"Moral imagination is what reminds us that not every response to evil is good." -Justin Giboney, Pres. of the (&) campaign.

At Transform Minnesota's evening about depolarization, Rachel Wightman of Concordia University Saint Paul says "to love your neighbor is to not share misinformation." Be a truth-teller and check your sources. Thanks to moderators who weed out disinfo on any platform and help me follow Christ!

I got to guest preach again this morning. One dude said "I'm going to go home and watch this again on YouTube right away." What if the "house of many rooms" is not about The Way to heaven, but a guide to living under occupation? www.youtube.com/live/u_ashYC...

After being awarded the Strengthening Democracy Field Test funding from @pascl-stanford.bsky.social , we spent 2024 working with @mjbsp.bsky.social and 700 participants to strengthen MCC Respectful Conversations with @civity.bsky.social 's storytelling tool. This paper is one peacebuilding outcome.

It would be fun if the data were more conclusive, but that isn't how science always goes! I learned a lot from this project and from working with @j-rock.bsky.social! I hope that others find our data useful as they pursue similar ideas.

We paired the Minnesota Council of Churches' Respectful Conversations program (intensive, stewarded by @j-rock.bsky.social) with a video intervention developed by @civity.bsky.social (light touch) that was effective at reducing partisan animosity in the Strengthening Democracy Challenge.

This preprint reports on a project with @j-rock.bsky.social. We merged a light touch intervention (typical of survey experiments) w/ an intensive intervention (more typical of practitioner efforts) for reducing toxic polarization to see if we could cheaply boost 🚀 the more intensive intervention

Christ is the true vine, and when we live in alignment with his purpose we bear great fruit. Plus, the character Hebrews might have known as "akkabish Adam." My guest sermon this morning. www.youtube.com/live/-qUteJJ...

Share your favorite black and white movie

Hilarious take! But also, good for the insurance cos.

But I landed tickets for his First Ave show next March!

Roommate's grandfather is demonstrating more restraint and responsibility than our premier media outlets

Every time I catch a cobweb while I'm walking through a doorway I pause to appreciate the spider's ambition.

Anybody else just get followed here by like 20 bots?

A 1940s headline dug up by @brezwrites.bsky.social

Going to YouTube university + researching the right replacement part, I basically paid myself $140/hr to replace my car's right side mirror compared to what the dealer would have charged. I received two major awards in the last two months, but I feel similarly proud of this accomplishment.

Please read and share this statement from Sophie and Colin Hortman, children of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. (via WCCO reporter Caroline Cummings on X)

@tellthestories.bsky.social I'm catching up on emails. Congrats on the DMin!

WIRED magazine has some notes regarding "How to Protest Safely in the Age of Surveillance." wired.com/story/how-to...

Bluesky, how much should you spend on a first date? I think it's $200.

I barely ever read corporate art but this book, a gift from friends, is an ambient delight. Written by Del Maguey's founder, "Finding Mezcal" is a spirit-focused travelogue of remote Oaxaca. It makes me remember the state, yearn to return, and to never let too much time separate me from my next sip.

🚨 ACTION ITEMS to stop the FDA from limiting Covid vaccine access: 1. Submit a public comment to the FDA www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD... 2. Contact your elected officials www.usa.gov/elected-offi...

This one he's right about. I had a Huawei when HK was actively protesting. I looked up "how to support Hong Kong protestors" on Google on the phone and was directed to sites about how it was no big deal and they were wrong. Same term on my PC directed me to advocacy orgs and donation opportunities.

Thanks @wccoradio.bsky.social for featuring our Minnesota Ethical Leadership Award on The Sawkar Salute this morning! www.audacy.com/podcast/the-...

If you've been upset by the apparent White Nationalist support of a mom who used a slur on another mom's 5-year-old at a playground, then be heartened by the work of Kiandria Demone, and take the steps she recommends so that dirty money doesn't reward evil acts. www.threads.com/@kiandria/po...

What’s a movie you think nobody but you and a handful of people have heard of, that you think is a fantastic film?

Drop a movie that you flat out refuse to watch again

Tuesday was a good day. Thanks, Minnesota Character Council!

But we were close back in 1304.

Please remind me next time that Kirkland Bacon isn't any good anymore.

Holy cow. The Body of Christ vs. NIMBY battle is experiencing a new escalation at the hands of Toms River NJ's "bad faith" township council.

The average American has three friends

NOT GIVING UP Had Harriet Tubman compared the 70 slaves she freed to the 4 million enslaved, she might have given up. Her hope and leadership were not based on the dire math of reality, but on a calculation of faith. Hope is not empirically demonstrated, it is morally chosen. #AddToBlackSky

The FBI is trying to create a folk hero in Milwaukee. www.cnbc.com/2025/04/25/f...

Over 40 people came out in Chatfield and Minneapolis for the first two screenings and conversations in the Better Together Film Festival. If you missed them, good news: there are still five screenings left this week! See them in Bloomington and Minneapolis. Sign up at www.mnchurches.org

This is a date night for us. Excited for the show!

Happy Easter! Christ is risen and hope is a discipline. Today might suck, tomorrow might too, but the truth of the empty tomb gives us faith that God prevails at the end of the story. Like Pastor Whitney shared at Centennial UMC, 'tis the season to embrace the Stockdale Paradox!

Watching a film about people bridging their differences actually makes you better at bridging your differences with people! Sign up to become a better peacemaker the week after Easter by watching a Better Together film. mnchurches.org/better-toget...

One of the movies in the Better Together Film Festival playing in 2 weeks in Minnesota is "A Case for Love," featuring Bishop Michael Currie. youtu.be/jLTxUBCbLiQ

Last week I was with a President, an int'l leader, and dozens of awesome changemakers, yet I'm more chuffed by this: While other states in the Better Together Film Festival have 1 or 2 cities hosting screenings, MN has 3 cities with 7 screenings! Sign up for free to see an award-winning doc NOW!

Reading "Last Child in the Woods" for my book club and wishing - praying - that we could have this* RFK Jr back. Blocking children's access to nature, he says, is equivalent to "tearing the last pages out of the last Bible on Earth."

I don't care if you're into tech journalism or not - this story is 100% worth a read for the author's confidence, command of language, and sense of humor. Jason Kehe is a truly talented communicator.

every college, corporate, and nonprofit president right now

30,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russians were being tracked by the U.S. so they could be rescued and returned. Why is DOGE and the Trump administration helping child traffickers by ending this program and destroying its data?

I spent the weekend in Chicago with other Obama Foundation Leaders in the Midwest. I had a great time getting to know wonderful people better but was also taken by the architecture of their downtown library.

"When you are inside them, adventures happen slowly." -Lev Grossman, The Bright Sword

I saw Greg Brown, who regularly sells out 500+ seat venues, at his Electric Fetus book signing attended by 14 other fans.

“This is complicity in one of the most insidious war crimes of our time – the systematic theft of children, an act that amounts to nothing less than genocide.” www.kyivpost.com/opinion/48972