Episode 21: Sara & John Barton

Hello and welcome to the Baha’i Blogcast with me your host, Rainn Wilson. In this series of podcasts I interview members of the Baha’i Faith and friends from all over the world about their hearts, and minds, and souls, their spiritual journeys, what they’re interested in, and what makes them tick. In this episode I have an awesome conversation with my wonderful Christian neighbors Sara and John Barton. Sara is an author and likes writing poetry and hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains, usually at the same time, and she serves as the University Chaplain at Pepperdine University in California, where she oversees worship services and pastoral care in the community. John is Director of the Center for Faith and Learning at Pepperdine University where he also serves on the faculties of the Religion and Philosophy Division and the graduate program in Social Entrepreneurship and Change. John also speaks and conducts research in the areas of African philosophy, ethics and philanthropy, Christian studies, interfaith dialogue, and Christian/Muslim interactions. The three of us talk about the station of Christ, the importance of service to others, and why interfaith dialogue and learning about religions is important in society today. They share the importance of being an active part of wider communities while maintaining their Christian convictions and commitments. They also tell me about the nonprofit they helped start and what their eight years in Uganda taught them. We discuss the importance of the community over the individual, prayer and meditation, why they love working with college students and have hope for the future. Sara even shares a wonderful poem she wrote just for the Baha'i Blogcast as well, so I hope you enjoy the conversation. To find out more about Sara and John Barton and some of the things we covered in this podcast, check out the following links: * You can read more about Sara Barton here: https://www.pepperdine.edu/spiritual-life/chaplain/about/ and John Barton here: https://seaver.pepperdine.edu/religion-philosophy/facultystaff/member.htm?faculty=john_barton * Here's a link to the nonprofit they helped start and continue to work with called the Kibo Group: https://www.kibogroup.org/ * Sara is the author of ‘A Woman Called: Piecing Together the Ministry Puzzle’: http://amzn.to/2wABPOG * John mentions the book ‘Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty’ by Mustafa Akyol: http://amzn.to/2gxjytL * You can find out more about the Station of Christ from this Baha'i Blog article: http://bahaiblog.net/site/2013/12/the-station-of-jesus-christ-in-the-bahai-faith/ * There’s mention of my book of memoirs called ‘The Bassoon King’: http://amzn.to/2gxOYjP * I make reference to one of my previous interviews with Native American Baha'i Kevin Locke on the Baha’i Blogcast which can be found here: http://bahaiblog.net/site/2017/08/bahai-blogcast-rainn-wilson-episode-19-kevin-locke/ * Here's the poem Sara recited in the interview: “Facing window, entering world, armed not with weapons but with questions, it tosses peace grenades to explode hearts for God. Listening outside, tuning in to stories that fill souls with hope, it releases them to float with clouds of sound. Honoring past days without fearing last days, engaging spiritual journeys now days, it wonders- as time clicks, what makes people tick? Joining creation, generating words that serve, broadcasting, podcasting narrative digital art, it does its part to light someone's dark. And so may we.” Be sure to ‘subscribe’ to the Baha’i Blogcast for more weekly episodes on: *iTunes: itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/bahai…son/id1127132519 *Soundcloud: @user-545312385 You can also stream the Blogcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3MIpyUbDIw6zlAiwhHNMlV If you would like to find out more about the Baha'i Faith visit BAHAI.ORG, and for more great Baha'i-inspired content check out http://BAHAIBLOG.NET. Thanks for listening! -Rainn Wilson