The Open Table Collective Podcast

Sitting at the table with us is K. William Kautz, the author of the book "Milky Ways and Fireflies" which chronicles the tragic loss of two of his sons and how the journey through such devastating suffering and loss led to a rediscovery of wonder. Will has such a humble and thoughtful approach as he shares his experiences and hard fought wisdom. This is an important conversation and one you do not want to miss. Welcome the table...we have a seat saved just for you...let's sit down and learn together!

Sitting at The Open Table with us today is Michael Spehn. Michael and his wife Gina are New York Times best selling authors of the book The Color Of Rain which chronicles their journey through the loss of their respective spouses to cancer and how that experience drew their families together. Michael speaks to the pain of loss but also how suffering is the connective tissue of humanity and something, if embraced, can eventually lead to new growth. He offers great insights and wisdom to help all of us move through, not over or around, the pain and suffering of our lives. Please pull up a seat...you belong here...let's listen and learn together.

The Open Table Collective is grateful to welcome Mallory Wyckoff to the table. Mallory is an author of the book "God is..." she is also a spiritual director, peace builder and peace maker, speaker, and incredible leader. Mallory takes us on a journey of how to navigate the liminal times of our life. The times where we are in the waiting between what was and what will be. Mallory is also involved in peace making and building work in a time of so much conflict so the conversation naturally went to some thoughts about the conflict in the Middle East and how we can be part of creating peace right here in our backyards.

On September 16th The Open Table Collective was honored to host author, speaker, and activist Shane Claiborne live in the Detroit area. In this talk Shane passionately challenges all Jesus-centered people to make a stand against the violence that is tearing through the United States and rethink how we are embracing the sacredness of every person. With all the war, violence, and tension that exists around the world this message could not be more perfectly timed. So pull up a chair to the table...let's learn and be challenged together.

The Open Table Collective is honored to have at the table Dr. Isaac B. Sharp as we discuss his new book The Other Evangelicals: A Story of Liberal, Black, Progressive, Feminist, and Gay Christians and the Movement that Pushed Them Out. In this table conversation we look at the rise of the modern Evangelical movement in the West and how its roots in fundamentalism are still impacting other expressions of the Christian church even to this day. As always everyone is welcome to the table and there is a seat saved just for you. Pull up a chair and let's see what we discover together.

In June of 2023, The Open Table Collective hosted a live gathering in Detroit featuring renowned author, pastor, teacher, and top Christian ethicist Dr. David Gushee. The topic was full inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community into the entire life of the Christian church. This podcast is a follow up conversation to discuss questions we were unable to address at the live event. We are certain this extended conversation will continue to challenge anyone who listens with ears to hear and hopefully inspire new ways to view God, scripture, ourselves, and our neighbors leading to radical love and inclusion. So please pull up a chair at The Open Table Collective and let's discover what God has for us together.

Danny Cox, the host of The Open Table Collective Podcast and a former mega church evangelical conservative pastor, sits down at the table with his trans daughter Bea to discuss family, religion, sexuality, and Jesus. This conversation is raw, real, unscripted and unedited as they both are still working through their life together with Jesus. In a time when trans people and the trans community are under so much fire from the conservative religious contingency this dialogue is a breath of fresh air as you hear a father and child fight to keep Jesus and their relationship the most important part of their lives. No matter where you find yourself of these kinds of matters this conversation is not one you will want to miss. Pull up a chair at the open table and lean in!

This episode we welcome Jamie Winship to the table as he talks so inspirationally about how every person can live within their unique God given identities to have immeasurable impact in the world. Jamie has learned what it takes for individuals to discover the transformative power of living fearlessly in their true identity from decades of work bringing peaceful solutions to some of the world’s highest conflict areas. All people wrestle with deep fear and struggle to live truly free within their authentic God given self. Jamie helps us start to imagination and takes steps towards living with less fear and more courage. Welcome to The Open Table Collective...pull a chair and let's see where God will take us this time.

Bea and Danny talk through the moment when Jesus closest disciples got to witness upon the mountain the transfiguration of Jesus alongside Elijah and Moses. It is a very mysterious but relevant moment not just for the early followers and friends of Jesus but for all Jesus-centered people throughout history. Please come sit at the cluttered table of life and faith to find out what this moment in the early church might mean for us today!

The intriguing title encapsulates all of what this dynamic conversation embodies. Dr. Craig Mayes sits down at the table to discuss his decades of ministry experience but in particular his time spent in New York City serving, loving, and communing with a marginalized group of people who are struggling with homelessness. By the end of this conversation Craig leads our community into a restored and revitalized vision and challenge about what it truly means to love God and love our neighbor. You DO NOT want to be away from this table and this conversation. Be "now here" and no where else. Welcome...a seat is saved just for you at The Open Table Collective.

