Last year, a few of us got together and started the Native Citizens podcast at Storehouse McAllen and this morning, we officially launched season two of our podcast. It’s been a really fun and fruitful time of discussion, especially with the number of topics we have covered over the last few months.

We began this podcast for our church for a few reasons. First, before COVID shut everything down, we were already beginning to consider how to release and make more free resources available for our church. We had been (and still do) writing content for our groups for a few years now and that has been going well, but we wanted to expand the content as well as the participation so we began doing daily devotionals which eventually became weekly devotional videos led by several members in our church during the 2020 season. All of this to say, we started having a discussion around starting a podcast in the fall based on feedback we were receiving from church members and we learned that we had all the equipment at our disposal to make it happen. All we needed to do was make time for the podcast recordings. So, in short, we had the resources available to get this going.

Secondly, we are not aware of any other podcast within the context of ministry in the RGV talking about theology and culture so we saw this as a great opportunity to equip our church for discipleship and mission in our city and community. When you listen to the podcast, we incorporate, certainly our personalities, but also a lot of Valley culture—good or bad—for the sake of working through it as we filter them through the lens of the gospel.

Finally, this podcast was an easy way for our church to hear from more than just me on a variety of topics. Every season, we rotate hosts so our church and listeners are able to hear from a variety of speakers. For instance, last year we began with LC, who, at the time, was our ministry intern; Eric who is our liturgy director; and myself. For season two, I return to the podcast with LC, who is now our Kids Director, and Jay who is a covenant member and leads a few of our teams on Sunday mornings. Then during the summer, there will be a completely new set of voices.

WHY NATIVE CITIZENS?

One of the questions, we received most as we started to prepare for this podcast was, “Why Native Citizens?” And I don’t actually think we ever addressed it apart from sporadic conversations. But I’ll answer it with clarity on here. We went with Native Citizens for two reasons. The first is because all of us are Natives of the Rio Grande Valley or what is considered South Texas so it is important to understand the nature and culture of the RGV as we dive into a variety of topics that are rooted in Mexican-American tradition, history, and overall Valley philosophy. However, you don’t have to be of Mexican-American heritage to understand the Valley. If you are from the Valley, but not a Hispanic, then we’d call you a “Valley Hispanic.” The culture and rhythms of the Rio Grande Valley are all ingrained in you, therefore, making you just as qualified to speak on RGV culture and tradition.

Second, the term citizens comes from our heavenly citizenship (Philippians 3:20). As much as we love our Rio Grande Valley, at the end of the day our primary identity is that we belong to Christ and our hope and home is not here, but in heaven. So, as we discuss the culture of our beloved RGV, we are doing so primarily through the lens of the gospel.

All of this to say, it’s been a wonderful time and I have loved the recording process. I have received a few questions from many on how to begin a podcast so I may write about that at a later day. If you or your church has started a podcast, I’d love to hear what you have going on. Until then, check out the Native Citizens (link below) and I hope you enjoy some laughs, Valley culture, and theological discussion.