Memphis Needs Church Planters. Memphis Needs You.

A note from Josie Barton (Marketing Manager, Stadia)

What does it mean to reconcile? It wasn’t a question I was even asking back in March, when Content Marketing Coordinator Alex and I got the opportunity to film Jair and Layna Tapia. As the Marketing Manager for Stadia, I do a lot of “cold calling” (well, cold emailing, really), asking high-impact leaders to share their stories with us. My email to Jair and Layna asking them to film with us was not special or eloquent. I asked if they’d tell their story. They said yes. We set up a time to meet. And then we met.

I don’t think any of us could have anticipated the footage we got. I was at the end of all of my questions, and we’d only been filming for about ten minutes. Prompted by one of Jair’s comments about reconciliation, I casually asked a question: Is Memphis a really racially divided city?

I asked it out of curiosity, but what came next was like lighting a fire in their souls, a light shining bright from their eyes. Jair and Layna talked with passion and energy about the value Engage Church places on reconciliation and diversity – and when they left, probably thinking, “That went okay!”, Alex and I were moved by the way we’d seen the Spirit of God at work. We’re so happy to be able to share this content with you and hope it touches you as deeply as it did us.