October on Freedom Road
October on Freedom Road
And looking toward Election Day
Souls to the Polls
Approximately 2000 souls rolled to the polls across Pennsylvania on Sunday, October 27. They came by car and bus. Freedom Road, LLC partnered with @powerinterfaith in Philadelphia and Bethel CDC in Allegheny County, including Pittsburgh, to make history.
Souls To The Polls is a GOTV strategy born in the south to counter Jim Crow voter suppression and intimidation. Three weeks ago these three organizations joined forces to bring Souls to the Polls north to Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania’s first election with access to early voting, 20 Black churches in Philadelphia and 13 in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County joined forces. Parishioners boarded buses directly following their services and rolled to their County Elections Offices and satellite sites to submit their mail-in ballots together as an act of public witness.
The effort leveraged the power of black radio stations to spread the news in combination with trusted local organizers, youth mobilizers and a compelling initiative with a set time and place for engagement.
The result: In Philadelphia, the effort increased voter turnout by 200% that day. The usual turnout at all Philadelphia election offices and satellite offices on a Sunday is 500. On the day of the PA Souls to the Polls, Sunday, October 27, 2024, the turn out was approximately 1500, according to stats shared by the Philadelphia Election Commissioner. In Pittsburgh, 1000 showed up, voted and emptied the food trucks!
We are a little bit weepy today. Pennsylvania could be won or lost by 1000 votes. To know that our effort made a difference is humbling.
But the work isn’t over! Now we’re looking toward Election Day!!!
Let’s win this!! 🔥
In this Newsletter
Your Vote. Your Voice.
Lisa’s Adventures with Nuns on the Bus
Red Letter Revival Philly: Catch Up
Lisa in the True Believer Film Screening
Jacqui Lewis on Gunviolence
Jesus Would Vote
Prayers for the Election
On the Freedom Road Substack
The Gaza Call
Truth Listening Webinar now available
On the Freedom Road Podcast
Build a Better World
Subscribers Calls
Global Writers Group
Fly
Your Vote. Your Voice.
Join Lisa Sharon Harper, Dr. Drew Hart, the Rev. Dr. Gregory Edwards, the Rev. Lee Scott, and the Rev. Heather Taylor with Amy Widestrom, Voter Education Trainer and Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, for a webinar on everything you need to vote in Pennsylvania!
This webinar took place live on October 23rd at 7pm eastern, but you can watch by clicking the video above.
Brought to you by Freedom Road, LLC, Laurel Oak Farm, Bread for the World, and the League of Women Voters, PA.
Lisa’s Adventures with Nuns on the Bus
This week I’ve joined the #nunsonthebusandfriends on the last leg of their trek across the country inspiring Christians to “Vote Our Future”!
Our first stop was Nogales, Arizona — the borderlands — where we were guided on a walking pilgrimage in 100+ degree weather by the Sisters of the Kino Border Initiative. These women did not ask permission. They simply stepped up and met the need when migrants began to show up in 2007. Three sisters met the need and years later there are 37 Sisters providing full accompaniment for families facing the most brutal times of their lives.
We closed our time in Nogales with a press conference to lift up the need for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in order to address multiple issues at play in our times.
Please pray for us as we ride through the Southwest this week. Pray that our work would ultimately serve to strengthen our democracy and expand our vision of a national community where no one is left behind.
Red Letter Revival Philly: Catch Up on All that Happened
The Gospel Choir of the Historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas is welcoming the spirit with us tonight 🔥🔥🔥
Kicking off our Red Letter Revival in Philly at the Historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas @aecst1792 with @shane.claiborne, @lisasharper and our preacher @blackmon_traci 🔥🔥🔥
Lisa in the True Believer Film Screening
“As her faith community betrays the Jesus they taught her to love, an evangelical filmmaker reckons with the ‘pro-life’ political identity she built her life on, & that threatens our very Democracy.”
After the screening on October 29th, Lisa joined filmmaker Kristen Irving, along with @dianabutlerbass, @ericasmith.educates, & @faithchoiceohio for a live discussion centered on reproductive justice. Visit truebelieverfilm.com for information about upcoming screenings.
Jacqui Lewis on Gun Violence
Take a moment and listen to powerful words from Rev Dr Jacqui Lewis about how gun violence impacted her call in ministry in a call with Why Do You Vote?
#takebackchristianity #guns #gunreform
Jesus Would Vote
Jesus would vote!
