Episode 65
The Arc Benders: Young People Leading the Way in Creating a Just and Peaceful World (A Beloved Community Modeled After the Teaching of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr) with the Director of "Alive Fort Wayne" Rev. Angelo Mante and student members of the Peacemaker Academy Samantha Morris and Timothy Poindexter
Bishop Julius C. Trimble is the Resident Bishop of the Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church.
Bishop Trimble has the personal mission to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential. It is his commitment to his personal mission that led Bishop Trimble to create the “To Be Encouraged” Podcast along with co-host Rev.Dr. Brad Miller.
Bishop Trimble says, “I am compelled by Jesus to share with you an encouraging word or two about Jesus, theology, the Bible, the pandemic, the environment, racism, voting rights, human sexuality, and the state of the United Methodist Church.”
To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble is to be published weekly and is available at www.tobeencouraged.com and all the podcast directories.
https://www.inumc.org/bishop/office-of-the-bishop/
The Arc Benders: Young People Leading the Way in Creating a Just and Peaceful World
In episode 065 of "To Be Encouraged," host Bishop Julius C. Trimble and co-host Rev.Dr. Brad Miller are joined by the Director of "Alive Fort Wayne (www.alivefw.org) Rev. Angelo Mante and by members of that organizations summer youth leadership training program Peacemaker Academy Timothy Poindexter and Samantha Morris,
The episode explores the power of forgiveness, the significance of peacemaking, and the transformative impact of intentional community. Here are three key takeaways from the episode:
1. Forgiveness is a Healing Process:
The episode emphasizes that forgiveness is not about condoning the harmful actions of others, but rather an act of self-liberation. Unforgiveness is compared to drinking poison and expecting the enemy to suffer. The process of forgiveness includes telling one's story, naming the harm, considering forgiveness, and either renewing or releasing the relationship. Telling one's story and naming the harm is essential in moving towards forgiveness and healing.
2. Peacemaking: Creating Positive Change:
The episode highlights the remarkable work being done through the Peacemaker Academy, a three-week program that focuses on teaching nonviolence and addressing trauma. The program, spearheaded by Rev. Angelo Mante, has exceeded expectations, positively impacting students in Southside High School in Fort Wayne. The academy includes activities such as guest speakers, field trips, and peace circles, where students can share personal experiences and bond with each other. The program's success has caught the attention of the district for potential expansion to other schools.
3. Beloved Community and Intentional Relationships:
The episode emphasizes the importance of creating intentional communities, known as beloved communities. By embracing the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the speakers recognize that peace is not merely the absence of tension but the presence of justice. They discuss the need to work towards a world where everyone is seen as God's children and can come together to create peace, unity, and understanding. The power of intentional relationships and smaller clusters fosters a sense of belonging and promotes a positive and peaceful future.
Conclusion:
This episode of "To Be Encouraged" highlights the transformative power of forgiveness, the significance of peacemaking, and the importance of intentional community. Listeners are encouraged to embrace forgiveness as a healing process, actively participate in creating positive change through peacemaking initiatives, and work towards the establishment of beloved communities. By doing so, individuals can contribute to a more peaceful, just, and inclusive world.
For More Information on Alive Ft Wayne and Rev. Angelo Mante and the Peacemaker Academy go to (www.alivefw.org)
Episode Time Stamps
timestamped
00:01:36 Moved from Atlanta to Fort Wayne in 2009. Cousin's murder in 2016 prompted move back. Started Peacemaker Academy in 2017.
00:08:22 Empowered to lead by confronting inner trauma.
00:10:13 Intense summer program expands; peacemakers making impact.
00:14:06 Nonviolence education: principles, curriculum, and student learning.
00:16:46 Dr. King's principles and steps for nonviolence.
00:20:03 Intervention program for troubled student yields success.
00:24:07 "Church sometimes misunderstands peace; peacemaking essential."
00:26:09 Beloved community cuts through divisions in world.
00:33:09 Process of forgiveness: story, harm, release.
00:34:42 Forgiveness creates freedom from anger and resentment.
00:39:18 Appeal to share podcast, create peace, pray.
00:41:24 Encouraging podcast with Bishop Trimble. Join us.
Transcript
Hello, good people. Welcome to to be encouraged with
Speaker:Bishop Julius C Trimble. The podcast, we will look to offer an
Speaker:encouraging word to an often discouraged world. Our
Speaker:special guest today on the podcast is Reverend Angelo
Speaker:Martin from the Alive Fort Wayne organization,
Speaker:which has to do with making peace in their community in Fort
Speaker:Wayne. And what particular program they have is the Peace Maker
Speaker:Academy, which is a leadership development program
Speaker:for high school students at Fort Wayne. And a couple of students are with us
Speaker:today. They are Samantha Morris and Timothy Poindexter. So,
Speaker:Bishop, would you help us welcome these folks to our podcast here
Speaker:today? Welcome angelo and
Speaker:Samantha and Timothy. And thank you for sharing
Speaker:this time with us. We know people will be blessed and encouraged be
Speaker:enlightened as a result of your sharing. So thank you so very much. Angel,
Speaker:can you just briefly introduce our two students yourself and the
Speaker:two students who are with us, and they can say just a word about themselves?
