Welcome home, I'm Dr. Tamer, a minister, licensed psychologist and sacred artist.

And this is Homecoming, a podcast to facilitate your journey home to yourself.

While I will provide weekly inspiration and mental health tips, this podcast is not

the same as personalized therapy. I'm so excited you're on the journey. If you

want to request specific topics or to submit a poem for me to read on the podcast,

email me at homecomingpodcastsatgmail.com. Also to build our community, don't

forget to like, subscribe and share. Let's begin. Welcome home co-journers. I'm

glad you're here for another episode. And I am so excited that we have a special

guest on today, Reverend Mike Walren Jr., who is the senior pastor of First

Corinthians Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. He is an author and activist, a

community organizer with a heart for mental health. And many, many years ago,

gave me one of my first jobs at Duke University and Black Campus Ministries.

So, Pastor Mike, how are you? I am wonderful. This is such an honor to be here

with you. I am so extremely proud of you and all the work that you've done. It

is just amazing to see. And I'm just, I'm really, really proud. Excited

everything you've been doing. Thank you. Well, I am appreciative of your work

over the years. And you continue to be a shining light from North Carolina to

Atlanta to New York. And I want us to focus on today. A big piece of your work

is about authenticity and us being real as people and about our faith. And so

we're going to frame today as the path or the road to authenticity. And I

want to first start by asking you, what does it mean to be authentic? Yeah, you

know, I remember reading somewhere and it really stuck with me and still sticks

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