What ambiguous losses are you facing right now? I want to speak openly and share a few ambiguous losses that I’m feeling. That is just what I’m asking you to do in this episode of Three Minute Ministry Mentor (3MMM).…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 182: Questions for Discernment
On this weekend of remembering Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we invite you to focus on questions for discernment about your vocation. Dr. King invited people to think deeply and transformatively about their work. About justice. About being part…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 181: Discerning Vocation
How are you discerning vocation in this new era of ministry? So much has changed about life in the last 33 months. Tonight at dinner we observed that the waitstaff in the restaurant was also bussing all the tables, cleaning…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 180: Ten Things That Matter
Happy New Year! ♥ I hope you enjoyed ringing in the new year… with friends or at a watch night service at your church or in a quiet dream state in your own comfy bed. Wherever you were, may this…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 177: Tending the Fires | 12.28.2022
Endings and Beginnings When I began blogging in 2009, I called the biweekly posts “Keeper of the Fire.” For the next nine years, I continued tending the fires of my life through writing and reflecting. The fires I tended included…
Read More
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…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 175: Happy Fourth Birthday!
Happy Fourth Birthday, Three Minute Ministry Mentor! We are excited to celebrate and grateful for all the learning and connection over the last four years. In Advent of 2018, we launched 3MMM. It’s a story I’ve told many times and…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 174: Conditions of Wellness
What are the conditions of wellness that make life stable and meaningful? I considered this question over the past week while I attended the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in Denver, Colorado. Along with the Society for Biblical Literature (SBL),…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 173: Listening to Children
One of our most important tasks coming out of the last 30 months is to be listening to children. In the recently released #PandemicPastoring Report, I wrote, “teenagers, children and adults everywhere suffered social isolation and profound stress.” The multiple…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 172: Life-Giving Rituals
For two months I have been saying daily that we need more space for lament and life-giving rituals as we transition into a new era of ministry. Today I offer three idea buckets to support you in our ongoing work…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 171: Mentoring Opportunities
Coming Soon: New Mentoring Opportunities We have been listening to you. And we will continue listening to you. We are grateful for the ways that you are leading, guiding, and supporting many people in your care. We heard your needs…
Read More
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 –…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 169: Clergy Appreciation for a New Era
In Octobers past, I’ve written about Clergy Appreciation Month, and in 2022 we invite you to think about clergy appreciation for a new era. Because I surveyed an interviewed clergy between 2020 and 2022, I have a pretty good idea…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 168: Communion and Community
World Communion Sunday created an opportunity for reflection on theologies of communion and community in a new era of ministry. The following is a sermon I preached at Glendale Baptist Church on October 2, 2022. ++++++++ Philippians 4: 1-9 4:1…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 167: Five Things Ministers Need Now
The times we are living in remain profoundly challenging, so today we are launching a series on five things ministers need now. The world is somewhat deceptive for all its rush and efforts to get things “back to normal.” Yet…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 166: A Blessing for Seminary
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 More
3MMM | Episode 165: Ministry’s New Era
We 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 More
3MMM | Episode 164: Wilderness Beauty
I’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 More
#PandemicPastoring Report 2022
Download the report now #PandemicPastoring ushers in a new era of church leadership For immediate release August 18, 2022 Press contact: Eileen Campbell-Reed [email protected] (615) 510-1510 NASHVILLE, TN – Researcher and author, Eileen Campbell-Reed conducted a 22-month qualitative study of…
Read More
3MMM | Episode 163: Pandemic Reflections
The 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 More
3MMM | Episode 162: Change-Ups
Last 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 More