Oct 31, 2019 | Perspectives, Podcast
As I look at the scriptures and then I look at how we do things today in our churches, I think we’ve got a few things backwards. Specifically when it comes to defining “love”. Love looks different in each of our relationships. The relationship dictates...
Oct 30, 2019 | Inspiration, Podcast
The pastor walked slowly toward the podium as I sat on the stage behind him, waiting to be introduced. Clearing his throat, the pastor nervously shared, “My wife and I are grateful for the opportunity to serve here, but we’ve decided to resign as your...
Oct 28, 2019 | Perspectives, Podcast
Recently, I had coffee with a friend I hadn’t seen in a long while. I knew her from years ago, when we served together with our husbands in the same ministry. She had moved to Arizona to join an art colony, and her life has taken many different turns...
Oct 25, 2019 | Perspectives, Podcast
I am not a teacher, but an awakener. Robert Frost In the medieval world, thinking about God was done in a monastery where it was bathed in a liturgical setting amid devotional practices. In the modern world, thinking about God is done in a university...
Oct 24, 2019 | Perspectives, Podcast
As a whole, we typically do not like to deal with our own mess. I don’t think anyone truly loves admitting that they are wrong. I hate being the one to raise my hand and say, “Hey, I’m sorry – please forgive me for ______.” Just this weekend I...
Oct 23, 2019 | Podcast, Refreshment
Blindness “Put on your sunglasses,” Aaron says as we shoulder our packs outside the teahouse. He points to the blue sky and the blazing sun. “With the way the sun is shining on this snow up here, without sunglasses you’ll go blind before too long.”...
Oct 21, 2019 | Podcast, Refreshment
There is no higher vocation or more rewarding life than Christian ministry. Whatever the area of service, being in the employ of the Lord is an earthly and eternal honor. I know this to be true. For nearly fifty years, I have been privileged to serve as...
Oct 18, 2019 | Perspectives, Podcast
The one phrase I’ve been told over and over and over again throughout my time in the church world is: “There is no perfect church.” I hate this statement; passionately hate it when people say this to me. Why? Because it makes us sound lazy. It allows us...
Oct 16, 2019 | Perspectives, Podcast
Whether your church has sixty-five people or sixty-five hundred, money matters. Even so, many pastors tell me that they find budgeting to be—at best—a necessary-but-distracting process. I’ve never heard a young pastoral candidate confide that the initial...
