crow South, the event leaving an indelible mark on the family and its future. Decades later, the events of that day fueled journalist Sharon Tubbs’s epic quest to learn who had “gotten” her mother’s daddy and why.
They Got Daddy follows Tubbs on her moving journey from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to the back roads and rural churches of Alabama. A powerful revelation of the sustaining and redemptive power of faith and unflinching testimony to the deeply embedded effects of racism across the generations, it demonstrates how the search for the truth can offer a chance at true healing.
Join Red Letter Christians on Zoom with Sharon Tubbs and Chris Lahr on May 22nd at 7 PM ET to take a deep dive into “They Got Daddy: One Family’s Reckoning with Racism and Faith.” You don’t want to miss it!
Register to join us on Zoom or join us Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Morning Prayer with Dr. Vonnetta West
2023-05-01 09:00 - 10:00
Join Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove, and special guest, Dr. Vonnetta West, for morning prayer on May 1st! They’ll be discussing the recent action in Nashville and reflections on what’s needed to build The Beloved Community in this moment. Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.
Dr. Vonnetta West is a cultural consultant, leadership strategist, nonviolence trainer, and good neighbor. As the principal owner of Go West Consulting LLC, she facilitates experiences and produces content, inclusive of social media, podcast, website, training, and speech content, purposed to connect, transform and engage people for good. She leads Go West Consulting in providing trainings on Creating Cultures of Honor, Culture Matters, Inside/Out, Eradicating Racism, The Bias Challenge, Leadership That Grows, The Language of the Beloved Community, Your Justice Footprint: Evidence of Love In Action, and other sessions aimed at building and sustaining community, including in professional spaces.
She is also the host of the Let Your Life Be Your Sermon podcast, pastor of Our Neighbor’s House, and Senior Nonviolence Instructor for The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center). Dr. West is a leader with the Interfaith Response to White Supremacy, a National Center for Civil and Human Rights initiative, and has 20+ years of leadership experience in the metro Atlanta non-profit sector. In her most recent non-profit professional staff role, she was Director of GenerationOn (Youth Division) at Points of Light in Atlanta, Georgia.
You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free! Register to join on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

RLC Book Club with Katelyn Beaty, Celebrities for Jesus
2023-04-27 19:00 - 20:00
Many Christian leaders use their fame and influence to great effect. Whether that popularity resides at the local church level or represents national or international influence, many leaders have effectively said to their followers, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” But fame that is cultivated for its own sake, without attendant spiritual maturity and accountability, has a shadow side that runs counter to the heart of the gospel. Celebrity – defined as social power without proximity – has led to abuses of power, the cultivation of persona, and a fixation on profits.
In light of the fall of famous Christian leaders in recent years, the time has come for the church to reexamine its relationship to celebrity. Award-winning journalist Katelyn Beaty explores the ways fame has reshaped the American church, explains how and why celebrity is woven into the fabric of the evangelical movement, and identifies many ways fame has gone awry in recent years. She shows us how evangelical culture is uniquely attracted to celebrity gurus over and against institutions, and she offers a renewed vision of ordinary faithfulness, helping us all keep fame in its proper place.
Join Red Letter Christians on Zoom with Katelyn Beaty and Shane Claiborne on April 27th at 7 PM ET to take a deep dive into “Celebrities for Jesus.” You don’t want to miss it!
Register to join us on Zoom or join us Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Moral Monday Against Gun Violence in Nashville
2023-04-17 14:00 - 18:00
Democracy is under attack in Tennessee. But this is a historic moment. You have probably seen what commenced in Nashville over the past few weeks, even during the heart of Holy Week. Three Tennessee legislators raised their voices against gun violence after the mass shooting nearby and the Tennessee House of Representatives expelled two young Black legislators.
Justin Jones has been a friend and collaborator with us at Red Letter Christians for many years. He has shown up over and over with us at RLC, so we want to show up for him, and for Justin J. Pearson and the Tennessee 3! What’s happening in Tennessee is bigger than the three of them, and affects all of us. And we don’t want to just watch, we want to participate in the history-making. In the words of Dr. King, we don’t want to “sleep through the revolution.”
So let’s show up together! This Monday, April 17th!
Red Letter Christians is excited to partner with Bishop Barber and Repairers of the Breach and tons of other great folks on Monday (this Monday!) April 17th. We’ll meet at 2pm at McKendree United Methodist Church. Then, we will march to the Tennessee State Capitol for a rally at 4pm CT.

Stay in the loop with us and learn about more moral actions you can take but signing up for our email list.

