You all have opened my eyes and heart to many things I had never thought through. I am blessed and encouraged. Thank you! I honor you for the work you are doing!

Return to White style after cultural appropriation: Fumble or Drop-kick?

As a white middle aged Christian I feel like I’m hearing conversations that I wouldn’t otherwise. I’m sure when I walk into a primarily black space the discussion subtly changes. I wish it wouldn’t but I understand the why’s.

If the things they said about white people were said about literally any other race everyone would see clearly how bigoted and racist it is. And no, your Marxist definition of prejudice + power isn’t going to cut it. Your not immune from the sin of hate and superiority just because you have more melanin in your skin.

Will you and the crew being doing a podcast for Black Panther 2?

This podcast is unbiblical, hate filled and racist. It pushes brothers and sisters to hate each other, their neighbors and country. This will not unite, bring peace or unity for one another but ignite a hatred.

Thank you Jemar Tisby for the reading of Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech. I couldn’t believe how much of it was applicable today. As you have said In your writings: history doesn’t repeat itself, but history rhymes. I’m a midwestern, middle aged white woman, trying to understand the experiences and history of my Black brothers and sisters in America. I have learned so much from you Dr Tisby and the folks at The Witness. Thank you! Colette P Minneapolis, MN

As a Black woman I have been enjoying this series greatly. Listening to this series made me want to share this book title (recently learned about, but have not read) “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker. I thought you all might appreciate this research and writing.

Love listening to these two very thoughtful hosts and all of their guests. I’ve learned a lot. The episode on healthy churches was particularly helpful.

As a progressive Christian who has been on an anti-racism journey the last few years, I am so grateful for this podcast. I have truly learned so much. It has taught me to delve deep and do the inner work that is so crucial to becoming a better ally.

I became are of this podcast at a time in my life when I needed it most. I was in the midst of disentangling my faith from cultural biases that excluded me from full participation as a black man. I was spiraling, scared and couldn’t see an end to my struggle. This podcast helped me to feel seen and understood. I can’t thank you enough. God bless you brothers!!!

Tuned in on a whim to have something to listen to on my commute. These young men are in a prophetic space for this time! Their words are powerful and they are speaking truth where it needs to be spoken! Keep up the hard work, it is greatly needed!

This is the best part of my week. Whenever I get the opportunity to listen to this podcast, it allows me to be myself. I’m coming to it as me. And I’m so happy that y’all do this! Thank you!

Not many places out there that can create space for and hold religious/spiritual pain. Tyler Burns does it every episode. Immensely grateful for Tyler and all of his guests.

I was looking for mentors to guide me in this Civil Rights movement as I do my part and on this Podcast I found the answer. “If you can’t find a mentor around you today, then find someone from the past” and so I started reading Howard Thurman, James Cone, James Baldwin and listening to Malcom X and Dr. King Jr. This continues to give me the strength to fight on in my community.

One of my favorite podcasts. Convicting. Important. Needed. Thankful for their work and to be continually encouraged to de enter myself as a white woman and to listen and sit under black leadership. Grateful!

So grateful for the minds and hearts on this pod. I’m Black and grew up in white evangelicalism and will be in therapy for the rest of my life. The reframing here and call for radical and relentless pursuit of health, balance, justice, and Jesus is great.

Best discussion I have heard on vaccines. Particularly “if you have a platform steward it well” and “be open to correction.”

So thankful for the content of this show, not always the most pleasant, but truth is so needed! In addition, it’s production and storytelling are excellent. Tyler Burns is a gifted communicator and host.

All I can say is thank you. You have continued to show me my part of this problem (sin). I know you do not need praise from a white man. So I write this post in hope that other white folk will stop and listen. Maybe in just listening hearts will soften and correction (repentance and justice) will take place. Either way I have a new found discovery through this podcast’s horrid historical accounts, to prayer even more the prayer of Daniel 9 and to share with others in my pastoral care.

Let me tell you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I am retiring from having this conversation. Hence forth now and forever more I will just forward this podcast. Thank you. I’m tired. And retired.

Every episode is a must listen! I have learned so much and found so many new ‘mentors from afar’ in the episodes. I’m thankful for the work Tyler and Jemar put in and am encouraged to put in my own work.

