2014

Lead Me On: Brave & Bawling

What happens when we give God a chance to use our relationships to change us?
Lead Me On: Brave & Bawling
Image: Thinkstock

A few years ago, Saturday Night Live alum Amy Poehler delivered Harvard University’s Class Day speech. In a fake Bostonian dialect, she joked, “Just because yah wicked smaht doesn’t mean yah beddah than me.”

Then she got serious.

“All I can tell you today is what I’ve learned, what I have discovered as a person in this world, and ...

continue reading

Build True Community through Service

Let’s live as if we belong to each other
Build True Community through Service
Image: Thinkstock

What would it look like to build community with servanthood as the foundation, to shift from an independent mindset to interdependence?

Our culture values community with words, but individualism with actions. When the rubber hits the road, it’s often not about “we”; it’s about “me first.” If “we” becomes the end result it’s ...

continue reading

How to Really Serve a Community

It begins with listening
How to Really Serve a Community

Have you ever experienced someone trying to help you in a way that wasn’t all that helpful? As a new mom, this is something I experience often. Someone gives advice that’s more discouraging than helpful. Another person offers to pick me up for lunch—not realizing that having to transfer all the baby gear to her car really is more work than help. I know that ...

continue reading

Leading to the Ends of the Earth

How to reach beyond your church by investing within your church
Leading to the Ends of the Earth
Image: Thinkstock

According to Acts 1:8, the last promise Jesus gave his disciples was that “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you…you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

That promise was meant to comfort, but it can also be overwhelming at first glance. I recently heard ...

continue reading

Finding Communal Joy in Lament

Let’s sing the Lord’s song in a strange and troubled land
Finding Communal Joy in Lament
Image: Thinkstock

ISIS. Ebola in West Africa. Syria. The recent Middle East conflagration. Flight MH17. I stand in front of the congregation. How does my denomination’s expression of Christian worship and life together, teased out over 90 minutes every Sunday morning, mean anything really, in the face of these problems that seem epic? Avoidance isn’t the answer. I wonder how ...

continue reading

Include Your Children in Life-Changing Decisions

God is working in their lives too
Include Your Children in Life-Changing Decisions
Image: Thinkstock

Standing on the driveway with my teenage daughter, we watch silently as her childhood bed and miniature table and chairs, packed in the back of a truck, pull away and drive down the street, around the corner, and onto the highway. Words aren’t necessary. We’ve resigned ourselves to the new reality.

All our possessions and keepsakes are now negotiable. We’re ...

continue reading

When Loving Your Sheep Hurts

How I found healing after betrayal in ministry
When Loving Your Sheep Hurts
Image: Thinkstock

Tears rolled down my face as I confessed my agony to a friend: “I love God and I love the church, but I don’t want anything to do with God’s people right now.”

It was a shocking confession that came after a deep betrayal in ministry. Someone I loved had turned on me with terrible accusations and lies, attempting to humiliate and discredit me. I ...

continue reading

Saying Goodbye to Volunteer Leaders

How to do it well—in youth ministry and elsewhere
Saying Goodbye to Volunteer Leaders
Image: Thinkstock

Leaders naturally cycle in and out of ministry. When it’s a positive parting of ways, create an environment where the leader is honored for their service and students, parents, and other leaders have a chance to voice their thanks. Make this a consistent ritual for all positive departures. It’s a great way to respect someone’s legacy, to help students ...

continue reading

Dare Mighty Things

A Book Review
Dare Mighty Things
Image: Thinkstock

The book:

Dare Mighty Things: Mapping the Challenges of Leadership for Christian Women

By Halee Gray Scott

Published by Zondervan

Why I picked up this book:

Simply put, there is no other book on the market like it! Author and Ph.D. Halee Gray Scott has done her research and clearly presents her case with theological reflection, without defense, and through humbly sharing ...

continue reading

A Voice for the Sinned-Against, Part 2

Ministry to survivors of sexual abuse
A Voice for the Sinned-Against, Part 2
Image: Thinkstock

Childhood sexual abuse victims experience lifelong battles to gain understanding of what happened to them and why. Statistics show that 1 out of 20 boys are sexually abused as children, and the number is much higher for young girls: one out of five girls is sexually abused, 60 percent by someone they are familiar with and 30 percent by a family member. The abuse young girls ...

continue reading

Follow us

FacebookTwitterRSS

free newsletters: