Should those leading the church just assume that person loves to serve? When should leaders ask the question, “Are we taking advantage of someone’s time and talents as a volunteer?”
Wrestling with Hard Questions
If we are to help our children find their place in God’s unfolding story, one of our priorities must be ensuring that our children know that God is big enough to handle all of the questions.
Can AI Do My Job?
Perhaps we should focus less on developing skills that could be done by AI, and focus more on developing skills like emotional regulation, living within our values, being authentic, and having empathy.
Supervising Single Staff Members in Churches
While the intended audience of the book “Thriving as a Single Person in Ministry” is two-fold, I would like to offer this book as a necessary resource for church leaders of single staff members.
More Than Our Memory
I want to encourage us with the conviction that we as ministers, theologians, and Christian leaders have something important to add to the conversation.
How Old Are You – 12?
If we can pause, think about what we want to happen BEFORE we leap into the 12-year-old win/lose mindset, we will seek and save the lost too, my friends.
Named
God says that we are his children. We are no longer orphans or nameless. We do belong. If you are one of his children, God has given you his name.
Growing Into Our Calling
We will always be in process, becoming what we are called to be. We learn through doing. Sometimes we learn by doing well, but typically we learn more by doing poorly.
Eschatological Thoughts from Philippians
Sometimes we become impatient regarding Jesus’s promise to come again to take us home. Oh, but he will come! And his coming will be like a bright and fresh spring dawn.
Full Participants
One church welcomes children as full participants in Christian fellowship, creating a true intergenerational fabric of faith community which exceeds merely worshipping in the same room.
Faithfulness Over Outcome
I will leave you with this encouragement: God is pleased with your faithfulness, not a human-perceived outcome.
Trouble
When trouble comes—and it will come!—faith in the God who is at work in the world must be at the center of our attention.
Rest Assured
Rest found in God transcends all areas of life. It brings restoration and renewal to our whole self, as God created us.
The Faces of Compassion
Seeing what compassion looks like on Jesus shows us what compassion looks like on God. But what does compassion look like on you and me?
Jesus and a Detached Retina
You need Jesus. For the hard times—and there will be hard times. And in the good times. You need your church family. God hears. God answers. God heals.
Power
As the Siburt Institute exists to equip church leaders and help churches thrive, a conversation around power becomes a crucial topic for leaders who partner in God’s work of transformation.
Learning the Gospel From A Child
As we prepare to enter into difficult seasons of life may we take the lesson from my son: Love is NEVER the wrong response.
Resiliency – Where Can I Get Some of That?
Keeping grounded and fed by my faith, I am able and capable to help others heal and grow in their own spiritual and emotional wellbeing.
The Sacred Pastoral Encounter: Some Observations by a Seasoned Chaplain
Along the way, I learned much about walking with patients and others, about relying on God’s Spirit to guide me, and about finding ways of keeping myself balanced.
Chaplaincy During COVID
I realized that chaplains are the spiritual connection for patients and families in times of need, but we are human, too.