The Story
I blame it on the scripture verse that hunted and haunted me.
The one that followed me around until I let it speak:
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
He has sent me to bring good news to the afflicted,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
release to the prisoners,
To announce a year of favor from the LORD
and a day of vindication by our God;
To comfort all who mourn;
to place on those who mourn in Zion
a diadem instead of ashes,
To give them oil of gladness instead of mourning,
a glorious mantle instead of a faint spirit.
In the summer of 2020, a time I will always mark as the transition between what I had been doing to what was next, this verse became the driving force, path, battle cry and singular hope.
From Here Media was born of the book of Isaiah, Chapter 61.
At first, before it ever became a media nonprofit, it was just me, in the early days of the global pandemic, offering faith sessions over Zoom. Groups of folks would gather and I’d present on prayer or parenting or how Catholics could fight the scourge of racism. When the sessions would conclude, I’d log out with an overwhelming feeling of hope and goodness settled in my bones.
I found that it wasn’t so much what was said during the session, but instead it was the sense of accompaniment that surged in being in community with folks who loved God and Neighbor and who came with no pretense that they had it all figured out.
We were just trying to bring the Good News to one another. We were trying to bind up the broken-heartedness in one another, in the world and in our Church. And we were doing it from exactly the place we each found ourselves–spiritually and geographically.
We were doing it from here, in the hopes of helping one another continue on the path There.
We were being the Universal Church and it was incredible. The summer would end and folks would go on trying to figure out how to do life and school and work in the middle of a pandemic that would not be short-lived. But I wanted more. More learning, more sharing, more walking with one another from here to there. I wanted to continue to widen the range of voices we hear from, and so I created Universal Voices Podcast – a mini-series dedicated to sharing the wisdom of some of the incredible folks I had met in the zoom sessions with a wider audience.
Again, I would walk away from each interview brimming with hope.
It soon became clear that this was what was next.
Good News, and binding and freeing and comforting and oil of gladness.
The podcast led to Common Horizon, a print publication of Catholic Social Teaching which led to Universal Stories, a faith-sharing anthology of short stories, which led to The Vessel, a communal newsletter and From Here Media was officially born.
Our mission is one of encouragement.
We encourage the love of God, the love of Neighbor and the love of Self because we take Jesus at his word.
So much is possible when we encourage one another to live out Jesus’ greatest command.
Good News is shared, comfort is given, anointing is claimed, diadems are accepted.
We are so glad you are here.
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About the Founder
Alissa Molina is a writer, publisher, speaker and founder of From Here Media, a non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage the love of God, Neighbor and Self through print, online and in-person offerings. While her formal studies include a degree from the University of Texas at Austin in Education, she credits her vocation as a wife and mother, her decade of work in youth ministry, and her community advocacy as vitally important places of spiritual formation. Alissa has presented at DCYC, Theology on Tap, The Parable Retreat, the FemCatholic Summit and has been featured on the Katie McGrady Show.
