Author, musician and speaker David LaMotte sits for an engaging episode of ‘Leading Theologically’

Host the Rev. Bill Davis talks music, peace and even the value of committee work with his in-demand guest

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

David LaMotte

LOUISVILLE — Appearing alongside the Rev. Bill Davis, the host of “Leading Theologically,” celebrated author, musician and speaker David LaMotte continued building on themes of collaboration he laid down during a viral TEDx talk delivered by LaMotte and broadcast in July on the most recent edition of “Leading Theologically,” which dropped Monday. The two also discussed making peace, using common language and highlighting upcoming projects during a 27-minute conversation that can be heard here.

Davis is Senior Director of Theological Education Funds Development at the Presbyterian Foundation. LaMotte’s TEDx talk, available here, has been viewed more than 52,000 times. During that talk, LaMotte, of Black Mountain, North Carolina, downplays the commonly held idea of a superhero saving the day. Instead, it’s committees, made up of people who make plans, execute and evaluate, that often bring about change the world desperately needs.

“It’s not possible to live in the world and not change it,” said LaMotte, author of “You are Changing the World Whether You Like It or Not,” published last year.

“Thinking about the stories you tell in this TEDx talk and the songs you sing that are narratives, things don’t happen in a vacuum. They are always in relation with something else,” Davis said. “Whether that’s an idea or another person, we can’t do this work by ourselves.” Davis asked LaMotte about cultivating practices needed to do collaborative work.

“It’s not just because we live with each other, but because we’re going to be utterly ineffective by ourselves. Movements really are what make things change,” LaMotte said. “The ironic thing is when we study leadership, so much attention is given to the idea of how we express ourselves — how articulate we can be and how purpose-driven, etc., we are.” Less attention is given to “how we listen to each other and how we take input and have the ability to examine each other’s perspective and develop empathy for other ways of looking at things, which is a really important part of peace and justice work.”

Far from “beating people over they head” and “telling them to do right,” justice work “is about understanding how they came to where they are and what actually has led them to this worldview,” LaMotte said.

Protest, LaMotte said, is only half of activism. “The other half is building what’s right and offering a better way forward,” he told Davis. His favorite personal example is the decade he spent as part of Abraham Jam, a band comprised of LaMotte, a Christian; Billy Jonas, who’s Jewish; and Dawud Wharnsby, a Muslim — three “brothers” from the three Abrahamic faiths.

“The three of us were singing literally and figuratively in harmony, different notes that can resonate together,” LaMotte said. When the bombardment of Gaza began following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, “I spent several weeks trying to write something about this, a statement I could get behind that would be constructive rather than destructive,” LaMotte said. Then he remembered: “I’m part of Abraham Jam, and we have a particular place to speak” as a Muslim, a Jew and a Christian.

“The three of us, whose views on this conflict are not so far apart, actually worked a very long time to craft a statement … and I feel good about the statement,” LaMotte said. “It certainly doesn’t answer all the questions, but I think it’s an important part of the conversation.” The reason it took LaMotte “so long to come to the question is that it’s not what I do — it’s what we can do. That’s a massive reorientation for the work at hand.”

Asked by Davis about how we can work effectively with others in the heat of the current election cycle, LaMotte said it’s “obviously really hard. What we’re trying to hold in tension is some deeply held beliefs. Making peace is not making nice.”

“Pretending everything is cool” is “not peacemaking. It’s not the work of justice,” he said. “However, dehumanizing other people is also not the work of peace of justice.” The solution is to “build relationships that can handle the hard conversations.”

“If I see light shining in your life and I see you are a kind and loving person, I want to know more about that. If you are those things and you have a different political affiliation from me, then I’m really curious,” LaMotte said. “My experience is, you are not going to be interested until you feel heard — not agreed with but heard.”

The Rev. Bill Davis

Davis asked what role finding a common vocabulary might play. “Theological education gives us language to talk about the important things,” he said, “when we approach them from different perspectives.”

“Words matter,” LaMotte said. A friend, the writer Gareth Higgins, talks about finding words “that mean the same things that aren’t automatically triggering,” he said. “For some folks, even the word ‘justice’ is a button-pusher.” While it’s a word that for LaMotte “is woven deeply into the core tenets of the faith,” it can be problematic for others. “Gareth said, ‘You know the word “fairness” really means about the same thing, and it’s a lot less confrontational for folks,’” LaMotte said. “If you can start from the idea that we both want the world to be fair, then that’s pretty powerful.”

For his final question, Davis asked LaMotte, “What’s the best thing you’ve heard lately?”

LaMotte said it’s a song by singer/songwriter Jean Rohe called “National Anthem: Arise! Arise!” It’s a song he heard years ago and has recently returned to. LaMotte said he’s about to do some work with Rohe. “I don’t know her well personally, but I’m excited to get to know her better.

“I cry every time I watch it,” LaMotte said. “It calls to the best part of me and my highest hopes.”