Dear seminary student, Welcome to a new year of intense learning and preparation for the practice of ministry. Perhaps you’re feeling a little nervous? Or maybe it is old hat by now! Either way, I want to offer you a…
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Dear seminary student, Welcome to a new year of intense learning and preparation for the practice of ministry. Perhaps you’re feeling a little nervous? Or maybe it is old hat by now! Either way, I want to offer you a…
Read MoreWe are now living in ministry’s new era. To even say that, sounds questionable to my own mind. Yet I look around at all the changes, and I think through all I have heard in the past 2+ years. And…
Read MoreI’ve been trying to get to Ring Lake Ranch for about a dozen years because I wanted to experience its wilderness beauty. This was finally the summer that I could make it happen. The timing was tricky. Traveling meant making…
Read MoreThe following pandemic reflections offer a glimpse into what is coming in the #PandemicPastoring Report. Have you signed up for the Webinar yet? ++++++++++++++ As I am heading out the door this morning, I decide, standing at my jewelry dish…
Read MoreLast week, on the heels of a summer with everyone in my family off on their own adventures, I met up with my husband, Lynn, in New York City. We enjoyed walking through the city streets and parks, riding the…
Read MoreThe church in the United States is in the throes of a #MeTooReckoning. A public crisis has been unfolding for more than two decades. However, this summer we saw a major uptick in victims speaking out, press coverage, legal actions,…
Read MoreEditor’s Note: Today we welcome Rev. Jake Hall as our guest! Jake lives in Macon, GA with his wife Erin and their children. He is the Director of Initiatives in Faith and Culture at Mercer University’s Eula Mae and John…
Read MoreWelcome to the #MeTooReckoning Workshop! Thank you for making the choice to educate yourself and your community about the #MeTooReckoning and taking this self-paced course. We know this workshop will be valuable to you! It is designed to be a…
Read MoreMusic that carries you and me through our lives is worth noting. Songs, hymns, and everyday music can be a source of profound healing. Music connects us to our communities. It holds memories and engenders hope. It is a relational…
Read MoreWhat will your invisible legacy be? Where have you given of yourself in a gracious,yet hidden way? When did you donate to an urgent cause,yet spoke of it to no one? How have you put in a good word that…
Read MoreWhat do we know about #PandemicPastoring and women? How has it impacted clergywomen? How have lay leaders been crucial for keeping the church going? Since the declaration of a global pandemic in March of 2020, I continue to be in…
Read MoreSunday, July 3 I sat down to meditate for 10 minutes this morning. It was a disaster. No effort to pray contemplatively is really wasted. But I was a mess. I vacillated between almost falling asleep and my mind being…
Read MoreDownload the #PandemicPastoring Report today! At Three Minute Ministry Mentor (3MMM), we began focusing on #PandemicPastoring in March of 2020. By early summer we could see the impact on ministry would not be short-lived. So we continued collecting and sharing…
Read MoreToday is our final post for Celebrate PRIDE this week! We are sharing stories of ministers in the Learning Pastoral Imagination (LPI) Project. Every time we tell a story or share a narrative from our research, we believe it becomes…
Read MoreWelcome to Part 2 of Celebrate PRIDE this week! We are sharing stories of ministers who identify as LGBTIQA+ in the Learning Pastoral Imagination (LPI) Project. This week we drop in on two ministers at the stage of deciding on…
Read MoreThis week we are celebrating PRIDE month with stories of ministers in the Learning Pastoral Imagination (LPI) Project. Every time we tell a story or share a narrative from our research, we believe it becomes a source of acknowledgement and…
Read MoreIn the past nine days I attended two seminary graduations, three worship services where we blessed graduates, and one live-stream ordination. Each event gave me a sense of joy. Yet the joy was also rooted in something more complicated. Something…
Read MoreGraduation Blessings take many forms. Big accomplishments receive most of the praise. Public words of blessing ring out for awards, achievements, and milestones. And this is right and good. And yet. Much of the substance of life is mostly not…
Read MoreThis is a mother’s day prayer, but not the ones I grew up hearing. This one is more of a psalm and a lament. It lifts up to God the painful and unspeakable facets of mothering and mother’s day. It…
Read MoreWhat does it mean to care with holy fierceness? Let’s begin with what we mean by holy fierceness. In Chapter 48 of Pastoral Imagination, I introduce this idea. I first heard the idea when interviewing cohort of divinity school graduates…
Read MorePerhaps you have been hearing about the concept of pastoral imagination for a while. We hope so! And maybe you are wondering: how would someone teach that? Today, let’s talk about teaching pastoral imagination, the concept, the book and the…
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