Episode Eight: The Work of the Center for Church and Community Impact (C3I)

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How can congregations become powerful agents of social change through inclusive social work? 

This episode explores the transformative impact of the Center for Church and Community Impact (C3I) with Assistant Director Mallory Herridge, M.Div, LMSW, and Program Manager Erin Hill, M.Div, LMSW. They share how C3I equips congregations to build inclusive communities that address critical social issues such as trauma, domestic violence, addiction, and inclusivity in faith spaces. Highlighting student-led initiatives, the conversation emphasizes the vital role congregational social work plays in driving lasting social change. Mallory and Erin also offer valuable advice for prospective students seeking to forge their own paths in social work and create meaningful impact in their communities. 

Join us for this inspiring conversation and discover how faith and social work intersect to transform communities and lives.

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Erin Hill, Mallory Herridge, Curtis Isozaki

Curtis Isozaki  00:00

Well, thank you so much, Mallory and Erin, for joining us on our podcast. We're excited to talk about the impact of The Center For Church and Community Impact in Social Work education. I'm just so excited to discuss various projects, initiatives that y'all have been participating in, but really the heart of what you do. I mean, your center engages in conversations around with churches and congregations when it comes to social work: homelessness, food insecurity, the LGBTQ, plus community mental health and so much more. We're excited to hear some of these stories and and get to know the heart of what you do. So if we could just start off with y'all introducing yourselves.

Erin Hill  00:46

Sure, I am Erin Hill! I am the Program Manager for The Center For Church and Community Impact, which we call "C3I" because it's a long name, and then I'm adjunct faculty here at the school as well. 

Mallory Herridge  00:57

I'm Mallory Herridge, and I serve as the Assistant Director for C3I!

Curtis Isozaki  01:02

Fantastic! In true fashion for this podcast series, we want to start off with some rapid fire questions, and so, what is one word to describe Waco, Texas, the place that you're living and call home. 

Erin Hill  01:15

I would say 'connected.' 

Curtis Isozaki  01:17

Connected, beautiful.

Mallory Herridge  01:18

I would say "evolving." I don't I think that it's a small town in Texas, and there's kind of a temptation to kind of put it in a category, but I've lived here since 2002, and I've seen it in all areas continue to evolve.

Curtis Isozaki  01:35

Yeah, love that! And how have you [Erin] seen it be connected? 

Erin Hill  01:38

It has a small town vibe to it. I'm from a very small town, so Waco was like the big city to me coming here. But everyone is just very connected. Everyone kind of knows everyone. It's easy if you don't know someone, to get to know them and get involved in different organizations and events and things like that in town. 

Curtis Isozaki  01:59

Fantastic! All right! Another question! What is your go-to order at your favorite coffee shop or restaurant?

Mallory Herridge  02:07

I was thinking about this, and I love coffee, but I actually switch it up every time I go, and it depends on the location, but my favorite go to drink right now is at SIP city, and it's Dr Pepper Zero, Lime and Coconut Cream. I don't think there's a name for it, but I love it.

Erin Hill  02:25

I can't have coffee, which is devastating. 

Mallory Herridge  02:28

[Laughs]

Erin Hill  02:28

And so if I'm in a coffee shop, I will get green tea. I also really like boba, and so I will get, from Cha Community, the Milky Way, 50% sweetened with boba and it is a nice pick me up. 

Curtis Isozaki  02:44

Amazing! Love that. All right [pause] I've been looking forward to asking you this very, very important question, if you were a social work superhero, which you are! 

Erin Hill  02:55

[Laughs]

Curtis Isozaki  02:56

What will your superpower be?

Erin Hill  02:58

I think mine would be to speak all languages, 

Curtis Isozaki  03:02

Oooo

Erin Hill  03:02

Of just being able to do that any point anytime, because there's so many times where people like, "Well, do you have it in this language?" And [i'm] like, "We don't! I'm so sorry! And like, all of the like cultural things with that go along with all the languages

Curtis Isozaki  03:14

Mmmh love that. 

