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What are Cohorts? And Why Do They Matter?
5 Plays1 month ago
Turan De’Angelo Rush is joined by Bethany Rivera Molinar and Jeff Biddle to discuss CCDA’s leadership cohorts. They unpack what cohorts are and why they’re important; they also share their experiences in their cohorts, the incredible relationships they’ve formed, and the leadership lessons they are still drawing on today.
CCDA’s newest cohort, Cohort 9, is now accepting applications! This cohort is for Gen Z leaders in the Southeastern U.S. Learn more and apply at ccda.org/cohort.
Turan De’Angelo Rush is the founding COO of the Midian Leadership Project, Inc., a sports-based community development nonprofit in Charleston, WV, an Evangelist with New Hope Community Church in Charleston, and the Director of Sports Science and Nutrition for the Capital High School football team. He played football at Eastern Michigan University, where he was team captain and earned a BA in communications with a minor in special education. He holds a master's degree in Sports Science from West Virginia State University, and is pursuing his PH.D in sports psychology from Kairos University, where his research focuses on the trauma-healing power of team sport participation.
Bethany Rivera Molinar is a fronteriza Chicana living and working in El Paso, Texas, about a mile from the international border line of the United States and Mexico. She is the Executive Director of Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach, a holistic, asset-based, Christian community development nonprofit organization walking alongside their neighbors to develop youth, support families, equip leaders, and strengthen community in downtown-central El Paso. Bethany is deeply passionate for Ciudad Nueva to be a place where community work unfolds and community members are actively engaged and accessing their gifts, skills, and resources to collectively lead towards a vibrant and thriving community. Along with her team and community, this passion has driven the work that she has done through Ciudad Nueva for over ten years. Bethany serves as Chair for the board of the national Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) as well as other local boards. Bethany earned both Masters of Divinity & Masters of Social Work degrees from Baylor University. In 2023, President Obama selected Bethany as one of 100 Leaders from across the United States for his inaugural Obama Leaders USA program. Bethany serves with prophetic strength and innovative leadership within local, regional, and national women of color faith circles. When not doing all of the above, Bethany enjoys spending time with her husband Adrian and their three little ones, running, urban gardening, and pursuing the crafty arts.
Rev. Dr. Jeff Biddle, Jr. is the founding pastor of New Hope Community Church and the co-founder of the Midian Leadership Project. He holds a BA in Economics from Harvard University, an M.Div from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and his doctorate from Palmer Seminary, where his thesis focused on sports, faith, and community leadership development among young people affected by the school-to-prison pipeline. He is the coauthor of Playing For The City: The Power of Sports for Christian Community Development.
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Transcript
Introduction to CCDA and Cohort 9
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the CCDA podcast.
00:00:12
Speaker
My name is Teran Rush and I am the COO of Media and Leadership Project and the Director of Sports Science at Capitol High School.
00:00:19
Speaker
I have been working with the CCDA for around 10 years and now I'm here to host for this episode.
00:00:26
Speaker
CCDA is passionate about leadership development and for nearly two decades, CCDA leadership cohort has been developing leaders around the country.
00:00:37
Speaker
This program has helped participants deepen their faith, grow their leadership, and live more meaningfully in their communities.
00:00:45
Speaker
And applications are currently open for Cohort 9, specifically for Gen Z leaders in the southeastern U.S. I'm super excited about the new Cohort 9.
00:00:54
Speaker
I think it's going to be really amazing to get the Gen Z group of people that surround the world and to hear their ideas, hear their thoughts, and hear their beliefs about how communities should run.
00:01:04
Speaker
Today, I'm joined by two Cohort alumni, Jeff Biddle and Bethany Rivera Molinar.
00:01:09
Speaker
Thank you for both being here today.
00:01:11
Speaker
Thank you for having us.
00:01:12
Speaker
Thank you, Terat.
00:01:13
Speaker
Can you please introduce yourself to the listeners?
00:01:16
Speaker
Yes, Teran, my name is Bethany Rivera Molinar.
00:01:18
Speaker
I am the executive director of Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach in El Paso, Texas, and I'm also the board chair of CCDA.
00:01:25
Speaker
And my name is Jeff.
00:01:27
Speaker
I'm the pastor of New Hope Community Church in Charleston, West Virginia.
00:01:31
Speaker
I appreciate y'all, appreciate y'all.
