Welcome to Living My Faith, a weekly show that celebrates the everyday believers who are walking with Jesus, not just on Sundays, but in every area of their lives. From relationships and parenting to health, habits, and home, our guests share how they keep their faith at the center of it all. Hosted in Jacksonville, Florida, and supported by Christ-centered partners, Living My Faith is a space where real life meets real faith. Today, our host, Morgan Yonge, spoke with Shannon Karafanda of Trinity UMC.
Shannon Karafanda
Lead Pastor at Trinity UMC
Website Address: https://shannonkarafanda.com/hannonkarafanda.com
Short company description:
Trinity United Methodist Church in Cartersville has a rich history rooted in faith, community, and service. Established in 1983, the church began as a small gathering of passionate believers dedicated to worship and fellowship. Over the years, it grew alongside the Cartersville community, expanding its outreach and facilities to meet the evolving needs of its congregation. From its humble beginnings to the vibrant church it is today, Trinity UMC has remained steadfast in its mission to share God’s love and provide a welcoming space for spiritual growth.
Can you share a moment or experience that significantly deepened or shaped your faith journey?
You may not know what #HolyMischief is yet, but you want to do it, right?
Or you want to know more.
Or you want to hear the story.
The Beginning
My story of Holy Mischief started in 2000 when I first met Allan Todd. We had an instant friendship, and I knew I would really like to work with him one day.
In 2005, I got the chance.
Allan was starting a new church and wanted me on the team. The one thing that sucked me in was servant evangelism. He wanted to do random acts of kindness (A.O.K. projects) in our community just to let people know that they are loved. No expectation in return.
Give you a bottle of water on a hot day. Why? Because you are loved.
Let us buy your gas. Why? Because you are loved.
Have some flowers for your home. Why? Because you are loved.
Let’s go paint some rooms for a woman who has adopted 20 kids with special needs. Why? Because she’s loved.
No strings.
Faith, prayer, #HolyMischief.
Just love.
This is what I wanted for the world. Love.
C.S. Lewis once said that friendship is when one person looks at another and says,
“Me too! I thought I was the only one!”
Allan and the founding members of the church had a passion to love other people, and at times it seemed like we were the only ones.
Loss and Continuation
Tragically, Allan passed away one week before our first public worship service.
We were crushed.
We grieved.
We mourned.
And we found healing by continuing to do the AOK projects.
Eventually, I was reappointed to another church, but the idea of acts of kindness never left me. And it seems that others noticed it too.
The Name Finds Me
One day, a colleague from another church called and said he was getting a group of “Holy Mischief Makers” together and my name had come up.
What that group is called has differed depending on who you ask. I swear Scott called us “Holy Mischief makers.” He said he called us “mission trouble makers.” Others said we definitely are trouble makers.
No matter what words he or others actually used, the Holy Spirit clearly spoke to me:
“Shannon, you are called to a life of Holy Mischief.”
Since I thought that I’d already accepted my call, I was a bit confused.
Was this something new?
Was I supposed to change jobs?
What specifically does it mean to live mischievously AND holy?
I had both of those down. Separately.
How do I do the two together?
The thought intrigued me. Actually, it fascinated me.
I didn’t just feel called to it. I wanted more than anything to make Holy Mischief a way of life. A disruption of the gospel in a world of apathy. The divine disruption of God’s grace. Making the ordinary sacramental.
That.
I wanted all that.
Who knows why words are so powerful? Those two words on their own are interesting enough. But the combo incites a rush of adrenaline that called me to action.
Defining Holy Mischief
These questions led me to do some soul searching to define what Holy Mischief really is, and to actually be doing what I think it is.
It’s hard to define a concept or a process that looks different each time you do it.
I knew the basic components:
- God
- Faith
- Other people
- A little bit of riskiness
- A bunch of joy, or compassion, or wonder, or all of those things
I knew it was disruptive.
If I give my neighbor a pie every Friday, that is thoughtful, but she’s grown to accept it.
If I never bake but bring her a pie out of the blue just because I was thinking of her and praying for her, that could be Holy Mischief.
I’d like to say I sat down and mapped out the process like a good Methodist and former systems analyst, but I didn’t.
