Where were you on March 11, 2020, four years ago? The start of the COVID-19 pandemic was different for everyone by a few days. March 11 was the day the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. On March 9, I…
Read More3MMM | Episode 219: Honoring Vocational Grief
This week as Ordinary Time is winding down, and we are honoring All the Saints, living and dead, we also want to make space for honoring vocational grief. If you missed our All Saints’ gathering last week, we invite you…
Read More3MMM | Episode 217: Vocational Grief
Gratitude is rightly our focus during clergy appreciation month, yet as part of our acknowledgement of clergy today, let’s also attend to the reality of vocational grief. While it can be hard to name and process, and typically remains out…
Read MoreFinding Our Way – Live Event
We are all trying to find our way, yes? Thank you for finding your way over to this page! We think everyone is seeking ways right now… to live, to be together, to be church, and to make a vibrant…
Read More3MMM | Episode 191: Talking Through Tragedy
Talking through tragedy, creating sanctuary in a crisis, and accompanying people through ambiguous loss amounts to some of our hardest relational work in the practice of ministry. In this week’s episode I want to talk about all three forms of…
Read More3MMM | Episode 186: Leading in Loss
Leading in loss is one of the great challenges of this moment. Why? The losses are monumental. The leaders are overwhelmed. And grief is rarely easy. Our guest Dr. Joyce Ann Mercer of Yale Divinity School shares wisdom for attending…
Read More3MMM | Episode 184: Integrating Loss
Often at the Three Minute Ministry Mentor we write and share about integration, but integrating loss and grief is a slightly different topic. This week we continue our conversation with Dr. Joyce Ann Mercer of Yale Divinity School about loss…
Read More3MMM | Episode 183: Ambiguous Loss
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 More3MMM | 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 More3MMM | 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#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 More3MMM | Episode 139: Permission to Grieve
There is so much to grieve these days. The list seems nearly endless. Yet grieving remains hard work, and it is easy to ignore or leave aside. This week I’m offering to you a way to give yourself permission. A…
Read More3MMM | A Bridge to Epiphany
Bridges I have an invitation for you. But first an image. You’ve heard of the Bridge on the River Kwai? A Bridge over Troubled Waters? How about the Bridge to Terabithia? War. Grief. Escape. The search for relief. A bridge…
Read More3MMM | Episode 95: Carrie Doehring on Self Reflection
Reflecting on our lives. Sounds easy, right? How about reflecting on your spiritual practices? And what about reflecting on losses and griefs? Or self reflection about the ways you care for people? Each of these forms of self reflection asks…
Read More3MMM | 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…
Read MoreAdvent 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?
Read More3MMM | Episode 82: Ethical Wills
Chaplaincy 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 More3MMM | Episode 78: Grief Rituals
LOn 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 MoreHow 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…
Read MoreShifting 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…
Read More3MMM | Episode 69: Caring for Grief
Rev. 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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