00:01:33
Speaker
So I have a couple questions to
Purpose and Structure of CCDA Cohorts
00:01:35
Speaker
ask y'all.
00:01:35
Speaker
What are cohorts?
00:01:37
Speaker
So cohorts, as they exist at CCDA, are a group of people who are gathered together to connect with one another to build relationship, points of collaboration, friendship, and also be guided by leaders with a lot of wisdom in CCD work.
00:01:55
Speaker
They gather in different places,
00:01:57
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likely online and in person to help foster connection and relationship and understanding, all with the goal of looking at the long picture of CCDA, building up leaders, identifying leaders to keep carrying the torch of CCDA in the world.
00:02:14
Speaker
Amita, what is the cohort to you?
00:02:16
Speaker
The cohort to me was an opportunity to connect with people around the country who were doing and experiencing things
00:02:26
Speaker
that were in some way similar to what my community was doing and experiencing.
00:02:31
Speaker
And there's this wonderful sort of not crazy feeling.
00:02:33
Speaker
Sometimes when you're doing CCD type work in your own community, what you're doing is unusual to the people around you, not necessarily to the CCD community that's working together, but to the broader community, the approach is unusual, the values are unusual.
00:02:48
Speaker
And the cohort was a chance for
00:02:51
Speaker
people who shared those values and those practices to get together, to support each other, to learn together, to exchange ideas about what we're doing and about what we're learning.
00:03:00
Speaker
Sometimes the connections would be very similar and we'd say, oh, we've already experienced that.
00:03:05
Speaker
Well, we can share something about what we've done.
00:03:07
Speaker
And sometimes it would be a totally new idea.
00:03:09
Speaker
It would be, we never even thought to approach it that way.
00:03:13
Speaker
And so the cohort became a space really for people to come together who really shared values and approach and the way we serve the Lord.
00:03:22
Speaker
Yeah, so there was amazing answers by both of you two.
00:03:24
Speaker
Why are they so important
Importance of Cohorts for Leadership Development
00:03:27
Speaker
to this world?
00:03:27
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Why are having cohorts so important?
00:03:29
Speaker
I only learned later, after somebody introduced me to CCDA, that part of the way CCDA got started was that Coach and John Perkins and some people who were the original founders had been going to conferences and always coming away, having discussions, saying, well, I understand what they're doing, but it doesn't seem to apply to us.
00:03:49
Speaker
And similarly, I first came to CCDA when somebody in my own community, a friend of mine who was a realtor and an attorney, and he was doing like home renovations, was hearing what I was working on.
00:04:03
Speaker
And he basically said, oh, you got to go to CCDA.
00:04:06
Speaker
You got to go to CCDA.
00:04:07
Speaker
That's where people who are doing what we are doing, that's where they are.
00:04:10
Speaker
You got to go.
00:04:11
Speaker
And I'd never heard of it before.
00:04:12
Speaker
What's CCDA?
00:04:14
Speaker
And so much that is important about it is connecting people who have the same values and the same approach, you know, around the country and being able to learn from each other.
00:04:23
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And I think one of the most important things about the cohort is it's a really in-depth way to do that.
00:04:28
Speaker
When we're in the cohort, we're connected with mentors who are guiding us through the process.
00:04:32
Speaker
We're sharing that journey over two years with a set of people that we can come back to for friendship and support.
00:04:38
Speaker
There are specific experiences designed that we can learn from.
00:04:42
Speaker
And it is such an important way to deepen our ability to serve the Lord in the way that we're called to in our communities.
00:04:49
Speaker
I would agree with that.
00:04:50
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In addition to that, I think connection with other leaders, like I think what Jeff said is really important.
00:04:57
Speaker
Sometimes you feel isolated in the work you're doing all across the country, but cohorts help you realize that you're not alone in the work and you're not alone in the seeking to understand what it means to walk with community, not over community and walk with your neighbors and love your neighbors in a way that feels different in a lot of contexts.
00:05:14
Speaker
And then what I would also say is at
00:05:17
Speaker
Courts are critical for building of the movement forward, of the CCDA movement forward.
00:05:22
Speaker
I feel like oftentimes in spaces, when you look at spaces of leadership across the spectrum, so it's governments, in schools, politicians, I mean, anything.
00:05:33
Speaker
What I have sensed is there just seems to be a resistance to passing the torch, to...
