We all carry in our bodies complex stories, histories, and perspectives that we bring into leadership. How does the way your identity has been shaped in turn shape the way you lead? Have you ever reflected on the “context of the self”? In this episode, Shawn describes how he understands his mestizo identity, how the liturgy at Rez Austin gets expressed as “fiesta,” and how the community he leads is moving into the future by remembering the past.

Rez has become a people whose culture is around the Table, and that Table is radically hospitable.

Place and Space

  • Austin, Texas (South side)

  • Six year old plant

  • Worship space: Meet in rented school building

  • Mostly white, young families, some multi-ethnic

  • Tradition: Anglican

Theological Themes

  • Alternate ecclesiology in the “Bible Belt”

  • The context of the self

  • Liturgy as “fiesta”

  • Mestizo theology

  • Extending the Table into the neighborhood

Tension and Disorientation

  • Moving away from a clergy-centric leadership model with Shawn at the center

  • Struggling to move into distributed leadership

Hope and New Life

  • Remembering the Spirit’s leading while navigating difficult transitions

  • Experimenting with practices of “remembering” and corporate discernment

Note from Host Seth Richardson:

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