Don’t miss your opportunity to meet and engage with these incredible minds this summer. Get registered for the Wild Goose Festival today!

Bryan Johnson & Trinity UCC Choir 
Bryan Johnson is the Executive Director of Sacred Music and Movement at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois. Under Bryan’s direction, leadership, and teaching, all genres of African American sacred music – from the drums and complex harmonies of West Africa; to the Afro-Caribbean rhythms of the West Indies; to the jazz and blues influences of the southern United States; to traditional, contemporary, and neo-soul forms of American gospel – are performed by Trinity’s choirs and liturgical groups. He is the executive producer of “Stay Connected,” Trinity’s latest music project, which debuted earlier this year at #5 on Billboard’s gospel charts.

A native of Chicago, Bryan received his Master of Music Education from VanderCook College of Music. His family roots from Jamaica, Barbados, and Louisiana helped form the foundation of his musical prowess. He is heavily influenced by gospel greats such as Charles Clency and Thomas Whitfield. Additional musical influencers include Dave Grusin, David Foster, and other jazz, rhythm and blues, and soul artists.

Since 1990 he has been married to his wonderful wife, Joi Buchanan-Johnson.

https://wildgoosefestival.org/bryan-johnson18

Paula Williams
Rev. Dr. Paula Williams is a nationally known speaker on gender equity and transgender advocacy. She is also the Pastor of Preaching and Worship at Left Hand Church in Longmont, Colorado, and the president of RLT Pathways, Inc., a non-profit providing counseling and coaching services. Paula serves on the board of the Q Christian Fellowship, the Union of Affirming Christians, and the WITH Network of progressive churches. As a transgender pastor, Paula has been featured in the New York Times, the Denver Post, NPR and The Huffington Post. Paula’s TEDxMileHigh talk on gender equality has been viewed over a half million times on YouTube.

paulastonewilliams.com
https://www.tedxmilehigh.com/speaker/paula-stone-williams/

T. Anthony Spearman 
Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman is the senior pastor of St. Phillip A.M.E. Zion Church in Greensboro, the third vice president of the North Carolina Conference of NAACP Branches, and a candidate to become the civil rights organization’s next permanent state president now that Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is stepping away from the post he’s held for 12 years.

He is a key leader in the Moral Monday and Forward Together Movement that has brought national attention to the broad coalition of social justice organizations that are working together to change recent legislation in North Carolina that denied the expansion of Medicaid, significantly reduced access to early voting, eliminated Sunday voting, cut unemployment benefits to long-term unemployed people, and reduced the number of teachers in public schools. During his time in Greensboro in the 90’s, Dr. Spearman was a member of the Pulpit Forum, a group of primarily African-American ministers who stood in solidarity with Greensboro K-Mart workers who were asking for wage parity with K-Mart employees in other states as well as an increase in paid holidays and sick days. Dr. Spearman is a regular fixture at Moral Monday protests all across the state.

https://naacpnc.org/rev-t-anthony-spearman/

Tony Campolo 
Tony Campolo is professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University and a former faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania. For 40 years, he led the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, an organization which he founded to create and support programs serving needy communities. More recently, Dr. Campolo has provided leadership for the progressive Christian movement, Red Letter Christians, as well as for the Campolo Center for Ministry, a program which provides support to those the Church has called to full-time ministry. He has written more than 35 books and can be found blogging regularly on tonycampolo.org and redletterchristians.org. Tony and his wife, Peggy, live near Philadelphia, and have two children and four grandchildren.

https://tonycampolo.org/

Dan White Hodge 
Daniel White Hodge, PhD, is the Director of the Center for Youth Ministry Studies and Assistant Professor of Youth Ministry at North Park University in Chicago. Dr. Hodge has worked in the urban youth and Hip Hop context for over 20 years. He is also the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal Of Hip Hop Studies.

Dr. Hodge, a Hip Hop scholar and urban youth specialist, focuses on Hip Hop Studies, urban/ city youth culture and development, race relations, film, pop culture trends, and spirituality. Having received his PhD from Fuller Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, his dissertation focused on the life, theology, and spiritual message of Tupac Amaru Shakur (TITLE: Baptized in Dirty Water: The Missiological Gospel of Tupac Amaru Shakur).

