Caregivers are arguably one of the most overlooked segments of the population, which I believe was true even before the challenges of the pandemic.
Partial Fasting for Spiritual Growth
It’s important to take time to reflect on where we stand in our spiritual lives, and assess things that may be distracting us.
Reflection Roundup: It’s a Grace Competition
Let it go. Think the best. Give prayerful time for people to explain, then believe them. Breathe deep and experience the freedom not to flesh out every detail.
Honor to Whom Honor Is Due
Richard Blaisdell just retired after over 40 years of ministry. And we need more preachers like Richard. Here are four things preachers need to learn from his life and ministry.
Reflection Roundup: Integral Digital Connection
One way human nature reflects the imago Dei is in our instinct toward relationality. May we prayerfully and mindfully bridge these spaces in fresh ways.
Diversity of Perspective
A truly multiethnic, multigenerational, and multi-perspective church values, discusses, encourages, supports, and implements ideas and dreams that flow from all echelons of the congregation.
Reflection Roundup: Stormy Bank or the River?
Can anyone else relate to the image of crossing a river, standing on stones you’ve just thrown into the river from the comfort of the riverbank?
Why I Value an Open Mind
I’ve wondered why open-mindedness seems such a rare quality these days. There is little room for nuance or complexity.
Dry
Just as the concept of one single breath is not enough to sustain us, neither is a “one-and-done” idea adequate to establish spiritual rhythms.
Reflection Roundup: Adding Value
Remember the song, “Make new friends and keep the old; one is silver and the other’s gold”? All are precious partners in God’s mission.
Congregational Mission: A Report From the Field
I commend these three core beliefs to all leader teams. Hope in God’s preferred future, practice non-anxious courage, and exercise prayerful imagination.
Reflection Roundup: Trust Is the Antidote to Panic
God’s image is presented to the world through the people of God, who use all available resources to meet the needs of the world because that’s what God does for us.
Tony, Trina, and the God of Second Chances
It’s a story of the God of love and grace doing his work among his people. It’s a story for the sinner and the lonely, a story for those in grief and pain, and a story of redemption.
Reflection Roundup: On Our Knees
The community of faith is able to truly embody unceasing prayer when we acknowledge the joint prayers of Christians around the world and throughout Christian history.
Lead, Don’t Boss
Church leadership is so weird. As I observe church leadership teams, including my own, I think everyone feels it. Who is the boss? Um, maybe no one.
Reflection Roundup: Beyond Language
Music, poetry, the vulnerable submission of our blind spots to the examination of trusted others, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to breathe it all in. These are my prayers as we camp in new perspectives and different rhythms for a bit.
The Offensive Cross: Discipleship is Uncomfortable!
You really want to follow Jesus? You want to gain life with him through the resurrection? You first must join him at the uncomfortable cross!
Reflecting On “Heart-Shaped Pickles”
As church leaders, parents, and invested adults, I know we all see this need for supporting children through times of grief. I want to share a little perspective and some resources that I pray you find helpful.
Reflection Roundup: A Nap and a Snack
This week one of my colleagues suggested taking care of ourselves might be our most important job, then went on to wonder if we could actually consent to a less-anxious model for those in our midst.
On Reading the Bible
What I am about to say will sound so elementary that I risk losing you, my reader, before I even get to the end of this paragraph. But here goes. I want you to read your Bible.