Wild and Wondrous: Artists Stirring the Spirit at This Year’s Goose

With a lineup of artists and activists who speak truth, spark joy, and stir hearts, this year’s Goose promises a soulful celebration of justice, creativity, and connection. Here are just a few of the voices helping to weave this year’s wild and wondrous tapestry:

Crys Matthews
Equal parts songwriter, storyteller, and social justice troubadour, Crys Matthews delivers music with a mission. Her blend of folk, gospel, and blues fuels the movement and feeds the soul—think Joan Baez meets Tracy Chapman at a protest rally. MORE

Bec Cranford
Chaplain, activist, and all-around holy mischief-maker, Bec Cranford shows up with fierce compassion and zero tolerance for injustice. Whether she’s preaching, organizing, or making you laugh-cry with a story, she keeps it real—and deeply human. MORE

Doug Pagitt
Pastor, author, and merry theological disruptor, Doug Pagitt brings bold ideas wrapped in bigger questions. As founder of Vote Common Good, he helps faith communities reimagine public life with hope, humor, and just the right amount of holy trouble.  MORE

Ken Medema
Blind since birth, but able to see straight into your soul, Ken Medema has been improvising music and moments for decades. With piano keys and prophetic insight, he turns what’s happening in the room into songs that leave you changed. MORE

This year’s Goose is weaving something wild and wondrous. You in?

Holy Misfits, Big Fish, and Bibles That Don’t Bite

At Wild Goose, we don’t fear scripture—we step into it, queer it, and make it breathe again.

You don’t sit through these. You rise up inside them—speaking, moving, laughing, and reclaiming every word that tried to leave you out.

A Petulant Prophet and a Good Gracious God

Led by Drs. Melissa Jackson and Barry Biddle, this full-body retelling of Jonah invites you into the drama—literally. You’ll embody characters, wrestle with boundaries, and explore the unrelenting grace of a God who refuses to cancel anyone (even the cows). Come ready to play, laugh, and uncover sacred truths hidden in satire.

Reclaiming the Clobber Passages

Rev. Kali Cawthon-Freels invites you to step into sacred texts that have been used to harm—and flip the script. This interactive Experience offers tools, context, and soul-deep questions for reclaiming what was weaponized against LGBTQ+ folks. You don’t have to forget those verses—but you can change how you engage them.

The Bible is Not a Rule Book

With Lindsey Kelley, you’ll co-create a liberative way of reading scripture rooted in story, not shame. Through active engagement and group exploration, you’ll break free from rigid literalism and help shape new ways of encountering the sacred—with your body, voice, and full imagination involved.

These are not Bible studies.

They’re scriptural shake-ups. Spiritual jailbreaks. Comic re-tellings.

And you’re part of it.

Thread, Neurospice, and Grief

At Wild Goose, transformation doesn’t sit still.
It’s stitched by hand, sparked in the brain, and held in our grief.
These are Experiences that move you—because you move with them.

Common Threads: Creating a Community Wild Goose Quilt

Led by Kristen McGeorge, this collaborative quilting Experience is an open invitation to stitch, create, and connect. Whether you’re a seasoned quilter or have never touched a needle, you’ll design a patch and help assemble a collective quilt that tells our story—one square, one conversation, one thread at a time.

Neurodiversity 101

Join cognitive scientist Sarah Frinks Morgan for an interactive, eye-opening dive into the world of neurodivergence. Through hands-on simulations, real talk, and shared stories, you’ll engage your senses, challenge assumptions, and walk away with a deeper understanding of the beauty and complexity of neurodiverse brains—maybe even your own.

A Grief Ritual for Those Lost Through Violence While Incarcerated

Led by Natalie Buck, this immersive grief ritual invites you to remember, move, and mourn with your whole self. Through sacred gestures, water, and embodied presence, we’ll create a shared space to name the pain, honor the lives, and refuse to forget. This is not quiet reflection—it’s active remembrance.

These Experiences won’t just move you.

They’ll involve you.

Come ready to stitch, to feel, to speak, to witness—and to be changed.

At Wild Goose, we don’t just talk about transformation —
we feel it in our bodies and break through everything that told us we couldn’t.

This week’s Experiences invite you to write with passion, pray with your whole self, and speak your truth into the pulse of protest. They’re raw, intimate, and alive.

Lady Soul, Take Off Your Clothes

Led by author and mystic Jean Kelly, this Experience draws from the fierce, sensual writings of Mechtild of Magdeburg—a medieval mystic who knew how to speak her desire aloud. Through guided meditation and creative writing, you’ll craft your own love letters to the Divine, steeped in yearning, honesty, and holy heat.

Get in YOUR Body for the Good of the World

Amy Molina-Moore offers this earth-rooted invitation to get grounded, get moving, and get real. With movement and contemplative prayer, this Experience reconnects you with the sacredness of your own body—and calls you to live from that place in a world that desperately needs it.

“Conversations to Be”—Live Podcast + Artivism Experience

Join Melissa Turner and Missy Crutchfield for a podcast that doesn’t just record stories—it makes them. In this live artivism Experience, you’ll engage in dialogue, reflection, and creative expression around what it means to become an activist—and how art can carry that fire forward.

These aren’t just moments to observe.

They’re Experiences that move through you—sensual, grounded, and designed to break something open.

