Todd serves as communications director for the Great Plains Conference of The United Methodist Church and is a participant in Lay Servant Ministries. He has served in his current role since February 2015. Prior to that, he served as a journalist with Gannett Co. Inc., for 20 years, the last 14-plus years as executive editor of Spectrum Media in St. George, UtahThis podcast, hosted by Todd Seifert, explores concepts of discipleship by telling the stories of a person, a congregation or even a community. Some episodes feature interviews. And some involve Todd providing reflections on scriptures from the Bible.
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Bishop Wilson — 100 daysOn the 100th day of Bishop David Wilson's tenure as bishop of the Great Plains Conference, he shares in a discussion with Todd what he's been up to so far in Kansas and Nebraska, as well as plans for the weeks and months ahead.
The Space at the Table event in mid-November talked about the bright future of The United Methodist Church and featured Rev. Dr. Mike Slaughter, panels of young clergy, academics and bishops, and discussion about how to strengthen the Black church. This episode features excerpts and brief interviews from Lovers Lane UMC in Dallas.
This new series of podcasts looks at the future of The United Methodist Church through interviews on the topic of disaffiliations by some congregations and the election of bishops coming up in November.
Episode 1: Where Things Stand — The series kicks off by looking at where things stand now with an interview with the Rev. Adam Hamilton, lead pastor of United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, the largest congregation in the denomination based in Leawood, Kansas, but with five campuses across the Kansas City area.
Episode 2: Where We Have Been — We look at the history of the human sexuality debate within the denomination in this episode. Guests are Rev. David Livingston and Randall Hodgkinson, who provide their perspectives and some historical context to what has happened since the first debate in 1972 through today.
Episode 3: Disaffiliation & Relationships — In the third of four episodes in the short series, we learn about what it means to disaffiliate, a perspective from a church that is leaving the denomination, and the philosophy used by trustees as they work with disaffiliating churches. Guests included Scott Brewer, conference treasurer and director of administrative services; Rev. Stephanie Ahlschwede, president of the conference Board of Trustees; and Rev. Rick Just, a leader in the Wesleyan Covenant Association and Global Methodist Church.
Episode 4: Bishop's Reflections — Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. shares some reflections on what has transpired in The United Methodist Church, the process of disaffiliations, and his hope for the future of the denomination as we conclude a short four-episode series on the future of the UMC.
The Great Plains Conference’s “In Layman’s Terms” podcast was named Best in Class in the News and Magazine Broadcast category in the recent Religion Communicators Council (RCC) awards for the four-part “Black Lives Matter” series. RCC is a nationwide interfaith association of communications professionals who work for and with faith-based organizations in the areas of communications, public relations, advertising and development. The podcast won first place in the Web Radio Series category and then was named best in class from among winners in the categories under the Broadcast heading. The panel of four judges for the category commended podcast host Todd Seifert for including a diverse group of people to talk about their experiences as African-Americans in the United States, the need for increased focus on racial justice in the country, and the way the story was told over the four episodes in the series.
You can listen to all four episodes via the links below:
Black Lives Matter — This episode tells the story of the African-American experience through the words of six black pastors in the Great Plains Conference: Rev. Dee Williamston, Rev. Dr. Kevass Harding, Pastor Ronda Kingwood, Rev. Robert Johnson, Rev. Portia Cavitt and Rev. Kirstie Engel. A warning this episode does include some of the recording of Mr. Floyd asking officers to allow him to move so he can breathe.
Response to Racism — Topics included white privilege, how to educate ourselves and other ways to help bring about change — from stopping racist chatter at the water cooler to speaking up to casting ballots. Featured guests included the late Rev. Junius Dotson and the Rev. Steve Spencer.
Let’s Talk About Race — Featured guests included the Rev. Kathy Williams, now conference coordinator for clergy development and at the time an African-American pastor serving a small town in Kansas, talking about the silence she observed after the death of George Floyd; Garlinda Burton, interim general secretary of The United Methodist Church’s General Commission on Religion and Race; and the Rev. Adam Barlow-Thompson and the Rev. Ashley Prescott Barlow Thompson, who lead the Neighboring Movement in Wichita.
Color of Law — Noted columnist and author Richard Rothstein takes part in a conversation about his book that explains how redlining became a government-sponsored way of preventing people of color from prospering economically and the ongoing ramifications of those policies.
