When planting a church, many leaders focus on the plethora of organizational decisions that must be made. For instance, how will you prepare yourself: seminary training, extensive reading, studying church planting strategies, or an apprenticeship? You’ll also need to decide whether to plant independently or with a denomination, where to plant, how to finance the church, ...

We talk a lot about Millennials. It often involves a lot of eye-rolling.

The stereotype is nicely summed up by the title of a 2013 Time Magazine article: “The Me Me Me Generation.” This thought is not limited to secular circles, either. Earlier this year, Watermark Church created a song (which then went viral online) called “Gotta Love Millennials.” ...

When did you know you were called to ministry?

Maybe it was one of those lightning-bolt moments that changed the way you see yourself. Or maybe it came to you through a slow building of conviction you can no longer ignore. Perhaps it was through a life-changing conversation or a quiet nudge in a corner of your mind. Maybe it’s simply that you experience tremendous joy ...

I have two major callings on my life: motherhood and ministry. Navigating these callings simultaneously can be challenging to say the least. Most days I feel successful with one and a failure with the other. Then there are days where I feel I have failed miserably at both. So on those rare occasions when I feel like I can maintain that delicate balance, I celebrate.

As a little ...

Few of us will step into our calling without some level of opposition or conflict. Sometimes, the opposition is overt and impossible to overlook. Karen* felt called to study theology. When the opportunity finally came for her to attend seminary, however, she faced intense resistance from her family. They eventually issued her an ultimatum: quit seminary or they’d stop ...

When I came to Christ, I had only been in a church once before at age nine. I begged my mother to take me one Easter because I was curious about God and hoped to find him there. I did, but only a glimpse that left a lingering hunger. So years later when someone explained what Christ had done for me, I found the God I had been desperately seeking. From that moment on, I couldn’t ...

My dear friend,

It is nothing short of joyous to see you in action—loving God and loving people. I don’t question that you are right where you’re supposed to be, for you are more than leaning into the calling placed on your life. Do you see what I see in you? Do you believe in what Christ wants to do through you?

Here’s what I know, you have the Three ...

Image: Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Recently a man told me I should stop interfering.

I didn’t take it well.

Soon after that interaction, I came across a collection of anti-suffragette postcards featured on The Huffington Post. One postcard shows a room full of buck-toothed, bug-eyed women with the text: “At the suffragette meetings you can hear some plain things—and see them too!” The ...

I once had a seminary student say to me, “I can’t wait to start preaching so I can tell people what to do!” That’s the popular conception of preaching: someone standing in front telling other people what to do. The assumption of inadequacy is built into that understanding of the word preach: “You are not living the way I (or maybe God) want you ...