Speaker:Yeah, I'm Angelo. I'm the executive director of Alive here in Fort Wayne.
Speaker:And to my left is
Speaker:Samantha Morris, and to my right is Timothy
Speaker:Poindexter. They are high school students here in Fort Wayne, and they
Speaker:are part of our Peacemaker Academy this summer. And you'll give us just a little
Speaker:bit of context about how elia
Speaker:Fort Wayne came into being and then
Speaker:evolved into the Peacemaker Academy. A little context there then. I want to get a
Speaker:little context from Samantha and Timothy as well, but just
Speaker:a little background here. I'm from Fort Wayne, born and raised,
Speaker:but we left to go down to Atlanta
Speaker:back in 2009. I attended Candler
Speaker:School of Theology down there, and we started
Speaker:planting roots after I graduated in Georgia. And
Speaker:we went down with one child, and we had a few more when we were
Speaker:there, and we were planning to stay there
Speaker:for the long term. But in 2016,
Speaker:I got a message early in the morning on September
Speaker:13 that my first cousin here in Fort Wayne was murdered.
Speaker:He was shot and killed, in fact, just a few blocks from where we're sitting
Speaker:right now. And I didn't have a little brother
Speaker:growing up. He was the closest thing that I had to a little brother. So
Speaker:this is really something that it was
Speaker:devastating. And I had friends that I lost
Speaker:growing up to gun violence, but never a family member.
Speaker:And it's something that even to this day, for our
Speaker:family, is really difficult, to say the least.
Speaker:He had three kids. He was 30 years old, and he was
Speaker:killed. And I'm spending some time with his
Speaker:oldest today after the academy.
Speaker:So after that happened, we felt called to move
Speaker:back to Fort Wayne. We prayed about
Speaker:it, and we were already following the trajectory of violence here in the
Speaker:city even before that happened to my cousin. But when that happened and
Speaker:I came back and I officiated the funeral. And even as I was
Speaker:preaching at the funeral, I knew it was time to come back home.
Speaker:So the next year we were here in
Speaker:the summer, we moved back in June
Speaker:of 2017. And that first year we spent a
Speaker:lot of time just learning, getting to know other families who've been affected by
Speaker:violence, meeting with churches,
Speaker:pastors, nonprofit leaders in the community
Speaker:that were trying to do something about this issue of violence and trying to figure
Speaker:out where we fit into that. Where we started
Speaker:was we were coming alongside families who had been
Speaker:affected by violence, and especially children. There's
Speaker:so many kids in communities everywhere
Speaker:who fall through the cracks, who've been affected by violence.
Speaker:We started coming alongside them, connecting them to resources. We
Speaker:started the support group, but the more that we did that work, the
Speaker:more we felt that we really needed to do more around
Speaker:prevention and intervention, something that would lead to less families
Speaker:needing support like that in the first place. And so we
Speaker:got connected to this Kingian nonviolence
Speaker:network. I went down to Selma for some violence
Speaker:trainings, and through that network, I got connected
Speaker:to this school in Chicago that was doing some really cool work
Speaker:around violence education in their school
Speaker:in the North Lawndale neighborhood. And so
Speaker:out of that emerged this vision, fort a
Speaker:Peacemaker Academy. They were making a huge difference in their school
Speaker:and reducing violence. And so we said, hey, why not here? Let's
Speaker:try something here in Fort Wayne. We started with Southside High School here in Fort
Speaker:Wayne. The whole idea of the academy, it's a three week experience in the
Speaker:summer for students, where we teach them nonviolence de escalation work
Speaker:on our trauma and inner piece, but
Speaker:then we go forth from the summer and walk with them throughout
Speaker:the course of the year to help them build peace in their
Speaker:school. And so this is the first year we have a few students
Speaker:from other schools, but South Side is still
Speaker:our primary focus right now. But this is the third year that we've
Speaker:been doing this, and we never anticipated how fast that
Speaker:this would take off. Awesome. You got a couple of those students with us right
Speaker:now. And Samantha Morris, once you introduce yourself, tell us
Speaker:a little bit about yourself, where you're a high school students and what got you
Speaker:involved with Peacemaker Academy. Yeah. So I'm going to be a
Speaker:senior at Northrop High School. And what
Speaker:got me involved with Peacemakers was my dad is like a pastor at
Speaker:the church. It's hosting it this year, and so I've heard a lot about
Speaker:it through that and the impact it had at Southside.
Speaker:And I've seen a lot of violence within my school and community, and I wanted
Speaker:to take Peacemakers to my school to help fix
Speaker:that and at least provide some relief for them. And Timothy Point
Speaker:Dexter share us a little bit about your story, what you're in school, and tell
Speaker:us how you got connected with Peacemaker Academy. Well, my name
Speaker:is Timothy, and I'm going to be a junior at
Speaker:Southside High School next year. And how I got introduced to
Speaker:Peacemakers was I have a friend who went to Peacemakers. He went to the
Speaker:academy a year before me, and he told me about it, and I
Speaker:was interested. So I started off by going to the club, and I really liked
Speaker:talking to the people that were there. So that's how I was introduced to the
Speaker:Peacemaker. Well, Bishop, I know you had several things
Speaker:you wanted to ask these students and
Speaker:Angelo about here. Just want to ask Timothy and Samantha and
Speaker:maybe start with Timothy Peacemaker
Speaker:Academy. I looked at the website and
Speaker:watched some of the videos. It says it
Speaker:empowers young leaders. I want to know how this
Speaker:experience is really empowering you as a
Speaker:leader and maybe some of the
Speaker:backstory, how you've grown as a leader
Speaker:and the benefit you see from participating in Peacemaker
Speaker:Academy. And the same question for Samantha.
