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…
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3MMM | Summer Conference Celebration Giveaway
** GREAT NEWS ** We have extended the deadline July 31! We are so happy to gather with friends and colleagues, ministers and mentors this summer at denominational meetings, academic meetings, retreats and renewal meetings. What about you?! Gathering with…
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3MMM | Episode 29: Apprenticeship
“Patience!” ~Yoda When Luke Skywalker arrives on the stormy, swampy planet Dagobah in search of Yoda, he is impatient. In fact he has no patience at all. He does not know what or who he is seeing. Instead he exudes…
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3MMM | 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…
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3MMM | 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…
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3MMM | 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,…
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3MMM | 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…
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3MMM | Episode 17: Aha Moments
Aha! So many kinds of moments deserve this word! When conducting interviews with 50 seminarians-on-the-way-to-ministry and 25 seasoned pastors and priests, we asked them all to tell us about and “aha moment” of learning in ministry. The Learning Pastoral Imagination…
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3MMM | Episode 16: Engaging Ritual
There are many powerful rituals available for ministers to engage while leading people of faith. In this post, I want to share two stories about engaging ritual. This past weekend I took some of my seminary students to the “Beating…
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3MMM | Episode 15: Emotional Intelligence
Good Monday morning friends! It’s the first Monday of Lent. How are your Lenten practices going? I am hoping and praying for mercy and grace to lead you along the way this season. I have three things to share with…
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3MMM | Episode 14: Contemplative Prayer
Prayer. What is the connection between the practice of prayer and the practice of ministry? The responses to this question could fill many pages of many books. (My own responses fill many posts in this blog.) The connections we make…
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3MMM | Grateful for Our First Sponsors
As we approach the conclusion of the first quarter of the Three Minute Ministry Mentor, I am taking a moment to pause and say THANK YOU to our first-quarter sponsors, Glendale Baptist Church and Second Presbyterian Church, both located in Nashville,…
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3MMM | Episode 11: Listening
I like to feel heard. And understood. How about you? Yet finding people who really do that well and who have time to listen carefully can be a challenge. And then there is the trust. The best listening and understanding…
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3MMM | 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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3MMM | Episode 9: Ministry as Relational
This weekend a dear person in my life died unexpectedly. Louise and I have been part of the same faith community for 18 years. She was a member of that community for decades before I arrived. Lou and I shared…
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3MMM | Episode 8: Equity in Ministry
I am composing this post between the Women’s Marches across the U.S. on Saturday and the MLK Day marches on Monday. So many inequalities still plague the social fabric of our lives. So much animosity still divides this country. Churches…
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3MMM | Episode 7: Ministry as Embodied
I was chatting recently with a friend. Don Flowers is a pastor in Canada. We’ve been traveling in the same circles for years. He’s a funny guy and while we were catching up, he said to me something like, “Hey…
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3MMM | Episode 6: Supporting Peers
This week’s episode of the Three Minute Ministry Mentor is about you connecting with your friends as a support for your practice of ministry. Doing ministry is really not solo work, as we already considered in Episode 4: Collaboration. Finding…
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3MMM | Episode 4: Collaboration
As Advent comes to a close and the practice of waiting gives over to a final anticipation on Christmas Eve, I invite you to take a moment and think with me about the necessity and joy of collaboration in ministry.…
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3MMM | Episode 3: Self Reflection
I remember early in the planning stages of the Learning Pastoral Imagination (LPI) Project that Chris Scharen and I had several thoughtful conversations about whether or not self-reflection was essential for a robust pastoral imagination. My training in pastoral theology,…
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Press Release: Three Minute Ministry Mentor
Nashville, TN – A new 52-week video series, “Three Minute Ministry Mentor” (3MMM), is launching online this Advent. Each video, just three minutes in length, is designed to help ministers by easing the burden of isolation, inspiring attention to learning,…
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