Learning in practice We started this year with grand plans of sharing interviews with professors, pastors, activists and mentors in ministry. Then by March the whole world was upside down. We pivoted many times as the year unfolded. And we…
Read More3MMM | Episode 92: Advent & Christmas 2020
As we wind down Season two of three minute ministry mentor, a little Advent and Christmas reflection seems in order. Next Monday we will look back over 2020, so this week I’ll keep it brief and offer some reflections about…
Read More3MMM | Episode 91: From Allies to Co-Conspirators
On Friday, we shared a “Love Letter to the Black Church” from Rev. Alisha Smith Haddock. This week we have another love letter. This one is addressed to white Christians and churches from Rev. Dr. Judy Cummings. We have been…
Read More3MMM | Episode 89: Organize, Lament, Rest
This year. This year has been exhausting, dripping in grief and loss. No way around it. And yet. The exhaustion, grief, and loss are not the whole story. There are small miracles and moments that inspire gratitude. One thing I…
Read More3MMM | Episode 88: Shepherding Justice
Nashvillians know Rev. Dr. Judy Cummings as a social justice advocate, pastor, and community organizer. Yet she understands herself to be a shepherd at heart. Dr. Cummings, pastor of New Covenant Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, is a recognized leader,…
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 MoreHow 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…
Read More3MMM | Episode 68: Community Grief
“So much of Zen practice is about warm hand to warm hand transmission.” Ian Case who is the Director of the Brooklyn Zen Center is our guest this week on Three Minute Ministry Mentor. Ian will also be graduating from…
Read More3MMM | Episode 67: Fertility Grief
This week we want to share a wonderful guest blog by my friends and fellow ministers, Erin Robinson Hall and Mary Elizabeth Hill Hanchey. Today marks eight weeks of pandemic life at my house. The pile up of grief is…
Read More3MMM | Episode 62: Paying Attention
We are living in a whole new world. In just a matter of weeks everything has changed. Most of us are spending a vast majority of our time “sheltered in place.” We are physically distanced from family and friends. We…
Read MoreResources for Pandemic Pastoring
Are you a minister or chaplain, an activist or congregational pastor? Whatever your role in ministry, you are now living and working in an unprecedented worldwide season of the coronavirus pandemic. And we want to support you as you bring…
Read More3MMM | Episode 60: Prophetic Listening
We are in a new moment in the history of humanity. All aspects of life have been disrupted. No one is exempt from the impact of the world-wide coronavirus pandemic. Alongside that reality is another unchanging reality: no one is…
Read More3MMM | Episode 59: Power of Listening
Listening. Listening matters. It matters for pastoral practice as well as personal relationships and every part of our lives. Listening is intimately connected to paying attention to life with all of our senses. My guest this month is Rev. Dr.…
Read More3MMM | Podcast with Danielle Tumminio Hansen
What a delight to share so many conversations with Danielle Tumminio Hansen during the month of February! In these episodes of Three Minute Ministry Mentor she shared insights, stories and questions that really deepen our understanding of ministry as a…
Read More3MMM | Season Two Podcast Episodes
We got a wonderful start with our second season of Three Minute Ministry Mentor! And we were so thankful that Eric Barreto was our featured guest for Episodes 51-54 in January. Catch up with all the wisdom he shared in…
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 | How the Light Got In – 2019
Each year for the last few, I’ve taken time, with inspiration from my friends and writing pals Duane Bidwell and Frank Thomas, to compile a Gratitude List of Important Things that I have invested myself in during the past year.…
Read MoreEpic Journey: Writing for My Life
The bells chime for worship. I am walking away from them. My path leads me deeper into the woods, through a cathedral of trees. A lush carpet of green stretches away to my left. Low hanging clouds reflect on the…
Read MoreAdventures in Cooking: Thanksgiving Edition
Every year for the last 18 with a few exceptions (in the early years of graduate school and then motherhood) the weekend before Thanksgiving involves my attending the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, and in most of…
Read MoreWednesday Words for Writers ~ F
Feedback This month I’ve been taking a class in creative non-fiction over at The Porch. A dozen or so women sit around a big plank table each week, and we talk about delicious classics like “You Blow My Mind! Hey,…
Read MoreOrdinary Time: “Hangry”
Almost simultaneously this summer I was invited to preach at three churches. My home church, Glendale Baptist would be first, and we spent the summer exploring the Beatitudes. So I took Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst…
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