After leaving the first New Story Festival after volunteering for the weekend, I was so inspired! I was glowing acceptance and belonging, so much so that the first person I saw after the festival - a Trader Joe’s cashier, whom I met as I picked up dinner on the way home, recognized it without ever meeting me before. They gave me a bouquet of flowers so I could “keep spreading joy and love.” I guess that's the power of the New Story!
As a seminary student, working within Christian spaces right smack dab in the middle of Texas has given me the opportunity to constantly participate in conversations about Jesus, God, and the Bible. Christianity is my personal theological center. Yet diverse voices from other faith, economic, and racial perspectives bolster, support, and expand my understanding of what my faith means. I got involved with the New Story Festival to allow me to support and engage in the diversity of the more beautiful world.
The New Story Festival community is a safe-haven of diversity and love. Working with people from many walks of life, faith perspectives, backgrounds and identities allows a collective voice of kaleidoscopic creativity while supporting individual journeys. This gathering for fellowship, conversation and advocacy continues to inspire me in the work I do within my own tradition whilst connecting me with some of the biggest badasses working for justice. I have loved every second of the work, and it fuels my life and work every day.