2013
Transforming Suicide
The hymnist Fanny Crosby wrote these words: "Chords that were broken will vibrate once more." I included her words in the first chapter of my upcoming book, Victory Song. Below is an excerpt describing my up-close encounter with suicide and the remnants it left behind.
I was 17 the night it happened: the single, tragic event that would shape my journey and life's purpose from ...
Edith’s Passing, Mental Illness Makes Headlines, Bombing in Boston, and a Papal Dust-Up
Consider these recent events and how they might affect your ministry.
The Example of Edith
On Easter Sunday Edith Schaeffer—a woman best known for the L'Abri Fellowship in Switzerland she founded with her husband, Francis—died at the age of 98. She wrote more than a dozen books, on topics ranging from biblical womanhood to children and family life to human suffering to music ...
From No Experience Necessary to Your Experience Necessary
Every job I have applied for, or hired for, has required experience of one kind or another. Software experience. Task experience. Leadership experience. I can't think of one job description I have ever written that included the line "no experience necessary."
Because let's face it: we don't want to take a risk on someone cutting their leadership teeth on our projects and our ...
Leadership Lessons from a Convent
At her Baptist church in Toronto, Susan Murphy sits on the deacons' board—the leadership team charged with making many of the important, grassroots decisions that affect the congregation. When her passion ignited at deacons' meetings, she'd speak up, not afraid to push and push again…to prove a point.
Twenty years after earning her undergraduate degree, Susan felt called to ...
Women in Church Combat: A Cautionary Tale
Lillian was a strong, charismatic woman who founded her church's women's ministry. Her vibrant personality made almost anything she tried a success. She was like a beloved sergeant in the military—close to those under her care, an advocate for them with the church leaders above her, and militantly passionate about their growth and development. She had created an atmosphere ...
Why Endings Matter
We sat together at my kitchen counter, conversation trickling to awkward silence. Things in her marriage had reached a breaking point, she said. She hoped I could help, she said. I listened and tried to give encouragement, but in my heart I knew it wasn't enough. I wanted to give her something that would last, something she could cling to even in the difficult season of her ...
When Women’s Ministries Meet Messy Houses
Professional organizers have been doing it for years. Television programs have started doing it, too. Over the years, from time to time, friends have gathered to help one another out of difficult household-organizing situations. Yes, group home-organizing has a rich and varied history.
The problem of disorganization seems to be getting more pronounced. But what are the guidelines ...
Banishing Spiritual Loneliness
I want more of God. Although I write and speak on spiritual formation, work with other Christians, have friends who encourage my faith, am married to a Christian man with whom I've raised Christian children, I still sometimes feel lonely. Not just emotionally lonely, but spiritually lonely—disconnected from God and my faith.
Leaders walk a lonely road. The leader of any enterprise, ...
Get Thee a Sisterhood, Part 2
It doesn't take a doctor to confirm that males and females have different needs. What is true in nature is also true in ministry.
Ministers, whether clergy or lay, need ministerial network groups, as discussed in my previous post. Female ministers, I say based on personal experience, particularly need to be in contact with other sisters of the cloth and call.
Yes, we have ...
Get Thee a Sisterhood, Part 1
Even though I expected this question, my heart felt as if it would beat right out of my chest. I stood before the group who would either affirm or confirm my "outer call" to ministry, as we Reformed-tradition folks say. Based on the essays I wrote and upon how they experienced me that day, these fine people would determine whether I could become a candidate for Minister of ...