00:05:40
Speaker
equipping the next generation to move forward.
00:05:43
Speaker
It just seems to be that there's a resistance to let go and to trust the next generation to go forward.
00:05:48
Speaker
And so cohorts are a great way to identify leaders
00:05:52
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And to equip leaders so that we can do that work.
00:05:56
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As the board chair of CCDA, I feel very passionate about that.
00:05:59
Speaker
CCDA has gone through a lot of different things over the years.
00:06:02
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It's been around for decades.
00:06:04
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And I believe wholeheartedly in the mission of CCDA and the movement of CCDA.
00:06:08
Speaker
But in order for that to continue, we have to think about ways we can let go and pass on and equip.
00:06:15
Speaker
And so cohorts are a great way to do that.
00:06:17
Speaker
You're connecting the next generation of leaders to know each other, to walk alongside with each other in the work.
00:06:25
Speaker
And then you're also creating space to identify leaders to go into other steps of leadership, even within CCDA.
00:06:31
Speaker
That was a great answer back to me.
00:06:33
Speaker
You hit on walking with community.
Impactful Alumni Stories and Experiences
00:06:36
Speaker
Can you please share a story about your time in the cohort?
00:06:40
Speaker
So I was part of CCDA's cohort number five.
00:06:44
Speaker
We were a loud crowd.
00:06:45
Speaker
We were a cohort at a very pivotal time of history.
00:06:50
Speaker
It's when the BLM movement arose and a lot of things were happening.
00:06:56
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And so...
00:06:57
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I remember the second gathering that we had, hearing all the things happening and being able to connect with leaders from across the country, and in particular, leaders of color.
00:07:07
Speaker
I don't think I've ever been part of a larger group of leaders of color in justice, pushing justice work in one room, which was the majority of us, to be able to share what we're seeing, what's happening, what we're seeing.
00:07:18
Speaker
what's been the response, to pray for one another, to pray and focus on those that are closer to the places of hurt and to share resources was incredible.
00:07:28
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There's so many stories.
00:07:29
Speaker
There's a time when we had our gathering in Philadelphia and
00:07:33
Speaker
And there was this movement, I guess this awakening and reckoning of some of the ways that even within CCD work, women were excluded from the movement or not seen as equal or as important or necessary.
00:07:48
Speaker
And there's this movement of like,
00:07:51
Speaker
repentance and tears and grief and prayer with one another.
00:07:55
Speaker
And there have been times in my life where I felt like the Holy Spirit moving very strongly in a space.
00:08:02
Speaker
And that was one of those times.
00:08:04
Speaker
And it wasn't just a place of emotion or guilt because things happened after that.
00:08:10
Speaker
Like
00:08:11
Speaker
there were movements and shakinings happening within CCDA.
00:08:15
Speaker
And I believe that was part of that movement towards affirming leadership of women in CCDA and centering their leadership.
00:08:23
Speaker
And so anyway, I could go story after story.
00:08:25
Speaker
There's so many stories, but it was definitely a pivotal moment in my leadership journey.
00:08:30
Speaker
It's been critical.
00:08:31
Speaker
I'm still connected with many of the leaders.
00:08:34
Speaker
And many of those leaders are now part of CCDA leadership as well.
00:08:38
Speaker
Jeff, can you share me a story about your time in the cohort?
00:08:43
Speaker
Sure.
00:08:44
Speaker
I mean, one small story is just sort of a delightful illustration of how the connections can be.
00:08:52
Speaker
I think
00:08:54
Speaker
Our cohort was cohort seven, and cohort seven had four retreats.
00:08:59
Speaker
And it was either at the second or I think maybe at the third retreat.
00:09:04
Speaker
There was one fellow in the cohort who I'm still in touch with, and he was a therapist.
00:09:09
Speaker
And so very in touch with his feelings and very in touch with how to express them.
00:09:14
Speaker
And there was another, there was a woman in the cohort who also, she wasn't a therapist as in practicing sessions, but also, you know, trained in mental health.
00:09:22
Speaker
And it was time to go home.
00:09:24
Speaker
Basically, it was like the last night together.
00:09:27
Speaker
And the guy who was the therapist, he started to cry.
00:09:31
Speaker
He didn't want to leave his friends and go back to life from the time that we were having.
