PODCAST · religion
Forefront Podcast
by Forefront Church
The latest messages, interviews, and updates from Forefront Church based in Brooklyn, NY, but accessible from anywhere. Learn more at www.forefrontnyc.com.Forefront Church is a fully inclusive, affirming-of-everyone-community based on the deeds of Christ not the religion and bureaucracy that followed. Our vision is to build a just and generous expression of the Christian faith. We are more interested in good questions than good answers.
Episodes
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Liberated Faith | Freedom from Individualism; I'm the Only One
It is easy to become absorbed in our own lives - asking how we will earn a living, where we will make our home, and how we will reach our goals. Yet faith calls us to look beyond individuality. Rev. Venida continues our Liberated Faith series, inviting us to honor our interdependence and...
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Liberated Faith | Freedom from Fear of Conflict
This fall season finds us contemplating a liberated faith. A faith that courageously calls us to look within ourselves and our communities and journey deliberately across territory which is far too often unchartered. It is a bold faith that continuously takes a U-turn from the road of white...
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Liberated Faith | Freedom from Paternalism & Power Hording
What do Jesus, Ella Baker, and Zohran Mamdani have in common? Hint: it's related to building power. Preaching Bootcamper Denia preaches on the limitations and violence of power hoarding, how Jesus gives as a blueprint for power rooted in collective leadership, and how this blueprint has been used...
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Liberated Faith | Worship of the Written Word
Pastor Angela explores our cultural habit of only honoring what is written. In doing so, we erase the wide range of ways we communicate with each other and all living things.
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Liberated Faith | Freedom from Quality Over Quantity
In contemporary society, success is often defined through quantifiable, outward-facing metrics like numbers, growth, expansion, and visibility. This framework, which measures worth through financial gain and social validation, is heavily influenced by capitalist culture, and the rise of digital...
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Liberated Faith | Freedom from False Urgency
Preaching Bootcamp Deacon, Keli continues our “Liberated Faith” sermon series with a timely invitation to throw off the shackles of false urgency. Despite the chaos that surrounds us, our faith demands that we slow down and put our trust in God, no matter how uncomfortable or unsatisfactory that...
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Liberated Faith | Free from Perfection
We continue our Liberated Faith sermon series with a look at how we can unlearn and break free from our alignment with white supremacy culture. Rev. Venida explores the role of perfectionism this week, and as we prepare to courageously weave our way through other critical topics in the following...
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Liberated Faith | Welcome Home to a Liberated Faith
Happy 13th Birthday to Forefront Church! We celebrate and give praise to God for each and every person, service, offering, prayer, hug, kind word, smile, tear, decision, sermon and song that have helped sustain this beautiful community for over a decade. Rev. Venida shares the Good News that the...
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The Book of Amos | A Defiant Hope
Rev. Venida closes out the Book of Amos sermon series encouraging us to embrace A Defiant Hope.
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The Book of Amos | Mercy is illogical
Inspired by Amos, Kai Ngu gives a sermon on the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen?” Between the options of “chaos” (bad things just happen without a reason) or “purpose” (bad things happen for a reason), Kai proposes an additional way: mercy, or grace, as a good thing that happens…
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The Book of Amos | How the Heck Did I Get Here?
Rev. Venida continues the Book of Amos sermon series looking at how shifts and changes in our life can ultimately lead us where we are supposed to be as we use our God-given power to create change.
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The Book of Amos | Let Justice Roll Like a River
Jonathan Williams challenges our notion of Christianity. Is the way we worship really what God intends? Or are we complicit in a system of power that moves away from God and embraces an oppressive religious system?
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Lift Every Voice | Neurodivergent Voices
Nytasha shares about how not only are our bodies created differently, but also our brains and personalities too -- and how seeing that our diversity in brains and personalities -- is a gift from God.
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Lift Every Voice | Multiple Traditions
A panel of congregants — Zion, Nineesha, Viv, Kai — share their experiences and interests in exploring multiple traditions (e.g. faiths, cultures), alongside their progressive Christianity, including Hinduism, Haitian Vodou, Judaism, Buddhism, Chinese ancestral rites, as well as indigenous,...
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Lift Every Voice | Theology You Can Use
Guest Preacher Rev. Dr. Marsha E. Williams continues our Lift Every Voice series taking a look at Scripture and sharing a theology we can use.
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Lift Every Voice | Power to the People
Sometimes we feel like we are strangers in our own home. Like we don’t belong. Sometimes we feel depleted and lack the strength to advocate for ourselves and others because of the dominant powers and systemic barriers all around us. Rev. Venida reminds us that we all belong and helps us consider...
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Story of the Songs | Hype Me Up!
The human experience is filled with moments that ask us to rise to the occasion and be exactly who we are divinely created to be… but it’s hard! In these moments, how do you muster the strength and courage to move on? How do you remember that you are uniquely made by the omnipotent source of...