Speaker:Well, peacemakers for me has definitely impacted me a
Speaker:lot. It's definitely taught me how to use my
Speaker:mouth instead of my fist to stop violence. Well, using my
Speaker:fist wouldn't stop violence. It would create more violence. So
Speaker:that's why I am learning from here how to use my words,
Speaker:because at this place, it teaches you using your words is
Speaker:more courageous than fighting someone
Speaker:and how when you talk to people, it can resolve more
Speaker:than what you would do in a fight. Often it seems like
Speaker:a fight doesn't have a conclusion, because if one
Speaker:person gets the upper hand, then
Speaker:nothing is really resolved. So it seems
Speaker:like Peacemaker Academy in terms of empowering
Speaker:leadership, there's a process, and I know both
Speaker:of you have gone through the various steps related to
Speaker:nonviolence. So thank you so much.
Speaker:Samantha, I didn't mean to cut you off before you got
Speaker:started. For me, I think it's empowered me to be a better leader in that
Speaker:I've learned to deal with a lot of my own inner violence and trauma
Speaker:and things like that. So it's allowed me to kind of project that outwards to
Speaker:my family, to my friends, and hopefully to my school when we start
Speaker:school back up. I've just learned a lot about how
Speaker:to deal with not only the violence around me,
Speaker:but within my own life. And I think that's really provided me a
Speaker:lot of balance and peace that I can then
Speaker:use within my leadership skills to help change the community
Speaker:of my school. Does the academy provide an environment for you to
Speaker:share more of your stories or what you're going through? I know you mentioned
Speaker:Timothy, you mentioned the club. Can you help our
Speaker:audience understand what are Peacemaker
Speaker:clubs? Okay, so after school
Speaker:on Thursdays, there would be a club in one of the classrooms
Speaker:where they'd have snacks. We go and
Speaker:we sit in a circle and then they'd start off by ringing a bell
Speaker:to get us all calmed down and get in the mood to talk. And
Speaker:then they pick a subject and we talk to each other about
Speaker:it. And it felt like peaceful. It felt
Speaker:open because it felt like you were being judged. It just felt
Speaker:like you could actually talk to people, which does help.
Speaker:And I really liked it. It was comfortable talking to the other people
Speaker:at the Peacemakers Club. Angelo,
Speaker:you've talked about what are the highlights that people I know, they have so
Speaker:many experiences. What do people come away from Peacemaker
Speaker:Academy saying how this experience has impacted
Speaker:them? How does this flow over into the school
Speaker:environment? Because I understand that you've got administrators now on board,
Speaker:people. This is kind of picking up steam.
Speaker:Yeah. It's amazing
Speaker:how much we're able to fit into three weeks.
Speaker:We're in our third week right now. We have a couple of days left and
Speaker:we are exhausted. But it's a good exhaustion. There's just
Speaker:so much. We have speakers come in.
Speaker:We had deputy chief of police that came in yesterday.
Speaker:We do field trips. We went to Turner
Speaker:Chapel. We have a really strong relationship partnership with
Speaker:them. It's the first black church established here in Fort
Speaker:Wayne. It's an AME congregation and learning the
Speaker:history about the AME and the history
Speaker:of that particular congregation here in Fort
Speaker:Wayne. We spent time at the rescue mission
Speaker:here. We ate with the residents, homeless
Speaker:men, and then learned from some of their staff. And there's
Speaker:just so much that we do in addition to the curriculum that we teach
Speaker:here. We're going to do an evaluation in a couple of days,
Speaker:give the students an evaluation of the summer
Speaker:program. But the first two years, all the different things that we
Speaker:do, what's come out on top as
Speaker:the highlight of the summer experience is are the peace
Speaker:circles. The peace circles, that's something that anybody can it is not
Speaker:complicated. We start each
Speaker:day, as Samantha said, in a circle.
Speaker:We normally start off with a more light hearted question and then we go deeper.
Speaker:So I think on the second day, the deep question was how
Speaker:have you been impacted by violence? Students don't have to share. They can
Speaker:pass. On that second day, most everybody
Speaker:shared some really deep stuff and that's what bonds us
Speaker:almost immediately. And of all the things we do, that
Speaker:elevates to the top of the list for students in the summer experience. Now,
Speaker:as far as how everything is going in the schools,
Speaker:that's what this is all about. There are lots of summer programs out there and
Speaker:all of that. But we see this as the launching point. So the summer
Speaker:academy, it's very intense, but it's the starting
Speaker:point for everything else in the school.
Speaker:Over the past couple of years. What the students have been able to
Speaker:accomplish has been remarkable, and they are
Speaker:making a huge difference in the school. And
Speaker:I can list specific things if you want, but
Speaker:it's catching the attention of the district to the point
Speaker:where and the superintendent spent time with us a couple of days ago.
