On this episode of Tales from the Shaker, I sit down with Christian hip-hop artist, creative and community voice Taelor Gray for a thoughtful and refreshingly honest conversation about faith, religion, culture and community.

We talk about what it means to question and deconstruct some of the religious ideas we’ve inherited without abandoning the deeper questions of faith and purpose. Taelor shares his perspective on reaching individuals that traditional institutions have too often struggled to reach—and in communities of color Black men in particular. Relationship has to come before rhetoric.

Demia is a brilliant strategist, inspirational speaker, and the creator of the spoken album Words of Activation. In this episode, we explore the power of intentional words—not simply as affirmations, but as tools that shape our purpose, identity, beliefs, and choices.

This conversation is filled with truth, wisdom, laughter, and the ease that comes from sitting across from someone who knows you well. We talk about what it means to speak life over ourselves, challenge the stories that limit us, and use our voices to activate what is already within us.

Pull up a chair and join us at the Shaker.

What if caring for yourself isn’t separate from your faith—but a sacred expression of it?

In this episode of Tales from the Shaker, I sit down with Taylor Dunlap: wife, mother, creative, and co-pastor of Garden City Church East alongside her husband. At the time of our conversation, Taylor was more than 30 weeks pregnant with her fourth child, Asher, whom she joyfully welcomed just a few weeks ago.

Taylor speaks candidly about navigating the grief of losing her father, nurturing a growing family, co-leading a church, and making space for her own creativity and well-being. At the heart of our conversation is her powerful belief that wellness can be worship—that tending to our minds, bodies, spirits, and emotional lives can be an act of gratitude and reverence.

This is a tender and life-giving conversation about grief and new beginnings, ministry and motherhood, and learning to honor both what we carry and what we need.