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Story of the Songs | When God Made You
Rev. Venida celebrates Children's Day with a reading of When God Made You by Matthew Paul Turner. This book reminds children that they are deeply loved, and that they each have been created with unique gifts that fit into God's divine plan.
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Story of the Songs | The Middle
Jonathan Williams asks us where we look to determine how well we're doing. Chances are, it's everywhere but inwardly. Someone is richer, happier, prettier, healthier, and ultimately, superior to you. And when you live in the land of “er” you absolutely believe that you should also be living in…
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Story of the Songs | Gabriel and the Vagabond
Priscilla Alabi examines songs that've gotten her through moments of grief and despair.
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Story of the Songs | Bridge Over Troubled Water: Community Care
Preaching Bootcamper Damaris Giha shares her experience of struggling to care for herself as a single person, learning to ask for help, and leaning into community for more care. She explores different biblical models for community care and how we as the church are living out this model. Finally,...
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Story of the Songs | Our World Renewed
Mary Obasi talks about confronting the climate crisis by starting from a place of love.
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These Bodies | Body Image: Let the Transformation Begin
Rev. Venida culminates the These Bodies Sermon Series with a message on Body Image. With so many brand and beauty standards attempting to influence how we present ourselves, as well as expectations surrounding how our bodies should behave, Rev. Venida challenges us to renew our minds and to be...
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These Bodies | Rethinking Mental Health
Regina Miranda will continue our "These Bodies" series as she delves into Rethinking Mental Health.
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These Bodies | Reclaiming Our Bodies
I have been fat as far back as can remember. As a child, I knew I was bigger than many kids my age but it didn't occur to me that that was a bad thing, until I was told it was. Join Preaching Bootcamper Nytasha Obasi this Sunday as she delves into Reclaiming Our Bodies as we continue our These...
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These Bodies | Honoring Aging
As a proud elder, Rev. Venida shares a sermon on aging. From the time we are born, our bodies begin the aging process. With each birthday, we are continuously aware that growing old can come with its fair share of challenges and a host of struggles. How can we live each day with grace and dignity...
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These Bodies | Sexual Ethics and Purity Culture
Pastor Angela continues our “These Bodies” series, centered on Sexual Ethics, Purity Culture and letting go of the baggage we carry about physical love. What is holy…how do we honor each other and meet the needs of our bodies?
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These Bodies | Every Body is Good!
Our bodies have been dehumanized, criminalized, fetishized, sexualized, and desexualized. Keli's body’s existence in this country came about through the commodification of her ancestors’. That violent intersection of white supremacy and capitalism still informs her relationship with her body. And...
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Disruption | Lent – Life and Death
Rev. Venida celebrates the Good News of Easter Sunday with a message highlighting the power given to us through the resurrection. Through this gift, we can freely embrace our own mortality, and recognize the freedom we have been granted to pursue abundant life through the life-giving love of Jesus.
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Disruption | When It All Comes Undone
Palm Sunday is not a celebration. Palm Sunday is the shattering of hope and watching one's worst fears come to pass. How do we reconcile hope in the midst of our grief, our pain, and the shattering of our own expectations?
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Disruption | Radical Unraveling of Vocation
It's Drag Sunday with the sensational Flamy Grant! Flamy leads the music and shares her journey that led to her own Radical Unraveling of Vocation. It's a day of celebration like no other!
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Disruption | Seeking Understanding When Everything Has Fallen Apart
Rev. Venida shares a message on the story of Job as we continue the Disruption sermon series. Everything Job holds dear — his property, his family, his wealth, his physical health — has been taken from him. Reduced to suffering and misery, Job laments his circumstances and tries to make sense of...
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Disruption | Christian Zionism & Palestine
Kai (they/them) speaks about Israel-Palestine, an issue that feels overwhelming to lots of folks: What is the Christian stake in all of this? They will walk us through a historical and theological context that outlines Christian responsibility in the current oppression of and genocide against...
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Forefront Conversations with Mari Joerstad
These days when people think about their relationships with land, it's often under the context of landownership: buying it, selling it, farming it, exploiting it. According to Dr. Mari Joerstad, the Israelites of the Old Testament would be horrified by our attitudes towards and interactions with...
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Disruption | When The Unimaginable Has Happened
What happens when the unimaginable has happened? Where is God? What happens when our plans, our world falls apart? Join us as we learn from the experience of the Disciples when their lives were disrupted.
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Disruption | Discovering a New Path
In Pastor Mak's final sermon as a member of the Forefront staff, she shares her testimony of her 5 years at Forefront and how this church has impacted her life in tremendous ways. She contemplates the meaning of having a "calling", interrogates the concept of having to "do it all", and shares her...
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Disruption | When Humans Disrupt God’s Plans for Justice
What happens when humans disrupt God’s plan for justice? What should be our collective response when we do? Rev. Venida continues our Disruption Sermon Series sharing the good news that God can give us the strength to recreate God’s plans in our own lives with new vision and intention that propel...
