Academy Podcast

About Academy Podcast

Welcome to The Academy Podcast, a podcast dedicated to sharing rich content for the purpose of spiritual growth. The Academy Podcast is brought to you by The Academy for Spiritual Formation, an international ministry of The Upper Room. The Academy is dedicated to creating safe space for people to connect with God, self, others, and creation for the sake of the world. To learn more about our Five-Day and Two-Year retreat offerings, visit academy.upperroom.org. We’re glad you’re here.

Publisher

The Academy for Spiritual Formation

Category

religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Jan 2015

Latest episode

7 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

108 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Sept 2026

   This Joy That I Have: Embodiment, Resistance, and the Life-Giving Way with Lisa Yebuah

   In this episode of The Academy Podcast, host Shalom Agtarap sits down with pastor and Academy #44 faculty member Lisa Yebuah to explore joy, embodiment, imagination, and what it means to become fully alive in a world that can so often pull us toward fear and despair. Drawing from her experience as an Academy faculty member and the wisdom of the Black church tradition, Lisa reflects on the practices and people who have shaped her spiritual life. She shares how silence, prayer, ancestral wisdom, music, and the rhythms of The Academy have helped her become “human sized”—more attentive to her own limits and more open to the presence and movement of God. Lisa also explores joy as more than happiness or escape. Joy can be a source of spiritual resilience, a form of resistance, and an oasis that sustains us in the midst of suffering. Alongside embodied spiritual practice and imagination, joy helps us envision a world beyond the one we have been given and cultivate lives that bend toward wholeness, liberation, and abundant life. Together, Shalom and Lisa reflect on contemplation and action, the wisdom of church mothers, becoming friends with our bodies, and the practices that sustain us when the world feels overwhelming. Their conversation offers an invitation to begin spiritual formation not by asking what more we need to do, but by imagining who God is calling us to become—and trusting that God is already at work. Reverend Lisa Yebuah currently serves as the Lead Pastor of the Southeast Raleigh Table, a United Methodist worshipping community located near downtown Raleigh. She’s a 1999 graduate of Wofford College and a 2004 graduate of Duke University Divinity School. What fuels her life in ministry is seeing people become their whole selves, and in turn, witnessing people live like and believe that the world can be collectively marked by liberation. Reverend Yebuah is deeply invested in her local community, and works alongside organizations engaged in advocacy for affordable housing, a living wage, access to mental wellness resources, and equity in public education. Most would describe Lisa as a glutton for joy, a lover of people and the enneagram, a self-professed party-starter, and a biscuit connoisseur. She also admits to having a slight obsession with “Abbott Elementary” and “The Office,” and hopes that one day 90’s R&B becomes required listening. Lisa will join Academy #44 during session seven in 2028, teaching on Spiritual Leadership in Local Faith Communities. Show Notes Episode tracks: “Far Side of the Sea,” “Versailles,” and “Fearless” by Amy Stroup, used with permission. Audio editing and production by Tim Savage. A special thanks to the staff of The Upper Room, the Academy team, and everyone who helps bring this podcast to life. For more information and resources, visit academy.upperroom.org/resources (https://academy.upperroom.org/resources) Join Us The next Two-Year Academy begins October 26, 2026. Learn more about Two-Year Academy #44 and apply here (https://academy.upperroom.org/event/two-year-44/). If you missed our discernment session (https://youtu.be/64JImgqFn4Q?si=2aqvayqYx9ABLNvY), hear directly from Academy leaders as they share insights, answer questions, and offer space for reflection and discernment. Support Our Work If the Academy Podcast or any of the ministries of The Academy for Spiritual Formation have benefited your life and spirituality, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation (https://the-upper-room.givecloud.co/product/URACAD1/academy-for-spiritual-formation-funds) to show your support. You can learn more about how your gifts make a difference at Academy.UpperRoom.org/donate (https://academy.upperroom.org/donate/)

2. 

   10 Aug 2026

   Held Together: Embodiment, Community, and the Rhythms of Spiritual Formation with Claire McKeever-Burgett

