Weekly Witness Ep.516 Growing Love into Justice with Rev. Dr. Jim Rigby
Release Date: 06/10/2026
Weekly Witness Ep.523 Capitol Catch-up with Bee Moorhead and Beaman Floyd
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott is joined by Texas Impact’s Executive Director Bee Moorhead and Legislative Counsel Beaman Floyd. The Texas Impact staff recently lead Ready. Set. Go! events in Denton and Dallas and will soon travel to San Antonio and Houston to meet with Texans of faith, including many of our Weekly Witness listeners to talk about faithful advocacy in this moment. The midterm elections are coming soon with a legislative session following about two months later. Bee and Beaman joined the podcast to talk about where we are in the legislative cycle and how Texans can make their voices heard....
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Weekly Witness Ep.522 It's All Gospel with Rev. Jim Harrington
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott is joined by Rev. Jim Harrington, the legendary Texas civil rights attorney turned Episcopal priest. Jim spent decades as a leader in fighting for civil and human rights as founder of the Texas Civil Rights Project, after previously working with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. After his retirement, Jim returned to justice work in a new role—that of an Episcopal priest. Scott and Jim reflect on his journey from the courtroom to the clergy collar and experiences ranging from representing farm workers to advocating for immigration justice from the pulpit—and the...
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Weekly Witness Ep.521 Making the World More Fair with Rabbi Eleanor Steinman
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott is joined by Rabbi Eleanor Steinman, senior rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Austin. They discuss the new Texas public education curriculum, as well as LGBTQ+ advocacy through the lens of confronting Christian Nationalism, which is a particularly hot topic in Jewish congregations. Rabbi Steinman emphasizes the importance of making the world more fair for all and the work we all have to do in our current context. We hope you enjoy this episode and invite a friend to listen along. If you share it in your social media, make sure to tag us! To learn more or get involved, check out...
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Weekly Witness Ep.520 Radical Hope with Ilka Vega
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott is joined by former colleague Ilka Vega, who has traveled the world serving in various mission, justice, and advocacy roles and is currently serving as the Executive for Economic and Environmental Justice at United Women in Faith. The Texas Impact team first met Ilka when she was a high school student at the Lydia Patterson Institute in El Paso, a United Methodist affiliated school in El Paso primarily serving students who walk across the border from Mexico, when Ilka attended her first United Women in Faith Legislative Event. Scott and Ilka talk about her journey from Lydia...
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Weekly Witness Ep.519 Patriotism in Perspective with Rev. Matt Gaventa
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott was joined by Rev. Matt Gaventa, senior pastor at University Presbyterian Church in Austin. Matt is a Texas Impact Board Member, and our executive director’s pastor, and Bee has been very excited about his sermon series leading up to the nation’s 250th anniversary. After listening to Scott’s conversation with Matt, we hope it gives you something to think about during this historic year. Rev. Gaventa is completing a highlighting some foundational historical texts which challenge us to think in new ways about the 250th anniversary celebrations and the work we still...
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Weekly Witness Ep.518 Strengthening Community Through Religious Diversity with Hon. Manpreet Singh
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott was joined by Judge Manpreet Singh, the first Sikh judge elected in the state of Texas and first Sikh woman judge in the United States. Judge Singh talked with Scott about how the Sikh faith has called for equality for centuries and discussed how Sikh values connect with work in the public sphere and influence her own work. We hope you enjoy this episode and invite a friend to listen along. If you share it in your social media, make sure to tag us! To learn more or get involved, check out Texas Impact’s Action Center at texasimpact.org. Get full access to Texas Impact at
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Weekly Witness Ep.517 Where Change Starts with Rev. Marcus Jones
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott was joined by Rev. Marcus Jones, author and University Chaplain at Huston Tillotson University in Austin after having previously served as the Executive Director of the Wesley Foundation at Midwestern State University, leader of the MOSAIC Cross-Cultural Center, and as Executive Director of UTA Wesley at the University of Texas at Arlington. Rev. Jones has extensive experience working on college campuses and has written books on the topic, so Scott talked with him about serving in an HBCU in this political climate, what students are thinking about what is happening in our...
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Weekly Witness Ep.516 Growing Love into Justice with Rev. Dr. Jim Rigby
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott was joined by Rev. Dr. Jim Rigby, who has served as the pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin for 40 years. Rev. Rigby has garnered attention over the decades for his commitment to justice and a progressive brand of Christianity, and he has been in the news recently as Senate candidate James Talarico’s pastor. Rigby is getting more attention than a typical candidate’s pastor, probably because Rep. Talarico is a seminarian who is putting his faith at the forefront of his candidacy. To be clear, Texas Impact does not endorse candidates for public...
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Weekly Witness Ep.515 Reason and Compassion with Dylan Corbett
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott was joined by Dylan Corbett, founder and executive director of Hope Border Institute in El Paso. Dylan is a leader in the immigration space, working with and advocating for immigrants in communities across the globe before he landed in Texas. Dylan is especially influential in the Catholic Church when it comes to immigration concerns. He met with Pope Leo at the Vatican to share stories of migrants and was recently named by the Pope to serve on the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Scott and Dylan discussed his journey in faith, the importance of people...
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Weekly Witness Ep.514 Nurturing Hope with Rev. Tamika Nelson
Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
This week, Scott was joined by Rev Tamika Nelson, executive director of United Campus Ministries of Greater Houston. Rev. Nelson was ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); has served a United Methodist Church; and now works in a campus ministry affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the United Church of Christ. United Campus Ministry serves the UT School of Medicine, HCC locations, Texas Southern University, UHD, and Rice University. Tamika has also participated in Houston Faith Votes, so Scott and Tamika...
info_outlineThis week, Scott was joined by Rev. Dr. Jim Rigby, who has served as the pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin for 40 years. Rev. Rigby has garnered attention over the decades for his commitment to justice and a progressive brand of Christianity, and he has been in the news recently as Senate candidate James Talarico’s pastor.
Rigby is getting more attention than a typical candidate’s pastor, probably because Rep. Talarico is a seminarian who is putting his faith at the forefront of his candidacy.
To be clear, Texas Impact does not endorse candidates for public office. This episode of Weekly Witness is not about a candidate for office. Instead, like every episode of Weekly Witness, it’s about a particular Texas faith leader and how they are doing ministry in their particular context. Currently, Jim Rigby’s context includes having a parishioner with more than the usual amount of name recognition. So, this episode brings you a conversation about what it is like to do ministry from that perspective.
We hope you enjoy this episode and invite a friend to listen along. If you share it in your social media, make sure to tag us!
To learn more or get involved, check out Texas Impact’s Action Center at texasimpact.org.
Weekly Witness is hosted by Scott Atnip and engineered and produced by David Vassallo. Our executive producer is Bee Moorhead. Theme music by Kimberly Zielnicki, Hayden Havard and Andres Garcia-Bonilla. The opinions expressed on Weekly Witness are those of Texas Impact and our guests, and they do not necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors. Weekly Witness is a product of Texas Impact. Visit us online at texasimpact.org.
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