Join Charles Cheek for another exciting and interactive Front Porch Conversation. Co-hosts for this show will be Gail Roberts-House (Made To Flourish - Hampton Roads City Network Leader) and Justin House (Made To Flourish - Richmond City Network Leader).  We will have an interactive discussion on "Seeking the Common Good Through Networks and Development" with special guests Chris Robertson (Made To Flourish - Director of City Networks) and Roni Gonzalez Leahy (Made To Flourish - Regional Development Representative for the souhtern region).  This conversation is being presented during a time when there is a needed opportunity to assist in the empowerment and flourishing of our churches and communities through networks and development. Made To Flourish believes that their "mission needs to be contextualized in local communities. That’s why we’ve started Made to Flourish city networks across the country—places where pastors are gathering together to share ideas, best practices, and form relationships with like-minded leaders who share a common context. Our desire is to help connect you (members) with other pastors and leaders in your city who are seeking the common good, equipping congregations to connect faith with work and economic wisdom. The result? A growing gospel witness as churches across the city are committed to a similar mission—empowering the scattered church to live out the gospel in the places they spend most of their time."

Join Charles Cheek and Justin House as we have a conversation with our guests Rev. Dr. Laura Shannon-McDaniel, Network Catalyst - Uptick for the Baptist General Association of VIrginia and Rev. Dr. Charlie Self, Made To Flourish's Director of Learning Communities. "Hope In The Midst of Suffering: Overcoming Blindness of the Head, Heart and Mind"...How has Church leadership and congregations positioned themselves to address the systemic pain and suffering from within and in the communities they share, during and after the viral pandemic? What are our individual and collective roles? How do we see and respond to the pain? Have we acknowledged there is pain and if so, how have be identified it? Join us as we explore these and other questions and thoughts.

Join Charles Cheek for another exciting show. We will have several members of the Navajo Tribe as our guests on this show. Join our guests Chamisa Piechowski-Begay and her mother Alta Piechowski-Begay as they will enlightened us as to why Covid19 has taken such a toll on the families on the reservations. Also,we will have a conversation, with them, about life on the reservation and their historical perspective on disease and other experiences that have effected the lives of the Navajos. You don't want to miss this conversation!!!

Join Charles Cheek and his special co-host, for this conversation, Gail Roberts - House for another show on Front Porch Conversation on Justice. This show will feature a panel of female Pastors who are raising Black sons in America. We will discuss their anxieties, fears and thoughts as they have this awesome responsibility of raising a Black Male Son in America. "Even before her son was born, she was preoccupied with one thing – how she would prepare him for survival"(Jesmyn Ward). Our panel will include Bishop Designate Gail Roberts-House (Pastor of Open Door Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship Church), Rev. Samantha Vincent-Alexander (Rector at  St. John's Episcopal Church), Rev. Larisa Harris (Pastor at St. Johns ECC Church), Rev. Dr. Lesley Francisco McClendon (Pastor at Calvary Community Church) and others.

"Being Black, Poor or a Person of Color should not be a Death Sentence in America". Join Charles Cheek as he hosts another show on an issue that is prevalent in our daily conversations. With the recent incident between law enforcement and a Black man, there has been a continuing of the issues that address "Privilege" and how it allows segments of the population to take advantage of another without regard of life, liberty and status. Join our guests Latisha Handie and Imara Gabe Diaz as they offer a perspective as employees of the City of Hampton's Unity Commission. You are invited to participate by listening and offering your opinions and or ask questions.

"I am a privileged, black man who chose to assimilate into white dominant culture since the age of 10. I didn't understand the bondage I was putting myself under, that has taken me decades to overcome." (Byron McMillan, Albuquerque, NM...article published in the Oneing Publication of the Center for Action and Contemplation) "As a white, being the socially favored majority race in our culture becomes normal in ways you cannot even comprehend until you are awakened by exposure. Only because I have pushed myself to stretch into understanding stories of others not like me has this become very apparent." (Diane E. Miller of Chicago, Illinois) Join me, Charles Cheek, the host as I have a conversation on The Front Porch with these two individuals. "The Christian Imperative has become dominant on and of the earth instead of being the Cultivator of life." We will explore this and a lot more as it relates to dominance, privilege, separation etc. ON THE FRONT PORCH..."It will only be hot, if your are sensitive to heat?"

Join us as we have a discussion about Mental Health and Wellness. Stress, Fear and Domestic violence has increased in our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stay-at-home orders have also heightened the intensity of mental health issues. All are areas where parents, families, pastors, congregations and communities are being affected in ways unknown to our present generations. We will have a discussion with mental health and medical professionals. Our guests will include Dr. Charlene Rainey-Bell (License Family Nurse Practitioner), Tonya D. Johnson-Gordon, LCSW (Director of Clinical Services at Gordon Wellness LLC) and Nadia Bender, MSW (Supervisee in Social Work at Gordon Wellness LLC).

Join Justin House and Charles Cheek as they host another dynamic hour of conversation concerning the Economic Impact of the Pandemic on the Black Church and the Black Community. Our guests will be Dr. Luke Bobo, Made To Flourish Director of Strategic Partnerships and Rev. Dr. Leo Whitaker, Executive Minister of the Baptist Church Convention of Virginia. "Our racialized economic system continues today because racist attitudes and practices are woven into its very fabric." ( Race, Economics and Apologetics: Is There A Connection by Luke Bobo) Is this the case for the Black Church and Community during the Pandemic times? How are the Black Pastors using their positions as "wealth managers" (land, people, finances, etc) to lead the Church and the Community, especially since they are located in the hotspots. How are we as Pastors seeing the people in our congregations who are suffering health issues, layoffs, food insecurity and financial hardship? We will examine these questions and more as we lean into this topic.

Join us on the Front Porch Conversation as we have a conversation with two recent college graduates who decided to enter the VB Fellows program after graduation last year. The "VB Fellows program is a faith-based leadership development program in Virginia Beach (Va) for recent college graduates."  One of our VB Fellows guest will be Lindsey McLucas, who is from Virginia and graduated from James Madison University with a Technical Writing degree. She is passionate about seeing the church embody the love of Christ for the oppressed and marginalized in our midst, especially individuals and communities that have been historically under-resourced. The other VB Fellows guest is Nathalie Munn, who is from New York and graduated from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. Her passions revolve around environmental sustainability, creation care and evangelism. Join us as we discuss how they perceive racial, economic and environmental justice in Hampton Roads during their interactions in the communities with VB Fellows.

Join me as we have a conversation with a domestic violence provider and a homeless individual with a family. We will examine the hardship of being trapped and surviving during a Pandemic.  Mrs. Darryle Brown, Community Advocate for the Transistions Domestic Violence Service located on the Virginia Peninsula will bring insight into the conversation on the rise of domestic assaults and homelessness during this Pandemic period. Also, we will have a homeless female who is trapped in this Pandemic and navigating her and her family's way to a future of restoration of dignity and hope. Arrrving at an intersection with street names Pandemic, Homlessness, Domestic Violence and the Road Home Is A Struggle. "I have no where to turn, I don't know which way to go, there is no easy way to go"...join us in this conversation as we dive into some of life's most pressing struggles.