206 - Leadership as a Latina Woman and Racial Solidarity within Church Planting with Dr. Elizabeth Rios
Be the Bridge Podcast
Be the Bridge
4.8 • 779 Ratings
🗓️ 18 August 2020
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of the Be the Bridge podcast, founder Latasha Morrison talks with minister, writer, speaker, and consultant Dr. Elizabeth Rios. They share an open, honest conversation about racial solidarity within church planting, leadership as a Latina woman, centering marginalized voices in a world of colorism, and envisioning a future where justice is built into churches’ DNA.
“Justice is a God idea. It’s not a liberal idea, it’s not a political idea, it’s a God idea.” –Dr. Rios
“A lot of churches don’t talk about heritage. They basically tell you to leave it at the door because once we’re ‘under the blood,’ everything goes away. But in reality, once we’re ‘under the blood,’ our heritage should be even richer! We should celebrate even more.” –Dr. Rios
“Every community is dealing with colorism, especially brown and Black communities, which is really a product of white supremacy—and we don’t realize that and how we can perpetuate the problem. When we start talking about the basis of racism and disunity, we start looking at this anti-Blackness, because no one wants to be on the bottom. No one wants to appear to be like the group that is being oppressed.” –Latasha Morrison
“We have to pay close attention to that development of our souls if we want to live out God’s justice in the world. There’s a direct correlation between our relationship with God and our acts of kindness, and our acts of mercy, and compassion, and justice. Even this desire even to have racial solidarity comes from a place of having that understanding of what God wants for all of us.” –Dr. Rios
About Dr. Elizabeth Rios
Dr. Rios has been in ministry for over 30 years serving in a variety of roles including pastor (Executive Pastor and Co-Pastor). She now is the Founder of The Passion Center that is dedicated to educating people who have a passion for justice, advocacy, and change in the South Florida area. She’s worked most of her life in nonprofits and in higher education. She has also been an entrepreneur and has consulted schools, faith-based organizations, small businesses, and non-profits since 1996. As an Afro-Latina, Puerto Rican American she considers herself to be a writer/activist and advocate for women in ministry, faith-based civic activism, and biblical justice.
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Podcast link: https://podlink.to/BeTheBridge
Social handles/links: Instagram: @LatashaMorrison
Twitter: @LatashaMorrison
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LatashaMMorrison/
Official Hashtag: #bethebridge
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the Be The Bridge podcast with Latasha Morrison. |
| 0:11.8 | Well, hello, this is Latasha Morrison, and I am the host, and I am also the founder and president of Be The Bridge. |
| 0:20.0 | And I am so excited today because we have |
| 0:23.5 | Dr. Rios here. And we are going to have a great conversation. Her name is Dr. Elizabeth Rios. |
| 0:30.6 | And so I just want to read a little bit about her. And this is someone you need to get to know. |
| 0:37.0 | Dr. Rios has a number of passions, but one thing is |
| 0:41.1 | certain she has always been an advocate for the healthy local church and a supporter of people who |
| 0:46.9 | lead in those spaces. She's been known for her work in education, face-based communities, |
| 0:57.3 | nonprofits, as well as her writing. |
| 1:05.0 | And she lives currently in Florida. She will get her to explain that a little bit later, but she has also served as the assistant professor of Christian education and the executive |
| 1:10.0 | director of advancement of a college. She started the urban ministry conferences in New York and drew |
| 1:18.0 | hundreds of people to learn more about being effective urban museologist practitioners and |
| 1:23.4 | pastors. And so I just want to bring her on, and she can actually tell you a little bit more about |
| 1:29.2 | her space and leadership and some of the things that she's contributed to and what she's doing |
| 1:35.3 | right now and where she resides. So thank you for joining us, Dr. Elizabeth. And I'm so glad to have you here. But if you could just explain, |
| 1:47.0 | I know I'm reading your bio, but you can probably bring a little more clarity to this to tell |
| 1:53.0 | us where you're living now, what you're doing, and just some of the work, explain some of the work |
| 1:57.8 | that you've done in this space of leadership. Sure. |
| 2:03.7 | So first, let me just say thank you for having me on. |
| 2:09.9 | It's always a great honor to have people appreciate what you do and bring to the world. |
| 2:14.1 | So I also appreciate what you do in the world. |
| 2:17.0 | So I'm very honored to be on your podcast. |
... |
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