Mallory Herridge  03:17

Okay, I identify more with, like, Disney language than superhero [Laughs]

Erin Hill  03:21

Haha!

Curtis Isozaki  03:21

Okay! That's fine! 

Mallory Herridge  03:23

So my mind immediately went to like a Tinkerbell scenario. 

Curtis Isozaki  03:26

Yeah!

Mallory Herridge  03:26

And I would like, sprinkle- what is it called, pixie dust?

Curtis Isozaki  03:29

Yes!

Mallory Herridge  03:30

On organizations, on our legislators as they're making policies, and I would require them to, like, immediately have the power and the knowledge and know how to listen to their social workers, but include the voices of the clients that they're serving. So that all policies, all organizations, programming, is being shaped by client voices as well. 

Curtis Isozaki  03:53

That's amazing. Incredible segue to some of our first questions. How have you seen The Garland School of Social Work prepares Social Workers for worldwide service and leadership?

Erin Hill  04:06

Yeah, I think one of the biggest things, and I, well, both of us are both alum of the program as well, and are now on staff, which is really fun. So I think approaching this from both a former student, and then now being part of the school in a different way. Teaching students how to think critically and then also holistically, so looking at every aspect of a person, a system, an environment, and being able to take all of those things in before even engaging with an individual or a system, that's a really specific skill that you have to learn, and I think we do a good job teaching that and preparing for that, and then Also teaching those more like introspective skills. So before you engage like looking inward of where am I at today? Do I have any biases? Could this activate any hard memories for me? Anything like that, we teach those really well, because if you're not doing that, it's going to affect those that you're working with, and that can be really hard personal work, but I think we teach students how to do that and also show the value of that as well.

Mallory Herridge  05:16

When looking at this question, my mind went to our practicum education. Every Social Work program that's accredited is required to have a certain amount of hours. Our students are required to have a certain amount of hours of practicum education. I taught practicum education for community practice for several years here, and I think about how our students, when they enter their generalist year, you know, they are thrust into 15 to 20 hours a week of practicum education and on the meso, micro and macro levels, and then as they move into their advanced year, I mean, they're really leading out. They're no longer just observing or engaging in the basic Shulman skills, but now there's an expectation at their agencies, or some of them are at statewide or regional organizations, whether they're working one on one with the clients, or leading and facilitating groups, that they are the leaders. And so I think about over the years, we've had students that, again, have been at the state level. They've served overseas through our GML program. Our online students are all over the nation, and so it's amazing to think that during their MSW, by the time they graduate, they will have ample opportunities to have practice leadership skills, to gain leadership skills. So a couple of examples that I was just thinking of, of even students that I've had in class over a year, over the years. You know, we've had, we had a student that did such a great job with her research through her internship around the housing crisis in Waco that then she and her advanced year was invited to speak to city council and educate them on that. So that's just a snapshot of kind of how we prepare leaders through our program and the types of opportunities that our school works really hard to provide students.

Curtis Isozaki  07:06

Amazing! As you reflect on the work that you do with C3I, what is the mission for of The Center for church and Community Impact, and how does Congregational Social Work contribute to social work education at The Garland School of Social Work, and beyond?

Erin Hill  07:25

Yeah, at C3I, our mission is to equip congregations to create environments of relational belonging that then extend their surrounding communities. Wwe really believe that congregations are resources in communities, and often untapped resources. So a lot of our work revolves around [asking] what does the community look like within the church walls, and then also, what is the relationship between the church and the community outside the church walls? And so With Congregational Social Work, I think there's a little bit of a misunderstanding of what Congregational Social Work is, of just like, oh, that's only within a church. It's only doing social work within the church walls, and that's one aspect of it. But then also looking at working with churches in a whole community, of what is the partnerships between a congregation and local nonprofits or agencies or community entities, and how, how can all of those things work together to serve people? And so really, I think it's a lot more broad than how people normally think of Congregational Social Work. A lot of my work specifically is around equipping church leaders to where then those church leaders are serving people well. So that falls under the umbrella of Congregational Social Work as well. But it's really teaching people overall, even if a social worker has no desire to work with congregations, it's still teaching them, hey, congregations are an asset in your community, in some way. Whether that is even just the physical space that you can utilize and how teaching how they can work with congregations just like they would work with hospitals or libraries or nonprofit agencies, anything like that.

