This week, Eileen Campbell-Reed is enjoying some time away to rest and rejuvenate. Many thanks to Erin Robinson Hall for today’s post. She has 10 fantastic ways to show appreciation and honor clergy who make difference in your life. It’s…
Read More3MMM | Episode 107: Katharine Lassiter on Emotional Intelligence
Happy Monday Morning, Friends! Did you know that every episode this year in 3MMM Season Three is about a topic that is also a chapter in my new book Pastoral Imagination: Bringing the Practice of Ministry to Life? Did you…
Read More3MMM | Episode 100: Alfie Wines on Equity in Ministry
Welcome to Episode 100 of Three Minute Ministry Mentor! We are taking a moment to celebrate that milestone. We have worked really hard to both inform and inspire you as you learn and grow in your practice of ministry! Celebrate…
Read More3MMM | Summer Self-Care Giveaways
Pandemic. 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 More3MMM | Episode 70: Pastoral Questions
Not 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 MorePodcasts and Practices: Guest Post by Erin Robinson Hall
You’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 MoreHow to Survive Your First Year of Ministry – by Anita Peebles
This week we want to share a wonderful guest blog by my friend, recent graduate of Vanderbilt Divinity School, and new minister, Anita Peebles. When I asked, Does it feel better to be in the second year of ministry? She…
Read More3MMM | Episode 47: Congruence
“I think it’s sustaining to me to have some basic congruence between what I’m doing and what I think is important.” – Rebecca This week’s episode of 3MMM is a story about Rebecca.* She has some things to say about…
Read More3MMM | Episode 46: Knowledge Use
When I was in college and seminary, I took a lot of tests. I made really good grades on most of them. I memorized dates, names, cities, battles, theorems, species, genus, phylum, periodic tables, chemical compounds, and rules of grammar…
Read More3MMM | Episode 43: Facing Fear
Facing our fears. It can be hard even to admit our fears, much less face them. Fear of loss. Fear of disappointment. Fear of not getting what you want and fear of getting it. Fear of walking down the street. Fear…
Read More3MMM | Episode 42: Blueprint Stories
Sometimes help is literally in the palm of our hands and we cannot see it. Sometimes our ability to see or imagine or welcome the things we need in life is blocked by the kind of deeply seated beliefs and…
Read More3MMM | Episode 34: Action + Reflection for Beginnings
Action. Reflection. Action. It was winter. I took the pager home, laid it on my night stand, and I prayed it would not go off in the night. Of course it did. I was not really prepared for what to…
Read More3MMM | Episode 32: Learning Goals Part 3
Accountability. Without some accountability, learning goals can certainly fall flat. Learning practices as complex and subtle as ministry, does not work well in isolation or without good partners, mentors and friends. Being accountable to them requires trust and openness. Today’s…
Read More3MMM | Episode 31: Learning Goals Part 2
What is the long-term value of learning goals for ministry? This week’s episode of Three Minute Ministry Mentor considers how learning goals can help us bring the fears that may hinder our learning into the light of day. Big goals…
Read More3MMM | Episode 30: Learning Goals Part 1
BIG. Squishy. Learning goals. Everyone working to learn the practice of ministry needs at least one or two of these. When I ask students to imagine this kind of goal, I’m urging them to think long-term and big-picture, to set…
Read More3MMM | Episode 28: Thinking Theologically
Thinking theologically. I left my own seminary experience thinking this new way of thinking is one of the most important things I learned in the last few years. And it probably was. One class in particular helped me solidify the…
Read More3MMM | Episode 25: Examen
This last episode of Three Minute Ministry Mentor explored vocational discernment. This week we consider a spiritual practice which is valuable for the big questions of life as well as the daily practices of knowing which way to go and…
Read More3MMM | Episode 23: Sabbath
Sabbath. I have been trying to practice a weekly Sabbath very intentionally for about 14 years now. I tried in fits and starts to take time off, and practice Sabbath rest in the years I served the church full time,…
Read More3MMM | Episode 21: Practicing Resurrection
It’s Eastertide! This joyful season is a continuation of our celebrations from Easter Sunday. For seven weeks each year the church observes a season of Eastertide. The scriptures focus on the resurrection stories of Jesus. I grew up in a…
Read More3MMM | Episode 20: Identity and Place
Place matters. In so many ways it matters. Where you observe Holy Week. Where you go home at night. Where you were raised. Where you work and live and play. Each of these places matter, and they give shape to…
Read More3MMM | Episode 10: Failing Creatively
Last week I joined ministers and seminary professors from all over the US and Canada at the bi-annual meeting of the Association of Theological Field Education (ATFE) in Asheville, North Carolina. I felt encouraged and hopeful in the time I…
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