And Also With You

7th graders Emmie Rayburn and Liz Corsig sit down with Julia Noel and Liz Corsig to discuss the significance of music in our faith journeys. We discuss what made Emmie and Julia fall in love with music at a young age, what its like to be part of the Celebrate band, and what music teaches all of us about God. Listen in to learn more!

Ella Matchett (MPPC youth) and Bailey Wise (youth advisor) sit down with Liz to share memories from their time walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain. What does the Camino teach us about God's active presence in the world? What are Ella and Bailey's intentions as they prepare to walk the Camino again in a few months? Listen in to find out!

Tune in to listen to JP Hoce, William Livingston, and Sarah Good discuss one of the most transformational experiences in many of our faith journeys: Montreat Youth Conference! What is it that makes Montreat so foundational to our faith? How do we continue to bring practices that we learned at Montreat back home and incorporate them into our daily lives? And lastly, what EXACTLY does it mean to leave your cool at the gate? Listen in now to find out. Peace be with you!

7th graders Hampton Bundy and Clara Efird sit down with Liz and Allison to discuss one of our favorite parts of our faith journey: YOUTH GROUP! Listen in to find out more about the intentional, sacred practices that we live out each week on Sunday nights and consider how these practices shape our journey of faith. Peace be with you!

On this episode, Lambeth Gibson and Henry Yingling sit down with Senior Pastor Joe Clifford to discuss his summer 2023 sabbatical! Every seven years, each member of our clergy is given three months off to step away, recharge, and participate in God's gift of sabbath. Listen in to hear Joe's thoughts about how his faith and ministry have been shaped by this gift. Peace be with you!

Today, Christopher Beaman and Phae Smith sit down with MPPC Associate Pastor for Children and Their Families, Lisa Hickman, to discuss a daunting topic: SCRIPTURE. What is the role of scripture in our faith? How are we supposed to interpret it, and where do we even begin? We know that scripture is the word of God, but what do we do with all the messiness? Jump into this complex topic with us, knowing that God is with us in this sacred space! To quote theologian Fredrick Buechner, “If you look at a window, you see flyspecks, dust, the crack where Junior’s Frisbee hit it. If you look through a window, you see the world beyond. Something like this is the difference between those who see the Bible as a holy bore and those who see it as the Word of God, which speaks out of the depths of an almost unimaginable past into the depths of ourselves.”

On this episode, Covington Cooke and Cooper Lamm sit down with Associate Pastor for Youth and their Families, Michelle Thomas-Bush to discuss the science behind faith practices. How do faith practices alter our brains? What can we learn from these scientific studies? How can faith practices allow us to live into the fullness that God calls us to? Listen in to find out!

On this episode, MPPC Youth Annabel Lamm and Cooper Lamm sit down with Senior Pastor Joe Clifford to discuss one of our most cherished faith practices: PILGRIMAGE. Annabel and Cooper walked the Camino de Santiago with the youth in June 2022, and a few months later, Joe walked the Camino with an adult group from the church! Listen to us share stories, laughs, and memories of this transformational experience and consider the ways that you can incorporate pilgrimage into your daily life. Buen Camino!

Brother/Sister Team Reece and Clara Efird sit down with Michelle to kick off Season 3 of our podcast: Faith Practices!!! We have already learned so much about faith practices this year and we can't wait to dive in. Thanks for joining us and peace be with you!

In this episode, JP Hoce and Christopher Beaman sit down with Rev. Dr. Joe Clifford, Senior Pastor at Myers Park Presbyterian Church, to talk about ATONEMENT!!! Joe breaks down several of the theories of atonement to help us understand reconciliation, recognizing that these are all human attempts to explain something that is beyond our human understanding. We are so grateful to Joe for taking the time to wrestle with this complicated topic alongside us. Peace be with you!

In this episode, Charlie and Levi sit down with Resident Pastor Joseph Jumper to ask: Why exactly do we need the church? Can't we just worship God by ourselves? Listen now to learn more about our call to be the Body of Christ in the world. Peace be with you!

This episode was recorded one day before 19 children were killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Charlie and Lambeth meet with Lisa Hickman and John Magnuson to ask the question that has been on all of our minds: Why does God let bad things happen? In our broken world, we don't know why bad things happen. But we do know that we worship a loving God who keeps on showing up in the midst of tragedy, heartbreak, and loss. And as John says "God says to us 'I'm coming into this mess with you. That's how much I love you.'" God transforms, God renews, and God loves. God keeps showing up. Grace and Peace to our faith family today and always."This blessing will not fix you, will not mend you, will not give you false comfort; it will not talk to you about one door opening when another one closes. It will simply sit itself beside you among the shards and gently turn your face toward the direction from which the light will come, gathering itself about you as the world begins again." -Kate Bowler