Joe Davis, an award-winning spoken-word artist and bestselling author, will receive Wartburg College’s annual Graven Award on Friday, April 10.
He will accept the award at 10:15 a.m. in the Wartburg Chapel. The public is invited.
Davis is the founding director of Finding Your Freedom Practice, a wellness ecosystem teaching body-centered practices through spoken word, writing, music, theater, film and dance. Based in Minneapolis, he tours internationally to join schools, faith spaces, nonprofits, businesses and correctional facilities to practice envisioning and embodying a world of collective liberation and human flourishing.
“Joe has been serving the church for a long time,” said the Rev. Maggie Falenschek, the college’s Dean of Spiritual Life and Herbert and Cora Moehlmann Chaplaincy Endowed Chair. “He is a frequent voice in ELCA circles, working to draw the church toward a future where all people can flourish. His work for racial justice and education is formed by his Lutheran faith and the spirit of ‘always reforming.’ Joe cares deeply for the lives of young people.”
Davis holds a Master of Arts in theology of the arts and heads a multimedia production company, a soul funk band and a racial justice education program. His work has been featured on BET, MPR, CNN, VH1 and the Twin Cities CW.
“All of my favorite pastors and preachers use poetic images. All of my favorite poets have theology in their work,” Davis said. “Faith is being fully enfleshed in the living, breathing word — our relationship to God is poetry. I believe that we are co-creators with God, forming a beautiful, beloved community that we long to live in. Everyone has a creative spark.”
The Graven Award, now in its 34th year, honors one “whose life is nurtured and guided by a strong sense of Christian calling and who is making a significant contribution to community, church and society.” It is named for the late Judge Henry N. and Helen T. Graven of Greene, whose lives reflected those same commitments.
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