A new narrative podcast from Good Faith Media releases today.
“A Second Language” is a six-part story about Second Baptist Church in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. It was written and produced by GFM’s media producer, Cliff Vaughn.
The audio-only podcast explores, across six episodes, how the church’s location and leadership have shaped its witness. Listen to the trailer here.
The podcast includes interviews with church leaders and members, historians, interfaith friends, and community leaders, as well as archival material.
“I’ve been writing and producing stories about churches and church people for more than 20 years,” says Vaughn in the first episode. “I’ve seen that each religious institution carries its own myths and legends, facts and histories, characters and moments.”
“Second Baptist’s collection of all of these things is stunning,” he continues, “and it likely has something to do with, sometimes, trying to tell the truth or a truth – that can get everyone in trouble. That can send members to exits and budgets into oblivion. That can make an institution implode.”
Founded in 1884, Second Baptist Church grew as a hub for powerful religious and political personalities on local, state, and national levels. Its influence touched on major issues of the day, including alcohol and race.
A turning point for the church occurred in 1957 during the city’s integration crisis, when the church’s Rev. Dale Cowling and Congressman Brooks Hays were seen as too soft on the race issue.
The church continued to evolve, leading on some critical issues while avoiding others, all in the context of rapid cultural change.
“The podcast is a story about a mostly white Baptist church in the South,” reads the podcast description, “and what its experience can teach us about life and death, hypocrisy and honesty, faith and fear – the risk and reward — of talking about hard things.”
The podcast unfolds across six episodes:
- Episode 1: Seal the Lips
- Episode 2: All of This Just Speaks
- Episode 3: Nimrod
- Episode 4: The Nerve to Say
- Episode 5: Lunar Soil
- Episode 6: Words That Unite Us
Interviewees include the church’s current pastor, Rev. Preston Clegg; longtime church members Jim and Gayle Maloch; retired Little Rock Rabbi Eugene Levy; historian John A. Kirk; community leader Kwami Abdul-Bey; Dr. Sara Tariq; retired judge Wendell Griffen; and many more.
“I’ve read church histories,” says writer-producer Vaughn, who narrates the podcast. “They typically recount pastors and programs – and lack a larger historical context, which I think is a grave error for a church history.”
GFM CEO Mitch Randall asked Vaughn, just prior to the pandemic, to make a podcast about the storied church.
“When Mitch gave me the assignment,” says Vaughn, “I knew I wanted to cast a large net in terms of trying to understand the church, its history, its impact, its challenges.”
As Rev. Clegg says in the podcast: “I think there’s a synergistic relationship between Second Baptist and Little Rock. If you took Second out of downtown Little Rock, I don’t think either would be the same.”
“The city’s story and our church’s story converge so often,” says Clegg, “it feels like you’re telling the same story. And in a way you are, and we like it that way.”
Vaughn and Randall will be guests of Second Baptist Church this Sunday, August 27 as the church highlights the release of GFM’s narrative project.
Total runtime for the entire podcast is approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Listeners can hear the free podcast on popular podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Megaphone. They can also listen directly from GFM here.
Learn more about the podcast, see pictures from its production and get more resources here.
GFM’s first narrative podcast was “Brother Molly,” about the life and work of theologian Molly T. Marshall. It was released in May 2020 and can be heard here.
Reflection and resources at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.