This podcast is so helpful. It’s a place to learn and listen to voices and view points from the black church in America. How and why is the church in its current state and what can we do to support fellow Christians? If you are in mostly white spaces most of the time you need to hear from this deeply spiritual point of view.

I am instructed in how my black brothers and sisters in Christ are being treated and how they feel. Just listen and learn.

I am first and foremost a Christian but also blessed by God with my Chicano identity. I am blessed by the podcast. It is so important to purposely take a seat and listen sometimes. To hear from others, to learn from others. To learn how to be an ally, to learn of the importance of how to support with more than just words. To invest in others with my time, talent and treasure. From my learning of these two men of God and their guests, I have been able to contextualize the concepts and apply it to my context. I ask for blessings for you all so that you can continue and expand the work you are doing. May the God of Justice continuously give you strength, and me strength to support you, as you strive for justice.

I’ve been listening since 2014 when I, white man, began teaching African American students in a Christian school setting with no training in racial bias, cultural sensitivity, etc, provided by the ministry. Without this podcast, I shudder to think how blindly dangerous I would have been. They have trained and, from a distance, discipled me. Jemar, Tyler, and their expertly curated guests do not cater to my perspective, which is why it is so important. This podcast makes me laugh, cry, yell, repent, and long for a day when the American church walks humbly and does justice to black and brown image bearers. I can’t say enough how wise, biblically rooted, and historically informed this podcast is. I think it was more well-suited to novices in the conversation when I began listening in 2014. This is a shift away from the “white gaze” about which they talk regularly. So a fragile white listener might have a hard time jumping in nowadays (not the podcast’s fault, by the way), but I add that simply as a caution before you send this podcast to your blindly biased white parents or something.

I love this podcast because as a white male it provides me with much needed perspective. I appreciate the truth that is spoken and know that it is making me a better person. Thank you!

The conversation is deep and a blessing. The latest episode had me stopping to take notes it hit so hard! Respect and thanks to y’all…

An excellent podcast that covers the major issues of racism and white supremacy in the church today. If you're white and need to know how Black Christians handle these issues then listen. This podcast had been immenselyhelpful for me in in adding language to my repertoire of combatting white supremacy in the church.

I just started listening to this podcast recently and everything has been fire and on point so far. I have enjoyed the challenges and ideas of how to be within the Church and create change. As a Black Woman in a predominately white space, I appreciate the work you do.

Thank you for this podcast. I just finished listening to your interview with Dr. Butler. I so appreciate your conversations and as a white woman living in rural Nebraska, I am so thankful for these conversations. They continue to help me see where I have been complicit so that I can have helpful and frank conversations with my children. Though these podcasts more specifically deal with the experiences of Black Christians, the perspectives help me decenter myself in a way that help me also think about my interactions with the Hispanic community here in my small town.

I love hearing your perspectives, questions, and honest stories. Thank you for all of your hard work and vulnerability to make this podcast. I’m a white American Christian woman living in Asia and I’ve been wrestling with how to engage in and learn more about the racial issues in the States while living abroad, and your podcast has been a great place for me to begin to engage in that. Every episode I listen to challenges my perspective and invites me to understand on a deeper level my black brothers and sisters’ experiences and perspectives. Thank you for the invitation to sit at the table and listen and learn. Appreciate all that you guys do!

So pleased to hear about your new job!

Take time to listen prayerfully, not easy to hear but compelling.

Thank you for sharing y’all’s stories and making a difference in the American church. Keep doing your thing, and may the Lord bless the work you’re doing for the kingdom.

As a white woman looking to speak less and listen more, your words are so helpful. Thank you for this work, it really matters.

