The heart wants what it wants. This phrase is tossed around, defending the behaviors and choices of the world around us.
Moral Injury and the Power of Reconciliation
Peter has not lived up to the person he claimed to be, and because of this incongruity, he has experienced a moral injury.
Trinitarian Ecclesiology
Where is the balance between offering gifts of service to the local congregation and implementing structures required for the kind of leadership by which the congregational body will feel truly supported?
Young People, Big Impact
Imagine being that boy who offered up his five loaves of bread and two fish. His willingness and generosity to give up his meal instigated the miracle.
What Did Zacchaeus Do That Jesus Liked So Much?
While we busy ourselves singing with children about this “wee little man,” we have missed a powerful ending the song never mentions.
Fewer Church Splits, More Church Plants
Many churches are wrestling with new ways to interpret Scripture. Here are a few realities that will happen when leadership decides to go in a new direction.
Noticing Beauty
If your biggest news is about an interesting insect whose path you crossed on your walk, then you’re onto something.
Humbler Church, Bigger God
If there were one lesson most churches ought to learn right now, it would be this: we should become humbler so that God might seem bigger.
Play the Cards You Hold
If we began our congregational ministry by assessing what we have to offer, we’d likely find it’s a lot.
Defend or Connect: Pick One
People are desperate to be understood, and listening is the most validating thing you can do for another human being.
Spiritual Friendship
The truth of God’s saving grace through faith becomes realer than real when experienced in life, interacting with those who wear skin. We need to have, to be, a friend.
Walking While Grieving
My challenge that day was complicated: keep walking uphill while fighting the wind and trying to find the next trail marker amidst the fog.
Resemblance
By loving the way God loves and acting as God would act, our resemblance becomes so great that it leaves no doubt we are the children of God.
A Season of Rest and Prayer
If what the Breastplate of St. Patrick claims is true, then both a physical body and a congregational body can rest in its truth.
Moral Injury and the Power of Forgiveness
I want to delve into moral and spiritual injury, looking at ways that we as Christians, ministers, pastors, counselors, and chaplains can respond when we encounter it.
The Attitude of the Heart
I want to share with you how to become more available and aware of God’s presence in your life through his Spirit. It’s like connecting to a network where you need to know the password.
Top 10 for Getting Through It
I set out to write a top 10 for getting over it but quickly realized that such a list might inadvertently trivialize deep wounds.
Thoughts on Elders as Shepherds
Many elders are frustrated because all they do is act as a board of directors. Instead of being in the lives of their flock, they’re spending time in meeting after meeting.
Leadership in Complex Times
What sort of leadership is needed in this time of complexity and uncertainty? I want to explore some implications of Complexity Leadership Theory (CLT) for congregational life.
Celebrating Black Excellence
Many of us are making history today, and it is also imperative that we celebrate and support our Black leaders. We must honor Black history by supporting and celebrating Black excellence today.