What happens when a church decides its job isn’t to stay inside its own four walls? This week on We, Plural., Lisa sits down with Pastor David Norris of City Church For All Nations. He is a fifth-generation pastor, and his vision for community reaches well beyond Sunday morning.

Pastor Dave shares the story behind City Church’s new downtown Bloomington campus. They planted it on purpose in a part of the city where million-dollar condos sit blocks from people sleeping on the street, and it sits between two recovery houses. He talks about Healing Hands, the church’s outreach that provides food, clothing, and furniture to families in need, no strings attached. He also talks about City Recovery, which now draws around 170 people a week, built on the belief that everyone is recovering from something.

He and Lisa also talk about why churches sometimes underestimate their role in a community’s toughest challenges, what Pastor Tommy Barnett’s Dream Center in Los Angeles taught him, and the generational legacy he hopes to leave. He closes with a story from a school for expelled students, where a 15-year-old girl asked him a question he hasn’t forgotten: “What can God do with me?”

His challenge to every listener is simple: find a need and fill it. You don’t need a lot of money. Start where you are, with one person.

Learn more about Pastor Dave and City Church For All Nations at https://davidnorris.org/. Also, be sure to check out his podcast, The Marriage Podcast with Dave & Sumer at https://davidnorris.org/category/the-marriage-podcast-dave-sumer-norris/.

Connect with We, Plural.
Website: weplural.com
Instagram: instagram.com/wepluralpodcast
Facebook: facebook.com/wepluralpodcast
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/we-plural-podcast
YouTube: youtube.com/@WePlural.Podcast

In January 2021, Janaé Swan got the call: breast cancer. The same morning, her husband learned he had skin cancer. What came next was a lumpectomy, 30 straight days of radiation, and a promise she made to herself. She would not do the walks, and she would not wear the pink tutu.

Five years later, Janaé hosts the Susan G. Komen More Than Pink Walk, pink tutu included. She also keeps a prayer journal full of mammogram dates sent to her by women she's never met.

To kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Lisa sits down with one of her closest friends. They talk about the moment in a cancer center waiting room that changed everything for Janaé, and why she stopped asking "why me?" and started asking "why not me?" Janaé also covers the real reasons women put off mammograms and the local resources that help with cost. And she shares the most useful thing a friend can do for someone in treatment. Hint: it isn't saying "call me if you need anything."

Want Janaé to pray over your mammogram date? Message her on Facebook or Instagram at Janaé Swan.

Chapters
0:00 Cold open
0:44 Welcome and Breast Cancer Awareness Month
2:12 Meet Janaé Swan
5:14 What stage two meant for treatment
11:20 The waiting room that changed everything
16:52 Why women put off mammograms
21:05 Finding community: the More Than Pink Walk
28:40 "Don't block my blessing"
33:00 The We Plural Promise

Resources mentioned: Susan G. Komen Indiana (including help with screening costs), The Pink Connection, and the More Than Pink Walk (Saturday, Oct 3, Military Park, Indianapolis)

This conversation shares one survivor's personal experience and is not medical advice. Talk with your doctor about the screening plan that's right for you.

Connect with We, Plural.
Website: weplural.com
Instagram: instagram.com/wepluralpodcast
Facebook: facebook.com/wepluralpodcast
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/we-plural-podcast
YouTube: youtube.com/@WePlural.Podcast

How does a small Midwestern state compete for today's traveler? This week on We, Plural., Lisa sits down with Amy Howell, CEO of the Indiana Destination Development Corporation — better known as Visit Indiana — for a conversation about what it takes to sell a state, and why the people who live here are the hardest audience to convince.

Amy spent 20 years as a TV news producer before landing at the state tourism office while working on Indiana's bicentennial. Ten years and all 92 counties later, she has a clear view of what separates a thriving community from a struggling one, and it comes down to two things: building something worth the trip, and getting locals to talk about it.

She and Lisa dig into the "Humble Hoosier" problem, the four-seasons-plus-holiday marketing calendar, why Gen Con and meeting planners keep choosing Indianapolis, and how a visitor's dollars ripple through a town's restaurants, shops, and jobs. Amy also lays out the free resources — earned-media tours, a newsletter reaching 133,000+ subscribers, and travel guides — that any county, big or small, can tap into.

In this episode:

• Why Indiana markets by five seasons instead of four
• What thriving counties do differently: destination development and affordability
• "Humble Hoosiers" — the perception problem inside our own borders
• "Other people's money": how a visitor from 50+ miles away fuels the local economy
• Collaboration across county and state lines, from the Great Lakes USA Consortium to Arts Road 46
• Free tools from Visit Indiana that small and rural communities can use right now
• Amy's We Plural Promise: put on your cheerleader outfit, grab your megaphone, and never say "there's nothing to do here"

Connect with We, Plural.: Facebook (facebook.com/wepluralpodcast), Instagram (@wepluralpodcast), and LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/we-plural-podcast), and catch full episodes on YouTube. Learn more at weplural.com.

This episode is brought to you by the Brown County Community Foundation and Pickle on Penn in Carmel, Indiana.