Welcome to Season Two of Bar of the Conference - a podcast about the stories shaping the future of the United Methodist Church. Today's episode is with Rev. Dr. Jean Hauxhurst. Jean is an ordained elder in the Kentucky Annual Conference and currently serves as an ecumenical staff officer for the United Methodist Council of Bishops.

Jean is passionate about Christian unity and believes that ecumenical relationships are core to what it means to be a follower of Jesus and a United Methodist. In this interview, she shares her journey of being a cradle United Methodist who made her way from a local congregation in the Baltimore-Washington Conference to discovering her call to ministry and serving in Kentucky. Jean helps us understand how we in the UMC engage our ecumenical relationships and the impact the last few years has had on those connections. This conversation was too short, but inspiring nonetheless. Enjoy!

Welcome to Season Two of Bar of the Conference - a podcast about the stories shaping the future of the United Methodist Church. Today's episode is with Rev. Jeff Campbell. Jeff is the General Secretary and CEO of Discipleship Ministries, an agency of the UMC. He is an ordained elder from the NJ Annual Conference. Jeff has seen and heard a lot, and yet he remains steady, focused and open to what might be next for his work and our worldwide connection. In this interview, we talk about his journey into ministry in the UMC, as well as the legacy of the late Junuis Dotson. Jeff is the kind of leader we need in the continuing and emerging United Methodist Church.

Welcome to Season Two of Bar of the Conference - a podcast about the stories shaping the future of the United Methodist Church. Today's episode is with Filipe Maia. Filipe is the Assistant Professor of Theology at Boston University School of Theology. Raised in the Methodist Church in Brazil, Filipe’s theological education brought him to the US. He has authored several publications including Trading Futures: A Theological Critique of Financialized Capitalism and the forthcoming book Methodism and American Empire: Reflections on Decolonizing the Church which he co-edited with Dr. David W. Scott of Global Ministries.

This conversation matched the theological depth and philosophical range that Filipe brings to his scholarship. We talked about economics and eschatology,  decolonization and regionalization in the UMC. Filipe’s grounding in his native experience and local community makes his brilliance accessible. He reminds us that we are called to be committed to hope and the prophetic tradition of transforming communities.  This is a must listen! Enjoy!