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Bridges Over Walls

Bridges Over Walls

Written by: OC Communications
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 Christianity is one of the most consistently controversial topics in the United States today. If there's one thing Christians have gotten incredibly good at, it's building walls. Whether it's social barriers we've created across races, genders, and cultures or broader barriers between our churches and their surrounding communities, these relations walls seem to have gone up in every direction.

If you've ever thought about how much better the world would be if we spent time building bridges of connection rather than these thicker walls - if you've ever wanted more out of Christianity - this show is for you.Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Christianity Ministry & Evangelism Social Sciences Spirituality
Episodes
  • The Bridge of Safety: Women in Church w/ Kimberly Bulgin (Season Finale)

    The Bridge of Safety: Women in Church w/ Kimberly Bulgin (Season Finale)
    Jun 5 2025
    Pastor Kimberly Bulgin grew up in the fellowship halls and sanctuaries of churches all her life. She’s served as a music teacher, a worship leader, and a local church pastor and her life in ministry has taken her across a variety of cities in the United States, Canada, and beyond. For over 15 years, Pastor Kim has worked to carve out spaces of safety and empowerment for marginalized people, and now serves a rapidly growing community through her ministry, the House of Women. In her new book, The Sisters Stay Dropping Gems: What the Women in the Bible Teach us about Life, Love, and Relationships, Pastor Kim challenges traditional narratives to highlight the strength, resilience, and wisdom of Biblical women.

    We’ll explore some of the ways Christian culture has evolved away from Jesus’ teachings and ultimately wrestle with the question, “What should we do now?”

    Whether you’re listening to Bridges Over Walls for the first time or have been with us since season one, we’re so excited you’re here. Thank you, from all of us, for being part of this ongoing quest for a Christianity that looks more and more like Jesus.

    Find more of Pastor Kim's work and order a copy of "The Sisters Stay Dropping Gems" at www.kimberlybulgin.com
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • The Bridge of Respect: Tolerance in Community w/ Mayor Travis Stovall

    The Bridge of Respect: Tolerance in Community w/ Mayor Travis Stovall
    May 22 2025
    If you’ve caught even a little bit of national news this year - let me first say I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. The kind of Christianity I often see as I scroll through my social media feeds can be really devastating - and I often find myself wondering how two people can read the same Bible and come to such different conclusions about what it says, especially when it comes to society and politics.

    We aren’t the first people to wrestle with this. Since the very beginning days of this country, Christians in the United States have struggled to separate their national identity and all its cultural norms from the kind of faith and lifestyle Jesus called us to. In the New Testament we find a Jesus that drew people to him - especially people who had been beaten down and hurt by both their government and their religious leadership. We find a Jesus that put His love for people above all religious laws and traditions, and even the laws of the land. It can be tough to reconcile our faith with our politics, and when Christians find themselves in positions of leadership they will always be faced with a question: “How will my faith influence how I lead?”

    Travis Stovall has served as the mayor of Gresham, Oregon since 2021, and made history as the first Black mayor of any major city in the Portland Metro area and across the state of Oregon. As an involved member of his community and a lifelong Christian, Mayor Stovall has had to navigate how he chooses to allow his faith to show up in how he leads the city of Gresham - and it might not be exactly how you think. We’ll have him share those experiences himself as we explore all that and more in this episode of Bridges Over Walls.
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    28 mins
  • The Wall of History - Lynchings, Slave Bibles, and Justice w/ Taylor Stewart

    The Wall of History - Lynchings, Slave Bibles, and Justice w/ Taylor Stewart
    Apr 24 2025
    If there’s one topic that divides Christian culture in the United States today more than just about any other, it’s the topic of justice. Despite Hebrew and Greek words for justice appearing more than 1,000 times throughout the Bible - the American Christian church is often starkly divided when it comes to how we go about seeking and advocating for justice today.

    While Christian pastors were prominent leaders in the Civil Rights movement and other justice work since the founding of the United States, Christianity has also been used as justification for some of the most horrifying violations of human rights. During the Civil War, the vast majority of white American slave owners used the Bible to justify slavery and racial abuse. The Confederacy was founded as a Christian organization. Many of the most prominent and violent white supremacist groups including the Ku Klux Klan explicitly claimed Christianity as their foundation. And even today, when any marginalized group begins to advocate for fair treatment and freedom from oppression, it tends to be American Christians who are the most resistant and hostile to those efforts. When it comes to what justice actually means here in the present day, Christians tend to be sharply divided.

    In Luke Chapter 4:17-21, Jesus returned to his home town and began to preach. He opened to the book of Isaiah and read a list of things he had come to earth to do. Here are a few of those things: To preach the Good News to the poor. To heal the brokenhearted. To proclaim liberty to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind. And to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

    In a country built on a legacy of violence and oppression, the question for each of us who want to follow Jesus is - what does He want us to do about it now?

    As a Black kid growing up in Oregon, Taylor Stewart was taught very little about Civil Rights or justice at his Christian school. He grew up, graduated from college, and decided to join a trip to the American South to learn more about this history. While touring Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas, Taylor was especially impacted by the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which memorializes nearly 6500 African American victims of lynching documented between the years of 1865 and 1950. As he read the names and even saw people with his own last name listed, Taylor says that he realized only time and place separated him from the people named in the memorial. As the trip ended and time went by, he found himself wanting to share the history he had learned, and started thinking a lot about a quote from Civil Rights leader John Lewis that says, “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”

    In 2018, Taylor founded the Oregon Remembrance Project, which works side-by-side with communities that have a history of racial harm to chart a new end to their stories. Most notably, Taylor has worked with the communities of Coos Bay, Oregon, the site of the most widely documented lynching of an African American man in the state, and Grants Pass, Oregon, a former sundown town, to chart a new course toward healing, hope, and historical honesty.

    [Content Warning]: This episode contains a racial slur as part of a historical quote.

    Follow Taylor Stewart and the Oregon Remembrance project by visiting www.oregonremembrance.org or by watching their 2024 OPB Documentary at www.opb.org/article/2024/09/18/oregon-remembrance-project-truth-reconciliation/
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    34 mins
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