Sep 12, 2019 | Inspiration, Podcast
Being a bivocational minister means serving a church part time while holding down a secular job until the church can pay you enough to go full time. Right? In some cases that is true, but there is a decided shift toward bivocational ministry as a...
Sep 11, 2019 | Perspectives
It’s not always easy to love those who are different, those we don’t understand, or those with whom we can’t relate. But if the church is going to win the lost, we first have to find a way to reach them. And to make them feel at home. It’s not just those outside the...
Sep 5, 2019 | Inspiration, Podcast
Church leaders, have you ever asked yourself the forbidden question in ministry? You know the one—it goes something like this, “Am I really made for this?” If you have, then you likely felt some level of frustration, guilt, shame or condemnation toward...
Sep 4, 2019 | Perspectives, Podcast
Like many areas of professional experience, Christian churches have utilized standardized methods to determine effectiveness and decision-making. Pastors are inundated with record-keeping designed to help leadership determine the success or failure of...
Sep 3, 2019 | Perspectives
I was born the day before my father started seminary. My dad loves to quip, “My mentors recommended I not start a family and grad school at the same time, so I started my family on Sunday and seminary on Monday!” It must have been a nightmare at the time, but the...
Aug 29, 2019 | Perspectives
I couldn’t understand why the more we talked about Jesus, the more outwardly pious my friend Imani became. When I first met her, she rarely bothered to cover her hair with a headscarf. She wore shirts not long enough to conceal her hips, and she didn’t seem to care...
Aug 28, 2019 | Perspectives
The word renew means to continue something after it is paused. This is what happens to God’s plan to fill the world with His presence through His children. They again renew, re-engaging their calling to partner with God in the spreading of His presence in the world....
Aug 27, 2019 | Perspectives
I was ten years old. I was sitting on the floor of my bedroom and paging through a picture book about the lives of the saints. It was December 14. I know the date because I distinctly remember turning to that day’s page to see whose feast day the Catholic Church...
