Today’s Spiritual Landscape with Casper ter Kuile and Tom Locke

Igniting Imagination is a podcast to spark the spirit within you, from Wesleyan Investive and Texas Methodist Foundation. This season, we are sharing conversations with five spiritual entrepreneurs who were awarded the 2021 Tom Locke Innovative Leader Award from the Wesleyan Investive. These five spiritual entrepreneurs share their wisdom through stories and reflections that will encourage and challenge you and ultimately ignite your imagination as a leader.  Rev. Lisa Greenwood interviews her co-host for this season, Casper ter Kuile. Casper is the author of The Power of Ritual and the co-founder of Sacred Design Lab, a soul-centered research and development lab. Casper shares his analysis of the spiritual landscape in America today, the two discuss Lisa’s work on the mixed ecology of church and together they talk with Tom Locke, President of TMF and Wesleyan Investive. This episode is jam-packed with insight about purpose that invites reflection about how your church or organization’s purpose is aligning with the spiritual needs of our world today.   QUOTES “Folks are still as hungry for belonging, their experiences of spiritual growth and becoming, to feel connected to something beyond themselves. It just looks different, and so, what we have to do is to be attuned to see where are people going to try and find it. ” -Casper ter Kuile [07:19] “I would never begin to think that I’m driving those values. I think those values are driving me.” -Tom Locke [29:08]   TIMESTAMPS [00:01] Intro [00:40] Meet co-host Casper ter Kuile [02:35] Significant moments in Casper’s life [06:34] What he’s seeing in the landscape [10:18] A podcast beyond Harry Potter [13:03] How Lisa found mixed spiritual ecology [16:33] The thinking behind these awards [20:56] Meet Tom Locke [22:16] Why purpose is central for Tom and the church [24:55] The evolution for TMF [29:54] Why invest in innovative leaders [35:09] The role of foundations [38:36] How TMF embraced its current mission [43:11] Three rapid fire questions [46:23] A blessing [47:29] Outro   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes? For information about Casper ter Kuile, visit his website: caspertk.com and check out the work of Sacred Design Lab at sacred.design This season features Wesleyan Investive’s 2021 Tom Locke Innovative Award winners. The award honors spiritual entrepreneurs who have envisioned a broader mission field and have taken risks to make their God-sized dreams a reality. For more information about the award and the recipients, visit award.wesleyaninvestive.org “God Has Work for Us To Do” music and lyrics by Mark Miller. Visit Mark’s website at markamillermusic.com or find him on YouTube at youtube.com/c/markismusic67 This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. For more information and to support TMF’s Leadership Ministry, visit tmf-fdn.org/leadership-ministry.