The faith250 Podcast

E5 What We've Learned

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 22:06:10 -0000

Rabbi Holzman and Derrick Scott III take stock of faith250's first year growing from 10 to 46 clusters of 289 congregations. They reflect on what surprised them and what they've learned. The conversation closes with a look ahead and a call to any clergy listening to know that this work is ongoing, urgent, and wide open.

Show Notes

2:18 — 46 clusters, 289 congregations
9:49 — Three lessons from the field
27:53 — From despair to conviction
23:20 — What clergy should know right now

To learn more about faith250 and how your congregation can be a part of it, check out faith250.org.

This podcast was produced by Wesley's Revival, the production ministry of Studio Wesley.

E4 How We Restore America’s Civic Culture with Rich Harwood

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 19:33:37 -0000

Rabbi Michael Holzman sits down with Rich Harwood, founder of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, to explore what civic culture actually means and why rebuilding it starts smaller than most people think. Rich has spent four decades working in communities across all 50 states and 40 countries. In this conversation, they discuss the unique role faith leaders can play in that work, why starting within your sphere of influence is not a compromise but a strategy, and how ideas spread like a positive contagion when you begin with the willing. Rich also shares four practical mantras for anyone ready to get started.

Show Notes

0:49 — Defining civic culture
10:05 — The ripple effect in Reading, PA
15:00 — When faith divides instead of unites
27:55 — Building trust for hard conversations
38:03 — Four mantras for getting started

You can also watch this interview on our Youtube Page.

To learn more about faith250 and how your congregation can be a part of it, check out faith250.org.

This podcast was produced by Wesley's Revival, the production ministry of Studio Wesley.

E3 Love and Civics with Bishop Tom Berlin

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:17:48 -0000

What does love have to do with civic life? In this conversation, Rabbi Michael Holzman sat down with Bishop Tom Berlin, a United Methodist bishop and author, for a wide-ranging dialogue on love, barnacles, and the spiritual foundations of citizenship. Drawing on nearly a decade of friendship, they trace how trust gets built across faith traditions, what the Wesleyan small-group tradition has to teach about civic accountability, and why congregations are the laboratories where people learn to be neighbors. From a 2017 interfaith coalition meeting in Northern Virginia to the well at Samaria, Rabbi Holzman and Bishop Berlin explore what it actually takes to scrape off the barnacles that slow us down as citizens, and why people of faith have a particular stake in getting that work right. This conversation took place during a live faith250 Perspectives Webinar in June 2026.

Show Notes

1:38 — How a decade of friendship began
9:08 — The barnacles metaphor: bias we can't see
15:33 — Jesus, the Samaritans, and two days of hospitality
28:23 — The Wesleyan roots of civic accountability
43:39 — Where to start building cross-tradition friendship

To learn more about faith250 and how your congregation can be a part of it, check out faith250.org.

This podcast was produced by Wesley's Revival, the production ministry of Studio Wesley.

E2 What to the Slave is the Fourth of July

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 17:07:07 -0000

Rabbi Michael Holzman, Rev. Dr. Vernon Walton, and Rev. Dr. Latricia Scriven discuss the famous speech delivered by Frederick Douglass in Rochester in 1852 . They explore what drives Douglass's pain, where his hope comes from, and why his indictment of America is ultimately an act of love. This conversation is candid, theological, and at times personal.

0:00 — Introducing the speech and the speakers
9:58 — Douglass's pain, and why he still cares
15:44 — The African American well of hope and forgiveness
35:08 — The difference between convincing and conviction

To learn more about faith250 and how your congregation can be a part of it, check out faith250.org.

This podcast was produced by Wesley's Revival, the production ministry of Studio Wesley.

E1 The Declaration of Independence

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 18:20:30 -0000

In this first episode of the faith250 podcast, Rabbi Michael Holzman sits down with Amy Harmon, Communications Director of the Oakton Stake of the LDS Church, and Rev. Daniel Cho, associate Pastor at Floris United Methodist Church, for a text study of the Declaration of Independence. This is the same kind of conversation faith250 clusters are having in neighborhoods across America. The three faith leaders wrestle with hard questions: What does it mean to hold a truth together? Did the founders actually believe in universal human equality,? What do we hope for America in the next 250 years? This is exactly the kind of multifaith, text-grounded dialogue that faith250 was built for. To learn how your congregation can be part of it, visit faith250.org.

This podcast was produced by Wesley's Revival,. the production ministry of Studio Wesley.

Introducing the faith250 Podcast

Sun, 05 Jul 2026 13:28:39 -0000

Rabbi Michael Holzman, founder of faith250, shares the vision for our movement.

Learn more at faith250.org.

This podcast was produced by the team at Wesley's Revival, the production ministry of Studio Wesley.