Speaker:They're working on a referendum for the fall around district safety, and
Speaker:they're looking at weapons detection and some more resource officers
Speaker:and some other things. They've added a line item for us
Speaker:because they want to see what we're doing expand into all of the Fort Wayne
Speaker:community schools, high schools, which is huge. We saw that
Speaker:happening maybe over the next ten years, 15
Speaker:years. But to be happening right now is just a testament
Speaker:to the impact that it's having in the
Speaker:school. And the principal has spoken on our behalf
Speaker:and the vice principal and administrators and
Speaker:98% we did a teacher survey and a student survey. I think
Speaker:it was 98% of students and 99%
Speaker:of teachers, or maybe it was the reverse
Speaker:that said that peacemakers are making a positive impact
Speaker:on school culture. That's
Speaker:phenomenal. We got to work on that other. 2%, I
Speaker:guess, but it shows systematic change, which
Speaker:is so hard to come by right
Speaker:in the interchange between kind of a church based or religion
Speaker:based thing and school systems and government systems and
Speaker:all that kind of thing. My goodness. That is awesome, isn't it?
Speaker:Bishop? It is awesome. Let me ask
Speaker:about the whole violence
Speaker:training and the basis for it. A lot of people were
Speaker:born after Dr. King was assassinated,
Speaker:so some people have little or no knowledge other
Speaker:than maybe they heard that I Have a Dream speech and
Speaker:that there's a King holiday. But this notion
Speaker:of nonviolence, I think his last book, The Rev. And
Speaker:Dr. Martin Luther King was. Where do we go from here? Chaos or
Speaker:community. And it seems like there's a lot of chaos in our
Speaker:society when it comes to particularly gun
Speaker:violence. I grew up on the
Speaker:South Side of Chicago, and a lot of times the violence was
Speaker:really measured by an occasional knifeing.
Speaker:But now mass shootings is almost well, it
Speaker:is more than a weekly occasion. So tell us a bit
Speaker:about the principles of nonviolence and how
Speaker:that is translated into the curriculum
Speaker:itself. What do students learn? Maybe I should
Speaker:ask them what they've learned. So we memorized the
Speaker:six principles of violence as well as the six steps to
Speaker:nonviolence, and those really I mean, I don't have to recite them
Speaker:right now, but they really taught me how to
Speaker:have violence in a community in a
Speaker:realistic way. So it's not just some
Speaker:big dream that's way far ahead in the future, but it's something that we can
Speaker:start working on now and that we can practice in our daily lives,
Speaker:not by way of life for courageous people. And that was one that we focused
Speaker:on a lot. That's the first principle. So really making it a way of life
Speaker:and implementing it into our communities is what I took away from that
Speaker:the most. So this is not a test, but
Speaker:help us. What will be a couple other the principles, timothy? Well,
Speaker:as Sammy said, the first principle is that nonviolence
Speaker:is a way for courageous people. The second principle would
Speaker:be the beloved community is a framework for a
Speaker:better future. The third principle, it would be attack forces
Speaker:of evil, not the persons doing evil.
Speaker:The fourth step, suffering without retaliation
Speaker:for the sake of the cause to achieve goal.
Speaker:The fifth one, avoid violence of the
Speaker:spirit as well as
Speaker:external physical violence. And the 6th principle
Speaker:would be the universe is on the side of justice. Not
Speaker:bad. Too many people to put on the spotlight yet, my friend. That's right.
Speaker:No pressure. The principles are the heart and
Speaker:soul of the curriculum. Dr. King, he first
Speaker:articulated principles in it's called The Pilgrimage
Speaker:to Violence. It was published as an essay, but it was also
Speaker:in his first book, Strive toward Freedom, chapter
Speaker:six, I think. So we learn about the principles,
Speaker:but we also learn the steps. The six steps of nonviolence. The principles are often
Speaker:referred to as the will, and then the steps are the skill that's how
Speaker:do you organize a campaign? How do you go from
Speaker:gathering information to education and kind of
Speaker:go through the process, direct action and
Speaker:protest, if that's necessary. But the end goal is
Speaker:reconciliation. So the principles and the steps are
Speaker:the foundation. But there are lots of other things de escalation
Speaker:learning, types of violence, levels of violence. This framework of
Speaker:nonviolence, I think, is the greatest gift that Dr. King gave us.
Speaker:We think about his achievements and the Civil Rights Act
Speaker:and the achievements that he was able to
Speaker:accomplish throughout his career. But the framework
Speaker:of nonviolence gives us the
Speaker:vehicle to continue to create change in
Speaker:our own lives and our interpersonal conflicts that we have, but also
Speaker:in our school, in our community, and at the larger social
Speaker:level. Because when you talk about something as complicated as gun violence, we have
Speaker:to address that at the individual level all the way up to the political and
Speaker:social level. And nonviolence you mentioned, Angelo,
Speaker:and about the statistics, about how 98,
Speaker:99% of the students and the teachers and
Speaker:the faculty in the school system say this has made an
Speaker:impact, this peacemaker academy has made an
Speaker:impact. I really would really be interested in hearing
Speaker:the story about that to see if there's actual stories
Speaker:that have been come to life either in your own life,
Speaker:Angelo, or in Timothy or Samantha, where they've seen
Speaker:that play out in real life, either it might have been
Speaker:in the school or might have been at home or someplace else. But
Speaker:I'd really like to hear from the students and for you, Angela, about any actual
Speaker:stories, how they've seen something that's happened in their schools, where
Speaker:maybe there was a de escalation or maybe there was some
Speaker:different approach rather than violence. Can any of the three of you speak
Speaker:to that, please? I can start.
