Expressions of Faith

an outlet of encouragement, explanation, and exhortation

Category: Links (Page 1 of 2)

Black + Evangelical

A Documentary: Black + Evangelical

August 19, 2025 /

I deeply appreciated this documentary produced by Wheaton College professor Dr. Vince Bacote. Working alongside Fred Newkirk (and now Derek Brooks) with Inner City Ministries in Long Beach, California I’ve been aware of the tensions felt from the non-white side of this issue along with the denial of the church ensconced in white evangelical culture. Quoting from the description on Vimeo:

“Taking us to the crossroads of faith and racial identity, Black + Evangelical is an eye-opening documentary of the resilient men and women who find themselves straddling the often clashing worlds of Black and white evangelicalism in America.”

I’ve greatly appreciated John Perkins‘ books and speaking, along with what I have learned from many colleagues in ministry through the Long Beach Ministers’ Alliance. Pastor John and Sister Joan Canada have been excellent mentors to me; I’ve learned much from listening to them – even when they had to shake me up to pay attention to their perspective. So many friendships in which iron sharpens iron are treasures… But now I’m getting sentimental.

The documentary is about 90 minutes long, and worth every minute of your time that it will take to watch it for free on Vimeo.

You can listen to Esau McCaulley interview Professor Bacote about the documentary on The Esau McCaulley podcast, available on your favorite podcast app, from the Holy Post website, and on Youtube.

Listen to an Excellent Episode of the Esau McCaulley Podcast – Patriotism, Big Churches, and “Human”!

July 4, 2025 /

The last episode of the Esau McCaulley podcast (as of July 4, 2025) is really excellent. I highly recommend it.

There’s a wonderful discussion of patriotism with a really helpful metaphor – the best I’ve heard yet! You’ll recognize it when you hear it. That conversation is followed by a discussion of big church vs. small church – the advantages and disadvantages of each. (Spoiler: To be fair, it is a discussion weighted towards small church.) Lastly, there is a closing segment discussing Peter Thiel’s philosophy and what it means to be human – a certain kind of techno-false gospel.

Listen in your favorite podcast app or watch it on YouTube or listen here in your favorite web browser.

On Becoming an American

July 2, 2025 /

Kieran Healy is a Professor of Sociology at Duke University. I really don’t know much about him, though he seems to have written a bunch of interesting articles and writes a blog. I found an intriguing quote from his latest blog note in an email newsletter of Alan Jacobs and followed up by reading Healy’s essay on the process of becoming an American citizen. Appropriately enough (and deeply appropriate for our times) it is entitled American.

In his essay, he reflects on what one learns and is tested on in the citizenship exam that one takes to become a citizen. I found his reflections both encouraging in their content and deeply troubling when compared to the reality of our current federal government’s approach to immigration.

I was captured by the portion of the Healy essay that Alan Jacobs quoted:

I know the nationalities of my fellow oath-takers because of the next stage of the ceremony. This was the Roll Call of Nations. I did not know this was going to happen. Every country of origin represented was announced in turn. As your country was named, you were asked to stand up, and remain standing. Afghanistan came first. Then Algeria. The last person to stand, immediately to my left, was from the United Kingdom. There were twenty seven countries in all, out of only fifty or so people. For me this part in particular was enormously, irresistibly moving. It perfectly expressed the principle, the claim, the myth — as you please — that America is an idea. That it does not matter where you are from. That, in fact, America will in this moment explicitly and proudly acknowledge the sheer variety of places you are all from. That built in to the heart of the United States is the republican ideal not just that anyone can become an American, but that this possibility is what makes the country what it is.

Wow. That’s what I learned growing up in the heartland of America. It’s inspiring. And that’s why the present treatment of so many where I live in LA County is so horribly depressing and awful and unAmerican. This drumming up of conflict by deporting contributing members of our community is just not what America is about. It divides us and induces fear. It’s wrong in so many ways. Iranian Christians dragged out of church to be deported? A student deported as he graduates high school? A resident of 47 years detained to be deported? The stories from torn-apart families are piling up; it’s horrifying to witness. And it’s even bad for those who are empowered and ordered to arrest and detain these people who are not criminals. It is not the American in which I grew up and learned American values.

And I haven’t even begun here to evaluate what is happening by uniquely Christian standards… Read American.

A Gentle Explanation of how Large Language Models are Developed

June 30, 2025 /

I ran across this helpful video explanation of how large language model systems are developed. ChatGPT and Claude and Gemini…. and so on that you hear about in the media are large language models – what passes for “AI” these days. It’s by Jacob Andreas of MIT CSAIL published in 2023. The explanation is light on details and does not assume a technical background. There are two youtube videos, a 16-minute part 1 and a 12-minute part 2.

Resources for Studying Immigration

June 21, 2025 /

In a talk I recorded for Long Beach Friends Church on June 22, 2025, I mentioned that there were some really good resources to understand migration issues. This sort article is written to provide links to those resources. I used these resources in preparing that message.