Dr. Hodge and his wife, Emily, and daughter, Mahalia Joy, currently reside in Chicago.

https://www.whitehodge.com

Amy and Jacqui and Barbara and John – it almost sounds like a chant, but a happy chant, on the road to Oz – and that’s just the beginning of the AMAZING 2018 Wild Goose festival lineup!

Haven’t bought your tickets yet? What are you waiting for? The Winter ticket special ($229 for festival admission + tent camping) will end soon. Do it now! Re-post, share, tell, send, spread the word – at the 2018 Wild Goose the mountains will ring with wisdom and even the trees will call us to the battle for justice – and we’ll have a lot of fun, too.

Amy Grant
Amy Grant’s long and tremendously successful career is built on music that matters. From the time she burst on the scene as a fresh-faced teenager the Nashville native gained a reputation for creating potent songs that examined life’s complexities with an open heart and keen eye. She became the first artist in “Christian” music to have a platinum record and then she went on to become a crossover sensation, her musical gifts transcending genre boundaries to make her a household name. An “Amy” tour on the web points to song after song with hundreds of thousands and MILLIONS of views. http://amygrant.com/

Jacqui Lewis
Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis will challenge the Goose with her exuberant preaching style and her prophetic voice. The mere mention of her name creates a ripple of enthusiastic anticipation. The Senior Minister at Middle Collegiate Church, a 1000-member multiracial, welcoming, and inclusive congregation in New York City has been featured in media such as The Today Show, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, The New Yorker, Essence and The Huffington Post and she’s is a frequent contributor to MSNBC.

This powerful activist, preacher, and fierce advocate for racial equality, economic justice, and LGBTQ equality is just right for Wild Goose-land! http://www.jacquijlewis.com/

Barbara Brown Taylor
Barbara Brown Taylor is a New York Times best-selling, award winning author, teacher, and Episcopal priest. What’s your favorite of her books – is it Leaving Church, or how about Learning to Walk in the Dark, perhaps When God Is Silent – maybe it’ll be Holy Envy (coming this year from HarperOne) – or any of her many others. Whatever your favorite, there’s a really good chance that Wild Goose people will play the popular “my favorite Barbara Brown Taylor book is . . . “ game a lot this year!

She was featured on the cover of TIME magazine and she’s been included on the annual TIME list of Most Influential People. Her work has been translated into five languages. http://www.barbarabrowntaylor.com/bio.htm

John Pavlovitz
John Pavlovitz is reaching literally millions of people with his Stuff That Needs To Be Said blog. The writer and pastor and 20-year veteran in the trenches of local church ministry is committed to helping the Church become a more compassionate, loving environment for all people. His first book, A Bigger Table, was released last October to wide acclaim. It’s often said of someone that so-and-so will “tell it like it is” – for that to really be true a person has to know how it is and then have the courage to tell it. John Pavolvitz passes both standards with high marks. https://johnpavlovitz.com/

Are you as excited as we are? Help us spread the word!

What happens when you add Ruby Sales, Jen Hatmaker, Otis Moss III (along with the Trinity UCC choir), Brian McLaren, and the Red Dirt Boys (Emmylou Harris’ band with Phil Madeira and the Barber twins on horns) to Amy Grant, Jacqui Lewis, Barbara Brown Taylor, and John Pavlovitz? Well, you get to decide – but it’s going to be special, it’s going to be the 2018 Wild Goose! We’ll see you by the river!

Ruby Sales

Perhaps no one is more rooted in history, engaged in the present, and leaning more intentionally into the future than Ruby Sales.

Ruby is a public theologian, historian, activist, social critic, and educator. She answered the call to social justice as a teenager at Tuskegee Institute as a member of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and worked on voter registration in Lowndes County, AL. She looks at her work as a calling not a career.

She received a B.A. degree from Manhattanville College, attended graduate school at Princeton University, and received a Masters of Divinity degree as an Absalom Jones Scholar from the Episcopal Divinity School. While there, she developed a reputation as a preacher and preaches often at churches and cathedrals around the nation.

She founded, and still directs, the SpiritHouse Project, a national nonprofit organization.