Speaker:So definitely around South Side. I don't really go around the
Speaker:commons and stuff, but there's usually a bunch of fights
Speaker:that happen in the commons. But around when
Speaker:peacemakers started getting bigger in the school, more fights have been de
Speaker:escalated by people. Instead of people watching the
Speaker:fights, people have tried to stop the fights before they could happen.
Speaker:So that's a way that I've seen the peacemakers impact my school. The
Speaker:commons, is that the cafeteria or is that a public space or what's? The
Speaker:commons. The commons is like a big area
Speaker:around the school.
Speaker:No, it's in the middle, I would say, around the school. And it's like where
Speaker:a bunch of kids come to congregate and talk to each other. There was
Speaker:a particular student at the beginning of this past
Speaker:year, the academy. This is a leadership
Speaker:program for students who are leaders. This isn't an intervention
Speaker:program, so these are kids that are already on a good
Speaker:path, but we wanted to work
Speaker:toward doing more intervention. And so
Speaker:we talked to the administrators about that, and they gave us the name of
Speaker:one particular student, and they said this would be a good place to start
Speaker:because he's having a lot of issues. And so
Speaker:our staff person in the school started to start a
Speaker:building relationship with him. He was on house arrest and
Speaker:was really on the verge of getting expelled from
Speaker:school, and so started building that relationship and
Speaker:ended up learning about all of this trauma, just
Speaker:learning his story and seeing where that violence,
Speaker:where those issues were coming from. And that's something we're really big about, seeing
Speaker:violence as a symptom and really trying to get underneath
Speaker:that. And so we did that with this student, and
Speaker:within a couple of weeks and we had people here at the church praying
Speaker:for him and really started seeing
Speaker:some pretty miraculous changes. And he told us that he wanted to be a
Speaker:peacemaker, so we said, all right, well, let's start
Speaker:by squashing this beef with this other student that you have.
Speaker:And so we called them into a room together,
Speaker:and he took the initiative and apologized for his part in the conflict. And this
Speaker:was a really serious issue that could have really
Speaker:escalated. They were able to squash that, put it behind them,
Speaker:and he's been part of what we
Speaker:do ever since, been part of our peace club. That's
Speaker:just one example, one story, but there are
Speaker:lots of stories like that that we could share
Speaker:at the individual level, but also at the school level.
Speaker:Samantha, how about you? Have you seen any evidence of this in your life or
Speaker:in your school? So it's the first year that it's going to be at my
Speaker:school. So I haven't really seen it within my school yet. But within my personal
Speaker:life, I've been able to teach everything I've learned to my family, use
Speaker:it in arguments. With my sister. We learned affect labeling, which
Speaker:is basically ignoring whatever words are being spoken, buying the
Speaker:emotion and reflecting that back to the person and just saying, hey, I understand why
Speaker:you're upset. This is what you're feeling. Let's figure out why and not
Speaker:yell about it. I've used that with my sister to kind of de
Speaker:escalate any situation when she gets angry with me. And that's honestly helped us get
Speaker:along better. Within the past couple of weeks, I've noticed not that
Speaker:everything's perfect, but that's helped me within my own personal family life,
Speaker:and I feel like I'll be able to use it within my school. I've seen
Speaker:what impact it's had at Southside, and I hope I can do the same
Speaker:thing when school starts. I'm sorry, I was going to say we
Speaker:often think of Martin Luther King, Jr. As a civil rights
Speaker:leader, but he was a Christian minister, a Baptist
Speaker:minister. So I like some
Speaker:commentary around this is not some would say
Speaker:this is not necessarily totally new in that
Speaker:Jesus teaches, Blessed are the peacemakers fort.
Speaker:They should be called the children of God. What does it
Speaker:mean for us to embrace this
Speaker:Christian principle and translate
Speaker:it into
Speaker:living it out? I'm wondering if some of what you're learning in
Speaker:peacemakers, Samantha, for example, is that
Speaker:consistent with what we are learning or we should be learning or
Speaker:teaching in our church experience as well?
Speaker:At least for me, I would say yes. It really does align with what I
Speaker:learn in church and what I hear on Sunday mornings.
Speaker:It really does have to do with the
Speaker:love your neighbor, all that stuff. Really. It's kind of based off
Speaker:of Jesus teachings. I feel like that's probably what inspired Dr.
Speaker:King. It really is integrated with Christian life. Yeah, I can speak
Speaker:to that as well. I think that one thing that
Speaker:the church doesn't always get entirely right
Speaker:is the concept of peace. Like, what is peace? Dr. King
Speaker:talked about the difference between positive peace and
Speaker:negative peace. And that's something that we talk a lot about in the academy. Just
Speaker:not being violence isn't enough,
Speaker:right? So I think a lot of times we feel like, oh,
Speaker:we're peaceful. We're a peace church or a
Speaker:peaceful community because we're not actively
Speaker:contributing to the violence. Like Dr. King said, the positive peace is
Speaker:the presence of justice. Right? It's not just the absence of tension.