00:09:36
Speaker
And he started to cry.
00:09:37
Speaker
I'm just going to miss you all.
00:09:39
Speaker
And the woman looks at him and said something that was a little bit platitude-y, like, oh, if you're that sad about it, it just illustrates how wonderful it is.
00:09:49
Speaker
And he looked right back at her in a way that was, it wasn't tearing anybody down.
00:09:53
Speaker
It was funny between therapists.
00:09:55
Speaker
He looks at her and he goes, you know, that's stupid.
00:09:59
Speaker
And he just kept crying.
00:10:00
Speaker
And, you know, between the two of them, it was an exchange that just demonstrated both
00:10:07
Speaker
sort of a depth of understanding, you know, of one another, of how we're trying to use, you know, use our skills.
00:10:13
Speaker
And for them, that was mental health, but also the depth of emotion and connection that came with having these people in a room.
00:10:20
Speaker
Now our cohort, when we have a gathering together, you know, if it's online or reconnecting or something, a lot of us are still in touch.
00:10:27
Speaker
We will still say something like that, you know, as a form of exchange when we're parting.
00:10:32
Speaker
You know, some of you say, well, you know, you're only sad you're leaving because we love each other.
00:10:35
Speaker
Somebody will say back to him,
00:10:37
Speaker
You know that's stupid.
00:10:40
Speaker
You know, it's a small thing, but it just comes as an illustration of how deep these connections can be and how lasting they can be.
00:10:48
Speaker
Man, it seems like both of y'all had a lot of lessons learned and connections made.
00:10:52
Speaker
How are y'all still drawing upon lessons learned and connections made from your cohorts?
00:10:56
Speaker
I am definitely drawing upon lessons learned at the cohort, as well as connections that I've made.
00:11:02
Speaker
As I stated before, still very much connected with a lot of people from our cohort.
00:11:07
Speaker
A lot of our cohort members are actually part of the board of CCDA.
00:11:11
Speaker
I've gone on vacations with some of my cohort members.
00:11:15
Speaker
I've collaborated on projects with some of our cohort members.
00:11:18
Speaker
We've created space of prayer and lifting up when people are hurting or going through crises.
00:11:25
Speaker
Whenever there are times when I'm able to connect somebody else with a resource, but via my cohort members, like I know this person, this is what they do.
00:11:35
Speaker
I have collaborated on projects.
00:11:37
Speaker
I think I said that with cohort members.
00:11:38
Speaker
It's been something that still happens today.
00:11:41
Speaker
And then lessons, I think some of the
00:11:43
Speaker
the biggest lessons is like you are, you are called you for, for such a time as this.
00:11:49
Speaker
And, um, I think about a cohort member sitting on my couch when she came to visit El Paso and I was about to become executive director of Ciudad Nueva and just feeling very ill-equipped or not the right person.
00:12:01
Speaker
It wasn't a,
00:12:03
Speaker
a position that I pursued or I saw as my end goal.
00:12:06
Speaker
She sat on my couch and she quoted Esther to me and was like, you are here for a purpose.
00:12:13
Speaker
You're uniquely made for this.
00:12:15
Speaker
And it's not in spite of who you are, Bethany, but because of who you are, that God has called you to this moment and to lead in this way.
00:12:23
Speaker
And I can tell you that I have spoken with UT El Paso students.
00:12:28
Speaker
I've spoken in other spaces.
00:12:29
Speaker
And I have reflected those same words.
00:12:32
Speaker
I think people of color, us on the border, in a place that can be very politicized and used as a chess piece, where it's a place where we've often seen as a place of deficit.
00:12:45
Speaker
It has been a great passion of mine to help
00:12:48
Speaker
leaders in this space know just exactly like what that cohort member told me on my couch, that it's not in spite of who you are, but it's because of you, who you are, that you're uniquely called and equipped to lead in this space for such a time as this.
00:13:04
Speaker
And so that's just one example.
00:13:06
Speaker
And that is a lesson that I have heard from people in our community when I have shared that, like what an impact that's made on them.
00:13:12
Speaker
And that is that that started with that friendship and that relationship with that person sitting on my couch.
00:13:17
Speaker
There's so many ways that my cohort members have spoken into my life, have seen me and that I've been able to do the same.
00:13:24
Speaker
But our cohort leaders also really I feel like they really saw us.
