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From Pastor Lisa


Our church's staff and leaders were delighted to host Rev. Michelle Cobb for a workshop to increase our cultural competency. Rev. Cobb is an excellent facilitator who listened, challenged, and stretched us to grow. Participants praised her wisdom, grace, humor, and depth of experience in a wide variety of contexts. She engaged us where we were as a predominantly Anglo, majority-culture group, and then she encouraged us to think differently around race, culture, time, and church leadership. Rev. Cobb planted some important seeds around cultural competency that we will continue to water as we grow more into the beloved community God intends for us. I can't recommend her highly enough.


As a white female lead pastor of a predominantly Anglo church, I long to become more culturally competent. This past year we had the privilege of welcoming a new pastor in a cross-cultural, cross-racial appointment, and I recognized areas where I needed to grow. I was beyond thankful to draw on the expertise of E4Potential Living, Inc. for leadership coaching and spiritual growth. Their consultation around cultural competency and leadership is a great asset to my ministry. 

A Letter from Pastor Rob


Mt. Olive UMC and REAL Church participated in the E4 Racial Dialogue Circle program led by facilitators Gustanna Moss-Cheney and Rev. John Young in the fall of 2021. Fourteen participants, seven from each church, engaged in challenging and meaningful dialogue around the issues of racism and Biblical Justice.  


I found the E4 groups to be an insightful way of engaging in fruitful dialogue that not only increased our understanding of racial issues in the US today. More importantly though, E4s commitment to action means our dialogue doesn’t just stay there. This is the key component of E4 that helps it stand out.

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A Letter from Pastor Dave


I am writing this letter to recommend the work of E4Potential Living to any business, organization, or church that is considering their services. We have had the privilege of working with E4 on multiple occasions this past year. Michelle Cobb and her team have proven to be invaluable resources to us as we’ve navigated some difficult terrain.


Near the beginning of the year, some students in our local high school posed for a photo during the school day, many of them making what appeared to be a Nazi salute. This photo rocked our community, as it fed into national narratives of Anti-Semitism and local concerns, with white privilege. Some of those students and their families attend our church, and we felt the need to personally respond and create safe spaces for dialogue around race, justice, and inclusion.

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Racial Dialogue Circles

"I participated in the Circle in hopes of diminishing systematic racism in our schools, local businesses and government, housing market, even our places of employment.  I realized the community leaders and officials have more of an influence so when those in power or authority act unjustly, it's significant to hold them accountable.  I still believe there's more good in people than not, but no one should lose respect due to racial bias.  It's nothing more than a man-made problem based on ignorance, insecurities and misunderstanding.  RDC is the right platform to begin un-doing racism with dialogue and action." LTW
"I would definitely recommend this process to anyone who desires to be more sensitive and caring in a world where tolerance is no longer encouraged."  JD
"During this time, I realized that my biases are based more on behavior than on race and being aware of this helps me try to view things differently.  For example, the dialogue helped me see that a group of guys in saggy pants, all of whom are talking loudly, doesn't necessarily mean that they're intent on causing trouble.  It was very practical in helping us re-frame situations like this."
"I learned so much from attending racial dialogue circles.  I made new friends and connections.  I learned about my own blind spots and areas for professional and personal growth.  I left the racial dialogue circles with a passion and commitment for engaging with others.  I want to bring about real change to the injustice I see around me now." KB
"I was invited to participate in the circle by L.S., one of the leaders.  As the weeks progressed, I realized just how much our attitudes, especially those of which we're not fully aware, affect our everyday activities.  We learned that subtle biases are just as damaging as overt ones."
"I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the racial dialogue circle.  I gained valuable insight into the fact that discrimination still persists! I was heartened by the fact that no matter what the color of our skin, our souls were held in common with one another.  I am more committed than ever to racial justice because I participated in the circle."  CB
What I Found Most Helpful about the Racial Dialogue Circle...

    "the openness of the participants helpful"
    "a space to speak"
    "hearing everyone's story"
    "fairness"
    "community mapping"
    "honest conversation"
    "setting goals"
Workshop Designed for Client
"Our church is full of good-natured people dedicated to accepting others and being nice as reflections of our openness.  So as we anticipated a cross-cultural, cross-racial pastoral appointment, we believed ourselves already in perfect position to receive our new pastor. We didn't need to talk about issues of sexism or racism, we just needed to behave nicely towards each other.  But after our church's workshop with E4potential, we realized that not talking had more to do with control than inclusion.

We learned that preemptively shutting down potentially awkward personal conversations about sexism and racism is the controlling behavior of a people used to being in power. Silence is not golden. Silence systematically robs those who suffer daily (!) from the realities of sexism and racism from the dignity of telling their story and being heard.

Only through brave and painful conversations could we discover a deeper common life in the real world of brokenness and ambiguity, building bridges through deep honesty and truth-telling. We could begin to see beneath the surface of the narratives we tell ourselves about the behaviors of others and appreciate the deep diversity of cultures co-existing in our neighbors. And if we were willing to do the brave work - courageous and vulnerable - the dignity of each person had new room to grow.

The workshop did not fix us and set everything right. But it did en-courage us to wade a bit more bravely into the unknown but promising waters of of our humanity... together." Pastor C.
Workshop Designed for Client
"Our church is full of good-natured people dedicated to accepting others and being nice as reflections of our openness.  So as we anticipated a cross-cultural, cross-racial pastoral appointment, we believed ourselves already in perfect position to receive our new pastor. We didn't need to talk about issues of sexism or racism, we just needed to behave nicely towards each other.  But after our church's workshop with E4potential, we realized that not talking had more to do with control than inclusion.

We learned that preemptively shutting down potentially awkward personal conversations about sexism and racism is the controlling behavior of a people used to being in power. Silence is not golden. Silence systematically robs those who suffer daily (!) from the realities of sexism and racism from the dignity of telling their story and being heard.

Only through brave and painful conversations could we discover a deeper common life in the real world of brokenness and ambiguity, building bridges through deep honesty and truth-telling. We could begin to see beneath the surface of the narratives we tell ourselves about the behaviors of others and appreciate the deep diversity of cultures co-existing in our neighbors. And if we were willing to do the brave work - courageous and vulnerable - the dignity of each person had new room to grow.

The workshop did not fix us and set everything right. But it did en-courage us to wade a bit more bravely into the unknown but promising waters of of our humanity... together." Pastor C.
Cross-Racial workshop
"Very thought provoking"
 
"Discussion of brave space"
 
"Helped me to see where I am on my Journey"
 
"Help motivate me to move forward"
 
"Information spaced with small group discussion was a good balance"
 
"Much useful info"
 
"This is a great start and will be looking to dive deeper into these topics"

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