Speaker:So I think that this whole idea of being a
Speaker:peacemaker, that's why we use that word more and more. I mean,
Speaker:we use the word nonviolence too, but we really like that word
Speaker:peacemaker because it's active. We are
Speaker:actively making peace. We're actively stepping into
Speaker:situations of conflict and violence and injustice and
Speaker:making peace, sometimes causing conflict. Sometimes we actually
Speaker:need to create conflict in order to really
Speaker:get to the heart of the issue of
Speaker:injustice. And so I think that peacemaking is
Speaker:absolutely essential and central to
Speaker:discipleship, to this journey of walking with Jesus. And
Speaker:creating peacemaking also involves and
Speaker:is a part of your mission, I believe, creating a beloved community. And
Speaker:certainly what Martin Luther King talked about, I know Bishop Trimble talks about that all
Speaker:the time, creating the beloved community. But that means creation of that means you're
Speaker:actively involved with getting things done. I'm
Speaker:reminded of John Ten about the abundant life.
Speaker:The opposite of that is the deteriorating life. And
Speaker:so theologically, I think there are some real good foundations
Speaker:for this. But can you speak a little bit to that? The creation of
Speaker:the beloved community is kind of at the heart of what you folks are about.
Speaker:Angelo yeah, so I think there is so much
Speaker:chaos in the world and so much
Speaker:division. We divide around all kinds of
Speaker:different lines, whether it be race now
Speaker:politically, the divisions that we have, the divisions that we've
Speaker:had in the church over theology.
Speaker:And so I think beloved community really cuts through all of
Speaker:that, recognizes the idea that we're all God's children
Speaker:and how can we come together and
Speaker:create this beautiful thing together and these
Speaker:pockets of beloved community. And that to me is where it's about because
Speaker:a beloved community happens really in
Speaker:clusters, right? The larger you get, the harder it is to really
Speaker:have that beloved community. Because it's about relationship, it's about being in tune
Speaker:with what's going on with
Speaker:your sister, with your brother. I think of Acts chapter two,
Speaker:that intentional community where they're living together and they're
Speaker:living among one another and breaking bread and praying for one another. No
Speaker:one among them had any needs, right? And so
Speaker:we see that happening here in the academy. Like if there's something
Speaker:going on, that's why we wanted to keep it a smaller,
Speaker:more intimate group. I think Jesus was on to something. Jesus could
Speaker:have had 2000 disciples, but
Speaker:he had twelve of his closest and walked with
Speaker:them. And so when we gather with these folks every
Speaker:day and we're sharing what's going on in our lives, if something happened
Speaker:in our home last night, we're sharing that and we know what's going on. If
Speaker:there are any needs, we know what's going on. And so having
Speaker:this pocket of beloved community and when we look at South Side,
Speaker:that's what we're trying to create, pockets of beloved
Speaker:community. I don't know that you can have a beloved community of 2000 people. Maybe
Speaker:you can. But if every student has a place
Speaker:corner of that school where they could feel like they belong and have a group
Speaker:of students and do that in a way that's not
Speaker:clickish though, where it's not like our group over here and your
Speaker:group over there, and all moving toward a
Speaker:more positive, more peaceful future together. That, to me,
Speaker:is what it's all about. Bishop, what are we learning
Speaker:here from Elia, fort Wayne and Peacemaker Academy, especially in
Speaker:terms of how this can be either an inspiration or a
Speaker:model for other United Methodist churches, our clergies, our community,
Speaker:because violence is not contained to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Speaker:We all know that, and not just the school systems there. So,
Speaker:Bishop, what do you think? Are some transferable principles or some lessons learned here that
Speaker:we can apply other places? Well, I think
Speaker:of some of the sayings of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One of them
Speaker:being that progress does not roll in on the wheels of
Speaker:inevitability. It translated fort me is
Speaker:that if you don't do something, you can't expect things to get
Speaker:better. And what I give thanks to Timothy
Speaker:and Samantha and Angelo and a whole host of others that are
Speaker:not on this podcast today is they decided to
Speaker:do something and invest in it. Angelo could have brought the idea
Speaker:and no one signed up. It wouldn't have made
Speaker:a difference if students don't actually embrace it. So we've got
Speaker:to create the world that we want to have, the schools that we want to
Speaker:have, and it's not just on one person. It is,
Speaker:as Angelo said, clusters of people who can
Speaker:catch a vision and decide, well, I know one of the
Speaker:steps is you got to educate yourself and prepare yourself
Speaker:to do the work. So we really have to we have to create the world
Speaker:that we want to have. And I see that's part of what's happening.
Speaker:I want to do a little like a little game, if you will.
Speaker:It's not a game, but one word, and get
Speaker:reflections on it from Timothy and Samantha in particular. So
Speaker:here's the first one. Inner violence.