Instead, every time I saw what I think counted, I named it.
Delivering cards to the nursing home from children? #HolyMischief
Buying books for a teacher’s classroom wish list and having them delivered anonymously? #HolyMischief
Taking your kid out of school to spend quality time with them? #HolyMischief
Putting sticky notes ALL over a friend’s car with inspiring messages on them? #HolyMischief
Buying the coffee, breakfast, or meal for the person behind you in the drive-through line? #HolyMischief
Hugging someone longer than normal? #HolyMischief
When I started looking for what it was, it became obvious to me. It happens every day in ordinary ways all around us.
God reaches down and nudges us to go and show some love to someone else. And we do. And the impact is transformative.
The Definition
I sat with this idea for a few years, doing Holy Mischief here and there.
Finally coming up with a definition:
Disrupting the world with love.
God’s love is radical yet straightforward. It is both simple and complex at the same time. It is overwhelming at times and a still small voice in other times.
It is not something easily named or counted, but that’s okay. We are the only ones trying to name and count it.
The biggest a-ha moment in defining Holy Mischief is that in doing it, you define it.
It is a verb, not a noun or an adjective.
When asking, “Does this count?” I realized something else.
God isn’t counting.
He is smiling.
From Idea to Movement
Now that I knew what it was, I needed to figure out what to do with it.
I’m embarrassed to say that the biggest thing I could think of originally was SWAG.
So I got t-shirts and buttons made. I told people they could only get one if they earned it. You’ve gotta protect the brand.
A few dozen of my friends and colleagues had SWAG. And they did some really nice things for others.
And yet, the idea still nudged me.
Do more.
That, and a few blog posts, was where I stayed for a hot minute until I had an evaluation with one of my supervisors.
She asked what was next for me.
I told her I always felt called to do new things, but that I wasn’t called to start a new church.
Then she said words I’ll never forget:
“You could start a movement.”
No.
Hard pass.
No way.
Sounds like a cult.
The Holy Mischief Movement.
Weird.
But… is it really?
I’m a United Methodist. My denomination started as a movement from a group of people at Oxford who practiced their faith differently.
Is it really that weird?
Yes.
Yes it is.
But it was time to own my weirdness.
It was time to take the next steps.
It was time to expand.
The Spirit was moving, and I was about to start a movement.
The Launch Team
One does not merely start a movement on their own.
It takes a launch team. People who buy into the mission. People who also like to sticky note cars (or doors or windows).
So I called in reinforcements.
I told my colleague Blair Zant what I was up to, and without hesitation, she showed up at my office with sticky notes and poster board.
We headed to a room with a whiteboard and mapped out a plan.
When we were done, we knew:
- What the first steps looked like
- Who was on the team
- What the future steps would be
It was gonna be BIG.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Welcome back to another episode of living by Faith, where we highlight those who are making Kingdom Impact. I’m Morgan Yonge, joined today by Reverend Doctor Shannon Karafanda with Trinity UMC. How are you doing?
Speaker 2
I’m doing great. Morgan. How about you?
Speaker 1
I am so well blessed and highly favored, if you will. So how are you living your faith?
Speaker 2
Well, I’m glad you asked. I have grown up with faith and yet I’ve seen a transformation in how I’m living things out over the past couple of years. I have started a movement, if you will, of Holy Mischief, where people who are living out their faith exhibit the spiritual gift and the fruit of the spirit of kindness and how it can disrupt someone’s day.
Speaker 2
We live in a time when things are very contentious, and a small act of kindness can shift someone’s day in perspective and make them feel visible and valued. And that’s really been transformational not only for me personally, but also for the people of my church here in Cartersville.
Speaker 1
Wow. You know, it seems so simple, but why is it so challenging sometimes? We don’t know. So holy mischief. I absolutely love that. What does that entail? And how can someone acts this out in their day to day lives?
Speaker 2
Yeah. The idea came several years ago. I was working with a colleague named Allen, and we were starting a new church together, and he said, I want this church to be different. I want every month all of our small groups get together, and we go out in the community and we do A-okay projects. I said, well, what’s an A-okay project?