00:13:28
Speaker
They tried to see us.
00:13:30
Speaker
Leroy Barber, for example, leads a whole movement called The Voices Project and has reached out to me and other cohort members to speak in their conferences and to connect and have really not just given me words that they support and that they see me, but have done it with their actions.
00:13:48
Speaker
So their connections have improved my leadership, have given me space to lead.
00:13:53
Speaker
And also, they're the lessons that I've learned and the connections have benefited people in my community as a result.
00:14:01
Speaker
Jeff, what are some lessons that you learned or some connections that you still have available from your cohort?
00:14:06
Speaker
So certainly, the connections have lasted.
00:14:10
Speaker
I still talk to and visit with people from the cohort.
00:14:14
Speaker
Those are amazing friendships and also important resources when
00:14:19
Speaker
searching for a deeper understanding of what God is doing and what is possible within our community.
00:14:24
Speaker
Actually, the book I published, I co-authored with three other CCDA-affiliated folks, one of whom was a member of my cohort, and that connection led to that happening.
00:14:35
Speaker
I came to the cohort really wanting to learn, really thinking that
00:14:41
Speaker
I was coming to learn things that I didn't know about, to be exposed to new things, you know, that sort of thing.
00:14:46
Speaker
And that absolutely happened.
00:14:48
Speaker
What I wasn't expecting was that the cohort clarified an even bigger sense, you know, especially toward the end.
00:14:56
Speaker
of sort of like what Bethany said about what strengths I have that I might be called to use.
00:15:04
Speaker
In particular, we went to Capitol Hill and visited two Congress people's offices.
00:15:09
Speaker
And one of them was a Congress person from West Virginia.
00:15:12
Speaker
And I took four CCDA friends in with me.
00:15:15
Speaker
And because it was the West Virginia congressperson, they asked me kind of to lead the discussion.
00:15:20
Speaker
And then I sort of passed the discussion off to the other people in the room and then talked a little bit more.
00:15:25
Speaker
And then it was over.
00:15:27
Speaker
And to me, that was a good experience.
00:15:31
Speaker
To me, that also felt mostly like an exercise, more like we were practicing maybe for lobbying down the road.
00:15:38
Speaker
But when I got out, my friends who'd been in there with me, one of them looked at me and said, that was exhilarating.
00:15:45
Speaker
And another one looked at me and said, how did you know how to say those things?
00:15:50
Speaker
And it really, this sounds maybe silly now, but it had not occurred to me
00:15:55
Speaker
that being able to advocate on places like Capitol Hill was in my background and came fairly naturally to me, and I took it for granted.
00:16:05
Speaker
I had not been looking at that as, oh, this is something my community needs from me, or this is something that I need to be helping other people to learn how to do.
00:16:14
Speaker
I just took it for granted as part of my background and had not really thought about it.
00:16:18
Speaker
Coming away from really just that one experience, so often in the cohort, I was learning from something else.
00:16:23
Speaker
I was taking in something that I hadn't experienced before, but also the ability to really hone what are the things God has already given me and put in me that I really need to sense these are my important contributions to my community.
00:16:38
Speaker
I came away with a deeper sense of
00:16:42
Speaker
what God has given me to give to others with a deeper sense of how really we should always be looking around for who God has put in the right place at the right time with the right thing that we need.
00:16:54
Speaker
Sometimes it'll be somebody you were completely not expecting to walk into the picture, but the Lord sent them there.
00:16:59
Speaker
And sometimes it's you.
00:17:01
Speaker
Sometimes you got to look, oh, God put me here for a reason and I need to kick it into gear.
00:17:06
Speaker
That has been such an important lesson from the cohort that I have continued to keep with me in the years
Cohort Retreats and Personal Growth
00:17:11
Speaker
that have followed.
00:17:11
Speaker
Man, if y'all was asking me if I was signing up for this thing, I would think fine.
00:17:16
Speaker
What are the retreats like?
00:17:17
Speaker
When y'all out there, how are the retreats?
00:17:19
Speaker
The retreats are a good time of close connection and almost hyperactivity.
00:17:28
Speaker
it's almost like you don't want to go to sleep at night because there's too much to be done and too many people to connect with.
00:17:34
Speaker
And it's just a few days.
00:17:36
Speaker
The retreats will include some discussion of materials a little bit, you know, let's read this or look at this and learn something from it.
