“Hand Over The Keys” with Kenda Creasy Dean

DESCRIPTION:
Kenda Creasy Dean returns to The Weight. A United Methodist minister, longtime professor of youth, church, and culture at
Princeton Theological Seminary, and author of Almost Christian and Innovating for Love, Kenda joins Chris and Eddie to talk
about what happens when the institutions that formed us start to erode. She shares what she’s learning from the Polaris
Young Adult Leadership Network — young adults who lead with their faith in law, government, and nonprofits rather than in
pulpits, and who increasingly experience church as something embedded in daily life rather than a destination. The
conversation turns to senior leaders: why so many arrive discouraged, what it looks like to take up the work of “eldering,” and
why releasing an institution’s accumulated resources — handing over the keys — may be the most faithful thing a leader can
do. Along the way: forests that regenerate after fire, why Kenda is tired of the word “innovation,” the difference between
life-giving and life-sucking leadership, and a garage wood shop that became the one church activity a young adult wasn’t
embarrassed to invite friends to.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:
• Almost Christian — Kenda Creasy Dean
• Innovating for Love — Kenda Creasy Dean (subject of her previous visit to the show)
• The Godbearing Life — Kenda Creasy Dean (co-authored; verify co-author credit before listing)
• Polaris Young Adult Leadership Network — Princeton Theological Seminary
• Leadership and the New Science — Margaret Wheatley (transcript says “Leadership in the New Science”)
• Refugia Faith — Debra Rienstra (transcript says “Refugee of Faith”)
• Comment magazine and Anne Snyder — The Understory gathering at Washington National Cathedral
• Leroy Barber — source of the “eldering” language Kenda credits, through his work with the Texas Methodist Foundation
• “Being With” — an Anglican curriculum Kenda mentions (title/publisher not confirmed)
• Birmingham-Southern College — Chris’s alma mater, now closed

GUEST LINKS:
• Faculty page, Princeton Theological Seminary: https://ptsem.edu/people/kenda-creasy-dean
• Polaris Young Adult Leadership Network: https://ptsem.edu/academics/centers/polaris-young-adult-leadership/
• Refugia Faith (Fortress Press): https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506473796/Refugia-Faith
• The Understory (Comment): https://understory.comment.org/2026
• Previous episode — “1000 Small Experiments” with Kenda Dean (Feb 2022): pull link from Buzzsprout /
theweightpodcast.com