Love Anyway

From 9/11 to January 6 Jan 29, 2021

Guests
Jeremy Courtneyis the founder and CEO of Preemptive Love. He has lived and worked on the frontlines of conflict for over a decade, serving families who’ve been terrorized by violence, poverty, and disease. He’s the author of the book Love Anyway: An Invitation Beyond a World That’s Scary as Hell. Jeremy lives in Iraq with his wife Jessica and their two children.

Resources

Podcast: Why Violence Is a Virus

What if the very skills we’re all learning to stop the spread of COVID-19 could help us stop the spread of violence? In fact, what if what we’re experiencing now could lead us to end war?

The Defeat of ISIS Is Not a Victory for Peace

We have everything in us to be the ones who crush others underfoot. (That’s what “Daesh,” the Arabic name for ISIS, means.) We have everything in us to be the overtakers. To be those some might see as heroes—and who others might see as the most terrifying villains imaginable.

We Share the Blame

When we prioritize our own comfort and privilege over the basic needs of our neighbors; when we leave weaker neighbors to fend for themselves; when we make it easy for governments to abuse their own citizens because they know the world doesn’t care, we fail our neighbors.

Take Action

Attend a Love Anyway Workshop
Learn how to press into pain, become a better listener, and connect deeply with those who are different. Join one of our free online workshops.

Join our Peacemaking Community
Give monthly to join our community of peacemakers and support our work to heal all that is tearing us apart—in our own communities and around the world. Your gift will provide lifesaving relief to stop the spread of violence, jobs that reduce the risk of being recruited into war, and community to help change the ideas that lead to war.

After the Capitol Attack: A Way Forward Jan 15, 2021

GUESTS

Jeremy Courtney is the founder and CEO of Preemptive Love. He has lived and worked on the frontlines of conflict for over a decade, serving families who’ve been terrorized by violence, poverty, and disease. He’s the author of the book Love Anyway: An Invitation Beyond a World That’s Scary as Hell. Jeremy lives in Iraq with his wife Jessica and their two children.

RESOURCES

Attack on the Capitol: Why We Must Call It What It Is

The Seeds of War Have Already Been Planted. Now What?

US Election: Voices From the Other Side of War (Podcast)

TAKE ACTION

Attend a Love Anyway Workshop

Learn how to press into pain, become a better listener, and connect deeply with those who are different. Join one of our free online workshops.

Join our Peacemaking Community

Give monthly to join our community of peacemakers and support our work to heal all that is tearing us apart—in our own communities and around the world. Your gift will provide lifesaving relief to stop the spread of violence, jobs that reduce the risk of being recruited into war, and community to help change the ideas that lead to war.

EDITOR’S NOTE

The Love Anyway tour mentioned on this episode took place in late 2019.

US Election: Voices From the Other Side of War Oct 28, 2020

Many worry about the risk of violence after the US election. But most Americans have no idea what it’s like to live through political unrest or what to about it. We asked members of our team who've lived through political violence and war what Americans should know.

SPECIAL: Put Your Bodies On The Line Jun 12, 2020

In the US, our Black brothers and sisters, whose forced physical, mental, and emotional labor built so many of our communities, are asking for presence from those of us who aren’t Black. And this isn’t new. They've been asking. They’ve been fighting for their lives for four hundred years—four hundred years too long.

As host Erin Wilson shares in this episode: Throughout the war with ISIS, Preemptive Love chose to stay in Iraq. We chose to travel to the frontlines and stand with the people being crushed by violence and oppression. We did it out of love...and for some, that mattered. It mattered that we chose to stay. It mattered that we put our bodies on the line with theirs.

And now we, all of us, need to show up on the frontlines in the US, too.

In the midst of a wave of protests sweeping all 50 states, and on at least four continents, declaring the truth that Black Lives Matter, we have a chance to make our presence matter.

In this breaking episode, we hear from:

Faitth Brooks, director of programs for Be The Bridge and co-host of Melantated Faith podcast. Faitth shares what it looks like to be a co-conspirator by stepping behind the marginalized and supporting the work without co-opting or centering.
Nick Mahlstadt, friend of Preemptive Love and father of seven, shares what he's learned about stepping out in front — not to co-opt or take over— but to literally stand between the oppressed and their oppressor.

Both Faitth and Nick also share the idea that being anti-racist means showing up to do the everyday, unglamorous work of justice.

Visit show notes page.

Links from this episode:

Faitth's Book Recommendations:

Faith's Podcast Recommendations:

Unexpected Empathy: Finding Ourselves in Our Global Neighbors May 20, 2020

What does empathy have to do with emergency aid? In this final episode of Season 4, Erin Wilson, podcast host and senior field editor, sits down with Jessica Courtney, Preemptive Love's vice president of international programs, for an honest look at what they've learned about themselves as they've cared for others.

This episode:

Invites you into a behind-the-scenes look at emergency food distributions in Iraq and Syria. Ihsan Ibraheem, who does program documentation, gives an on-the-ground update.
Takes you to Venezuela, where you'll hear — in their own words — from new friends who were able to make ends meet because of food deliveries.
Welcomes you to peek behind the podcasting curtain, as Erin vulnerably shares about the photos that made her not only cry, but think about her global neighbors — and herself — in a new way, too.

Learn more.

After Ahmaud Arbery's Killing, Will We Change? May 13, 2020

We’ll be back next week with our last regularly scheduled episode of season four. But this conversation is too important to wait. Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, was jogging in a southern Georgia neighborhood on February 23 when he was chased, gunned down, and killed by two white men. (Only after a graphic video of his killing was recently posted online, and a wave of public outcry followed did authorities move to press criminal charges, more than two months after he was shot.)

This story is all too familiar—and all too common. Men and boys losing their lives, for no other reason than that they are Black. Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Philando Castille are a few names you might recognize...though there are countless more. And now there’s another. Ahmaud Arbery.

So we’re asking: What do we do in this moment? How do we respond? Can we possibly hope to end violence somewhere else in the world if we do not confront the violence in our own communities… and in our own hearts?

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