I have been interviewing my cousin’s children, Allie and RJ Doroshewitz since 2012. This year is RJ’s sophomore year studying Political Science at George Washington University and shortly he will cast his first vote in a presidential election. The only thing better than recording people’s stories, is recording them over time. Watching these young people come into their adult lives having navigated social media, school shootings and a pandemic… I am in awe and deeply moved. Please listen to RJ.
It has only happened a few times in my life when an experience is so profound that I have to just ‘be’ with it before I can put words to it. As you are about to discover, even though I took two days, my words will fail. Luckily, I was blessed to meet and learn from the remarkable parishioners and leaders who have continue the legacy of the sacred place.
To the uninitiated, Buc-ee’s is sensory overload. Started in Texas in 1982 it has become a southern cultural phenomenon. Everything is BIG. Rows of gas pumps visible from space and lots of barbecue, jerky, jams and sauces, candies and something called Buc-ee’s Nuggets. My best discovery Buc-ee’s was how they treat their employee’s. I will be back!
I can still remember the first time I arrived in Shawnee Oklahoma on a Saturday and made my way down Kickapoo street (not kidding, that’s the name 🙂 to check out the Oklahoma Baptist University. I caught sight of a church across street and knew that I would be attending Sunday service at the University Baptist Church.
That year I wrote, “So this is what I found in Shawnee. A congregation focused, not on politics or social agenda, but on service. I like it here.”
That was 16 years ago and I have never missed a Sunday service at UBC on my travels since. Pastor Justin Dunn is able to gently guide and inspire and I treasure the hours of interviews that he has generously given over these extraordinary times.
This Sunday was no different. Pastor Dunn’s sermon today was on speech and how our words are powerful. They can create good and they can do great harm.
Then Pastor Dunn did something I had never heard him do before. He referenced a current event. Specifically, the Presidential debate and the damage done to Springfield by the former president, and also the language used by the Kamala as an example.
This video includes that segment of his sermon and the discussion that Pastor Dunn and I had after. I think you will see why I always come back.