00:17:43
Speaker
Curated experiences, times where we're visiting a ministry or purposefully going to meet someone or try something out.
00:17:50
Speaker
And a lot, I think, of personal ministry processing.
00:17:55
Speaker
A lot of time to connect with other people who are in ministry, to take time to listen.
00:18:00
Speaker
And I think to share things that maybe we don't share that often because most people just really wouldn't understand.
00:18:06
Speaker
Not that they don't care, but they don't have a context to understand what we're struggling with and why, or what is exhausting us and why, or what is giving us joy and why.
00:18:17
Speaker
So just a lot of time for making deep connection with people who are going to understand.
00:18:22
Speaker
That's a really good answer.
00:18:23
Speaker
I would add to that.
00:18:24
Speaker
Retreats are what it is you bring to the table, right?
00:18:27
Speaker
I think it takes courage to be vulnerable and also to listen to people.
00:18:34
Speaker
There were times in our retreats where the joy was abounding and silly and there's a lot of fun, a lot of laughter.
00:18:42
Speaker
I remember, because we're a little older than I guess this next cohort, but we were
00:18:47
Speaker
We were in Philadelphia on a long van ride and somebody put on Boyz II Men and we all knew the words because we're all like millennials, like old millennials.
00:18:55
Speaker
And so just being able to sing like the end of the road with people that vibed with it just as much as I did when I was in ninth grade was really super fun.
00:19:04
Speaker
But also, like I said, it's what you bring.
00:19:07
Speaker
Sometimes you come to this retreat.
00:19:09
Speaker
Sometimes you will come to the gathering with a lot of grief, a lot of weariness and anxiety.
00:19:16
Speaker
My hope for the cohort that is to be is that it's a space where people are able to bring whoever they are to the table for the sake of fellowship and understanding that
00:19:29
Speaker
And then also that they would be listening, that they'd be listening to their community.
00:19:32
Speaker
So listening to the people around them.
00:19:34
Speaker
It's a place of prayer.
00:19:35
Speaker
It's a place that I left.
00:19:37
Speaker
I left those gatherings feeling more connected to God and more connected to people.
00:19:42
Speaker
And so in conclusion, I think just whatever it is you bring to the table, like bring it to that table, that gathering.
00:19:48
Speaker
And Holy Spirit will move and thread and make something beautiful out of that space.
00:19:55
Speaker
That's amazing that these cohorts can be such a blessing spiritually and emotionally.
00:20:01
Speaker
Biddle, did you take anything spiritually to bring it back to the community that you pastor in and anything emotionally that helped you bring back to connect with your community here in Charleston?
00:20:11
Speaker
I think one of the biggest and deepest spiritual takeaways was that God is always working and always working in unexpected ways, always presenting unexpected opportunities.
00:20:23
Speaker
The communities we came from were so different.
00:20:27
Speaker
Bethany, what cohort were you?
00:20:29
Speaker
We were five.
00:20:29
Speaker
You were five.
00:20:30
Speaker
Okay.
00:20:30
Speaker
We were seven.
00:20:31
Speaker
And when you said that about the emergence of Black Lives Matter and things like that, we were a little further down the
00:20:37
Speaker
the stream when we were in our cohort.
00:20:39
Speaker
And for us, it came to the point where I think half of the people in the cohort left their organizations during the cohort.
00:20:50
Speaker
It was that sort of tumultuous time like 2015, 2016, where...
00:20:55
Speaker
People were planting their flags in the sand and saying, you know, this organization is going to do this and not that.
00:21:01
Speaker
And, you know, almost taking sides sort of in the social movements that were emerging.
00:21:05
Speaker
And half of us left our organizations during the cohort, including me.
00:21:11
Speaker
I left the church I was at and we planted New Hope during the cohort.
00:21:16
Speaker
And for so many of us that felt earth shattering, like those experiences often being sort of driven out of an organization that didn't want to go the way of the new social movements that felt earth shattering.
00:21:29
Speaker
And yet having one another to process with as that happens,
00:21:33
Speaker
And after it happened, as we've seen God grow some amazing things out of what was really a pretty tumultuous time, you know, having that set of people to go through that with the lesson that what God has in store, no mind has conceived, no ear has heard, no eye has seen what the Lord has in store for those who love him.