Speaker 2
And he said, An Act of Kindness project, because when you do an act of kindness, everything is A-okay. And so I said, well, that is the cheesiest thing I think I’ve ever heard, but I’m all in. Let’s go. So we would go out and we would do these acts of kindness where we would pass out cold water on a hot day in the park, or we would buy down someone’s gas at the, at the gas pump, or we would leave flowers for someone on their doorstep and just, just walk away.
Speaker 2
Just a simple act of kindness. And I found that those acts of kindness did a couple of things. First of all, it was a way for us to embody our faith. And it was kind of this natural outflowing. And we were surprised how many times it made us feel seen and visible and valued, and not just the person receiving.
Speaker 2
It was kind of like it was that special source of life that made life worth living. And then the other thing we noticed is that it was so disruptive that people were taken aback, like, why? Why would you do something kind for me? I didn’t realize that people were doing this. And so it was a bit mischievous. And that’s where the term holy mischief came about.
Speaker 2
And doing simple acts like giving someone water or throwing someone a surprise party at work, even though it’s not their birthday or anniversary. You just wanted to celebrate who they are. They can be big things or small things, but whatever they are and an outflowing of the spirit of kindness really is disruptive.
Speaker 1
I absolutely love that and I’m sure it has sparked some ministry conversations as well. Because of the graciousness of our Heavenly Father. So let’s talk about faith for a little bit. How is it because you said your faith has changed. Especially in the past couple of years. Tell me a little bit about that and what you’re doing day to day to keep that close relationship personally with you, father?
Speaker 2
Yes. Well, I realized that many people have a faith story. They and most of them have a moment when they encounter God. Or they might have a story around a big moment. And I certainly have had those. But after I had been doing Holy Mischief as a practice for a few years, I realized that I was a recovering, snarky person, that the sarcasm and snark that would just normally come out of me and was sort of my status quo.
Speaker 2
Sort of took a back seat. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t come out every so often, but I’m looking for good in the world. I am looking for ways to bless people and to honor people. And because I’m looking for the good, that’s now my status quo. And that’s where I start with when I’m approaching everyday life. And one of the ways that I keep close to God is, first of all, looking for these God moments that God puts in front of me on a regular basis.
Speaker 2
And the other is making sure that I’m practicing more contemplative practices of prayer, like centering prayer or mindfulness or breath prayer. We live in a world where there is a lot of information coming at us all the time. And to have those moments where I turn everything off and I get away from the screens and I just spend that time with God, is is something that I treasure more and more with each passing day.
Speaker 2
Because it seems like it is. Time is a commodity. And if I’m not willing to give my time, then I’ll probably see less of those God moments. And I want to spend as much time seeing those God moments every day as I can.
Speaker 1
Absolutely. I love that answer and it is all about that quality time. The Yahweh, the breath. So it is so beautiful. Well, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for sharing with our audience today. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2
Absolutely.
Speaker 1
Yes. And viewers, thank you for tuning in to another episode. If you want more information on Reverend Doctor Shannon, head on over to Living My faith.com. We will see you in the next episode of Living My Faith.
The Daily News Network, Buzz Tv News, and DAILYBIZBRIEF highlight business professionals, nonprofits, veterans and community leaders on over 40 TV Segments including The Horse’s Mouth, Legacy of Leaders TV, Veterans Buzz TV, Finding Your Frequency, and Buzzworthy Businesses.
Teal, The Agency, powered by Client Focused Media, offers marketing agencies a full-service white-label solution to scale their services without the cost or complexity of building large in-house teams. Tailored for small and medium-sized agencies, Teal specializes in relationship-driven lead generation, advanced CRM workflows for personalized client engagement, and end-to-end project fulfillment. With powerful integrations like HighLevel, Stripe, and Zapier, Teal simplifies your operations while optimizing efficiency—saving you valuable time and resources. While other tools on the market like Vendasta, RocketDriver, and DashClicks, may require contracts, Teal provides flexible, no-contract pricing, giving you the freedom to grow on your terms. Ready to elevate your agency’s impact and efficiency? Explore how Teal can help you deliver exceptional results and better serve your clients. Apply on BeTeal.com today to start your journey toward becoming a marketing powerhouse by understanding digital marketing strategies for agencies, SEO best practices for marketing agencies and scaling a marketing agency.
