The Cultural Soul Project – one of the Greater Northwest Area Innovation Vitality (IV) Team’s new-start ministries in Portland – is inviting people to participate in a three-part conversation series this fall titled “Mixtape Ministries Volume 1: A Church in the Wild” that will bring theologians, scholars and more into conversation about ways the church needs to adapt with society.
Lead by Dr. Daymond Glenn, founder and senior pastor of the Cultural Soul Project, the three events – which are free to the public, but registration is required – are being held October 15, November 5 and December 10 at the DoubleTree Hotel Portland (1000 NE Multnomah Street).
“Mixtape Ministries is a conversation series between Dr. Glenn and a special guest where they discuss the need for the church to intentionally connect ministry and outreach to the lived experiences of those who have been shaped by life on the margins in inner-city urban America,” says a press release from The Cultural Soul Project.
The first discussion “Baptized in Dirty Water” will be held Saturday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. It will feature special guest, Dr. Daniel White Hodge and a discussion on the need for the church to embrace a hip-hop theology when responding to the lived experiences of folks shaped by life on the margins in inner-city urban America. Hodge is a recognized Hip-Hop Culture, Religious Studies, and Cultural Literacy expert and scholar. Hodge is Professor of Communications at North Park University in Chicago, and his research interests are at the intersections of faith, hip-hop culture, race & ethnicity, and young adult ethnic-minority emerging generations.
The second discussion “Curating a Beloved Community” will take place Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. (again at the DoubleTree Hotel Portland) with special guest Dr. Keri L. Day, and they will discuss the importance of the church curating and cultivating a beloved community and working in solidarity with folks who have been shaped by life on the margins in inner-city Urban America. Day is associate professor of constructive theology and African American religion at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Day earned her PhD in religion from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She earned an MA in religion and ethics from Yale University Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut, and a Bachelor of Science from Tennessee State University in Nashville. Her teaching and research interests are in womanist/feminist theologies, social critical theory, cultural studies, economics, and Afro-Pentecostalism.
The third discussion “Race Matters: A Theological Account” will take place on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. with special guest Dr. J. Kameron Carter, and they will discuss the need for the church to have a comprehensive understanding of race, culture, ideology, and more when ministering to the needs of People of Color in inner-city urban America. Dr. Carter is Professor of Religious Studies and Co-Director of the Center for Religion and the Human at Indiana University Bloomington. Dr. Carter works at the intersection of questions of race and the current ecological ravaging of the earth. He is interested in what these intertwined issues have to do with the modern world, generally, and with America (or rather the Americas), more specifically, as a unique religious situation or phenomenon.