   In this episode of The Academy Podcast, host Shalom Agtarap sits down with author, theologian, and Academy #44 faculty member Claire McKeever-Burgett to explore what it means to inhabit a spiritual life rooted in presence, connection, and the wisdom of the body. Drawing from her own journey of faith, Claire reflects on the rhythms and relationships that have shaped her spiritual formation—from encountering the Psalms as a young adult to finding companionship among the saints, family, spiritual friends, and the Academy community. She shares how prayer, parenting, grief, writing, and time in creation have taught her to recognize the sacred within the ordinary rhythms of life. Claire also explores the connection between spiritual formation and the way we show up in the world. Prayer, she suggests, cannot remain separate from our relationships, our pursuit of justice, or the ways we care for one another. Instead, spiritual practice forms us for lives of greater love, presence, and connection. Together, Shalom and Claire reflect on embodiment, retreat and return, the communities that hold us when life feels unsteady, and the freedom of releasing the need to master the spiritual life. Their conversation offers a simple invitation: take a breath, give yourself a break, and trust that before the rules, practices, and expectations, there is presence. Claire K. McKeever-Burgett is a feminist theologian, creative contemplative, author, and spiritual leader who unabashedly centers and celebrates the women of scripture—because without them, we’d be hard-pressed to have any of it in the first place. Her debut book, Blessed Are the Women: Naming and Reclaiming Women’s Stories from the Gospels, launched to a sold-out crowd at Parnassus Books, Nashville’s renowned woman-owned independent bookstore. Her sophomore book, In the Beginning Were the Women: Matriarchs, Mystics, Wise Women, and Warriors in the Hebrew Bible, released on October 21, 2025 and is available now. Claire will join Academy #44 in session five next year, teaching on Spirituality & Embodiment. Show Notes Episode tracks: “Far Side of the Sea,” “Versailles,” and “Fearless” by Amy Stroup, used with permission. Audio editing and production by Tim Savage. A special thanks to the staff of The Upper Room, the Academy team, and everyone who helps bring this podcast to life. For more information and resources, visit academy.upperroom.org/resources (https://academy.upperroom.org/resources) Join Us The next Two-Year Academy begins October 26, 2026. Learn more about Two-Year Academy #44 and apply here (https://academy.upperroom.org/event/two-year-44/). If you missed our discernment session (https://youtu.be/64JImgqFn4Q?si=2aqvayqYx9ABLNvY), hear directly from Academy leaders as they share insights, answer questions, and offer space for reflection and discernment. Support Our Work If the Academy Podcast or any of the ministries of The Academy for Spiritual Formation have benefited your life and spirituality, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation (https://the-upper-room.givecloud.co/product/URACAD1/academy-for-spiritual-formation-funds) to show your support. You can learn more about how your gifts make a difference at Academy.UpperRoom.org/donate (https://academy.upperroom.org/donate/)

3. 

   8 Jun 2026

   Reflections on the Civil Rights Pilgrimage 2026 — Bonus Episode

   In this episode of The Academy Podcast, host Shalom Agtarap sits down with leaders from The Academy for Spiritual Formation Civil Rights Pilgrimage to reflect on the sacred work of remembrance, community, and spiritual transformation. Drawing from experiences across Alabama at sites central to the Civil Rights Movement, Safiyah Fosua, Kwasi Kena, Diana Cason, and Johnny Sears share how pilgrimage moves history from the head to the heart. Together, they reflect on resilience, lament, beloved community, storytelling, and the ongoing call to “keep showing up” for justice and healing. The conversation explores the power of proximity to sacred spaces, the importance of communal witness, and the ways faith communities can practice remembrance through prayer, storytelling, worship, journaling, and courageous presence. As voting rights and the legacy of the Voting Rights Act face renewed challenges in this time, this conversation invites listeners into the sacred work of remembering — listening to the stories of the Civil Rights Movement, honoring the courage of those who kept showing up, and asking how faith calls us toward justice, healing, and beloved community today. Together, the group reflects on pilgrimage not as tourism, but as a spiritual practice — one that invites participants to listen deeply, bear witness to painful histories, and discern how God may be calling them into deeper engagement with justice, reconciliation, and beloved community. Show Notes Episode tracks: “Far Side of the Sea,” “Versailles,” and “Fearless” by Amy Stroup, used with permission. Audio editing and production by Tim Savage. A special thanks to the staff of The Upper Room, the Academy team, and everyone who helps bring this podcast to life. For more information and resources, visit academy.upperroom.org/resources (https://academy.upperroom.org/resources) Join Us The next Two-Year Academy begins October 26, 2026. Learn more about Two-Year Academy #44 and apply here (https://academy.upperroom.org/event/two-year-44/). Support Our Work If the Academy Podcast or any of the ministries of The Academy for Spiritual Formation have benefited your life and spirituality, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation (https://the-upper-room.givecloud.co/product/URACAD1/academy-for-spiritual-formation-funds) to show your support. You can learn more about how your gifts make a difference at Academy.UpperRoom.org/donate (https://academy.upperroom.org/donate/)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

15,053

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.5 / 5

12 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 68 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

72

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

85

Contact Academy Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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