Rev. Venida invites her recent cohort of Black Storytellers to share the stories they crafted during their week-long residency.
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Rev. Venida opens our month-long Sermon Series, Higher Love, focusing on the theme of Love Your Neighbor. She will explore how we might recenter our capacity to embody love and show God’s love as we honor and prioritize the plight and needs of others.
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Rev. Venida engages in conversation with author and primary care physical, Dr. Kristin T. Lee. They will delve into her book, We Mend with Gold: An Immigrant Daughter’s Reckoning with American Christianity, and discuss topics of deconstructing and reconstructing faith, family, belonging and more.
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Rev. Venida explores the significance of renewing our vows in pursuit of a more just, generous and inclusive world. Drawing on Jesus’ parable and his practice of reshaping culture through a radically open table, she examines this nation’s plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence even as civil rights are being rolled back, histories erased, and power being used against the most vulnerable.
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SERMON CONTENT WARNING
This week’s sermon contains themes of sexual violence, rape, and other sensitive topics which may elicit deep emotions and is not suitable for children.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Month and Rev. Venida will raise awareness and promote prevention by preaching on this very sensitive and rarely discussed topic. Using Tamar’s victimization in 2 Samuel 13 as a point of reference, Rev. Venida explores how the church can help cultivate renewal as a response to the individual and collective devastation resulting from violence against the body.
Rev. Venida will be preaches a Lenten message on what it truly means to be lost and found. Drawing from Jesus’ parable in Luke 15, she invites us to rethink the categories we’ve inherited, notice the voices we may have overlooked, and remember the God who keeps seeking us with relentless, healing love.
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With uncertainty pressing in on our future livelihood and draining the very energy we need to keep going, this is a moment to pause and rehydrate our spirits. Rev. Venida welcomes Dr. Jennifer Mullan of @decolonizingtherapy to Forefront for a courageous conversation on Restorative Living as part of the Sacred Pause sermon series. Dr. Jenn guides us in remembering that centering the collective is liberatory work — and that this shared commitment can help restore the mind, renew the body, and revive the spirit.
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Marvin Gaye crooned to the masses in 1971 asking a timeless question, "What's Going On?” Gaye’s love ballad, considered to be an anthem of sorts, calls attention to the social and political issues of his day. In this week’s sermon, Rev. Venida invites us to honor whatever questions are coming up during our day and then explores how we can experience an intentional sacred pause as a gateway to sabbath rest.
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Rev. Venida and Forefront’s Climate Justice team are helping to highlight Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in collaboration with other faith-based communities partnered with GreenFaith — a worldwide, multi-faith climate and environmental movement. GreenFaith’s new initiative, Covenant for Our Future, lifts up Dr. King’s values by calling people of all faiths to promote love and justice through advocacy for policies that ensure the hungry are fed, the sick are cared for, migrants are welcomed, and the earth is protected.
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A new year can bring a flurry of opportunities, new visioning, and maybe the desire to energize whatever has been lying dormant in our lives. Sometimes it is easy to move into new territory. Other times we are gripped with the bad news of our past and present situation causing fear and trepidation which can overwhelm us. What if it doesn’t work out? What if we get hurt?
Rev. Venida shares that maybe 2026 is really the time to simply breathe, all the while creating a new narrative and vision for how we can move forward with grace and courage. Maybe in this new year, we can begin to surround ourselves with the Good News of Jesus, the Good News of what really is possible—for ourselves, our respective relationships, communities, and for this church. Maybe it is time to recognize that, as her pastor once told her, “God does the heavy lifting.” Perhaps insisting on hope is the realization that: Yes, she does!
Rev. Venida celebrates Christmas Sunday with a reminder that we can look to other people for help when we’re afraid.
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It is easy to become absorbed in our own lives - asking how we will earn a living, where we will make our home, and how we will reach our goals. Yet faith calls us to look beyond individuality. Rev. Venida continues our Liberated Faith series, inviting us to honor our interdependence and connectedness, remembering that true liberation is found not in isolation but in community.
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This fall season finds us contemplating a liberated faith. A faith that courageously calls us to look within ourselves and our communities and journey deliberately across territory which is far too often unchartered. It is a bold faith that continuously takes a U-turn from the road of white supremacy culture. It is a fearless faith that steers clear of perfectionism, one right way, power hoarding, a sense of urgency, and quantity over quality. Rev. Venida continues our exploration of Liberated Faith and helps us navigate a characteristic of white supremacy culture some may fear—Open Conflict.
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We continue our Liberated Faith sermon series with a look at how we can unlearn and break free from our alignment with white supremacy culture. Rev. Venida explores the role of perfectionism this week, and as we prepare to courageously weave our way through other critical topics in the following weeks.
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Happy 13th Birthday to Forefront Church! We celebrate and give praise to God for each and every person, service, offering, prayer, hug, kind word, smile, tear, decision, sermon and song that have helped sustain this beautiful community for over a decade. Rev. Venida shares the Good News that the best is yet to come as we continue to liberate our faith and prepare the way for our next chapter.
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The discipline of celebration is believed to undergird all the spiritual practices we’ve explored over the past few weeks. Rev. Venida invites us to reflect on how the joy found in celebration can strengthen us, ease our anxieties, and open us to deeper love and compassion.
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Rev. Venida focuses on the vital discipline of Rest, a practice that is mentioned frequently throughout the Bible and encouraged by Jesus himself. She invites us to reflect on what the Holy Spirit may be saying about embracing rest more intentionally in our lives, and how rest can strengthen and renew us for the journey ahead.
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Rev. Venida adds a unique twist to worship reimagined as she moderates the conversation with Forefront authors and special guest writers on the summer reading panel. They are Naima Coster, Anna Gilchrist, Diane Richards, and Dr. Mark G. Shrime. These featured authors share the impetus for their work, their writing as a sacred practice, and how their books can offer hope and carry messages of divine inspiration.
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As we continue our Dear Paul, Sermon Series, Rev. Venida invites us to imagine a world where body shaming does not exist. Where we are free to move and make decisions about our bodies and lives without being hindered by others’ impressions or opinions of us. Where we are able to use our authentic voices, minds, and creativity to decolonize and free our bodies from self-sabotage and everything restricting us from experiencing liberation. A world where we truly love ourselves and others.
This sermon examines body image oppression, Scripture which may have led us here, and how we can break free of the chains, heal, and reclaim our bodies. What a world!
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Rev. Venida invites us to make another stop along the Talk Bible to Me sermon series journey. This time with a focus on the Bible and wrath.
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