Economics in the Gospels Video Course & The Ladies of St. Luke’s (and Phillip)

The Economics in the Gospels Video Course came out of the visiting professor role I play at the National Theological College in Kathmandu. I needed a video-based alternative to the Skype course I was hosting as the internet connections are too often broken – and I’m too often wishing I were still sleeping at 4 AM, to teach the class. So, we pulled together a crew and a willing class at my home church: St. Luke’s the Physician Episcopal (Anglican) Church in Miami during the summer of 2019.

I found St. Luke’s via Google (I searched for the closest Episcopal Church to my new home) and walked over one Sunday shortly after the Charleston Church shooting in June 2015. It is located just a few miles from the house I grew up in in Kendall.

Turns out that this Episcopal church, in an affluent (largely white that is) suburb of Miami, finds many (most) of its members are Anglican church transplants/descendants from Jamaica and other Caribbean Islands, Nigeria and other African nations, and various Hispanic countries. Like Miami it is a melting pot and WASP’s like me are in the happy minority.

The Ladies: Carol, Deb, Gale, Joan, Orinthia, Salome (and Phillip) offer excellent commentary and questions and make the sessions work. There was another: Reverend Cori, who was instrumental in setting all this up. But she went on vacation shortly after the shoots began and is no longer at St. Luke’s, so we decided to edit her out. (Her sessions will be included as two bonus videos later on). So, viewers will perhaps notice that I am the only white guy in this group. In fact, I am the only white person period since we edited Reverend Cori out. Unfortunate, but it reflects the makeup of our congregation I suppose. These very nice people accepted me into their congregation years ago and it is a way to help the church as it is small and can use the money (20% of all video revenues go to St. Luke’s).

Here’s what Deb had to say when she saw the trailer: “Just saw the video. LOVE IT!!!!!!!  The video was edited splendidly!!!”

The Ladies were a great class.. They came every week, stayed long, and remained engaged. They offered their questions, their comments, and we had a lot of fun – and for my students in Kathmandu the Ladies are the best part of each class.

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