Your body already knows. Come see what it’s trying to say.

Write. Breathe. Resist.

At Wild Goose, faith isn’t something we inherit.

It’s something we make.

With ink and breath, silence and fire, we shape a spirituality that reflects who we truly are—and who we’re becoming.

This isn’t just programming.

It’s permission to show up whole.

Your Life as Theology: Crafting Spirituality Through Story

Led by Jordan Sylar, this Experience invites you to throw out the dusty rulebook and build a living creed—one rooted in your story. Together, we’ll honor our lived experience as sacred text, and uplift voices often left out of traditional theology. Come craft the kind of faith that can actually hold you.

Contemplation as an Act of Love and Resistance

Stillness is revolutionary.

Jeff Campbell brings you into the quiet not to escape the world, but to re-enter it whole. Through breathwork, apophatic prayer, and shared silence, you’ll rediscover how spiritual practices can nourish you and empower you to stand against the chaos.

Poetry for the Resistance

Words can wound—but they can also heal.

Join Rev. Amy Vaughan in a writing workshop where metaphor meets movement. Find your voice, channel your grief, joy, and justice into poetry and prose, and—if you choose—contribute to a collective anthology of Wild Goose witness.

These three Experiences offer more than insight.

They offer transformation.

Come ready to breathe deep, speak true, and write what only you can.

RV Registrations Are Now Open

RV spot reservations for this year’s Wild Goose Festival are officially open—don’t miss your chance to camp with us! Whether you’re a festival regular or a first-timer, there’s nothing like being in the heart of the action. Wild Goose is a one-of-a-kind gathering filled with music, inspiration, and community, and your RV spot puts you right in the mix. Spots go fast, so grab yours today and get ready for an unforgettable experience!

Click on any title below for more details

Wisdom Camp 2025: Radical Mysticism
Subversive Contemplation, Playful Visioning, Storytelling and Other Keys to Interior/Exterior Healing and Transformation.
Our day will be facilitated by Carl McColman and Debonee Morgan, two Atlanta-based contemplative troublemakers who bring a breadth of knowledge and perspective to our shared conversation.

LeadNow!
LeadNow! is a select group of seminarians, first-call ministers & faith leaders from around the country – a diverse cohort of forward-thinking friends & colleagues committed to encouraging & supporting each other as we lead our communities toward a more just and equitable future.
Facilitated by Jaqcui Buschor and Jones

Don’t Skip Recess

What is it? What happens when a former youth pastor becomes a spiritual director specializing in the realms of trauma and addiction?

Oddly enough, Don’t Skip Recess happens. The emotional burden that precious humans can carry these days tends to be heavy, gloomy, isolating, and stressful. Can you relate?

Don’t Skip Recess is devoted to delving into the lands of
Play | Presence | Innocence
This magic medicine is for anyone interested in returning to the wisdom of childlikeness.  Hosted by Matthew Ray Lyda

Faith-Rooted Organizing on New Terrain
Facilitated by Lisa Sharon Harper
Faith-Rooted Organizing draws from the roots of our traditions to help faith communities engage the larger movement for justice in our world. In this workshop, Lisa Sharon Harper will equip participants to analyze their community, strategize, build collaborative networks, and take action inspired by their faith!

Science Camp for Grown-Ups
Hands-On Experiments in Climate Science
Facilitated by JD Stillwater
Spend a day in our Science Tent laboratory, doing some serious playing with the science of climatology, which intersects with many other science disciplines.

Eden Camp: Garden Transitions
Cultivating Thresholds in Sexuality, Spirituality, and Relationship
Are you standing at the threshold of transformation? Whether you’re questioning conventional religious teachings about sexuality, considering new forms of relationship, or seeking to integrate your spiritual and erotic selves, Eden Camp offers garden tools for your journey.
Facilitated by Michael Morrell and Aline Defiglia

It’s a Neurodiverse Universe
Facilitated by Sarah Frinks Morgan and Jillian Morgan
– Learn the basics about neurodiversity and how it fits into our world.
– Increase your understanding & develop empathy if someone in your life (i.e., family member, co-worker, or YOU) has been diagnosed with a brain difference such as ADHD or on the Autism Spectrum.

Co-led by a cognitive scientist and a disabilities advocate—who are both neuro-distinct. 

Sowing Seeds in the Sand: Transforming the Way You Find Yourself in Antiracism
Facilitated by Jennifer Holt Enriquez and William Bouvel
There will be sociological examinations of definitions of race, racism, systemic racism, internalized racial privilege, internalized racial inferiority, and communal confession, healing and opportunity for liberation.

Participants will experience
– a heartfelt connection with America’s racial history
– a communal expression of grief and complexity
– a faithful Good News answer for why we do antiracism work in the church
– why our communities should embrace it.

Peace in a Violent World: A Workshop on Mimetic Theory and Sacred Nonviolence
Facilitated by Shannon Mullen

In an era of increasing polarization and conflict, finding a path to peace has never been more relevant. This workshop invites participants to explore how Girard’s work illuminates our personal relationships and efforts for social justice, offering insights for peacemaking and community transformation.

This workshop will be participatory, weaving academic insights, dialogue, reflection, and engagement with practical application. All faith backgrounds and levels of familiarity with Girard’s work are welcome.