On this episode of The Cluttered Table Bea and Danny continue to discuss the weekly church lectionary. Bea gives some basic definitions, reasons, and ways to understand the lectionary and how it can be used to shape and grow our faith. They also discuss a passage of scripture in the book of 1 Corinthians that leads to a very intriguing story about a farmer and his orchard. As always these raw "Cluttered Table" discussions are designed to whet your appetite for scripture and help you wrestle with faith and the way life, God, people, and circumstances collide. These episodes have very little editing and are truly just unfiltered, raw, and unscripted discussions between a parent and child as they wrestle with faith together. We are glad you are gathered at our messy cluttered table and look forward to what God might say to us all through these discussions.  If you like The Open Table Collective podcast please subscribe to our podcast and share with the people in your life that might benefit from these types of discussions, especially those who have felt uninvited, marginalized, wounded, or looked over by the church or people of faith.  

Jesus was not only God but Jesus was fully human. Jesus was born as a vulnerable baby having to rely on his parents, family members, and community to help him grow and mature. Scripture claims Jesus would grow in wisdom and in stature throughout his life. The thought of God learning and growing seems so counterintuitive and strange yet that is how it is explained. The original Holy Week was the culmination of Jesus' entire life and public ministry and it was within those 7 days where Jesus would be accused, arrested, put on trial, found guilty, and sentenced to death on a Roman cross. But have you ever imagined the emotions as a human being that Jesus would have felt? Have you ever tried to place yourself in his mother Mary's shoes? This small message and moving poem by Pastor Jeff Nelson opens our imagination of what Jesus might have been feeling as he journeyed to the cross thinking about his beautiful mother and his life with her. Let this permeate your heart, mind, and soul. Let this shape you in a unique way this Easter as you allow yourself to imagine Jesus as not only divine but human.

Shane Claiborne visits The Open Table Collective to discuss his new book, Rethinking Life: Embracing the Sacredness of Every Person. Shane challenges and ignites our imagination to envision and embrace a holistic ethic of life, not just protecting life within the womb but truly valuing all life seeing every person as sacred. Shane is an activist and a fierce advocate for the homeless, the marginalized, and the imprisoned which the latter has fueled his passion to end the death penalty and help stop gun violence. In a sad ironic twist, we recorded this conversation just 24 hours removed from the horrific shooting in a Nashville school that took the lives of 3 precious children as well as 3 adults. This conversation seemed to bring a sense of some kind of hope in the midst of despair and a dream for people to come together for greater solutions to the addiction of violence we are seeing within our country. Pull up a chair and let’s learn together.

Danny and Bea once again sit at their cluttered table of faith but the conversation took a turn they did not expect. Reading from the most well-known chapter in all of scripture which starts with a man named Nicodemus coming to Jesus in secret, under the covering of darkness, they then finish with the most clear, concise, and well-known scripture John 3:16. The conversation could have easily turned into a typical or dare we say "rote evangelical call" to faith but instead their words wandered down a path talking about life, death, and how resurrection can happen on a daily level. Join them at the cluttered table and hopefully leave with a vision of how death ultimately brings resurrected life.

It is ridiculous in 2023 that there are still certain sects of the Christian church arguing, justifying, and putting up barriers to limit women in their roles and capacities of influence and leadership within the church. Carolyn Custis James is one of the modern-day faith heroes that has been writing about and fighting for the empowerment of women within the evangelical church for many decades. This journey has not been without much opposition but Carolyn is truly a courageous warrior and has the scars to prove it. She is a wonderful author of several books, a speaker, teacher, mentor, and one bad ass leader. Her writings and leadership provide new insights and understanding as it pertains to God's original design for men and women and how the church can sometimes miss the fullness of that blessed alliance. We know you will love sitting at The Open Table with Carolyn and Danny. Pull up a seat!!

This is the first episode of what we are calling "The Cluttered Table Collection". These are smaller "appetizer" episodes of Danny and his youngest child Bea discussing what they are learning as they journey together through the yearly church lectionary. These are not necessarily in order but meant to spark thoughts and inspire a desire to engage with God's holy scripture. We hope you enjoy these little bits and pieces of raw conversations about God and faith between a parent and child. 

Nicole Wilson and Danny Cox have a lively conversation with pastor and leader Eli Garza about the importance of understanding cultures, how to have an inter-cultural mindset, and what a gift it can be to truly do the work to see the uniqueness of all our neighbors.

Should our ethnicity, culture, race, or skin color influence our faith and how we view ourselves, God, our neighbors, and the world? This is the core question that Dr. Eric Moore and Danny wrestle with together at the table. What comes out of this discussion is intriguing and challenging. 

This is The Open Table Collective's first podcast; its maiden voyage. We will share the history of the project, some of the tenets we are built upon, and share some of our hopes and dreams as we venture out to sea on this journey of reimagining, rethinking, and reclaiming faith and the person of Jesus.