The Reconciliation Conversation
Derrick DeLain & Jason Dukes
INTERVIEW with Chapel Hart
Episode 18 | December 17th, 2020

INTRO | Derrick DeLain

BIO info for Chapel Hart
Chapel Hart is a soulful, country music trio with engaging melodies and tight harmonies and beautiful voices who began as street-performers on Royal Street in New Orleans. The group's colorful and contagious energy has flourished into a full live band experience that fills venues at home in NOLA and around the country.

Danica, Trea, and Devyn have an amazing ability to tug on your heartstrings with a tender yet powerful ballad, then have you pumping your fist in unison to the pulse of hard-hitting rock and roll. The band accentuates the three vocalists, who embody the sweet and southern sound of country with the soulful undertones noting their gospel roots. The cohesiveness of the band has not gone unnoticed as they have garnered thousands of fans from all over the world and have received hundreds of thousands of views online.

The trio has a natural ability to make people join together in song and dance, uniting people of all nationalities, religions, and walks of life.

QUESTION 1 | Derrick DeLain
Would you mind kicking off this episode and celebrating this Christmas season by singing a favorite, upbeat Christmas tune?

QUESTION 2 | Jason Dukes
You are from the Deep South. Your hometown is Poplarville, MS. How have those roots shaped you into the women and artists you are today?

QUESTION 3 | Derrick DeLain
You are the first brown-skinned trio to break into the country music scene. What is a win you celebrate as well as a hardship you lament from your musical journey so far?

QUESTION 4 | Jason Dukes
What are some of the dreams you hold together for your musical career, and how can you envision using your platform for life-giving purpose?

QUESTION 5 | Derrick DeLain
How might you encourage our listeners with two or three actionable takeaways regarding the steps we must take toward a re-imagined American future together?

QUESTION 6 | Jason Dukes
Can you close out the episode with one of your own tunes?

OUTRO | Derrick DeLain

— Socials for our guest
:: @ChapelHartBand on social media
:: streaming on all platforms
:: subscribe to their YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb_y7IR7k8FoohmTFw4AlVw

— Socials for The Reconciliation Conversation
:: @theReconConvo
:: ReconciliationConversation.com

*Thank you for subscribing on YouTube and the podcast and for following on social media. Please review us wherever you listen to podcasts, as this can help others find us who are also seeking to join the conversation!

**Musical intro and outro by @cdukesmusic (https://cdukesmusic.com)

The Reconciliation Conversation
Derrick DeLain & Jason Dukes
INTERVIEW with Kaitlyn Schiess
Episode 17 | November 2nd, 2020

INTRO | Derrick DeLain

BIO info for Kaitlyn Schiess
Military brat. Sort-of PK. Liberty U grad with focus on Political Science, Debate Team, and History. Dallas Theological ThM student. Young Adult Women’s Ministry Team with Grace Bible Church Dallas, TX. Connector of theology and spiritual formation and culture-shaping and politics. Author of The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor.

QUESTION 1 | Derrick DeLain
Liberty University and partisan politics — THIS IS NOT A FORMER PRESIDENT QUESTION. Rather, can you talk about how your experiences there have shaped your passion for politics now?

QUESTION 2a | Jason Dukes
Continuing in that vein, help our listeners understand the present political reality as you see it. What is really the issue? Why are we such an un-United States?

QUESTION 2B | Jason Dukes
Can you talk about how the American Church’s politics are shaped by our habits and practices, of which we’re often unaware? And please give an example of how this culture-shaping reality has hurt the church as well as an example of how it could help the church.

QUESTION 3a | Derrick DeLain
You assert that there’s a hunger among your peers for better and more theologically-informed thinking about politics, AND that the Christian tradition has rich theological resources for this kind of thinking. Talk about the kind of renaissance you’re seeing in spiritual formation among young church leaders.

QUESTION 3b | Derrick DeLain
Can you explain to our listeners this Liturgy of Politics — the connection between our political work, our corporate worship, and our spiritual disciplines?

QUESTION 4 | Jason Dukes
As we wrap — you insist that the way out of our political morass is first to recognize the formative power of the political forces all around us, and then to engage in ancient yet new ways. What’s a warning you would give to our listeners if the present reality does not change, if we don’t recover historic Christian practices that shape us according to the truth of the gospel?

OUTRO | Derrick DeLain

— Socials for our guest
:: @KaitlynSchiess
:: wrote The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor
:: buy her book at https://www.ivpress.com/the-liturgy-of-politics
:: https://kaitlynschiess.com

— Socials for The Reconciliation Conversation
:: @theReconConvo
:: ReconciliationConversation.com

*Thank you for subscribing on YouTube and the podcast and for following on social media. Please review us wherever you listen to podcasts, as this can help others find us who are also seeking to join the conversation!

**Musical intro and outro by @cdukesmusic (https://cdukesmusic.com)

The Reconciliation Conversation
Derrick DeLain and Jason Dukes
Episode 16 | Governor Jeb Bush
September 30th, 2020

INTRO | Derrick DeLain

BIO for Gov. Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush is the 43rd governor of the State of Florida, serving from 1999 through 2007. He was the third Republican elected to the state’s highest office and the first Republican in the state’s history to be reelected. He was most recently a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

Governor Bush remained true to his conservative principles throughout his two terms in office – cutting nearly $20 billion in taxes, vetoing more than $2.3 billion in earmarks and reducing the state government workforce by more than 13,000. His limited government approach helped unleash one of the most robust and dynamic economies in the nation, creating 1.3 million net new jobs and improving the state’s credit ratings, including achieving the first ever triple-A bond rating for Florida.

During his two terms, Governor Bush championed major reform of government, in areas ranging from health care and environmental protection to civil service and tax reform. His top priority was the overhaul of the state’s failing education system. Under Governor Bush’s leadership, Florida established a bold accountability system in public schools and created the most ambitious school choice programs in the nation. Today, Florida remains a national leader in education and is one of the only states in the nation to significantly narrow the achievement gap.

Governor Bush is also known for his leadership during two unprecedented back-to-back hurricane seasons, which brought eight hurricanes and four tropical storms to the state of Florida in less than two years. To protect the state from loss of life and damage caused by catastrophic events, such as hurricanes, Bush worked tirelessly to improve the state’s ability to respond quickly and compassionately during emergencies, while also instilling a ‘culture of preparedness’ in the state’s citizenry.

Governor Bush joined the University of Pennsylvania as a non-resident Presidential Professor of Practice for the 2018-19 academic year.  He has previously served as a visiting professor and fellow at Harvard University, an executive professor at Texas A&M University, and has been awarded several honorary doctorates from collegiate institutions across the country. Governor Bush has been recognized for his contributions to public policy by national organizations including the Manhattan Institute, The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the Jack Kemp Foundation. Governor Bush earned his bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

Governor Bush currently serves as Chairman of Finback Investments Partners LLC and Dock Square Capital LLC, both merchant banks headquartered in Coral Gables.

Governor Bush maintains his passion for improving the quality of education for students across the country by serving as the Chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a national nonprofit education reform organization he founded to transform education in America.

He has written three books, Profiles in Character; Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution; and Reply All: A Governor’s Story 1999-2007.

Governor Bush lives in Miami with his wife Columba. They have three children and four grandchildren.

QUESTION 1 | Derrick DeLain
Just to gain context, and since what we do here is called “The Reconciliation Conversation,” how important is one’s educational approach to creating opportunity for reconciliation and a re-imagined 21st Century American future together?