This third week of Advent we are happy to welcome a guest post about the deep magic of Advent by Rev. Mary Elizabeth Hill Hanchey. This Advent we partnered with Mary Elizabeth and her friend and collaborator Carlye Daugird to…
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Guest Post | My Love Letter to the Black Church by Rev. Alisha Smith Haddock
This week we want to share a guest blog by my friend, Rev. Alisha Smith Haddock, minister at Christian Journey Fellowship Church and director of the McGruder Family Resource Center in North Nashville. Recently we featured my interviews with her…
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Pastoral Imagination | Book Cover Reveal
We are excited to share the cover of Eileen Campbell-Reed’s next book: Pastoral Imagination: Bringing the Practice of Ministry to Life (Fortress, 2021). Additionally, we are delighted to say the book is introduced in a foreword by Christian Scharen. And…
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3MMM | Trauma Healing and Recovery
Trauma inflicts its wounds in a moment, yet recovery may take a lifetime. With proper attention and care, however, healing is possible. +++++++ Earlier this week, I wrote about Trauma Informed Leadership. And I shared information that all spiritual, health…
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3MMM | Trauma Informed Leadership
What is trauma informed leadership? Why does it matter? If you are engaging in the practice of ministry, I hope you will read on. This fall I am teaching a course in “Trauma Informed Pastoral and Spiritual Care” for Union…
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Leading in Times of Crisis
This is very likely to be a stressful week. Stakes are high. People are divided. The world’s eyes are watching the U.S. elections culminating on Tuesday. Pastors, activists, priests, and chaplains are no exception. You must do what you must…
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Guest Blog: Mary Elizabeth Hanchey
This week we are delighted to welcome a guest blog about preparing for Advent from Rev. Mary Elizabeth Hill Hanchey. She and her friend and collaborator Carlye Daugird have composed and curated a set of Advent resources to carry us…
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Advent Resources 2020
How will we support each other in the coming holiday season? And how shall we get through Advent in a year that has been so filled with challenge, loss, and grief?
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Five Ways to Honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Have you been to a meeting or worship service lately where someone begins with a Land Acknowledgement? To say with honor and respect and lament the names of the Indigenous Peoples who first inhabited a place is a good start.…
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Guest Post | How to Survive a Tornado by Pastor Lisa Hammonds | Part II
Editors Note: We are grateful to Rev. Lisa Hammonds, pastor of St. John AME Church, North Nashville, for sharing this two-part story of leading her congregation through tornado recovery. Read about the night of March 3 in How to Survive…
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Guest Post | How to Survive a Tornado by Pastor Lisa Hammonds | Part I
Editors Note: Rev. Lisa Hammonds is pastor of St. John AME Church in North Nashville. We asked her to share her story of pastoring her congregation through the March 3 Nashville Tornados. If you would like to support the church…
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A Prayer for Teachers
We can always use a prayer for teachers. From preschool to grad school, this time of year is usually punctuated by joyous pictures of students and teachers returning to classrooms. But this year is a strange one. Not like any…
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How to Survive College Ministry: Guest Blog by Wanda Kidd
This week, many college students are returning to campus or virtual classrooms. College administrators are reshaping plans and policies for college life in a pandemic setting. What will ministry with college students look like this year? What are the best…
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How To Survive Zoom Fatigue: Guest Blog by Phoebe Capps
This 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…
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The World Is on Fire | Independence Day?
Counting the Costs of “Independence Day” If one of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you first sit down and calculate the cost, to determine whether you have enough money to complete it? (Luke 14:26, CEB) If we want…
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How To Survive Your Internship in a Pandemic by Kim McKay Allen
Please enjoy this post by my friend, recent graduate of Central Seminary, and chaplain, Kim McKay Allen. In today’s blog she tells us how she survived the onset of the global pandemic this spring while completing her internship and seminary…
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The World is on Fire | Cultivating Empathy
For men of color, White women, and White men to stand in solidarity with women of color (and for us to stand in solidarity with one another) requires them to adopt an ethic of caring, a position of receptivity, trust,…
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Shifting from Victim to Witness: Doing Our Internal Work
How do we shift the balance of our internal narratives, so that we become witnesses rather than victims of our fear, grief, pain, and trauma? Recently our host, Eileen Campbell-Reed led a webinar for the Wayne Oates Institute: “Working with People in…
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The World is on Fire | How will we respond to the movement for Black lives?
The world is on fire. How are we going to respond? In the past week, my attention and all my news and social feeds were riveted to the protests in more than 140 cities in the US and globally, over…
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Pandemic Pastoring | Guest Sermon by Lauren Plummer
This Friday we welcome guest blogger Lauren Plummer who offers a encouraging word for #pandemicpastoring. Lauren is a pastoral intern at Glendale Baptist Church in Nashville, TN, where she recently preached this sermon in a zoom worship service. We welcome Lauren’s…
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How to Survive Youth Ministry in a Pandemic – by Laura Edgar
This week we want to share a guest blog by my friend, Laura Edgar. She is the Associate Pastor at First Baptist Auburn, Alabama and a graduate of Baptist Seminary of Kentucky. She ministers with students from middle school through…
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