Morning Prayer with Rev. Stephanie Spellers
2023-04-01 09:00 - 10:00
Join Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove and special guest, Rev. Stephanie Spellers for morning prayer during Holy Week! The theme of the month is “Submission to Christ’s Body, the Church.” Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.
The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers is an Episcopal priest, author and speaker who serves as a Canon to The Episcopal Church’s Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry. She spearheads Episcopal efforts to follow Jesus’ Way of Love and to grow loving, liberating, life-giving relationships with God, each other and the earth.
The author of Radical Welcome: Embracing God, The Other and the Spirit of Transformation – as well as The Episcopal Way and The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline and New Hope for Beloved Community – she has worked for years at the intersection of practice and reflection, renewal and justice.
You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free! Register to join on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

RLC Book Club with Lerone A. Martin, The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover
2023-03-21 19:00 - 20:00
Join Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and special guest, Lerone A. Martin, for discussion of The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover on March 21st at 7pm ET. Lerone is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Chair and Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.
Taking readers from the pulpits and pews of small-town America to the Oval Office, and from the grassroots to denominational boardrooms, The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover completely transforms how we understand the FBI, white evangelicalism, and our nation’s entangled history of religion and politics.
Register to join us on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Monthly Morning Prayer with the Iraq Peace Team
2023-03-01 09:00 - 10:00
Twenty years after they were in Baghdad together with the Iraq Peace Team, Kathy Kelly, Peggy Gish, and Weldon Nisly will join Shane and Jonathan for morning prayer on March 1st at 9am ET to talk about the way of peace in a time of war and what a commitment to peacemaking can look like today. Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.
You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free! Register to join on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

RLC Book Club with Shane Claiborne, Rethinking Life
2023-02-26 19:00 - 20:00
Join Lisa Sharon Harper and Shane Claiborne as they discuss his new book, Rethinking Life: Embracing the Sacredness of Every Person, on Sunday, February 26th at 7pm ET.
Drawing on Scripture, church history, and his own story, Shane explores how a passion for social justice issues surrounding life and death -such as war, gun ownership, the death penalty, racial injustice, abortion, poverty, and the environment – intersects with our faith as we advocate for life in its totality.
Many of us wonder how to think about and act on issues of life and death beyond abortion and the death penalty – yet the heated debates in our churches and the confusion of our own hearts sometimes feel overwhelming.
Join us as we discuss, “What does a balanced, Christian view of what it means to be “pro-life” really look like?”
Register to join on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Morning Prayer with Rev. Nelson and Joyce Johnson
2023-02-01 09:30 - 10:30
Join Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove for morning prayer on the theme of “Reconciliation” on February 1st at 9:30am ET. They will be joined by special guests, Rev. Nelson and Joyce Johnson, founders of the Beloved Community Center and the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.
You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free! Register to join us on Zoom or join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, "Dancing in the Darkness"
2023-01-24 19:00 - 20:30
Join special guest Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III with Shane Claiborne and Diana Oestreich for a discussion of Rev. Dr. Moss’ just released Dancing in the Darkness on January 24th at 7pm ET.
Dancing in the Darkness is a life-affirming guide to the practical, political, and spiritual challenges of our day. Drawing on the teachings of Dr. King, Howard Thurman, sacred scripture, southern wisdom, global spiritual traditions, Black culture, and his own personal experiences, Rev. Dr. Moss instructs us on how to practice spiritual resistance by combining justice and love. This collection helps us tap the spiritual reserves we all possess but too often overlook, so we can slay our personal demons, confront our civic challenges, and reach our highest goals.
Join us live by registering today or join the livestream on RLC’s Facebook, YouTube, or website.

Morning Prayer with Amanda Tyler
2023-01-02 09:00 - 10:00
Join Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove to kick off the new year on January 2nd at 9am ET. Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. They’ll be joined by special guest Amanda Tyler, the Executive Director of BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty).
You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free! Join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

RLC Book Club with Osheta Moore
2022-12-18 19:00 - 2022-12-19 20:00
Join Shane Claiborne and Diana Oestreich for a discussion of Dear White Peacemakers:Dismantling Racism with Grit and Grace with Osheta Moore on December 18th at 7pm ET. Dear White Peacemakers is a breakup letter to division, a love letter to God’s beloved community, and an eviction notice to the violent powers that have sustained racism for centuries.
You can join us live on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

Morning Prayer with Shane, Jonathan, and RLC Staff
2022-12-01 12:00 - 13:00
Join Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove for a discussion on the monthly theme of “Locating our lives in the abandoned places of the empire” on December 1st at 12pm ET. Morning prayer takes place at the beginning of each month based on the book, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.
You can follow along with the readings from Common Prayer at commonprayer.net for free! Join us on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.

RLC Book Club with Chris Haw and Shane Claiborne - November 2022
2022-11-28 19:00 - 20:00
Jesus for President version 2.0 was launched on October 25th and called “a must-read election book for Christian Americans” by “Publishers Weekly.” Get a copy now, share one with a friend, and join us for RLC Book Club!
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A lot has changed since this book was first released in 2008. But one that that has not changed is this – Christians still have a hard time knowing how to engage in politics. Joining the politics of Jesus is about joining God’s redemptive plan to save the world. It is about allegiance, hope, and a new Kingdom. Our hope is not in the donkey of the Democrats or the elephant of the Republicans. Our hope is in the Lamb of God. And the Lamb never fails. Join us on November 28th at 7pm ET on Red Letter Christian’s Facebook, YouTube, or website live.
