This Faith & Leadership podcast asks a fresh set of questions about leadership and the future of the church. The Rev. Bill Lamar and the Rev. Laura Everett talk with people of faith inside and outside the church -- conversations that breathe life into leaders struggling in their own valley of dry bones.
Can These Bones: About this podcast
Listen to all the episodes and learn more about the hosts: the Rev. William H. “Bill” Lamar IV, pastor of Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C., and the Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches.
Episode 1: Amy Butler on her role as the first woman to lead Riverside Church
In the premiere episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Bill Lamar talks with Amy Butler, the senior minister of The Riverside Church in the City of New York, about her experience in that historic pulpit.
Episode 2: Astead Herndon on navigating the career pipeline as a young, black newspaper reporter
In this episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Laura Everett talks with Astead Herndon, politics reporter for The Boston Globe, about why he’s committed to helping other young professionals navigate this legacy institution.
Episode 3: Albert Reyes on how working for Sprint prepared him for ministry
In this episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Bill Lamar talks with Albert Reyes, the president and CEO of Buckner International, about what Christian leaders should learn about management.
Episode 4: Gideon Tsang on taking risks, failing and starting again
In this episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Laura Everett talks with Gideon Tsang, pastor and teacher at Vox Veniae in Austin, Texas, about the challenges of a new church plant.
Episode 5: Kate Bowler on the presence of God in the face of death
In this episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Bill Lamar talks with Kate Bowler, Duke Divinity School professor and author of “Everything Happens for a Reason,” about the irony of being a historian of the prosperity gospel diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
Episode 6: Almeda M. Wright on the act of radical listening to young Christians
In this episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Laura Everett talks with Almeda M. Wright, Yale Divinity School professor and the author of “The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans,” about her training and background as an engineer and her work with young people in ministry.
Episode 7: Daniel Black on why black history is white history
In this episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Bill Lamar has a wide-ranging conversation with author and professor Daniel Black about his novel “The Coming,” which is set during the middle passage; his commitment to the black church; and why “music does for the heart what reading does for the head.”
Episode 8: Marty St. George on nurturing organizational culture at JetBlue
In this episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Laura Everett talks to airline executive Marty St. George about the importance -- and practice -- of instilling shared values across an organization.
Episode 9: Yolanda Pierce on answering God's call to lead the Howard University School of Divinity
In this episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Bill Lamar talks with the Rev. Dr. Yolanda Pierce, the new dean of Howard’s divinity school, about why she’s excited about the challenges of theological education.
Episode 10: Eric Barreto on why #Ferguson should be taught in seminary
In this episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Laura Everett talks with Eric Barreto, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, about training students to parse Greek verbs and become wise readers of Scriptures and communities.
Episode 11: Vernon Jordan on his friendships with the great preachers of his era, and why he didn't become one himself
In this episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Bill Lamar talks with Vernon Jordan, the attorney and civil rights leader, about the ways that the church formed him and influenced his working life.
Episode 12: Matthew Croasmun on how (and why) to ask, "What makes a life worth living?"
In the final episode of “Can These Bones,” co-host Laura Everett talks with Matthew Croasmun about the popular Yale undergraduate course that invites students to apply the best of their intellectual energy to questions of meaning, purpose, value and worth.