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Waiting for people to show up at church can feel polite, safe, and even faithful, but it may be the quickest way to lose real connection.

In this episode, Bishop Rob Wright has a conversation with The Rev. Joseph Yoo, an Episcopal priest and creator known for talking about God with rare plainness, to explore what it looks like to take the Great Commission seriously as “come and see” and “go therefore” instead of “wait and welcome.”

Joseph shares his journey as a Korean immigrant kid raised in a family where ministry is almost a birthright, and how seminary forced him to sort out what belonged to his parents’ expectations versus what belonged to his own call. They get practical: Joseph explains why he started posting on TikTok and Instagram, why he wears a collar out in public to normalize faith, and what mainline churches can learn about speaking to people who are not already insiders. The grounded takeaway is simple and demanding: get local, learn names, show up, and bless someone today by helping them breathe easier, even for a moment. Listen in for the full conversation.

Joseph Yoo currently works as a Church Planter and Episcopalian priest at Mosaic Episcopal Church in Pearland, Texas. He has served as a member of the clergy in multiple states in the US, including Hawaii and California. Born in Korea in 1980, he immigrated to the United States in 1986 and has lived in multiple states throughout his childhood and adult life. He received his BA in Psychology from the University of Hawaii, Manoa in 2003 and his M.Div from Wesley Theological Seminary in 2006. He got his priesthood in 2021 from the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. He currently lives with his wife and family in Pearland. Learn more about Joseph: https://josephyoo.com/

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Threats to voting rights rarely announce themselves as “suppression.”

In this episode, Bishop Wright has a conversation with Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. They discuss the SAVE Act and related proposals that would tighten voter registration. Janai explains why the US already has voter verification systems, why fraud is not the widespread problem it’s sold as, and how new rules can be engineered to shrink the electorate while sounding neutral on paper.

This conversation goes deeper than policy. It wrestles with what it means to be a patriot in a country still learning how to be a multiracial democracy, and why naming white supremacy matters if we’re serious about building something better. Janai offers a framework that sticks with us: reckon with our past, reimagine what this country can be, and refound it by removing the harmful systems that still weigh us down. If the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a kind of “birth certificate” for modern American democracy, then the work of growing up is still unfinished and still possible. Listen in for the full conversation.

Janai Nelson is President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), the nation’s premier civil rights law organization fighting for racial justice and equality. As the institutional thought-leader, she directs the organization’s programmatic strategy and operations. Throughout her career, she has played a pivotal role in numerous landmark legal cases, shaping the fight for civil rights.

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Easter doesn’t just ask us to believe something happened 2,000 years ago. It challenges the size of our imagination today.

In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Rob Wright have a conversation about his Easter devotion “Alive". They talk about what it means to live as Easter people who confess, without flinching, that nothing is impossible for God. Together, they unpack how the resurrection is a blueprint for real life and leadership: God’s persistent love that can’t be silenced by soldiers, stones, or collusion with empire. Bishop Wright argues that Jesus isn’t “resurrected” only after the crucifixion, he’s already living a resurrected way before it, restoring dignity, healing old wounds, and telling the kind of truth we often try to deny, soften, or kill. That raises the stakes for how we face fear and mortality, and how we keep pursuing God’s truth even when it costs us. Listen in for the full conversation.

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Serving people in prison isn’t a side project of the Church—it’s at the heart of the gospel. Jesus makes it unmistakably clear: “I was in prison and you visited me.” To step inside those walls is to encounter Christ himself, already present among the forgotten.

In this episode, Bishop Wright has a conversation with Chaplain Susan Bishop, who serves at Lee Arrendale State Prison. They explore what 44 years of prison ministry have taught her, including how Susan got involved in this work. Susan didn’t set out to become a prison chaplain, but what began as a step along the way became a life-altering calling.

Susan also reflects on why this work matters—even when it’s hard, messy, and emotionally demanding. She speaks honestly about crime and harm, while also pointing to God’s capacity to restore what seems beyond repair. In their conversation, Susan names a truth many prison volunteers quickly discover: you think you’re bringing Jesus into prison—then you realize Jesus was already there. Listen in for the full conversation.