00:21:53
Speaker
And even in moments that feel like collapse, God is creating opportunity and new ways of working
00:21:59
Speaker
I've been able to see much more clearly that things that look like emergencies are not always emergencies.
00:22:05
Speaker
Things that look like a coming apart may really be opportunities.
00:22:09
Speaker
And that if we keep trusting God and we keep working, he is going to grow amazing things from within our community, from the work that is already going.
00:22:19
Speaker
Amen.
00:22:19
Speaker
Amen.
00:22:20
Speaker
That was amazing
Encouragement for Cohort 9 Applicants
00:22:21
Speaker
answers.
00:22:21
Speaker
So leading on, with applications currently open for cohort nine, with encouragement, do you have for someone who may be interested in applying?
00:22:30
Speaker
So my encouragement would be twofold.
00:22:32
Speaker
Like the first would be to leaders of people who are thinking about applying for employers in particular, nonprofits, churches.
00:22:42
Speaker
The cohorts are a worthy investment.
00:22:44
Speaker
Oftentimes, these kinds of things are available to people with a lot more means.
00:22:48
Speaker
A lot of times, the people that work in our organizations, hopefully they look like your community.
00:22:52
Speaker
And if they look like your community, the cost of a cohort may feel like it's not much to you and something you can raise quickly.
00:22:58
Speaker
But it may be something that's really difficult for somebody who has children, who's working and trying to make ends meet the best they can.
00:23:05
Speaker
And so what I would say is if you care about your organization or your church,
00:23:10
Speaker
And you care about the movement of CCDA and you desire to see the long, it takes a long time, the year's worth of cultivating and building up for the sake of unfolding the gospel in your community.
00:23:23
Speaker
Like you need to be sacrificial as well and figuring out how to support your cohort applicant that is interested.
00:23:31
Speaker
It means a lot.
00:23:33
Speaker
I can tell you my organization paid for my cohort experience.
00:23:38
Speaker
And they were very, very tight on money.
00:23:39
Speaker
And it was a struggle.
00:23:41
Speaker
But I believe that a huge part of why I'm where I'm at today and the different aspects of leadership in CCDA is because they chose to make that investment in me.
00:23:51
Speaker
And so my call to the leaders that are listening to this, invest in your leaders.
00:23:56
Speaker
and think about ways to help them succeed.
00:23:58
Speaker
If they have children, what can you do to help when they go to a gathering?
00:24:03
Speaker
What are ways that you can help support and help them think through ways that they can successfully complete a cohort?
00:24:09
Speaker
Because it matters so much.
00:24:12
Speaker
And then my second advice would be for people who are interested in applying for the cohort, especially this cohort, this Gen Z cohort.
00:24:21
Speaker
I want you to know that we need each other, right?
00:24:23
Speaker
We need you and you need us, right?
00:24:27
Speaker
Together, we can work to fulfill our collective calling of unfolding the kingdom of God in our communities.
00:24:33
Speaker
For such a time as this, and I don't want to mince or make light of that, in this time, our inclinations as nonprofits, as leaders of color, as people working in spaces of marginality, is to hunker down, is to isolate.
00:24:50
Speaker
is to minimize, is to cut down.
00:24:52
Speaker
But this is the time that we need each other more than ever.
00:24:56
Speaker
We have to stop shrinking up.
00:24:58
Speaker
And I'm speaking to myself too, because it's a lot.
00:25:01
Speaker
It's scary out there right now.
00:25:02
Speaker
We have to open up.
00:25:04
Speaker
We have to open our hands.
00:25:06
Speaker
We have to be able to connect with each other, collaborate with each other, hear each other,
00:25:12
Speaker
and carry one another for the sake of the long haul.
00:25:15
Speaker
And so if you don't think this cohort is for you, if you don't think, how many times I've heard from CCD leaders and young leaders that they, the idea of imposter syndrome, like, no, we absolutely need you in this movement.
00:25:29
Speaker
And just like we share with our community members and we do at Ciudad Nueva, we need you to be part of the unfolding of the gospel in this community.
00:25:38
Speaker
We need you to be part of this because we suffer, we lack when you're not part of this.
00:25:43
Speaker
And so future CCDA leaders, future cohort members like
00:25:48
Speaker
we lack when you choose to hold yourself back.
00:25:50
Speaker
And so please consider joining this.