As a 30 something African-American male, I too can relate to the “Leave Loud” testimonies of Jemar and Tyler. After growing as a child in more Black Christian church traditions, I came to Christ in my mid-twenties and soon after developed a voracious appetite for anything that seemed solidly biblical. I was drawn to and encouraged even, through some other like minded acquaintances of mine at the time, to more evangelical, and specifically, as Tyler so eloquently pointed out, Calvinist theology. I too became a huge fan of Christian Hip hop and artists like Lecrae, The 116 Movement, Da’ Truth, Ambassador, Trip Lee and others who weaved into their biblically centered rhymes, more evangelical and conservative theology. Although I never attended a more conservative white church, my personal theology aligned more with conservative and reformed theology. The Pass the Mic episode and these episodes in particular are so freeing for me as a black Christian man, and as an educator -in a vocation and system dominated by whiteness and white ideals. I thank God for being introduced to RAAN by a friend some years ago and I pray that the mission of the Witness continues to grow and be a place of freedom and comfort for not only black Christians but for others who want to see the church as it was intended to be. I support 100% the mission and ministry of Mr. Tisby and Mr. Burns and I look forward to more relevant content and information from The Witness a Black Christian Collective! ✊🏾✊🏾

This podcast has brought history, theology and enlightenment to how I have been feeling for the awhile now. I thank God for building up strong black leaders to speak Our truth! I have felt I needed to leave my culture to follow Him. As I continue to listen and read the cited text in the podcast (keep educating) the scales are falling off allowing me to see the world through the lens of the marginalized, Our Lens! Much love, Isaiah Hakeem

I just finished Tyler’s Leave Loud episode. Wow! When he talked about being dismissed outright by leaders in the reformed theology, I felt like somebody finally had spoken what I have been experiencing. I am a white woman who had to leave an extremely toxic situation because of dismissal of the all male leadership in my reformed church. Their theology of “less than” finally broke me and I haven’t been a member of a church since. I can not find a church that matches up with the gospel I was raised on. I just appreciate everything you both are doing here and I look forward to listening and learning more.

Thank you for sharing your leave loud experiences! Honest, open & transparent with truth that needs to be spoken. I’m listening to allow the Lord to work me through my own wilderness. Appreciate you both greatly 👍🏼❤️

Really enjoyed the episode on Jemar’s LeaveLOUD testimony specifically.

This podcast has been a beacon of light during confusing times. I am so thankful for your voices and perspectives. Thank you for declaring the truth unashamedly and for calling out sins within the church that need to be exposed and repented of.

I’m a very white girl surrounded mostly by other very white people. When I listen to this podcast, I feel like I’m eavesdropping in important conversations between black leaders, pastors and teachers. No white perspectives or opinions. I’m listening only. And taking a knee.

I learned about this podcast from Kristina Button @blackwomenplantseeds. I’ve listened to every episode at this point. I’m so very grateful for the opportunity to listen & learn from the best! I loved the episode “Leave Loud” from Jemar. As always, Jemar’s transparency and Tyler’s observations spoke volumes on the complicity of the white church in racism. So very humbled to hear the gospel and love of Christ in every episode!

I’ve listened to Pass the Mic for several years. I’m grateful for the mission, content, and hearts of those who speak, teach, and share. You all have become friends, welcome guests, treasured brothers and sisters in Christ to my family and I. We quote you all, listen to podcasts over and over, and have deep conversations that have led to action. You all have breathed life into our hearts. You have given words and language to what has been trapped in our hearts and minds for years. You’ve led us to the our Savior’s heart and pushed us to examine ourselves in light of what is happening in our churches, workplaces and world. You’ve been a healing balm to the wounds inflicted by those who were supposed to care for our souls but didn’t and don’t. I’m not sure words can ever adequately express how much we love and respect each of you. (And can we be neighbors? ;)

Every single episode has blessed me over and over and over! Thank you Pastor Tyler, Jemar, and other hosts! This is a gift to the world right now!!! So many times I think, instead of Pass the Mic it should be called Drop the Mic because it is all SO. GOOD! Amen! Keep it up!!! And May the Lord bless you and protect you!!!

This podcast CONTINUES to be a refuge and timely resource for my soul. Very thankful for these brothers

Thank you Tyler for reading King’s letter from Birmingham. Must confess have never heard it and it’s entirety. Awesome job! Erie though -it could’ve very well been written today

Wow! Thank you for the space. The Spirit hit me through your voices and I felt sick peace. This podcast is such an encouragement.

So good. Great guests, great content. Thank you so much.