Mallory Herridge  09:11

Yeah, I think some practical examples of students that have worked with us or have had an interest in Congregational Social Work, and maybe kind of utilize our supervision to support them in that niche area. Include, You know, we have, we've had a student that came in with an interest and quite a bit of expertise in domestic violence, and so through her internship with us and her desire to understand and have experience in Congregational Social Work, she was able to work alongside experts in the field on the state level, nationwide, from different nonprofits that are engaged in advocacy for domestic violence, but then take that information and utilize their support to then develop curriculum for congregations. Then through her internship, while she was doing her MSW, began engaging in trainings with congregations, and then getting feedback from clergy on, "okay, this is kind of Social Work speak, and this is what we know to be true, what the research says about the prevalence of these challenges. So we know this is happening in your church. Now, help me kind of tailor the training to be like ministry speaking, so that your congregants will hear this. It will not feel threatening, but then you feel empowered to better serve your congregants, and for everyone to better serve one another."  We've also had students, you know, serving in school social work-related roles, but then because they came to some of our congregational social work meetings, because they had kind of an interest in learning somewhat about that, but they didn't necessarily want to be serving full time in a church. One day, they had the awareness of, oh, congregations can be an asset to our school. Okay, what does that look like? And so maybe working with the local congregations in a small community with limited resources to set up a food pantry and maybe a weekend food program within the school. And so just building upon what Erin said, I think that by championing the reality that Congregational Social Work is a thing, but then providing various opportunities of how students can engage with this, then students leave the MSW program in general, either being able to pursue work with congregations, but understanding how to do that in an ethical way through their social work skills, or going into whatever social work field they go into, and recognizing that congregations are assets they need to be engaging with.

Curtis Isozaki  11:36

Love that! Can you share examples of how C3I's work addresses pressing social issues such as trauma, loneliness, difficult conversations, LGBTQ+, disabilities, etc?

