We must give ourselves over to letting what’s burning on the inside show on the outside. Otherwise, we miss an opportunity to warm someone else and may wind up consumed by our own flames.
Prayerful Brush Strokes
This prayer of examen represented a shift from brushing the day with the paint strokes of heavy drudgery, to realizing that there was room for gratitude.
Reflection Roundup: Embody the Message
Embody the unchanging story, the gospel that is truer than true, where you are “you-er than you,” rather than living in response to an old memory tape.
Preparing the Next Generation of Thinkers
Your congregations’ efforts to teach your teens and students how to study the Bible makes a difference. As a Bible professor, I can tell who has been taught to read the text for understanding.
A Story of Lifting Hands to Heaven
I often hear discussions about raising hands to the Lord, most often in the context of worship. Some are enthusiastic hand raisers; others are not.
Reflection Roundup: Topics That Stretch
Christ confesses in his Phil. 2 hymn that every knee that bows brings glory to God the Father.
Don’t Ask Questions That Aren’t Questions
With every question that’s not a question, the defensiveness escalates and in the blink of an eye, the damage is done.
Reflection Roundup: Pandemic Realities
Scott Sauls writes, “Christians possess resources in Christ to pursue harmony between individuals and groups who could not possibly come together, let alone love one another, outside of Christ.”
Good Vibes
At my workplace, we have a jar with the phrase “good vibes” emblazoned on the side. Next to the jar are colorful strips of paper and a pen.
Needing the Eyes of Elisha
We must do a better job of learning to see how God is at work. We aren’t called upon to wage war in the way of the world. It’s not all up to us. We don’t need to fight fire with fire.
Reflection Roundup: Cultural Reflections
In order to imagine ourselves in difference-making positions, we all need models in place, models who look like we do and who don’t all look like each other.
Developing Resilience
Of all the challenges and crises that exist in congregations today, the one that I want to name here resides with leaders themselves.
Integrity Is Integral … and Gritty (Part 2)
Integrity is gritty – it is hard, it takes effort, it’s often a chore. And integrity is a never-ending process: it takes a lifetime to build, yet mere moments to destroy.
Reflection Roundup: Painfully Simple
God desires to be found, to be known. Though God is not far from us, God doesn’t make God’s will difficult to discern; we do.
None of Self
I revisited this old hymn and was floored by the lyrics as they described a spiritual journey we all must travel if we desire to be in relationship with God.
Unleash the Awesome
I’ve promoted myself from the communication evangelist to the unleasher of the awesome. The promotion is well deserved, not because of my awesomeness, but because of yours.
Reflection Roundup: Hospitality
Radical hospitality calls us to ask ourselves what amount of our own preference might we be willing to sacrifice to create space for the perceived need of another.
Did God Give Me COVID?
For the great dis-ease among us and in us may not be the pestilence itself, but the way we react to, ignore, and weaponize the suffering of others.
Five Questions With Stacey Losher
Many children’s ministers are working alone, and this space is designed to give support, encouragement and spark new ideas!
Reflection Roundup: Prolegomena
Does a reluctance to ask for help translate to a theology of prayer? It may. This week, 10 other “first things” take the place of the pride that binds.