Join Tom, Heather, and Katie while they talk about the final theme for the 2024 Youth Gathering, Vacation Bible School, and our Lenten Round Robin series: Created to be Disciples. The idea of being a disciple can be so simple, and yet bet so difficult at the same time. For young children it can be as simple as being a good neighbor to your friends and peers. And for adults it becomes trickier as we often ponder how we can be a good disciple in the midst of working, maybe having a family to care for, or whatever call we are facing. We appreciate you joining us as we work through what it means to be created to be authentic, brave, free, disruptive disciples. We can't wait to continue this podcast with our next series! We'll talk to you all soon!

The fourth theme of the 2024 Youth Gathering/VBS/Trinity's lenten series is Created to be DISRUPTIVE!! Church has typically been a place of tradition and uniform and at times catering to specific groups. But what if we didn't do that? What if church became a place truly for everyone? There are so many ways for us to be disruptive in our faith and Pastor Tom, Heather, and Katie barely touch the surface of ways that we can be disruptive. As always, you can let us know your thoughts by emailing Katie at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you! Thank you so much for listening, and we will talk to you all soon!

On this episode of "What's the Point?" Podcast, Tom, Heather, and Katie talk about what it means to be free as a Christian. We quoted some Martin Luther and Dietrich Bonhoeffer and tried to make sense of this rather difficult idea to grasp - especially knowing that many of us are so used to hearing the word "Free" when it comes to talking about the United States of America. How do the meanings differ? What do you think we are missing in our conversation? As always you can tell us what you think by emailing Katie at [email protected] Thanks so much for listening!

God has created us to be authentically ourselves which can be one of the hardest things to do. How can we do a better job at that while also respecting the setting we're in (job, family structure, social media presence, etc.) and the boundaries we set in place? Join Tom, Heather, and Katie as we unpack the possibilities of this 2024 Youth Gathering daily theme. As always, we thank you so much for listening to us! If you have any thoughts on this episode or any of them that we've recorded, you can email Katie at [email protected]. We'll talk to you all next week!

Continuing with our Lenten series "Created To Be," Pastor Tom, Heather, and Katie are back to talk about what it means to be created to be brave. While we might have some weird irrational fears (Katie, we are looking at you!) we are all capable of being brave in more ways than we might think: saying "Yes!" to all of the weird ways God might be calling you, by challenging yourself by trying things you aren't sure are going to work, or by taking on a new challenge - whatever that might be. We would love to hear from you and all of the ways that you have taken the step to be brave! You can email us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

WELCOME BACK!! We took a short break over January to come back from Christmas, but we are back! In this episode, Heather talks about her experience at the 2024 ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza (aka "the E"), and we also take time to introduce the theme for the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering, "Created To Be," which is also what we will use for our Lenten Round Robin series and for Vacation Bible School this summer. Join us over the next few weeks as we talk about how we are Created To Be: Brave, Authentic, Free, Disruptive, and Disciples. As always you can contact us by emailing Katie O'Connell at [email protected]. P.s. We left a little glimpse of what it's like before we record, and really what it's like between recording episodes.

Welcome back to What's the Point? podcast, and welcome to our final part to A VERY BONHOEFFER CHRISTMAS!! In this episode, Tom, Heather, and Katie talk about a couple more of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings from his time in prison and how we, even in time of grief or struggle, we can find hope in our greatest gift - Jesus. We are looking for series ideas for 2024!! If you have an idea of what you'd like for us to talk about, let us know by emailing Katie at [email protected] Thank you so much for listening!

Tom, Heather, and Katie are back with Part 2 of A Very Bonhoeffer Christmas! In this episode, we really start digging in to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings and how we can learn from his experiences and apply his insight to our lives today. Although we were so excited to record this series, we also recognize that this quickly became a heavy, and yet still hope-filled, series. We appreciate you taking the time to listen. As always, you can reach us with any questions, comments, or stories you have by emailing Katie at [email protected] We'll talk to you all next week!

This month we are celebrating a VERY Bonhoeffer Christmas!! Join Tom, Heather, and Katie this month as we talk about all things Advent and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This episode we tackle what exactly Advent is and why it's important to our Christian faith, what kind of traditions it holds, and how many churches - including Trinity! - celebrate it "incorrectly." As always, we appreciate you listening! We would love to hear from you - let us know what your favorite Advent tradition is if you have one. We'll talk with you next week!

Pastor Tom, Heather, and Katie are back to talk about the future of Trinity. There’s a huge elephant in the room that we address: Trinity is changing in so many ways. How are we able to adapt to the change, and what exactly does the future hold for Trinity? While it is a lot of theorizing and uncertainty, there seems to be a theme of hope amongst the three of us. We would love to know what YOU are hopeful about when it comes to the future of Trinity! As always you can contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear your feedback or any stories or comments you’d like to share with us. We appreciate you listening!