For a long-term historical survey of migration contextualizing present-day migration, far and away the best research is included in a book by one of the world’s leading scholars of migration, Hein de Hass. It is entitled How Migration Really Works: The Facts About the Most Divisive Issue in Politics. I highly, highly recommend it. It is well-written and covers a great deal of ground. I found some of the things I believed about immigration were simply not true. This is not a partisan book. (I don’t get anything if you use that link above to purchase from Amazon. Purchase where you will.)

Evangelical Immigration Table is a Christian organization that connects followers of Jesus with the world of American immigration in a way that strives to honor Jesus’ teaching.

USAFacts is a non-partisan organization to present statistics about immigration in the United States. Steve Balmer seems to be the primary driver of this organization. They present the unspun statistics about immigration to the United States.

Pew Research has a short article on unauthorized immigrants living in the United States.

Featured image for this post is from Heitordp, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kylie and me
Kylie and me

Ted Chiang says “ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web”

June 16, 2025 /

Ted Chiang wrote an article on large language models a couple of years ago that was published in the New Yorker. It is a really excellent conceptual introduction to what passes as “Artificial Intelligence” these days. He is an outstanding writer, whether it’s technical writing or his world-class short stories. This time, it’s technical. Chiang clearly presents several fundamental concepts clarifying large language models in about as straightforward and clear a manner as I have yet seen. I highly recommend it.

(Note that the article applies to all large language models, not just to ChatGPT)

I was Blessed by Joshua Luke Smith!

February 28, 2025 /

I don’t know Joshua Luke Smith. Never heard of him before today. I just read a brief article about him (he’s an MK). He’s a poet and rapper who works in prisons. That’s all I know except for the experience of hearing him read a couple of his poems.

What shoved me towards his work was Brian Bakke posting on social media a link to a recent reading of one of his poems which I think is entitled Sunflowers in Babylon. (Either that or Uncle Terry’s Legacy. I’m not sure.) Brian’s advice is serious business for me, so I decided to check it out. I’m not one who is much for poetry, but for eight minutes and twenty-eight seconds Joshua Luke Smith had my full, rapt attention. After he finished, I wanted to read the words of the poem and ponder a bit. I found a transcript here. Wow.

Then, I wanted to find out more about this guy. He’s got a website. The first video on the page “My Work” was a blessing. Would that I could bless like that! And he’s all over the common social media.

Then my granddaughter Malea arrived, walking to our house from her nearby elementary school. I told her I just saw a great video on YouTube. She wanted to see it. It held her attention for all eight minutes and twenty-eight seconds, too. She wanted to know why he wrote it. “Did he write that for a funeral?” I said perhaps it was inspired by his uncle’s passing, but that it was not performed for a funeral. She said she liked it a lot. Then her Dad picked her up to go home.

So this note is my recommendation to pursue some of his poetry for yourself. Planting a sunflower seed? It’s me, one who was deeply encouraged pointing to the source of the blessing. We need some blessing, some hope, some direction just now. The other events in the news out of DC today… Well, I’m not going to go there. Joshua Luke Smith. I’m going to recommend some time with his readings.

Five Quaker organizations sue to disallow ICE raids on houses of worship

February 5, 2025 /

In a very recent policy change, the new presidential administration withdrew guidance that said that ICE shouldn’t conduct an immigration raid during a church service except for when there is a public safety threat.

Note well… if a terrorist (or similar) were to run into a church there was already a way for ICE to have the authority to go into that church. What changed was the administration rescinded its limitations on immigration enforcement in “protected areas” like churches and hospitals and shelters.

We (generally speaking) all want law enforcement to protect public safety. However, churches that serve the immigrant community (like Long Beach Friends) don’t want ICE showing up and standing outside the church building on Sunday morning – or even worse, raiding the church! One of our services is in Spanish and we have many immigrant members from a diverse background. We know that people are afraid. We desire that our neighbors – all of them – should be able to attend worship services without fear.

In reaction, five Quaker organizations have sued to disallow ICE raids on houses of worship. I don’t know much directly about the suit, so please allow me to refer you to a Reuters news article about this lawsuit. My immediate reaction is: Good on these Quakers! I’m thankful for their actions.

For more informed discussion regarding this policy (not the lawsuit), you might want to listen to this podcast episode from the Holy Post starting at about one hour in as Skye Jethani interviews Matthew Soerens of World Relief.

“In God We Trust”

November 7, 2024 /

I’ve been thinking about this prophetic song and passionate rendition quite a lot lately. I deeply appreciate the Ethnos Project music. This particular song resonates with me here in 2024.

The video was recorded in 2021 in Los Angeles by the songwriters Michele Leong and Julia Carbajal with friends from the Ethnos Project Collective.

The lyrics and more details of the artists and recording are available in the description of the video on YouTube.

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