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Disruption | Disruptions in Family Expectations
Rev. Josh tries to make sense of our disappointments in how our expectations of our parents or our hopes for our children sometimes get disrupted. He shared vulnerably about the parallels between his own story and that of Moses and his Mother Jochebed. And concludes the message with some…
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Forefront Conversations with Makenzie Gomez
The COVID lockdown of 2020 changed the paradigm for all of us. The pandemic set many of us on a journey of discovery new routines, anxieties, and fears that we had never experienced before. For Forefront co-pastor, Makenzie Gomez, it was also the start of a journey living with disabilities and...
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Disruption | Disruption of the Mind: Anger
Please forgive the low quality of our stream. Unfortunately, we had streaming issues and had to stream from a phone instead. What is your relationship to anger in this season? In what ways are you or aren’t you prone to suppression? Where have you seen rage practiced well? Does Scripture or Jesus...
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Disruption | Disrupted by Uncertainty
Rev. Venida continues the Disruption Sermon Series highlighting the story of Peter and the disciples as they navigate the stormy seas. She looks at how God can keep us afloat, and work for us and through us in the midst of life’s uncertainties.
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Disruption | Unexpected Joy and Surprise
Pastor Angela kicks off our new series, “Disruption”, where we will be exploring how we can move forward after our world falls apart. How do we go on when our hopes and dreams appear to be unraveling? Who are we when life upends our identity, when our path disappears? Is this the end, or is it a...
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Those Who Dream | Perseverance Towards Light
Rev. Josh concluded our series “Those Who Dream” with Epiphany Sunday. Epiphany simply means a mystery being revealed. This church holiday marks the day the Maggi in Matthew 2 is led by astrology, finds a 2-year-old Christ-Child, and is forever changed by his light, life, and love. In this…
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Those Who Dream | Dreaming of a Better World
Rev. Josh reminds us that we are all dreamers. Like those gathered around the manger, we come to Christmas each year with awe, wonder, and holy imagination for what is possible. Like Mary, we treasure God’s dream in our hearts and commit to keeping it alive. Like the holy family, we believe and...
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Those Who Dream | Sow Joy
Rev. Venida continues the second Sunday of Advent with a focus on sowing joy. When we sow a seed in the soil, something so small becomes something so big, so beautiful, so nourishing. Expectant mothers Mary and Elizabeth experienced joy that was so big, so beautiful and so nourishing with the…
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Those Who Dream | Dare to Dream
Rev. Venida opens the Advent season with our new Sermon Series - Those Who Dream - from the Sanctified Art curriculum. She reminds us that those who dream do not fall asleep to the realities of the world. God prompts us to pay attention to where God’s dreams for change and new life are emerging.…
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We Will Not Be Silent | Whose Promise Is It, Anyway?
Our leadership team member, Priscilla Alabi, talks about her travels through Israel/Palestine and the ongoing fight over land. How did you first learn about the conflict between Israel and Palestine?
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We Will Not Be Silent | LGBTQIA+
Rev. Josh makes a connection between the man beaten, robbed, and ignored by the religious elite in Luke 10 and the senseless violence, silencing, and marginalization of the LGBTQ+ community. However, the Samaritan had compassion. How might we use our empathy to advocate and care for those harmed…
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We Will Not Be Silent | BIPOC
Keli discusses how the influence of white supremacy on interpreting the Bible has caused BIPOC communities to forsake their cultural practices. We explore three key practices: ancestor veneration, meditation, and cleansing rituals, which have been marginalized despite being used by and for Jesus....
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We Will Not Be Silent | Ableism
In this sermon on Ableism, Pastor Mak Gomez (she/they) explores what Jesus shows us on how we are to interact with disabled people. She shares her personal experience with coming to terms with being disabled, what internalized ableism they’ve had to interrogate, and how Christians can be better...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The latest messages, interviews, and updates from Forefront Church based in Brooklyn, NY, but accessible from anywhere. Learn more at www.forefrontnyc.com.Forefront Church is a fully inclusive, affirming-of-everyone-community based on the deeds of Christ not the religion and bureaucracy that followed. Our vision is to build a just and generous expression of the Christian faith. We are more interested in good questions than good answers.
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Forefront Church
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Forefront Podcast have?
Forefront Podcast currently has 500 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Forefront Podcast about?
The latest messages, interviews, and updates from Forefront Church based in Brooklyn, NY, but accessible from anywhere. Learn more at www.forefrontnyc.com.Forefront Church is a fully inclusive, affirming-of-everyone-community based on the deeds of Christ not the religion and bureaucracy that...
How often does Forefront Podcast release new episodes?
Forefront Podcast publishes regularly with 500 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Forefront Podcast?
You can listen to Forefront Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Forefront Podcast?
Forefront Podcast is created and hosted by Forefront Church.
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