This weekend a dear person in my life died unexpectedly. Louise and I have been part of the same faith community for 18 years. She was a member of that community for decades before I arrived. Lou and I shared…
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3MMM | Episode 8: Equity in Ministry
I am composing this post between the Women’s Marches across the U.S. on Saturday and the MLK Day marches on Monday. So many inequalities still plague the social fabric of our lives. So much animosity still divides this country. Churches…
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3MMM | Episode 7: Ministry as Embodied
I was chatting recently with a friend. Don Flowers is a pastor in Canada. We’ve been traveling in the same circles for years. He’s a funny guy and while we were catching up, he said to me something like, “Hey…
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3MMM | Episode 6: Supporting Peers
This week’s episode of the Three Minute Ministry Mentor is about you connecting with your friends as a support for your practice of ministry. Doing ministry is really not solo work, as we already considered in Episode 4: Collaboration. Finding…
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Mele Kalikimaka & Hau’oli Makahiki Hou
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Hawai’i! This is the most unique Christmas holiday I have ever had in my life. My family and I traveled to Hawai’i where new adventures and new discoveries filled up each day of…
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3MMM | Episode 5: Being There
Happy New Year’s Eve! What kind of year has 2018 been for you? Happy to see it go? Or wishing you could hang on to the good of it for a little longer? Perhaps you are a New Year’s resolution…
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3MMM | Episode 4: Collaboration
As Advent comes to a close and the practice of waiting gives over to a final anticipation on Christmas Eve, I invite you to take a moment and think with me about the necessity and joy of collaboration in ministry.…
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3MMM | Episode 3: Self Reflection
I remember early in the planning stages of the Learning Pastoral Imagination (LPI) Project that Chris Scharen and I had several thoughtful conversations about whether or not self-reflection was essential for a robust pastoral imagination. My training in pastoral theology,…
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Press Release: Three Minute Ministry Mentor
Nashville, TN – A new 52-week video series, “Three Minute Ministry Mentor” (3MMM), is launching online this Advent. Each video, just three minutes in length, is designed to help ministers by easing the burden of isolation, inspiring attention to learning,…
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3MMM | Episode 2: Seeing Holy Depths
Advent is one of my favorite times of the year. It gives me a quiet resting place in the middle of the headlong rush to the end of the school term, the end of the calendar year, the urgency of…
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State of Clergywomen Report – endorsed by Jann Aldredge-Clanton
One of the earliest names I ever heard as associated with supporting women’s ordination and call to ministry was Rev. Dr. Jann Aldredge-Clanton. I was just in college then when I heard that she articulately defended women’s place in ministry.…
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3MMM | Episode 1: Ministry as a Practice
Welcome to Advent, the start of a new church year! I am glad for new beginnings and I am delighted to launch a new project at the opening of this particular spiritual and liturgical season of the church year. Eight…
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Adventures in Cooking: Thanksgiving Edition
Every year for the last 18 with a few exceptions (in the early years of graduate school and then motherhood) the weekend before Thanksgiving involves my attending the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, and in most of…
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Three Minute Ministry Mentor
New Weekly Video Series Launches in Advent Everyone in ministry needs a mentor. Whether you have one currently or feel like you could really use one, our new video series, Three Minute Ministry Mentor, is created exactly with you in…
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State of Clergywomen in the U.S. Report (2018)
We invite you to download the State of Clergywomen in the U.S. Report! To get your free copy, sign up today! State of Clergywomen in the U.S. Report | 2018 from Eileen Campbell-Reed on Vimeo. I am deeply grateful for…
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Anatomy of a Schism: Reviews
What have scholars and reviewers been saying about Anatomy of a Schism? Here are a few excerpts. Review and Expositor This is not your father’s interpretation of the twentieth-century Southern Baptist schism. Eileen R. Campbell-Reed has produced an original perspective on…
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Immigration Sermon 6-23-2018
The following homily was offered on June 23 as part of an action to “Stop Jailing Families” which called on Nashville Mayor Briley and Sheriff Hall to untangle their relationship with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and stop detaining immigrants,…
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Wednesday Words for Writers ~ F
Feedback This month I’ve been taking a class in creative non-fiction over at The Porch. A dozen or so women sit around a big plank table each week, and we talk about delicious classics like “You Blow My Mind! Hey,…
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Flourishing in a Culture of Disbelief
Three Keys for Women Leading Churches Women starting out in ministry need space to learn. So do men. All people with a pastoral calling need room to grow into the practice of ministry. Too often, however, a culture of disbelief…
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Tennessee Baptists: Why Should We?
Why should we deny the gospel? Why should we sin against God’s call? Why should we reject the gifts of the Spirit? Right now sitting in your seats, imagine the most important woman in your life. Who are the most important…
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Reformation and the Economy of Salvation
“Here I stand. I can do no other.” So said Martin Luther. At the time he was on trial by the Holy Roman Church for writing heresy. It was 1521. On that day he refused to deny his arguments against…
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