Best of practice in 2025 This morning, on the fifth day of Christmas, we want to share some of our best from 2025 and anticipate 2026. So we are looking back to what landed most often with our readers last…
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3MMM | Remembering Craig Dykstra
In early June three significant public figures in theological education died. Each one contributed through teaching and writing to the education of ministers and the doctoral training of seminary professors. They each held up distinct nodes in the ecology of…
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3MMM | Episode 244: Teaching Pastoral Imagination
I want to talk with you this week about teaching pastoral imagination. As we launch a new year of theological education in the US, I am hearing again: “pastors and ministers are not fully prepared for their work.” Recent studies…
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3MMM | Episode 232: Where Were You?
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…
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3MMM | Episode 227: An Introduction
I just returned home after being away most of January. I took a lovely vacation with my daughter and my mother-in-law. We traveled to Hawaii, a beautiful place that I truly love. It was the only state of the United…
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Pastoral Imagination Book
Welcome to the Pastoral Imagination book page. You can observe and imagine doing ministry. Yet until you enter it with your whole self, alongside people in everyday situations, you cannot know fully how a calling comes to life. ~Eileen Campbell-ReedPastoral…
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What is Pastoral Imagination?
So you’ve been hearing the phrase pastoral imagination? And you’re thinking hmmmm, that’s interesting. Sounds kind of fun. Maybe a little mysterious. I’d like to know more…. But what is it exactly? You have come to the right place. I…
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3MMM | Episode 214: Making Connections
This weekend I spent time renewing and making new connections with Baptist friends. As an extrovert I found this mostly energizing. I know it’s not everyone’s idea of fun. And maybe you would rather make connections with one person over…
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3MMM | Episode 197: Pastoral Imagination at Two
Pastoral Imagination at two years old! Here’s a fun way to let you know some things about the book Pastoral Imagination, which turns two this month! My Fortress Press editor Scott Tunseth told me this was a book for the…
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3MMM | Episode 175: Happy Fourth Birthday!
Happy Fourth Birthday, Three Minute Ministry Mentor! We are excited to celebrate and grateful for all the learning and connection over the last four years. In Advent of 2018, we launched 3MMM. It’s a story I’ve told many times and…
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How to Survive An Apocalypse… Turn up the Music | Guest Blog by Jake Hall
Editor’s Note: Today we welcome Rev. Jake Hall as our guest! Jake lives in Macon, GA with his wife Erin and their children. He is the Director of Initiatives in Faith and Culture at Mercer University’s Eula Mae and John…
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3MMM | Episode 153: Celebrate Pride Part 1
This week we are celebrating PRIDE month with stories of ministers in the Learning Pastoral Imagination (LPI) Project. Every time we tell a story or share a narrative from our research, we believe it becomes a source of acknowledgement and…
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3MMM | Episode 149: Teaching Pastoral Imagination
Perhaps you have been hearing about the concept of pastoral imagination for a while. We hope so! And maybe you are wondering: how would someone teach that? Today, let’s talk about teaching pastoral imagination, the concept, the book and the…
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3MMM | Episode 145: Women’s History Month
As we come to the end of Women’s History Month, I want to reflect briefly with you about my past week. My vocation began with a call to ministry while I was still in high school. I certainly could not…
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3MMM | Episode 142: Lenten Practices
Have you figured out your Lenten practices yet? Lent is coming soon! This week in fact. Wait. What? Wasn’t Jesus just in diapers? Now we are sending him out alone? Into the wilderness to face wild beasts? Well actually. Jesus…
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Picturing Pastoral Imagination
Picturing Pastoral Imagination Share a photo a day for Lent Show the world what pastoral imagination looks like in your life and ministry How do you picture pastoral imagination? This Lenten season we want to invite you to reflect on…
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3MMM | Episode 134: Pastoral Imagination and Care
What do pastoral imagination and pastoral care have to do with each other? I’ve been working on that question for a dozen years. And recently I received a question from a friend that inspired me to articulate the relationship between…
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3MMM | Episode 129: Rest & Renewal
Note: Three Minute Ministry Mentor Host, Eileen Campbell-Reed is on a short Sabbath break. Because sometimes rest and renewal must be the priority! However, she and Erin Robinson Hall had a fun conversation on Friday, October 1. They talked about…
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3MMM | Episode 125: Back to Seminary
For over a month, school has been beginning. From kindergarten to college, from preschool to grad school, students are returning. In spite of the world’s tragedies, the disruptions of weather, fires, and a global pandemic, learners of all ages are…
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3MMM | Episode 123: Helping Pastors Thrive
Collaboration. Listening. Getting around life’s brick walls. Understanding identity. Adapting to new places and situations. Each of these moments are part of the everyday work of ministry. Recently, I sat down with three new pastors. When we gathered on zoom,…
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3MMM | Episode 122: Innovation and Imagination
There’s a lot of hand wringing right now. Some of the world’s news sounds alarming and more than a little confusing. Earlier this summer we thought the pandemic was perhaps winding down. For many of us, a majority of adults…
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