About:

What is the Active Faith Podcast Network?

The Active Faith Podcast Network is here to help all persons learn and grow as we collectively build a theology of self-care. Self-care is about learning and understanding how we care for ourselves, so that we are in better mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical places to be able to serve as disciples of God’s Kingdom, no matter where we are.

The Great Commandment calls us to “Love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” It is important for us to love and care for ourselves, so that we are able to live into the other parts of those commandments. Loving and caring for ourselves helps to put us in the right mental, spiritual, and physical presence to help others. Active Faith helps us explore this nature as live out our lives and vocations. 

I (Andrew) started the podcast in response to a period of vocational burnout I experienced as a pastor during the COVID19 Pandemic. Through podcast conversations, and expanding to this written content in the Active Faith Network I am seeking to collect and tell the stories of how we can learn and grow together to be better, caring versions of ourselves.

In this newsletter, I will explore through personal and vocational ministry to lift up stories, sermons, thoughts, and discussions in blog form that I hope will help unpack this nature. I do this not only for my perosnal growth, but to help others avoid the same burnout or mental struggles I ahve seen or expereinced myself.

Who is Andrew?

I have created the image and moniker of the “RunninRev.” I have been running since I was a kid and I have been a Pastor for 8 years. The two themes (apart from my family) are the most identifiable pieces of my life. You can often find me at church or on the run. While I am much more than those I have seen the way my self-care has been a balance of both my role in the church and the self-care I practice.

In my time as a pastor I have used running as a form of self-care, and the deeper I have dug into myself the more I learn about the importance of self-care. In this blog I will unpack a theology of self-care and I will also dive deeper into my own running journey. The pandemic highlighted many of my faults when it came to self-care and I realized something needed to change. I sought to learn more about how thinking about self-care as a theological ideal could help me reimagine how I care for myself.

In what I have learned, I have been given myself the opportunity to care for myself in a more wholistic way. It does not stave off feelings of burnout, nor does it flat out fix my problems, but I have learned to be better about being honest about my struggles and how I can mitigate the worst feelings that have often arisen.

Call to Action (Beyond the Newsletter)

The Active Faith Podcast is available on your favorite podcast listening app (Click Here to connect on your perfered app). You can also check it out at the website activefaithpod.com

You can also join us on the Active Faith Community on Facebook to share your journey and encourage and support others in their active journeys as well.

Active Faith Facebook Community

If you would like to support me, my podcasting, and my writing please head on over to my Patreon. You are welcome to commit to any monthly amount to help to continue to bring awesome and positive content to this community: https://www.patreon.com/runninrev