This episode, which told the story about rebuilding the destroyed town of Greensburg, Kansas, was the debut episode for "In Layman's Terms," and it won the "best in class" award — the top award for the denomination — in the audio category in the 2019 United Methodist Association of Communicators awards contest. Download and listen to the episode here.
Coming of Age During the Civil Rights Movement — Oliver Green has been heavily involved in the Great Plains Conference since its inception. As we wrap up Black History Month, Oliver shares his story and what it was like to move into adulthood — as an African-American man — during the Civil Rights Movement. Oliver shares how the movement of the 1960s is similar to the cries for racial justice that we experience today, what attracted him to leaders like Malcom X and Martin Luther King and what can we do today to move forward on the important topic of racial justice.
Continuing the Push for Racial Justice — It’s been nine months since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, so Todd Seifert, host of the “In Layman’s Terms” podcast, decided to tell some follow-up stories featuring guests who helped explain the impact of police and other kinds of violence upon people of color in the spring of 2020. The communications team took it a step further by recording this video of the interview discussions with the Rev. Dee Williamston, superintendent of the Salina and Hutchinson districts, and the Rev. Robert Johnson, lead pastor of Saint Mark United Methodist Church in Wichita, the Great Plains Conference’s largest predominantly African-American church. Watch the video. | Listen to the audio version.
Church of the Resurrection celebrates its 30th anniversaryIn October 1990, a relatively small group of people met for worship for the first time — in a funeral home. With a name that was somewhat tongue-in-cheek because of its location but also a theological statement because of its dedication to Jesus Christ, United Methodist Church of the Resurrection was born.
The congregation made a pitstop at an elementary school before settling in the first of what is now a five-campus church in Leawood, Kansas, campus. Led by a then 25-year-old pastor and now world-renowned author, Rev. Adam Hamilton, from that humble beginning started a congregation that is now the largest in the entire denomination.
Rev. Darryl Burton, a newly ordained elder in The United Methodist Church sat in prison for 24 years. Lamont McIntyre sat in prison for 23 years. Neither man actually committed the murders for which they were accused. A ministry in New Jersey helped exonerate them, but there was no assistance to help them re-acclimate to society. So the two men joined forces in 2018 and launched Miracle of Innocence, a ministry meant to help innocent people find justice and regain their freedom, and then receive the help that Darryl and Lamont didn’t have available to them. Check out the organization’s website at www.miracleofinnocence.org.
Using the stories from the Old Testament history books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the goal is to share stories about how people and churches are preparing to re-engage with their congregations, their communities and with God through their own faith practices. Are you or your church doing something to prepare? Send an email to Todd Seifert at tseifert@greatplainsumc.org.
Seeking Justice as Christians — Todd concludes a series on re-emerging from our in-home exiles with a look at how we can reshape our communities to more closely resemble the Kingdom of God. A key part of that effort likely is justice ministries. Guest the Rev. Sarah Marsh, the new coordinator for mercy and justice ministries, talks about the difference between mercy ministries and justice ministries, and the partnership the conference has with two organizations that are building grassroots community organizing efforts across Kansas and Nebraska.In this episode, Stephanie references several videos you may want to check out for yourselves:
Part 2: Introduction to an Issue Guide — The Rev. Dr. Leah Schade returns to "In Layman's Terms" to pick up on the conversation we stared in 2021 about her book, "Preaching in the Purple Zone." In this episode, she shares an issue guide designed to help United Methodists discuss LGBTQIA+ inclusion and the upcoming General Conference. Request a copy of the issue guide.
Rev. Dr. Schade has provided proposed sermon outlines to be used with the issue guide. These are not provided as requirements but rather to serve as resources for pastors interested in using the Sermon-Dialogue-Sermon method.
Part 1: Ministry in the Purple Zone — Our country is more divided than ever. We have red states and blue states, and even red and blue congregations. Or do we? Aren't our congregations really just different shades of purple? The Rev. Dr. Leah Schade joins Todd for a discussion about her book, "Preaching in the Purple Zone," and how a method she has developed heavily involves the input from laity to help a church determine its response to topics pertinent to our times.
More episodes, including Bible reflections, are available on Todd Seifert's website.
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