Speaker:When you hear that inner violence, these are things that I've heard said
Speaker:that are related to peacemaker. So what do you think
Speaker:about when you hear that inner violence? What is that? Go ahead,
Speaker:Timothy. Well, when I hear someone talk about inner violence, I think about
Speaker:the violence of the spirit, like what you're keeping inside, like something
Speaker:you're not talking about or the way you're feeling, and it's eating you
Speaker:up. If you keep your internal
Speaker:violence, if you keep letting yourself attack yourself,
Speaker:then you're going to unleash it and attack someone
Speaker:else. Has that been part of your experience? And do you think that's
Speaker:common with other students or younger people and they just never had
Speaker:of a chance or a place to really to share their. Stories or
Speaker:that definitely. Internal violence is a big part of my
Speaker:life, and I feel that it impacts other people because people
Speaker:don't like talking to Luther people. They think it's
Speaker:weak. So I feel like if people had something like this or. If people
Speaker:were able to talk to each other more, I feel like it would definitely help
Speaker:a lot. Samantha, interval.
Speaker:For me, I think it can come in many forms that could be
Speaker:trauma, mental illness, mental illness caused by trauma, really
Speaker:a lot of things that cause us to bring ourselves
Speaker:down. And in that, I feel like it brings out a lot of
Speaker:physical violence or outer violence that we project out. So I
Speaker:think that within at least my generation, I feel like, timothy,
Speaker:you'd probably agree inner violence is like, a really big reason for why
Speaker:we're violent externally. For me, I know I've
Speaker:experienced a lot of inner violence myself, and I
Speaker:think peacemakers has helped me work through that, but also to learn that I can't
Speaker:have that if I want to have external peace as well, which goes right
Speaker:along with I think it's principle five, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker:Yeah. So I think that when I think of inner violence, I just think
Speaker:of how we can fix that through peace circles,
Speaker:things like that, to kind of help us get through that. It's something that has
Speaker:to be worked through before we can have true peace. Well, let me throw another
Speaker:word, and Samantha, you can start and pass it to Angelo and
Speaker:then Timothy, forgiveness. What do you think about when you hear that
Speaker:word? Forgiveness? Yeah,
Speaker:I think that forgiveness does have to do with
Speaker:inner violence, because you can't really have that peace within yourself. If
Speaker:you're not going to forgive whoever has
Speaker:caused you harm in the past, it doesn't mean
Speaker:that you're condoning whatever's happened to you or whatever that person has done.
Speaker:It just means that you're going to accept that it happened and you're going to
Speaker:not really be angry anymore, and you're going to
Speaker:kind of find that it's more about finding peace within yourself. You're forgiving them
Speaker:for yourself rather than forgiving them for
Speaker:that person. It's not a gift you're giving to them. It's a gift you're giving
Speaker:to yourself. Yeah, I think it's
Speaker:something that you do for yourself, and I think that's one of the biggest
Speaker:misunderstandings that people have. They don't want to give that to somebody
Speaker:that's harmed them. But it's
Speaker:like Dr. Lafayette, who I learned nonviolence from, he said
Speaker:that unforgiveness is like drinking poison and
Speaker:expecting your enemy to die. But it's
Speaker:also a process and a resource that's really helpful. We teach this in the
Speaker:academy is Desmond Tutu's forgiveness? The first is to tell your
Speaker:story. That's number one. And then it's to name the
Speaker:harm. To consider forgiveness, and then to
Speaker:renew or release the relationship is the fourth step, but
Speaker:it's a process and the whole tell your story piece the first step. We had
Speaker:a whole exercise on that in the academy where
Speaker:after we asked, how have you been impacted by violence? We
Speaker:then had the students write a letter to
Speaker:the person that caused them harm, and it was just a journaling
Speaker:exercise. But being able to name the harm and tell your story
Speaker:is such an important part of that, what can be a really
Speaker:lengthy process depending on the severity of the issue.
Speaker:Thank you. Timothy. You hear the word forgiveness and we talk about wanting
Speaker:to be peacemaker. And Angelo talked
Speaker:about another student that they had to bring in to work out through something.
Speaker:Do you think about forgiveness? Is that something that
Speaker:we really don't pay attention to?
Speaker:Yeah, I feel like people take forgiveness for granted because
Speaker:they feel that they don't want to give the person.
Speaker:They don't want to give the person, make
Speaker:them feel good about themselves. They don't want that person
Speaker:to feel like everything okay, like they're good and
Speaker:happy and everything. But forgiveness isn't trying to
Speaker:make the person that you're forgiving feel better about themselves.
Speaker:Forgiveness is telling. It's like accepting that something
Speaker:happened and that you have no hate towards them. And it
Speaker:helps you because not forgiving someone eats you
Speaker:up inside and when you're holding something
Speaker:in, it doesn't feel good. It makes you angry because you're
Speaker:constantly thinking about it. But if you can forgive the person who's wronged
Speaker:you, it's like releasing a weight off your shoulders. Yeah. Brad, it's
Speaker:interesting because we pray that Lord's Prayer frequently. I wonder, do we really
Speaker:pay attention to that core statement, forgive us our
Speaker:trespasses or debtors or forgive us our trespasses as we
Speaker:forgive those who trespass against us? So forgiveness
Speaker:is kind of a core center to that
Speaker:prayer that Jesus taught as a model prayer. And
Speaker:I think that's an important aspect of that, just what angel said.
