Reflection on One America Summit 2025

This reflection was originally written on May 16, 2025 to report on the event to a sponsoring organization. It is being published here now to reflect on this topic before attending Summit 2026.

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Over three days of deep conversation, powerful testimony, and courageous leadership, I

was moved and challenged at the One America Movement in Tulsa this May. I came

eager to understand how faith communities can respond to deepening division and

polarization. I left with a clearer vision, not just of what’s possible, but of what is required

of faith communities to lead the work of combatting toxic polarization.

One of the earliest insights came from Andrew Hanauer, who reminded us that spiritual

communities are built to hold tension. That conviction came to life in the stories of Rabbi

Fred Reeves and Shaykh Ibad Wali (OAM experts of the Jewish and Muslim faith), who

now meet weekly amid the violence and trauma of the Israel - Hamas war. This echoed

again in the partnership of Hurunnessa Fariad (Muslim civic leader) and Pastor Joel

Rainey, despite backlash from their own communities. I was convicted by their example

as they reminded me that love of neighbor is not just a belief we affirm; it’s something we

practice, sometimes at personal cost.

That same spirit also shaped one of the summit’s most powerful themes: solidarity in

suffering. These and many other Jewish and Muslim leaders found one another in

lament, even while carrying grief from different sides of a shared tragedy. These leaders

demonstrated that empathy and compassion, even with those you disagree, is not

weakness. It is a spiritual practice that strengthens community. It develops but also

requires strength in the form of humility, mutual respect, and a deep regard for human

safety and dignity.

Speakers like Pastor Rainey, Rabbi Jonah Pesner, and Munir Shaikh also called

attention to the responsibility of majority communities to ensure that minority voices are

heard, protected, and empowered. As an evangelical, it was painful to hear Rainey

reflect on the church’s failure to defend the dignity of our Muslim neighbors in today’s

political and religious climates. He challenged us to reconsider how we use power: not to

protect privilege, but to extend equity. Rabbi Pesner added that real unity isn’t forged

through sameness, but through shared purpose and moral courage. Rabbi Pesner

invited us to pursue, through our power and influence, the familiar idea of shalom, which

is not simply the absence of conflict, but a wholeness grounded in justice for people of

all faiths and beliefs.

Rev. Brandon Cleaver and Daniel McIntosh called to mind and gave words to what many

of us feel and see regularly in our society, especially in the media: the contrast between

peacemakers and polarizers. Their insights on peacemaking through curiosity,

accountability, and mutual care challenged me to reflect on my own posture, especially

in digital spaces. Kurt Gray built on this with his “CIV: Connect, Invite, Validate” model,

offering a practical path toward deeper understanding with those we meet across these

divides.Throughout the summit, I was struck by stories of collaboration between people with

stark ideological differences. Many voices echoed the idea that dialogue across divides

doesn’t threaten or water down anyone’s beliefs—it tests them, and if they’re real, they

are sharpened and grow stronger. One of the most compelling examples came from

Rev. Marian Edmonds-Allen and Derek Monson, who, despite holding deeply different

views, found common ground in their shared commitment to support LGBTQ+ youth in

crisis. Their partnership showed that when we lead with relationship and shared

purpose, even profound disagreement can give way to meaningful cooperation for the

good of others. Munir Shaikh helped reframe how faith communities think about

difference by reminding us that the true divide isn’t simply between believer and non-

believer, but between those who build peace and those who perpetuate division.

Conviction, he said, is revealed through a commitment to coexistence.

I left the summit more aware of the forces that divide us, but also more hopeful about

what might bring us together. Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols’s words stayed with me:

Scripture means nothing if not lived. The real test is whether our faith communities enact

what we profess. With the right spiritual maturity, we can engage across these lines

without losing who we are personally, but also strengthening who we are collectively.

The summit clarified the kind of faith community I hope to be part of: one that leans into

difference with grace, stands with the marginalized with conviction, and measures faith

not by how certain we are, but by how well we love across the lines that divide us.

________

As I now step into a new season of consulting work, I’m still discerning how exactly this

summit’s themes connect to my own vocation. The business I’ve begun is rooted in

helping people connect and collaborate more effectively, and I chose the name Uniëa to

reflect a commitment to that unity. My hope, though, is that this work won’t just help

teams operate better but will extend that unity into the communities these teams serve

and foster connection across societal lines of identity, context, and conviction. I may not

yet know exactly how my work fits into the broader effort to combat toxic polarization, but

this summit affirmed that it needs to, and I’m committed to finding my part in that calling.