Erin Hill  11:53

Yeah, I could talk about trauma-sensitive congregations for hours and hours, but I'm not going to. So whenever I was an intern at C3I we started our trauma work with congregations across the country, and have been able to build on that over the last six years. And So we approach it [as] we are community practitioners versus clinical, and so we look at trauma from a systems perspective, instead of like a clinical therapy model of trauma. So we train pastors on how to build congregations that are sensitive of the trauma that people have experienced, both individual and collective traumas. and Then also how to create a congregation that is conducive to healing, knowing that in their role as church leaders. They are not the ones helping people heal from their trauma in a clinical sense, but [instead] they're creating an environment that helps them and empowers them to heal from that, versus retraumatizing them or creating more trauma for them in some way. And so this looks like both, you know, research; we've done some, some research on this, but then also practical training.  So we did a research study in 2021, that was looking at how church leaders were trained in trauma, and then how often they talk about trauma, and then how much collective trauma they've experienced. What we learned was what we were already seeing and experiencing anyways, is, is that church leaders are talking about trauma every single day in some way, and church leaders were not trained, were [not] educated in trauma sensitive practices, really at all is what we saw. So it was well intended. They wanted to help, but did not have these skills to help in a way that was actually really helpful. We also learned that they're experiencing a lot of collective trauma, and so I have heard the term, and I really like it, of church leaders are also are often leading while bleeding. Because of the trauma that they're experiencing, whether themselves or secondary trauma from helping people through their trauma while also having to lead their congregations through some of these collective traumas as well. So [the question is] how can we give them the skills to lead people through that within their role as church leaders, not mental health professionals, while also making sure that they're taking care of themselves where they're not experiencing secondary trauma as well? This also would go into spiritual trauma of making sure they're not causing spiritual trauma, and then also making sure that if someone has experienced spiritual trauma, that if they are coming to their faith community. That they know how to deal with that, because simply stepping foot into a congregation could be activating for some people who have experienced spiritual trauma. So hearing some of you know the very traditional hymns or or whatever that are so deeply meaningful for so many people could be really activating for other people. So what what do we do with that? What do church leaders do with that?  Um, and Then also creating systems of care. So how are congregations and faith leaders connecting with mental health professionals in their community? They're often serving the same people, but how can, how can they have a partnership to where, when a church leader refers someone, they know who they're referring them to, they know that they're a good referral and a safe person to talk to? So that's a snapshot of what we're doing. We're doing a lot of we have a cohort of trauma, around trauma-sensitivity, with some congregations across the country that are working through a curriculum that we created, and so we're getting to see them put that curriculum to use, which is really fun and really meaningful as well. In terms of disabilities, C3I is part of a grant called bridges to belonging, and this is a partnership from between C3I, Truett Seminary, and the Center for Developmental Disabilities, all here at Baylor, and that focuses on the experiences of young adults in churches who are experiencing disability, mental health concerns and chronic illness. So this is a two year cohort, and just kind of doing a deep dive on disability, chronic illness and mental health concerns, of how do we serve that community well, and what have their experiences been in church so far? And how can we create a strong sense of belonging for those who are experiencing those things to where churches [become a place that] are inclusive and safe for truly all people?

Mallory Herridge  16:31

Yeah, just a couple of other just things to highlight. We have congregations that reach out to us for consultation quite a bit, and in all of our work, we utilize students. Whether they're serving as interns with us, or research fellows, and we try to take what they're passionate about and include it in our grant funded work, or just kind of one off consultations that of people that have reached out to us. So a couple of things in the last couple of years we've had, we have a cohort of congregations that's currently going through curriculum we developed based on like five or six years of research around discernment processes that churches have gone through to determine whether or not to become welcoming and affirming as LGBTQ individuals. Because we know for some denominations, this has been a topic that's difficult to talk about in the nation, and so we have trained in different conversation models. Whether it was regarding this topic or even some other things that congregations are going through or where they're finding difficulty and knowing to even how to breach a difficult conversation without the church splitting or, you know,  and so One of the models that we've done some training in is a reflective structure dialog. It's something that's talked a lot about through the social work field, but also in other fields. So this church found it really helpful having kind of a basic social work one-on-one, but then also getting some training from facilitators, gainer and a couple of others in how to engage in this, well, on some difficult topics. We also accompaniment, is a topic that we are training a cohort of congregations nationwide on. We're kind of exploring this idea that churches all have a Biblical sense of call and duty to love their neighbor, love one another. Churches nationwide and globally, serve their local communities or have mission related relationships across the nation. But as we think about how accompaniment has been used in different fields, whether it's the medical field or public health.  Essentially, it's built on healthier relationships. What does it mean to move from just a transactional relationship to more relational? What does it mean to move from maybe the initial motive was charity, but then understanding one another in such a healthy way, being aware of our biases, our prejudices, the power dynamics and the relationship the different lenses through which we view the world, to where we move from, not just charity, which is a good thing, but moving deeper into solidarity with one another. And So there's a reciprocal relationship between the one serving and the one being served. So we're exploring that at C3I with congregations, and kind of getting feedback on how social work skills enhancing those ministries, and we're calling, kind of, what we've packaged in our social work skills accompaniment, what that's looking like, and we hope to do that even more and pull students into that. So between trauma, difficult conversations, accompaniment and several other things that Erin mentioned, like our work with the Lily Grant and The Center for Developmental Disabilities, just kind of gives a snapshot of some of the things that we're involved in day to day,

Curtis Isozaki  19:58

Having the opportunity to go with you to The Fellowship Southwest Conference, Mallory, and getting to engage in conversation with some of our partners and colleagues and churches and in our community and even alumni, has been such a gift. Love those partnerships. We'd love to learn a little bit more about how the C3I foster partnerships between churches and communities to drive social change.

