Where is God present? This is a question that circles through my fourth and final conversation segment with Dr. Pete Ward who teaches in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University, UK. Over the last few weeks we…
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Where is God present? This is a question that circles through my fourth and final conversation segment with Dr. Pete Ward who teaches in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University, UK. Over the last few weeks we…
Read MoreBeyoncé. Kim Kardashian. Chadwick Boseman. Gwyneth Paltrow. Notorious RBG. Whether they are trending on Twitter, headlining their next big movie, speaking out on social issues, or suddenly gone from this life, celebrities and the culture of celebrity have a powerful reach…
Read MoreIn our last Episode 83, Pete and I talked about why ministers need to study culture. He gave us two reasons: People come to seminary shaped and formed by culture innately — largely unawares. Reflexivity is that significance of learning…
Read MoreThe first time I met Pete Ward in person we had a theological argument. We also had drinks and some laughs in a mutual friend’s living room. As I recall, Mary McClintock Fulkerson and I might have teamed up against…
Read MoreChaplaincy Jennifer Hundley Batts Thomas sat down with me in the late spring to talk about ethical wills. She helped me to share with my students in the Death, Dying, and Bereavement course at Union Theological Seminary about the significance…
Read MoreThis week we are sharing our final conversation with Rev. Alisha Smith Haddock. What a joy to speak with her this month about her calling to do justice work and her many collaborations to rebuild North Nashville after the March…
Read MoreThis week we are going deeper into our conversation with Rev. Alisha Smith Haddock. She is helping us see how multiple factors are impacting the community of North Nashville. Back in March 2020, Nashville was hit hard by tornados that…
Read More“I knew early on I was called to this work.” -Rev. Alisha Smith Haddock Called to ministry Vocational calling comes in all different sizes, shapes and forms. Traditional congregational ministry, in spite of what people think, is not the only…
Read MoreLOn Sunday afternoon I hosted a conversation on Zoom with friends from my childhood church. Together we were remembering one of our friends, a fellow youth group member, who died earlier this summer. It was good to be with each…
Read MoreThis summer has been one of the hardest on record. What a gift to have the wisdom, insights, and pastoral presence of Rev. Dr. Stephanie Crumpton to guide and inspire us! This week, Dr. Crumpton, who is associate professor at …
Read MoreThis week we continue our conversation with Dr. Stephanie Crumpton about caring for girls and women who have experienced violence. Earlier we talked about the complexity and intentionality of care, particularly for Black women and girls. Our focus today is…
Read MorePandemic. Protest. Parenting. Pedagogy. Pastoring. Whew! This is probably the strangest and most demanding summer in living memory for most of us! We are challenged in new ways. We are facing demands at every turn. And we are trying to…
Read MoreThis week we want to share a guest blog by Phoebe Capps, church intern at First Baptist Church of Christ in Macon, Georgia. Phoebe’s responsibilities include working with children and youth. She shares with us what she is learning about…
Read MoreHow does giving love, attention, and care to women and girls who are Black reorient our sense of ministry… making it better everywhere and with everybody? I asked Dr. Stephanie Crumpton this question as a follow up in our recent…
Read MoreThere is a tension that exists for contemporary activists and organizers on how to deal rightly with the legacy they have been handed from ancestors and elders in the ongoing work of radical Black liberation and freedom. ~Dr. Stephanie Crumpton…
Read MoreSometimes the word of the Lord comes. It might be while you’re doing the dishes. It happened that way for Dr. Stephanie Crumpton. It was her first semester teaching at Lancaster Theological Seminary. It was 2014. Her new students were…
Read More“You can’t keep ignoring the particular kind of grief that women and girls carry to the altar each week.” Dr. Stephanie Crumpton Dr. Stephanie Crumpton, McCormick Theological Seminary, joins us again this week to talk about the practice of ministry.…
Read MoreThere is something about collecting myself… so I can expect to be collected and depend on the capacity to stop. ~Dr. Stephanie Crumpton In this week’s episode of 3MMM, it is my delight to begin sharing a conversation with my…
Read MoreNot only has the world turned upside down in this long pandemic season, now it is also in flames. It burns with fires that seek change. It burns with holy calls for justice. Even as the world burns, even as…
Read MoreYou’re listening to podcasts while your feet hit pavement. Or while you hold the steering wheel. You’re listening at your laptop while your fingers carry out tedious parts of your work day. Or while you chop vegetables on the kitchen…
Read MoreRev. Dr. Beverly Wallace has spent her life caring for grief. Although she is currently associate pastor of Congregational and Community Care at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, Dr. Wallace did not start out with any intention of being a…
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