00:25:53
Speaker
I will be praying for you.
00:25:55
Speaker
I am rooting for you.
00:25:57
Speaker
And we need you and we need each other to keep this movement going.
00:26:01
Speaker
And this movement, ultimately, the foundation is to unfold the gospel, the kingdom of God in our communities.
00:26:07
Speaker
And so, yeah, I guess that's what I would say.
00:26:10
Speaker
Biddle, what encouragement do you have for someone that's looking at joining cohort?
00:26:14
Speaker
It's going to be even better than you think it is.
00:26:16
Speaker
And in that first, like Bethany referenced, imposter syndrome, in that first maybe six hours, it's going to seem maybe like everybody else is a better fit than you.
00:26:27
Speaker
It's going to seem a little bit awkward at first.
00:26:30
Speaker
It's going to seem like you don't exactly know how things are going to go.
00:26:33
Speaker
It's going to go great.
00:26:34
Speaker
It's going to be wonderful.
00:26:36
Speaker
With that, applications close August 15, 2025.
00:26:40
Speaker
So make sure y'all get those applications turned in if it's something you're interested in.
00:26:44
Speaker
Like Bethany said, you are more important when we're together.
00:26:48
Speaker
So don't lose hope in that regard.
00:26:51
Speaker
How do you guys see CD philosophy at work in your community?
CCD Philosophy in Community Work
00:26:57
Speaker
Let's say, how do I see CCD philosophy at work in our community?
00:27:00
Speaker
I see it in everything that we do.
00:27:02
Speaker
Within CCD philosophy, there is like this undergirding assumption of asset-based community development, which is affirming, recognizing the gifts, skills, and resources, the people present and the location present and working towards solutions from that asset-based perspective.
00:27:19
Speaker
I would also say the CCDI philosophy affirms the image of God in every person.
00:27:26
Speaker
And even within that image, the ability and capacity to collectively lead us towards shalom, towards liberation, towards thriving.
00:27:36
Speaker
And at Ciudad Nueva, the organization that I work with, I see that in everything that we do.
00:27:40
Speaker
I see it in our community leaders.
00:27:43
Speaker
I see it in our community leader staff members, but then also volunteers who work towards
00:27:49
Speaker
connecting their communities with resources.
00:27:51
Speaker
I see it in the leadership development of our youth.
00:27:53
Speaker
I see it in the spirit of joy that's threaded throughout in a time that's very, very heavy and uncertain.
00:28:00
Speaker
But yes, I think CCD philosophy very much informs the work that we do at Ciudad Nueva.
00:28:06
Speaker
I've really enjoyed, especially this summer, getting to watch young leaders step up.
00:28:12
Speaker
We had many young leaders from our community take a group of students to a summer camp, and we have been doing baptisms ever since.
00:28:20
Speaker
And watching young leaders step up,
00:28:24
Speaker
take their own experience and minister to others.
00:28:27
Speaker
Coach Gordon loves to say, you really want to see change in your community.
00:28:30
Speaker
Make friends with middle schoolers and support them on their journey and their experience will inform you and them what needs to transform next.
00:28:39
Speaker
And I've just been getting to watch that happen as young leaders step up to lead worship at church, to mentor people who are younger than them, to really guide all of us in what our community needs to see next.
00:28:55
Speaker
And there's a reason they sometimes call the kingdom of God the upside down kingdom.
00:28:59
Speaker
You know, Bethany, you talked about there being leaders that don't let go, seeing people who are emerging as leaders.
00:29:06
Speaker
lead all of us has been just an incredible blessing that CCD gives us a framework for why it is possible, necessary, and important.
00:29:16
Speaker
Wow, that was amazing answers by both of
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:29:19
Speaker
y'all.
00:29:19
Speaker
Answering that question, we conclude the podcast.
00:29:22
Speaker
Thank you for listening to CCDA Podcast, and thank you, Bethany and Jeff, for joining us.
00:29:28
Speaker
If you want to learn more about CCDA and Cohort 9, check out the show notes of this episode.
00:29:33
Speaker
Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:29:40
Speaker
This episode is produced by Sarah Collin in association with Christina Ford.
00:29:45
Speaker
We will be back soon with another episode featuring CCD practitioners who are committed to seeing people in community experience, guys.
00:29:52
Speaker
Shalom.
00:29:53
Speaker
We'll see you then.