Speaker:But forgiveness is really for ourselves, it really is
Speaker:for others. Well, I think the flip side of that
Speaker:reflection, when we think about how others have
Speaker:harmed us is really doing some deep inner work,
Speaker:reflecting on the harm that we've caused others. They're
Speaker:part of it too. And as we do that, that's a really humbling journey
Speaker:because often we don't really sit with that,
Speaker:the harm that we've caused. And so that's a really important part of
Speaker:this process too. Yeah. Well, Bishop, this is a conversation that could go on and
Speaker:on and on, couldn't it? And it should go on. Right.
Speaker:But let's conclude with this thought. The theme of the
Speaker:Bishop's podcast is to be encouraged. So I just really
Speaker:would like to hear what's encouraging to all of us here to conclude
Speaker:with and Bishop, if you could conclude our time together here with you, what you're
Speaker:encouraged about in a prayer. So let's just start with
Speaker:Samantha. Samantha, what's one thing you are encouraged by as we
Speaker:conclude our conversation today? I think I'm encouraged just by the connection I have
Speaker:with all of the other peacemakers and how much I think that we're going to
Speaker:be able to do just in all of our planning that we've done over the
Speaker:last couple of days. That's what really encouraged me and makes me really
Speaker:excited for the future. Awesome. Timothy, how about you? What's something that encourages you
Speaker:today? I'm really just encouraged by the
Speaker:peacemakers in general. I'm encouraged that people can come together
Speaker:and work on making this world a better place. And I feel
Speaker:like the more peacemakers we can have together,
Speaker:the more better that the world can be. Angel, how
Speaker:about you? Something you would consider, something to be encouraged about?
Speaker:I'm deeply encouraged by these two. I'm deeply
Speaker:encouraged by all of the young people that we're working with, that we've
Speaker:worked walk alongside with over the past couple of years.
Speaker:Sometimes it looks like the world has fallen apart if you just get on social
Speaker:media and a lot of chaos, they give me hope.
Speaker:Dr. King says the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward
Speaker:justice. And sometimes we have to put ourselves around hopeful
Speaker:situations and people, young people, who
Speaker:are doing hopeful things, for us to be able to have the perspective to see
Speaker:that arc bending and then be part of it. And Bishop has said this
Speaker:before, we got to be arc benders.
Speaker:These two other students are bending that arc, and we get a
Speaker:front row seat. So that is deeply encouraging to me, knowing
Speaker:that they are doing the work that they're doing and knowing that there are young
Speaker:people all over our conference, all over the state, all over the country
Speaker:and world who are ready and willing to
Speaker:lead now. So that gives me
Speaker:a lot of hope and encouraged. That's awesome. Well, Bishop, before you give your
Speaker:final comments and your closing prayer, if you will, I just want to give my
Speaker:personal word of thanks to Angela and Samantha and
Speaker:Timothy from Alive, Fort
Speaker:Wayne and the Peacemaker Academy. They sacrifice
Speaker:important time in their schedule, their circle time, to
Speaker:be with us here today. And I want to give my personal thanks to them
Speaker:show that I am certainly encouraged by your work. So,
Speaker:Bishop, a final word that you are encouraged by. Maybe you can pray for everybody
Speaker:involved here, too. I'd be glad to. And I would just make
Speaker:an appeal to Angelo, Timothy, and Samantha that
Speaker:when this podcast is published, that you'll have an opportunity
Speaker:also to push it out and have people hear you on the
Speaker:podcast. We think it's part of leadership
Speaker:development as well, for people to
Speaker:see and experience us on different platforms. I'm
Speaker:paraphrasing a paragraph from
Speaker:where do we go from here? Chaos or community? Then I will close with
Speaker:the prayer, and I'm paraphrasing from Martin Luther King,
Speaker:Jr. On chaos or community.
Speaker:Peacemaker is not something that we
Speaker:find, but something we must create.
Speaker:Peace. What we find when we enter these mortal
Speaker:planes is existence. But existence
Speaker:is the raw material out of which all life must be created.
Speaker:Listen to this. A productive and happy life
Speaker:is not something that you find. It is something
Speaker:that you make. Let us pray.
Speaker:Loving God, for the gift of encouragement, we give
Speaker:you thanks and praise. And for these who have given
Speaker:up their time and their witness, Timothy Angelo
Speaker:Samantha, we ask your blessings. And upon all of the students
Speaker:who are participating this summer in the Peacemaking
Speaker:Academy in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And for others who
Speaker:may hear this podcast, who want to be encouraged
Speaker:and encouraged others in the work of
Speaker:peacemaking, we ask that you would grant us the
Speaker:power, the will and the fortitude to do one
Speaker:thing at a time, do small things
Speaker:with great joy. Bless us, O God, not that we might
Speaker:brag about our blessings, but that we might be instruments of
Speaker:your blessing, your instruments of your peace, your justice
Speaker:and your love. We pray this in Christ's name.
Speaker:Amen. Amen. And we thank you for
Speaker:joining us here today on the to be encouraged
Speaker:podcast with Bishop Julius C. Trimble. This is the podcast
Speaker:where we look to offer an encouraging word to an
