Over the years I have heard many stories of spoken and unspoken expectations on the spouse. This has varied from the assumption of specific ways they would be involved at church to expectations regarding employment.
Take Care of Your Old Flock
Let me suggest three specific ways to express value and worth to our older members.
Where Christmas Starts
The first lesson of Christmas is to keep showing up even when your miracle hasn’t.
Book Review: “The Storytelling Animal” by Jonathan Gottschall
This is one of those must-read books for preachers. One of the primary tasks we face is to give our congregants a story to live by. (Nonfiction)
For Ministers Who Would Like to Facilitate Gender Inclusion, Start Here
If you’re a male minister and have had gender inclusion on your mind for a short while or long while, you are among many ministers who are in the same boat, and the struggle is real.
Book Review: “Terrorist” by John Updike
Although there is a fable-like quality to the story, I found the characters to be more or less believable and the plot to be quite suspenseful. (Fiction)
Liberals and Conservatives Can Benefit From Each Other
In the last year or so, I have stopped pretending I can somehow bridge the divide and have instead devoted myself to understanding it.
Hot Tub Church
We wouldn’t take a bath with strangers, but have you ever walked into a church feeling as if you’d just taken off your clothes and jumped into a bath with them?
The Miracle of Gratitude
Ingratitude doesn’t just cause you to miss the miracle; it also takes you further away from all that is good.
Book Review: “Expert Political Judgment” by Philip E. Tetlock
Let me raise a question: is it possible that expertise simply does not exist in some areas? Are there fields in which even 10,000 hours would not constitute any real expertise? (Nonfiction)
Follow That Van: A Lesson in Following Jesus
Concluding that our children had jumped the gun, deserted the plan, and were now heading away from us, we set out in hot pursuit.
Religious Services in the Age of COVID-19: Results From a Recent Survey (Part 1)
An initial report from an October 2020 survey by the Pruett Gerontology Center and Siburt Institute for Church Ministry.
Anxiety and Its Antidote
Far more contagious than the coronavirus, anxiety is actively infecting our congregations and those who lead and serve them.
Book Review: “Booked” by Kwame Alexander and “Gabriel” by Edward Hirsch
I am intentionally juxtaposing these two long poems. One tells a story of a boy growing up. One mourns a son who will not grow old. (Fiction)
Braving the Wilderness or Returning to What Is Known?
When we aren’t sure what to do or where to start, we go back to what is familiar, comfortable, “normal.”
Why Read “The Cost of Discipleship”?
This is a book I have read many times over by now. I still continue to gain new insights into what it means to live grace.
Book Review: “The Parade” by David Eggers
You might call it parable-like or allegorical, but in the short time it took me to read it, I found my unease rising with every page. (Fiction)
Got Peace?
Peace is not the absence of conflict; it’s living in the presence of God in a restored relationship with him through Jesus Christ.
Book Review: “Malcom X” by Manning Marable
I highly recommend this book as an education on the part of the civil rights movement that many of us know little about. (Nonfiction)
Pertinacity and General Grant
I’m more inspired to think about we are going to do ourselves, rather than what circumstances are going to do to us.