Joshua Hearne
Joshua Hearne is a storyteller in the traditions, and native, of Central Appalachia. He is a founding member, and the spiritual director, of Grace and Main Fellowship, an intentional, ecumenical, Christian community devoted to hospitality, prayer, simplicity, and grassroots community development in Southside Virginia. He is also the Executive Director of Third Chance Ministries, an organization devoted to cultivating Christian communities and leaders on the margins of society through hospitality, power sharing, and discipleship. Along with his wife, he is also endorsed as “Global Mission Field Personnel” by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. His stories have been published in places like RedLetterChristians, Smyth & Helwys, Fresh Expressions US, Faith Lab, the Prophetic Collective, the Collegeville Institute, and at other online and print sources.

Stories as Prayer, Prayer as Stories
Come together to explore the intersection of story and prayer as we convene an Appalachian style storytelling circle within the frame of praying one of the daily offices. You are welcomed to bring a story of your own or just come to listen and experience. After all, good storytelling is more about listening and seeing, than it is about talking. As we pray and tell stories together, we will seek to descend with our minds into our hearts to rest in the presence of our God who is a storyteller, weaving together a grand narrative out of all of our seemingly disparate stories. The session will be led by Joshua Hearne, an Appalachian storyteller, and the spiritual director of an intentional, ecumenical, Christian community called Grace and Main Fellowship.

You can read some of Josh’s stories at graceandmain.org, redletterchristians.org, and ttstm.com, among others places. Grace and Main also put out its own prayerbook in 2015, entitled “A Pattern of Prayer.” Joshua was a 2014 contributor at Wild Goose as a storyteller.