Loving As Hosts, Not Heroes with Becca Stevens

Learning How to See with Brian McLaren

Center for Action and Contemplation

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 748 Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How can we open ourselves to being hosts in the world? On this episode of Learning How To See, we hear from social entrepreneur Becca Stevens, founder of Thistle Farms, a nonprofit which provides sanctuary, employment, and hope for women survivors of trafficking, exploitation, and addiction. Becca invites us to see holiness in unlikely places — just like the thistle growing through cracks in the pavement. In the ninth season of Learning How To See, we continue to learn how to see through the eyes of love. Our hosts Brian McLaren and Carmen Acevedo Butcher reflect on what it means to stay present when love feels complicated. Resources: Find out more about Becca here. Find out more about Thistle Farms here. Pick up a copy of Becca's book, Snake Oil, here. Find the transcript of this episode here. Connect with us: Have a question you’d like Brian or Carmen to answer about this season Send us a voicemail: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠cac.org/voicemail⁠⁠⁠ Email us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠podcasts@cac.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. To learn more, visit cac.org.
0:07.8	This podcast is made possible by the generosity of listeners like you. My name is Elizabeth,
0:13.7	and from all of us at the Center for Action and Contemplation, thank you. Your support introduces
0:19.5	thousands of people to Christian contemplative wisdom and practices, fostering spiritual transformation and inspiring loving action.
0:28.0	Here's Joe M., a listener from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who shares this story with us.
0:33.5	I found CAC's podcast following this really intense season of activism, where myself and my friends were deeply involved in trying to stop this oil pipeline and also facing the failure of our efforts and facing the poisoning of the Mississippi River.
0:50.8	That was when I discovered the CAC podcasts and the hosts inviting me to be
0:57.0	present to that moment, or at least that God in Christ was there with me in that moment and with my
1:02.8	friends. So it's been a gift to listen to the podcast in that season especially.
1:07.5	Twice per year, we pause and invite your support. Your generosity makes it possible for seekers
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1:28.1	please consider making a gift by visiting cac.org slash support. That's cac.org
1:33.9	slash support. Thank you for walking this path with us.
1:38.6	Hi, everyone. It's Brian. One of the assumptions that guide us in making learning how to see is that we really learn
1:46.1	best together in conversation, in community, and by asking questions we can't answer alone.
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2:02.6	seekers find their way here, and it helps us grow the community of people learning how to see
2:07.5	and learning how to love. And please keep your questions coming. Your questions guide us,
2:12.9	and they help us feel connected as fellow learners. You can always reach us at podcasts at cac.org.
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