Mallory Herridge  20:25

Yeah, so I mentioned earlier that Erin and I both did we consult with congregations when they reach out to us on a myriad of topics, and some, some work that we're doing is a part of a research project or an overarching grant funded project, but we also make ourselves available for any topic that a church or challenge or social issue that a church is engaging related to communities. And so I think, you know, we provide asset map training, as Erin mentioned, trauma-sensitive training. We help congregations identify key stakeholders in their community to really think about you may have this idea, or you feel like you're being called to do something, but what does it look like to assess what's already happening in the community and begin to have key meetings with individuals in the community or groups in the community? To not only avoid duplication, but really think deeper about what's the overarching goal and what really is best for the community, and how do you join a strength that's already exists and come alongside them, and think about what capacities and assets your churches have to offer that. We think about, we help congregations really think about how their their communities are changing, how their churches are changing, and it's easy for us to get stuck in a deficit mindset.  And so Through appreciative inquiry and other related tools and social work skills that we bring to the table, we help pastoral staff and congregations begin to think about the opportunities, rather than being stuck in the challenges and the deficits. Sometimes, you know, this culminates in a one-off training. Sometimes, this becomes an ongoing conversation for a year, and one of the things that we've learned through our cohorts this past couple of years is that peer learning has been so effective. And so we've we're building up a network of congregations that we already had relationships with, either individually or collectively as a center, and then the congregations that have attended our trainings, and/or have reached out for consultation, and we're beginning to connect them to one another. It's fascinating, because as our students graduate, that's becoming quite a network of students all over that are working as leaders of faith-based nonprofits, leaders of congregations, or maybe they're heavily involved in their community, in a nonreligious agency, but they're very connected with the faith-based groups in the community, and so we are able to rely on our alumni to also serve in some consultation roles, if that's something that they wish, and kind of create that network as well. anything else you would add to that, Erin?

Erin Hill  23:25

Yeah, I have a couple additional thoughts. So I also think a lot of what we do is, yes, there's so much of the practical tools and, you know, trainings and all those things. A lot of it is also the framework and so, like the mindset and the lens someone is using. In my mind, that's how social change happens. Is individuals change their mindset about something, right, and change how they're viewing the world. So like how Mallory said, it's so natural to think through like a deficit approach, and instead teaching them to look at a strengths-based approach with like people and communities, right? Of that is how social change happens, is the individual change. Then I also think that we kind of approach it with a domino effect. Really, there are fancier academic terms for that, but we really believe that when congregations are healthy and thriving, then the communities around them are also healthy and thriving. And so really, if we can positively impact one of those systems, and it's going to impact the systems around it as well, and so then that is, in turn, going to create some of that social change too.

Curtis Isozaki  24:44

Erin, you've been a part of C3I for some time. You deeply care about it. You've seen different ways it's impacted students as it has communities. And so what opportunities does C3I provide for students specifically to engage inmeaningful, real world service?

