Hey everyone, John Mark Comer here. Welcome to the Bridgetown Church podcast. Today we have a very special one-off long-form interview with Jonathan Tremaine Thomas from Ferguson, Missouri, as a part of Black History Month and more importantly, as a part of the very long journey that we and so many other churches are on toward race and justice.

Jonathan or JT, as he's also known, is an artist, activist, pastor, preacher, producer, entrepreneur, with deep roots in the church and in the social justice story. He is a fifth generation preacher, as well as the grand nephew of the civil rights activist and music legend Dr. Nina Simone, who I believe was called the High Priestess of Soul.

He has a master's degree in intercultural studies from Fuller at Theological Seminary and has served for many years in minority communities and under-resourced neighborhoods, most recently in Ferguson.

He was personified as Tony in the 2006 Sony Pictures film The Second Chance and he's been acting ever since, he's the president of Uproot Media, and the founder of the nonprofit that we're about to talk about civil righteousness.

He's a civil rights but civil righteousness, more on that in a minute. He self-identifies as a missionary and a prayer mobilizer.

We were following his kind of civil righteousness work and his template all through 2020 and over the summer with our pre-tests.

If you remember that, where for eight nights we went around to different places of pain in our city where there was an act of injustice or violence toward a black or brown or minority community and we would lament and confess and repent and pray and stand in silence and in solidarity.

All of that was based on his work as well as pray on MLK if you were around for that day where hundreds of us were on a silent prayer walk down MLK on that just really momentous moment in our city's history.

If I had to describe Jonathan in a sentence, I would say he is a black spiritual leader who is following the sermon on the mount as his map to race and justice.

The following interview is a bit long, I for one you that but I would really encourage you to break it up over a few sessions or commutes back and forth from work or laundry or runs or whatever or just sit down and give your full attention to it.

It gets nothing but better as it goes along. Here is the interview with Jonathan Tremaine Thomas.

Jonathan Tremaine Thomas, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for your time. We are beyond grateful. I know you're on a writing break right now and time is precious and what a gift you are as a soul as a human being who is fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God.

What a gift you are as a voice not just in Ferguson, but to America as a whole and really to the world as a whole in particular what a gift you are in this. I hate to call it a subject material because it's not a subject material this reality of race and justice and how does all of that intersect with the gospel and we share a double name.

So we have at least that in common and I think we share a deep and burning passion for the kingdom of God and what is the kingdom of God have to say and what role does it play in the healing and the renewal of our nation in particular after the last year, you know, and as you know our city all through 2020 and now into 21 has been on the front page of pretty much every major news outlet in the world for you know over 100 days.

Straight of protests that turned into riots over systemic racism and a deep kind of opening of pain that I know is not unique at all to our city you're in Ferguson, you're right at the center of that pain point and I was introduced to your work.

I think early last summer by a few of our elders and my wife actually who were all like podcasting you and all like you have to hear this guy his perspective is is beyond unique and like it was just and when I started to listen, it was like to borrow an overused example it was like water for a soul you know it was such a gift your voice your wisdom your perspective your heart has been like one of the things that I'm going to do is to get a gift.

Like one of the main if not the main people that I have been listening to over the last year and so we're just really grateful for those of you that are new to Jonathan,

you know what I love about you is you don't fit into the category of left or right and I think we share that a little bit in common and so whether you are listening as a Democrat or Republican as someone who's on the left side of the political aisle or the right whether you're a Portlander in the urban core listening from somewhere very different I think all of us have a ton to learn from

Jonathan so we're really grateful that you're here. Okay, first before we get you to talk about all the stuff and I want you to tell stories about your work in Ferguson first just tell us a little bit about you and your family line like you if I understand the story you come from a long family line of both preachers I think with your grandmother on one side I think

you can preach the story is true and like social activists and you have a great aunt who is a leader in the R&B movement and like all the stuff so will you just give us a little bit of like how like your family history and and you know I think of my friend Ellen Scott who says your destiny is written in your history

there's something to that for just tell us a little bit about where you come from and how you come to this work well well you know absolutely I'm so honored to be here and I am so aware of the fact that the only reason I am on this podcast with you is because of those who've gone before me you know this I believe it was king David who said the lines are falling to me in pleasant places and obviously was talking about the boundary lines and in kind of the surrounding

nature of God and protecting him but he was also talking about the lines of his inheritance and and so you know my family line my great great great grandparents were were slaves and they were a mixture of both my mom side and my dad side of Native American and African and so the legacy of faith

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