Writing by the numbers is just a fun way to share some new and old things related to writing. Some of the numbers are pieces you might enjoy reading. Other things are strategies and methods for writing that might help you if you are also a writer.
And you are a writer if you’re a pastor who writes sermons and newsletter articles, a professor who prepares for teaching and writes for publication, or person who simply has a story to tell and needs an outlet for telling it. If this is you? Own it and know that getting writing done is not a matter of bursts of inspiration. It’s more than using artificial intelligence (AI) to sub your work. The most at-ease and most productive writers are most often the ones who write consistently, many of them on a daily basis.
So even if you just write email, we hope you enjoy some of these links in this week’s episode of Three Minute Ministry Mentor.
Here a preview of writing by the numbers
Keep scrolling to find each link.
- 10-year overview of the LPI Project, a new article by Eileen Campbell-Reed and Christian Scharen
- 492 words on NOT being famous by Traci Smith
- 30 bucks will get you a Summer Writing Retreat
- 2 new downloads in the 3MMM shop especially for writers
- 9 articles with news and opinion about what happened in the SBC earlier in June
- 8 writing practices by Southern novelist, Clyde Edgerton
- 1: That one time when Clyde Edgerton recommended my book Anatomy of a Schism.
10-Year Overview of Research
“The Learning Pastoral Imagination Project:
A 10-Year Overview”
by Eileen Campbell-Reed and Christian Scharen
We are finishing up the 10-year round of interviews this June for the Learning Pastoral Imagination Project. That means we have been following along with 50 ministers that we met at the end of their seminary education. We’ve now interviewed most all of them four times, visited some in their ministry sites, and written many articles and reports about them.
You can learn more about what we observed about learning ministry in practice in the early years in my book, Pastoral Imagination: Bringing the Practice of Ministry to Life. To get a brief update on the LPI Project now after interviewing ministers 10 years out of seminary, you can read this article.
INTRODUCTION
Begun in 2009, the Learning Pastoral Imagination Project (LPI Project) is a national, ecumenical, and longitudinal study of Christian ministry. This brief introduction shares how the study was designed, how it has unfolded over fourteen years, and several of its key questions and findings. The central concept, pastoral imagination, identifies the embodied, relational, spiritual, and integrative capacity required for the wise practice of ministry.
492 Words about Not Being Famous by Traci Smith
A couple of years ago my husband came marching in the house and sat me down. “I need to talk to you!” he said.
Geez! I thought. Seems serious!
“Are you famous?” He asked.
I laughed.
“I’m serious!” he said. “Tell the truth!”
“No!” I said “Definitely not! At all.”
Read the remaining 442 words here. See how it turns out…
Traci Smith is one of our coaches at the Writing Table. She is a FAMOUS children’s and family book author. And you can work alongside her most days at the Writing Table. Some days she will even be your coach.
This leads to very important points:
No fan-girling (or fan-boying or fan-sibbing) at the Writing Table. We have no Writing Table police, but this one rule does make our space more welcoming for everyone to show up. Sometimes pretty famous people show up. Just be happy to be with them and let them write. They will most likely do the same for you! 😀
30 Bucks to Join a Writing Retreat in July or August
The summer’s first writing retreat in June was a BIG success. And we have spaces still open for you to join us in July and August. Check out the details and sign up today.
2 New Downloads for Writers in the 3MMM Shop
We have two new downloads for you in the 3MMM Shop. If you are a writer you will find them especially helpful.
This 15 Writing Strategies + 15 Writing Prompts download will give you ideas, wisdom, and inspiration for your writing.
Writing strategies come from Robert Boice and Eileen Campbell-Reed. The download also includes 15 prompts to jumpstart your writing ($7).
This Plan Your Own Writing Retreat download and printable planner gives you:
- Questions for your planning
- Ways to calculate the time you need for your particular writing tasks
- An extended example of an actual writing retreat
- A full-page planner for your personal writing retreat
Even if you cannot make it to one of our online writing retreats, these ideas can help you plan your own set-apart time of writing ($7).
9 Articles of News and Opinion about #SBC2023
Last week Southern Baptists made national news (repeatedly) for a trifecta. First, for refusing to reinstate two churches (after ejecting them earlier this year). Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and Saddleback Church (campuses across southern California) are congregations led by ordained women. Second, the SBC doubled down on the deal and passed strident new rules against women’s pastoral leadership (which have to be voted again next year). Finally, they failed (again) to do anything remarkable or helpful for the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of victims of sexual assault and abuse by SBC clergy.
We have rounded up some articles and links for you to explore what happened and several opinions and analysis that help to interpret it.
8 Writing Practices by Southern Novelist, Clyde Edgerton
I stood up and asked a famous author a question. Honestly, I could hardly believe my luck. I mean he had already read from my book on stage. What did I have to lose?
What he shared was so useful! Eight practices that he as a fiction writer follows consistently.
That one time when Clyde Edgerton recommended Anatomy of a Schism
Here is what Clyde Edgerton was reading (still I have to pinch myself when I hear him).
From the Acknowledgements:
As with each piece of writing, there are so many ways of seeing, so many vantage points from which to look. Always, beyond the limits of sight, there is more to tell. Yet I trust that even with all its limits, this book may just as well take wing beyond the edges of my knowing.
Thanksgiving Day 2014
Eileen R. Campbell-Reed
Anatomy of a Schism (pp. xi-xii)
University of Tennessee Press