Erin Hill  25:02

Yeah, I think C3I has a lot of opportunities for our students to be involved. A lot of the things we've really all of the things that we've mentioned, the students were involved in all of those. So whether that is leading trainings, working in local congregations, both in Waco and across the country, creating curriculum, writing public media pieces. All of our interns have to do at least two public media pieces each semester, and so each time they're you know, they're learning about all these things in classes. They're seeing it in their internship. Now write that up to where anyone can pick up that article and also learn from you in the five minutes it takes to read it, and then also learning how to create those sustainable partnerships between communities and congregations. They get to do all of that within the internship with us. And so You heard both of us mention the curriculum that we've been working on and working the churches are working through it. So when we were creating that curriculum, we had a team of students who were writing that curriculum with us, with our oversight and supervision. We had another intern who was really passionate about youth ministers, and so she was seeing that youth ministers might not have as much education around topics like addiction and substance use, or how to work with LGBTQ, plus youth trauma, things like that. So she started a training series specifically for youth ministers here in Waco around those topics, and so they could come, get lunch, [and] learn about this topic. It also gave a chance for other students who were studying those topics, or other experts out in the community to come and be involved in that as well, which helped create some of those partnerships for C3I, while also giving those youth ministers a chance to get some of that education that our research was showing they might not have gotten other places. I know, just speaking personally when, when I was an intern, I came and said, "Hey, I'm really interested in trauma-sensitivity, and I don't think that anyone is doing that. You know, can we start doing that at C3I? Each month, I led a trauma training here in Waco for any church leaders, which includes paid staff and lay leaders, because we know often lay leaders are doing a lot of the work in churches too. So each month I connected with an expert on a specific type of trauma that they came in. They were hosted in local churches, and so each month, we were in a local congregation who paid for lunch for the group also [and] gave that congregation a chance to meet some of the other congregations in town., and then also have just a foundational, you know, here's an hour and a half where we can learn about the trauma of immigration. You know, or clergy sexual abuse, or any of these different types of trauma to where now, when they leave, they have at least a little bit more knowledge than they did before. And if they want to, can follow up back with us, and we can dive deeper, but all of those things, you know, interns are doing all of those, and so we try really hard to take topics that our students care about and already have a passion and a calling for, and then give them a space as it aligns with C3I's larger mission, give a space to really live that out and do that through the work of C3I.

Mallory Herridge  28:34

One thing I would add to that, just like as in another example, we had a student that was, you know, equally interested in congregations, but also really interested in policy work, and she had the opportunity through our partner organization that you mentioned earlier, Fellowship Southwest. They needed someone to come alongside them and help them plan what they call "Congregational Advocacy Day" where they mobilize congregations statewide that have a passion for public education, immigration and several things to set up meetings with legislators, and they provide training to kind of say, here's some specific bills and points to talk about, and here's how you set up a meeting with your legislator here or representative. Here's kind of what you, you know, talk about, and some personal stories. So the student, through her internship with C3I was able to work with that partner organization of ours to get that experience and helping them plan that whole thing. She even was responsible for really doing quite a bit of work on a toolkit that they developed. Instead of kind of each year putting that training together, she helped them culminate into culminate it all into one tool kit. We also had a student that as a part of their personal story, but also just a passion, talk with us about wanting to work with congregations, but also better understand the role of congregations in addiction and substance use. And so Their work became significant, not only with churches regionally, but also on campus, with some things that were happening with Baylor students on campus and kind of revamping some resources. And then Also a survey that she conducted in partnership with C3I with local churches and on campus with BARC. she They were able to provide an academic presentation at a Collegiate Conference, and so it just kind of shows you the opportunities for students to, like Erin said, come in with a passion. We kind of see what we have going on and what opportunities we have for them, but then the sky's the limit and how deep they want to take it.

Curtis Isozaki  30:42

So wrapping up, what advice would you give prospective students exploring their career in Social Work at The Garland School?