Narrated by Rev Dr Mark Sandlin
@marksandlin
#gotv #2024election #takebackchristianity
Prayers for the Election
We need to pray this election season. Many of us try to calm our fears by dismissing worst case scenarios as highly unlikely. We say things like, “I don’t have to be afraid of flying because plane crashes are extremely rare.” That might help, but then we’re reminded that sometimes planes do crash, and the anxiety comes rushing forward again. We try to push back fear through logic, but anxious thoughts are not easily stopped. This is especially true with the influence of social media, the news cycle, and our anxious, fractured culture. Scripture gives us a different approach. We can pray “Even If” prayers to ground ourselves in Christ and trust that He holds all things together and we will not be overcome. The same is true if we think a political candidate or out come will bring our wildest dreams. And it is absolutely the case to live out praying for our enemies - especially the political ones. RSVP and join us on November 4, 5, and 6 at 12pm EST for 30 minutes of guided prayer. RSVP.
On the Freedom Road Substack
On the Freedom Road Podcast
Election Thoughts
Don’t miss Lisa’s ongoing takes and information on the upcoming election on her instagram.
The Gaza Call
Dear Fellow Disciples of Jesus,
We are a community of Christians from around the world who are writing to you with heavy hearts. From our countries, we are watching with horror as a crisis has unfolded in Palestine/Israel. Since October 7, 2023, 1,139 Israeli Jews and more than 37,000 Palestinian Gazans have been killed. In the West Bank, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed, including many women and children. We condemn all of it. And yet, we see again and again how Christian leaders, theologians, institutions, and churches around the world have not only failed to call out their governments, which support Israel’s military, but also have been incapable of calling Israel out for what is clearly the utter devastation of Gaza and the dramatic loss of life there. Followers of Jesus in Palestine, the United Nations, and the International Court of Justice have identified Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank as ethnic cleansing and a plausible genocide. The Pope named Israel’s assault on Gaza as “terrorism.” We are appealing to you, imploring you to ask how God sees this litany of destruction and death, and what Christ requires of you…
Read the rest and add your name to the open letter here!
Build a Better World: A Learning Community from Freedom Road
Have you read one of Lisa Sharon Harper’s books? Or one of the books from our Global Writers’ Group authors? Have you been a part of one of Freedom Road’s Webinars either live or purchased one on demand? We have just launched a learning community on Facebook for anyone who wants to chat with like-minded people about the material they’ve been reading or watching.
Join us today and we will grow together to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly into a better world!
Join the Facebook Group
To make things easier in these difficult times where everything seems to be more expensive, we have lowered our individual pricing on all our courses to make them accessible to more people. And don’t forget there’s a couple of free offerings to get you started as well! Check out our institute page and the course archive now.
Rather read a book? Check out The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can be Made Right or Fortune: How Race Broke my Family and the World… and How to Repair it All both by Lisa Sharon Harper.
Or check out the list of books written in our Global Writers’ Group here.
2024 Subscribers’ Calls
Every quarter, Lisa sits down with our subscribers and patrons and chats about different things going on in the world.
If you are a paid subscriber to Substack or a Patreon patron at the James Farmer level or above, you are invited to participate in a quarterly call with Lisa Sharon Harper.
If you aren’t a subscriber or Patron, upgrade your subscription today, or join our Patreon!
Mark your calendars now, and you’ll get an email prompting you to register closer to the each date:
November 14, 2024 at 8pm Eastern
Fly
Download Fly now on Apple or Amazon Music or stream on Spotify and take it with you wherever you go!
Global Writer’s Group
Since April of 2020 as the world closed down, the Global Writer’s Group has been meeting via zoom every Saturday, with time off only for Christmas and New Years. Early in our time together, Lisa Sharon Harper charged the group with the task of “writing a new world into existence” and over time we have truly seen this in action. We have taken on the task of changing the world, and of course what changed first was ourselves. We as a group have become better writers over this time, but also better people, finding true community in the sacred sharing of ourselves with each other and the world.
We accept members on a rolling basis: it’s never too late to join the community. Prepare to find your life changed for the better as you sharpen your writing skills and prepare to bring your words to the world.
Collectively, we have published six books, have several writers who’ve recently become agented and/or are under contract for upcoming books, and many, many journal articles over the past three years with several more books in the works.
The Narrative Gap, as coined by Lisa Sharon Harper, is the distance between the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves, including how we got here and what it will take to make things right. In our world today, competing narratives vie for our loyalty, dividing society and the church, therefore making justice impossible. Our mission is help communities shrink the narrative gap, by identifying core issues and building community capacity so they might work toward common solutions for a just world. Here on the Freedom Road Substack, we can converse together on ways to shrink that narrative gap and help ensure everyones’ stories are told.
Connect
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