Speaker: Marissa Mattox Heffernan
How would you describe Passion2Plant | Passion Center in three words?
Hi, I'm Reverend Marissa Maddox Heffernan, and I was in the inaugural cohort of Passion of Plant through the Passion Center. If I were to describe passion of plant and my experiences thereafter, through the Passion Center in three words, I would say they're foundational, liberating, and safe. When I started Passion to Plant, I was working in a predominantly still am, predominantly white denomination, and I was looking for a place that was talking about all the things that I had questions about, um, that was really leaning me towards a more justice centered gospel and theology which was missing in the spaces where I was being taught. Um, and I found that I found that through Passion to Plant, um, where I also got to experience amazing facilitators. The facilitators that you'll experience through Passion to plant, um, are the voices, um, in justice oriented, justice centering ministry. Liberating. Um, man, coming out of that space, Doctor Liz has just such a way of curating spaces specifically for black and brown leaders. Um. And it has been so freeing to be able to talk about our experiences without having to filter or censor ourselves. Um, and for that reason too, it's been really a safe place. I'm currently taking the trauma cohort through the passion Center, um, and you can tell that the work That we do through the trauma center is at the heart of the passion Center. Um. There is just a space to be vulnerable and transparent, um, and know that it is held with confidence and prayer and that it's held with one another, and that you're not holding the heaviness and the burden alone. So if you're on the fence about You know, taking any of the offerings through the passion center or joining the passion Center for any of their faith spaces. Um, I want to encourage you to go for it. I Appreciate so much that Dr. Liz and the folks at the Patterson Center bring to ministry leaders like me.
I would describe my experiences through passion to plant and the passion center as foundational, liberating and safe.