Chaplain Susan F. Bishop is an ordained Southern Baptist clergywoman with more than four decades of experience in prison ministry. She currently serves as Director of Chaplaincy Services and Clinical Chaplain at Lee Arrendale State Prison. Over the course of her 44 years of service, she has held a variety of roles, demonstrating a longstanding commitment to spiritual care, pastoral leadership, and the support of incarcerated individuals.

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Good Friday isn’t just a date on the calendar—it’s a truth test. What happens when real integrity shows up in public life and refuses to be bought, bent, or silenced?

In his 1964 meditation Discovery, Howard Thurman suggests that death isn’t the worst outcome. The real tragedy is living without dignity, without conviction—without the integrity of your spirit and soul.

In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright wrestle with the uncomfortable logic of the cross. If Jesus embodies a truth that heals, feeds, and restores, why do systems react as if that truth is a threat? Maybe it’s because truth—real, lived truth—disrupts what’s convenient. Bishop Wright offers a simple invitation: anchor yourself in God’s goodness, treat every person as a sibling, and live a truth the world can recognize. Listen in to the full conversation.

Read For Faith, the companion devotional.

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The military chaplain is one of the few people trained to stand close to war without becoming part of the fight, and that tension can change everything.

In this episode, Bishop Wright has a conversation with Bishop Ann Ritonia, Bishop Suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries, about what spiritual care looks like in deployed units, VA health care facilities, and federal prisons, and why chaplains exist to help people stay whole in the middle of experiences most of us will never face.

They get practical about the day-to-day reality: providing Episcopal worship, facilitating religious support for other traditions when no clergy are available, advising commanders on the human needs inside a unit, and showing up for service members and veterans who carry trauma, grief, and moral injury. Bishop Ritonia also shares why Episcopal chaplains are formed as priests first, and how that priestly identity helps them care for all, including people who may be turned away elsewhere. Listen in for the full conversation.

The Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia served parishes of all sizes for more than 19 years before her election as the eighth bishop suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries of The Episcopal Church. She served 17 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve, holding a range of leadership and executive roles.

Ritonia’s military honors include two Navy Commendation Medals, the Navy Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendations, and the Recruit Honor Graduate Award. She served seven years on the Chaplain Selection Committee for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries and provided spiritual direction and pastoral care to chaplains.

Mother to four adults and grandmother to Eva, Adaline, Leo, and Polly, Ritonia and her husband, Mike, live in Ellicott City, Maryland, with their two English bulldogs and golden retriever, Phoebe, Gemma and Louie.

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During the season of Lent, Bishop Wright invites all to a five-week Lenten teaching series, We Confess, with weekly video meditations and study guides that frame Lent as a loving turn toward healing, renewal, and hope through honest confession. You can learn more about the series at episcopalatlanta.org/lent26.

In this week's episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about the fifth reflection: We Confess Nothing is Impossible for God. In Ezekiel 37, dry bones come to life– nothing is impossible for God. Whether you read the dry bones as literal or symbolic, the point is the same: God can revive what looks dead, even what has been desecrated and denied dignity. That raises a practical question for anyone trying to live a faith that matters: what is our role in breathing life over death? Listen in for the full conversation.

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During the season of Lent, Bishop Wright invites all to a five-week Lenten teaching series, We Confess, with weekly video meditations and study guides that frame Lent as a loving turn toward healing, renewal, and hope through honest confession. You can learn more about the series at episcopalatlanta.org/lent26.

In this week's episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about the fourth reflection: We Confess We Do Not See as God Sees. What if the metrics you trust most are blinding you to the best possible choice? In 1 Samuel 16, Samuel’s search for Israel’s next king helps us uncover why patience, humility, and a long memory of God’s ways are essential for real discernment. The story refuses our love of polish and speed: seven strong candidates pass by, and the answer arrives late, smaller, and smelling like pasture. That pause—Have we seen all the sons?—becomes a model for leadership, relationships, and everyday decisions that resist convenience in favor of wisdom. Listen in for the full conversation.

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