Erin Hill  30:48

Yeah, I would say, don't be afraid to make your own path within Social Work. I think The Garland School does a good job at creating space for very specific areas within Social Work, and kind of tailoring assignments and things like that to those specific areas.areas. And so So many things can fall under the umbrella of Social Work, but I think overall, like society at large, thinks about social work in a very narrow way when it's actually this, like vast field. So don't be afraid if you're specificspecific or If you're interested in a specific area [of Soical Work], don't be afraid to carve out your space in that area. And I have a bias towards that of like, whenever I was starting and I was like, "I want to do trauma-sensitive congregations." You know, I did the dual degree with Truett Seminary in The Garland School, as did Mallory, and that job didn't really exist. [laughs] Like there was, like, a couple of those jobs in the country, and it was like, "Well, I just really feel like this is needed. This is what I'm called to do," and now I get to do that as my job, which is just like a dream. And so even though it didn't maybe practically make sense [laughs] that I would get that job, and so I would say, just don't be afraid to carve out that path if you really feel like you're called to do that work.

Mallory Herridge  32:11

I have a lot to say on this subject, but I think I would say, you know, if you, because of your personal story, or maybe a story in your family, or maybe a story of, like a friend. [voice breaks] I don't know why I'm getting emotional. I'm very passionate about social work [laughs]. Um, I would say that if you are searching for kind of what your career path will be and what you want to study and what most fits you, and you've struggled to kind of know what that is. And If you're like me, whenever people said, "oh, social work is for you," I'm like, "no, no, no, no, no." [laughs] But if you are looking for a career path that will give you a professional skill set that you can continue to take to the next level and deepen in that always prioritizes the individual that sees potential in people constantly. And not only are you ethically bound to see potential and strengths in individuals, but you're called to help them see that in themselves. If you always want to work in environments where that is going to be a priority and that is going to be championed, then then social work is the program for you, because that is where you will get those skills to, where you will no longer be able to see things differently, and you will constantly bring that framework and that belief to every agency and organization you work for.  The other thing I would say is that I, I went to, I studied here because of Diana Garland and Gaynor Yancey, and I knew that I was called to this thing that I didn't even know how to name, called Congregational Social Work. And Since I graduated in 2008, I have served on church staff, [and] I have served as the director of a workforce nonprofit. I'm randomly trained in construction curriculum. I've been a school social worker. I have organized hunger coalitions across the state. I've been involved in research, and now I'm here, and one may look at my career journey and think, "Okay, that is so random," you know? But in each of those opportunities, I always was working with congregations, as random as that sounds, and so I think, I think that Social Work is vast. There's so many opportunities with the skill set. It's much more than you realize. I think it equips leaders on a different level than what you get from other training and programs. I also think that if you are someone that is drawn to both the administrative and people, but also you need space to be creative, I have found that in social work,

Curtis Isozaki  34:51

This has been such a rich conversation. Is there any lasting thoughts, words encouragement for those listening? 

Erin Hill  35:01

I was hoping you would ask, because I had one thing in my head that I was like, Man, I should have put this somewhere. I think our staff at C3I, and I think it would be the same for our interns that we've had in the past as well. When thinking about congregations like all of us, deeply love the local church, and deeply believe in what the local church can and should be, and all of our work is through that mindset, while also recognizing that the church has caused harm. And so all of us have had experiences we always talk about, like our greatest joys have been in the church, and our greatest pains have been in the church, and we do this work because we know what the church can and should be and how much it can be an asset for communities when it's healthy and thriving. And so I think that really like captures kind of the heart behind what we do and why we're doing the work that we're doing at C3I, and why social work is such an important skill set to do that work.

Mallory Herridge  36:02

I would say, Amen! [Laughter] And I would also say, if you're a student that's considering our program or another program, whether or not you're interested in congregational social work, look us up! Give us a call, and we'll help champion choosing Baylor! [laughter]

Curtis Isozaki  36:22

Well, can't finish any better way! [laughter] We're looking forward to meeting many of you, but thank you so much for such a sweet and rich conversation. Mallory and Erin, thank you for the work that you do at C3I. It's deeply impactful, not just for the city of Waco, but really the state of Texas and really across our nation. So thank you for your work. It is deeply meaningful and needed today. 

Erin Hill  36:44

Thanks!