The Encouraging Place

08/09/2026

Not every grandparent's story looks the same. 💛

Some get the 2 a.m. knock. Some quietly open the back bedroom again. Some are 42, some are 82. Different challenges, different needs, different kinds of support.

That's the heart of what Genita Spencer of BAGS shared with us this month: you can't meet everybody the same way, but you CAN make sure nobody walks it alone.

Watch the full Virtual Lunch Huddle 👉 link in bio

07/23/2026

Encouraging Place fam, we have some BIG news.

Today at 12 noon, our July Virtual Lunch Huddle drops on YouTube with a very special guest, Bishop Michael Curry, and by the end of the conversation, we make an announcement we've been holding onto for weeks.

We're not going to spoil it here. You have to come watch to hear it.

Grab a friend. Grab your lunch. Come pull up a chair at 12 noon and stay all the way to the end.

While you're watching, hit that like button, subscribe to our channel, and share the video with somebody who needs some encouragement today.

Link in the comments 👇

05/30/2026

04/30/2026

🔴 WE'RE GOING LIVE IN 5 MINUTES!

Grab your lunch and pull up a chair — Pastor Jerome Gay Jr. is joining us TODAY for our Virtual Lunch Huddle. We're diving into his book The Whitewashing of Christianity and talking about faith, race, and the hopeful future of the church.

Link to watch in the comments. See you in there! 👇

04/17/2026

A historic Black church that served its community for decades — and somebody wanted to turn it into a bar.

Pastor Phillip Walker doesn't mince words. Gentrification isn't automatically a bad thing — but gentrification without justice? That destroys culture, history, and community.

His message is simple: "This is not a house to take over. This is something that needs to be done in a way that respects who has been here."

Respect the culture. Honor the history. Then we work together.

Watch the full Virtual Lunch Huddle with Pastor Phillip Walker → [https://youtu.be/kUlU0OE_ys0]

04/12/2026

"If it looks like hell, the church should make it look like kingdom."

Pastor Phillip Walker isn't talking about a social program. He's talking about a kingdom initiative — where lives are changed, families are transformed, and the church makes everything around it look like what God intended.

When people move into the neighborhood struggling and walk away knowing how to do better? When their kids can do better? That's where the real impact is. And it starts with relationship.

This is what it looks like when a little church does a gigantic thing.

Watch the full Virtual Lunch Huddle with Pastor Phillip Walker → [https://youtu.be/kUlU0OE_ys0?si=zS_It1OMtkIaqB_5]