Her work as a social justice activist is cited in books, journal articles, and films including Taylor Branch’s At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68; Broken Ground: A Film on Race Relations in the South; Dan Rather’s American Dream Segment; and the newly released, Blood Brother: Jonathan Daniels and His Sacrifice for Civil Rights (Rich Wallce and Sandra Neil Wallace).

She is a co-founder of SAGE Magazine: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women, has appeared on On Being with Krista Tippett, and is a frequent guest on Sirius XM Radio’s Inside the Issues. Her writing has been published in many journals, newspapers, and magazines and she has received numerous awards and honors.

An oral history of Sales is housed at the Library of Congress and she was selected as one of fifty African Americans from the Civil Rights Movement to be spotlighted.

http://www.spirithouseproject.org/; https://onbeing.org/programs/ruby-sales-where-does-it-hurt-aug2017/

Jen Hatmaker

It’s easy to say Jen Hatmaker is a widely read and enthusiastically followed author (New York Times bestseller), speaker, blogger, and television presenter (My Big Family Renovation).

These things are easy to say and they’re also true – and it’s also true that Jen Hatmaker is one of the most courageous faith leaders in the world today. Jen took a stand and she keeps standing and speaking, and every time she stands in the crosshairs of thousands – yet she still stands and she still speaks.

In April of 2016, with a huge Evangelical following, Jen called for the full inclusion of LGBT people into the Christian community, calling same sex relationships holy in the eyes of God. She reiterated her position in October 2016, and as a result, LifeWay Christian Resources, the Baptist Bookstore organization, among other retailers discontinued selling her books.

Since the 2016 presidential election, she regularly makes public statements critical of Donald Trump and challenging evangelical Christian attitudes towards LBGT people. She has been featured for an alternative Christian perspective in The Atlantic, TIME Magazine, Politico, Washington Post, RNS, and Relevant Magazine. http://jenhatmaker.com/

Otis Moss III

Otis Moss III is a great preacher – some say he’s the greatest preacher alive today – he’s also a great “practicer.” As part of his community engagement through Trinity United Church of Christ, he led the team that came up with the “My Life Matters” curriculum, which includes the viral video, “Get Home Safely: 10 Rules of Survival” created in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s death at the hands of Ferguson, MO police.

Moss is part of a new generation of ministers committed to preaching a prophetic message of love and justice, which he believes are inseparable companions that form the foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Civil rights advocacy in his DNA and he’s built his ministry on community advancement and social justice activism. As Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, IL, Otis Moss III has spent the last two decades practicing and preaching a Black theology that unapologetically calls attention to the problems of mass incarceration, environmental justice, and economic inequality.  https://trinitychicago.org/rev-dr-otis-moss-iii/

Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren writes the books that are the bridge of faith recovery for thousands upon thousands of people. His clarity is unparalleled and his generous spirit manages somehow to both calm and confront.

As an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian, this former college English teacher and pastor, is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good.

Notable among the many books are: A New Kind of Christian, which won Christianity Today’s “Award of Merit” in 2002; Everything Must Change tracing critical ways in which Jesus’ message confronts contemporary global crises; and We Make the Road by Walking, marking a turn toward constructive and practical theology. His 2016 release, The Great Spiritual Migration, has been called his most important work to date.  https://brianmclaren.net/

The Red Dirt Boys with Phil Madeira

Red Dirt Boys, made up of Chris Donohue, Will Kimbrough, Bryan Owings, and Wild Goose favorite Phil Madeira is the name Emmylou Harris gave to her band. The street cred of this musical collection is tremendous. The Red Dirt Boys combined songwriting, band, and session credits are astounding, including Emmylou Harris, Tom Jones, Buddy Miller, Rodney Crowell, Taj mahal, The Phil Keaggy Band, Alison Krauss, Mat Kearney, Old Crow Medicine Show, Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Keb’ Mo’, Amy Grant, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Civil Wars, Julie Miller, The Band Perry, Mavis Staples, and many more.

The Red Dirt Boys will be joined by the Wild Goose return of Roland Barber on trombone and Rashaan Barber on saxophone.

https://www.facebook.com/Red-Dirt-Boys-682981768560021/         http://philmadeira.net/home/

So let’s see, to recap, Wild Goose 2018 has already announced:

Amy Grant

Jacqui Lewis

Barbara Brown Taylor

John Pavlovitz

And now Wild Goose 2018 adds:

Jen Hatmaker

Otis Moss III (along with the Trinity UCC choir)

Brian McLaren

The Red Dirt Boys (Emmylou Harris’ band with Phil Madeira and the Barber twins on horns)

Group Tickets

Discounted tickets are available for groups of ten or more. Email Vanna for your special discount code.

