A few days ago I took part in a conversation with The Bridge for Early Career Preachers. The focus of the webinar was sustainable preaching. The coordinators for The Bridge, Dr. Rich Voltz and Rev. Mandy England Cole invited me,…
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3MMM | Episode 127: Preaching with Integrity
Integrity. Congruence. Consistency. What is preaching without integrity? Not much. This week we are continuing our focus on the practice of preaching as we support the NeverthelessShePreached Conference. We are celebrating preaching by women and LGBTIQA+ clergy in lots of…
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3MMM | Episode 110: Amy-Jill Levine on Preaching Jesus
In my new book Pastoral Imagination: Bringing the Practice of Ministry to Life, I address preaching in multiple chapters. I was fortunate to learn from wise and skilled pastors and professors in my years of seminary. Many of the concepts…
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3MMM | Episode 38: Action + Reflection in Preaching
Recently I joined a few other preachers to talk about the craft of sermon writing. We held our conversation as a panel discussion in a Sunday morning worship service. Six women talking together about how they might plan for preaching…
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3MMM | Episode 27: Preaching and Prayer
What is the role of prayer and meditation in the practice of ministry? I have worked on that question for many years. It became focused as a question around the time that I finished my doctoral studies. In these last…
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3MMM | Episode 18: Preaching Jesus
I felt enthralled and overwhelmed by the sculpture of Mary holding Jesus (pictured above) when I stepped into the foyer at Belle Meade United Methodist Church to film this week’s episode of Three Minute Ministry Mentor. And the name of the…
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3MMM | Best of 2025 and Anticipating 2026
Best of practice in 2025 This morning, on the fifth day of Christmas, we want to share some of our best from 2025 and anticipate 2026. So we are looking back to what landed most often with our readers last…
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Guest Blog: Genuine Clergy Appreciation by Sarah Jackson Shelton
Editor’s note: This week we welcome Rev. Sarah Jackson Shelton as our guest. Sarah helps us think about how to offer genuine appreciation for clergy. A retired Baptist preacher with 44 years of ordained ministry, she now serves as Pastor…
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3MMM | Episode 253: Writing Voice
How do we cultivate a clear speaking and writing voice? How do we come into sounding like ourselves, speaking with honest and vulnerability on the page or in person? I want to offer four stepping stones to help you move…
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3MMM | Episode 248: How to Worship
Today we are considering the very important question of how to worship? This is our final episode from my conversation with Rev. Dr. Cláudio Carvalhaes. What a joy to share Cláudio’s enthusiasm and wisdom for practices of creativity, sustaining the…
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3MMM | Episode 247: How to Pray
In my conversation with Rev. Dr Cláudio Carvalhaes this week, we talk about how to pray. We begin with one of Claudio’s recent projects and books Liturgies from Below: Praying with People at the End of the World. The project…
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3MMM | Episode 243: Back-to-School Wisdom 2024
We asked some wise pastors and professors for a some back-to-school wisdom for 2024, and they generously shared it. You will find their wisdom in this post for students of all ages, parents, teachers, and seminarians. We hope you will…
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Episode Index | Season Five
Welcome to Season Five! This index will help you link to weekly episodes: blogs, videos, and podcasts all from year five of Three Minute Ministry Mentor. Ten Things That Matter | video | blog Discerning Vocation | video |…
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3MMM | Episode 230: Advocating for Women
Imagine advocating for a place where women and lgbtiqa+ people preach and lead most Sundays. A place where seminary students seek to learn from wise pastors. Where every age person from youngest to eldest has a place and a role…
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3MMM | Episode 227: An Introduction
I just returned home after being away most of January. I took a lovely vacation with my daughter and my mother-in-law. We traveled to Hawaii, a beautiful place that I truly love. It was the only state of the United…
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What is Pastoral Imagination?
So you’ve been hearing the phrase pastoral imagination? And you’re thinking hmmmm, that’s interesting. Sounds kind of fun. Maybe a little mysterious. I’d like to know more…. But what is it exactly? You have come to the right place. I…
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3MMM | Episode 210: Elizabeth-Anne’s SBC Story
Editor’s Note: This week we welcome Elizabeth-Anne’s SBC Story about calling and ministry. Elizabeth-Anne Lovell is part of the 3MMM Team, teaches Jesus in the Gospel and Film at Belmont University, and is a brand new mom. It’s Not You,…
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3MMM | Episode 199: Pray. Read. Write.
Pray. Read. Write. This three-part creative process is one of the most enduring patterns of work in my life. I have been praying and reading and writing and creating as long as I can remember. They are the forms of…
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3MMM | Episode 176: The Longest Night | 12.21.2022
How is it with your soul today? The last 33 months have been so much. They have taken quite a toll… on life, on church, on everyone who is called to ministry, on our relationships, and our embodied ways of…
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3MMM | Episode 170: Thank a Minister
This is clergy appreciation month, and we are here this week to help you thank a minister. Who needs thanking? A minister or pastor from your past who helped you to discern a call? Or perhaps your current minister –…
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3MMM | Episode 146: Celebrate Mentoring
This week we are celebrating mentoring! And we are also going to celebrate the Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) of Central Seminary. I know we are still on the Lenten journey for two more weeks. And I am so grateful for…
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