Chealsia: Welcome to the Created For podcast. A space where our everyday lives intersect with God’s redemptive story.

Michele: Where together we learn from diverse voices, explore our unique calling and pursue communal flourishing.

Chealsia: We’re your hosts Chealsia Smedley

Michele: and Michele Davis.

Chealsia: This season, we’ll dig deeper with the nine speakers from our Created For Wholeness event. We’re talking about doubt, exile, spiritual formation and communal flourishing. We’ll remember God’s faithfulness in the lives of our marginalized ancestors, experience his healing presence in the everyday and get practical about how we can see his redemption in all of our communities. Here’s a sneak peek into some of those conversations:

Kat Armas: What if we reclaimed this exiled identity, this wilderness space? Not as one to feel shame about, not as one to try and get out of as fast as we can, but as this space as one of deep intimacy and communion with God, even and especially in the uncertainty, in the doubt.

Sara Billups: The idea of more room, more time, more openness, just a kind of bigger field or bigger tent, a longer table, like the idea that there’s room and with God’s grace there’s time, for our questions and our doubting, our pain, our need for healing, our loss in grief. It almost feels kind of like this protective bubble.

Drew Hyun: Ultimately, whatever breaks open a community is when someone can come into a room and say, I’m a human being who hurts and bleeds. I don’t have it all together, and I think the more we can have courageous communities that do that, I think the more beautiful healing can come for people.

Dina Martinez: I think flourishing literally can only happen with people. I guess the reality would be like some people are gonna be looking for freedom but unto themselves. And so who are the people that are like wanting to do it together, for the sake of belonging and having community? And let me go kick it with those people.

Chealsia: So join us as we pursue communal flourishing. We’ll drop new episodes weekly starting March 14th, and in the meantime you can check out Created For Wholeness, our free, live virtual event on Friday, March 10th at 9 p.m. Eastern. Or go to cru.org/createdfor to learn more and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

We can’t wait to kick it with you.