Adult – $169.00

Senior 65+ – $149.00

Student – $99.00

Youth 13-17 – $49.00

Children 0-12 – Free

Post and re-post – share and talk – grab all your friends, pile up in a van, and head to the Goose!  We have so much good Goose to come. Stay tuned for more announcements soon.

It’s time again to let us know what YOU would like to do at Wild Goose!

The contributions of our “self-submits” each year are at the heart of what make the Goose a unique co-creation experience, surprising and unlike other “festivals.” This is a festival where people come together to make things,  wonder and ponder and discuss, cross boundaries, fire up imaginations, undo expectations.

Think about how you can design experiences that engage rather than lecture, raise questions rather than shut them down. How could you tailor your work to involve your audience, making space for participation? How can you go outside normal boundaries to increase the level of interactivity? Push beyond the expected in ways that will actively involve your audience. See yourself as an instigator not a “presenter” and invite others into an experience of co-creation.

Note to musicians:  A traditional performance is fine – we don’t expect you to change your performance into an interactive experience.

Because this festival is about the intersection of Spirit, Art, Music and Justice, we ask all our co-creators to consider how they can create integrated experiences – so you might, for example, want to look at justice through the lens of spirit and/or music, or at spirituality through the lens of art and/or justice.  And in whatever you do, keep in mind the power of Story – it’s part of the Goose DNA: What are our shared narratives? How have they shaped us?

Stories bring us together, stories can change us – whether we’re telling them or hearing them. We believe stories can change the world. So we hope that you will let the power of story weave its way into any type of experience you bring to the Goose.

We’d like to also suggest that you keep these words in front of you as you craft your contribution: Lament. Welcome. Identity. Evolve. Revolution. Love. Freedom. Liberate. Resist. Believe. Converge.

What do these concepts say to you and how might you integrate any of them into your performance or presentation?

Entries will close at Midnight PST, Sunday, January 13 2019.

Dream the Dream that will Co-Create the world. Something so cool it’ll register on seismic meters – or at least will be fun or challenging or perhaps even a bit unsettling.

Click here for all the details and a form to enter the submission process:

Sorry, entries are closed for 2019! 

It’s time again to let us know what YOU would like to do at Wild Goose!

The contributions of our “self-submits” each year are at the heart of what make the Goose a unique co-creation experience, surprising and unlike other “festivals.” This is a festival where people come together to make things,  wonder and ponder and discuss, cross boundaries, fire up imaginations, undo expectations.

This means that in your submissions, think about how you can design experiences that engage rather than lecture, raise questions rather than shut them down. How could you tailor your work to involve your audience, making space for participation? How can you go outside normal boundaries to increase the level of interactivity? Whatever your role – artist, musician, speaker – push beyond the expected in ways that will actively involve your audience. See yourself as an instigator not a “presenter” and invite others into an experience of co-creation.

Because this festival is about the intersection of Spirit, Art, Music and Justice, we ask all our co-creators to consider how they can create integrated experiences – so you might, for example, want to look at justice through the lens of spirit and/or music, or at spirituality through the lens of art and/or justice.  And in whatever you do, keep in mind the power of Story – it’s part of the Goose DNA: What are our shared narratives? How have they shaped us?

Stories bring us together, stories can change us – whether we’re telling them or hearing them. We believe stories can change the world. So we hope that you will let the power of story weave its way into any type of experience you bring to the Goose.

We’d like to also suggest that you keep these words in front of you as you craft your contribution: Lament. Welcome. Identity. Evolve. Revolution. Love. Freedom. Liberate. Resist. Believe. Converge.

What do these concepts say to you and how might you integrate any of them into your performance or presentation?

Entries will close at Midnight, January 13, 2019.

Dream the Dream that will Co-Create the world.  Something so cool it’ll register on seismic meters  – or at least will be fun or challenging or perhaps even a bit unsettling.

Thank you for all your ideas.