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…
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3MMM | Episode 45: Navigating Conflict
Conflict in ministry is hard. It is hard because it often feels personal. ย It is hard because it can evoke feelings like anger, self-doubt, fear or shame, feelings that are unpleasant to digest. And it is hard because change of…
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3MMM | Episode 44: Defining Moments
โOh man, she thinks Iโm a minister!โ Martha had this startling thought while talking with Linda, the newly elected chair of deacons at FBC Benson. The church started out as a placeย whereย Martha could meet her field education requirement for seminary.…
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3MMM | 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 notย getting what you want and fear of getting it. Fear of walking down the street. Fear…
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3MMM | Episode 40: Change over Time
Back to school. Back to seminary. Back to something new! As I greeted students at Union Seminary’s orientation last week, I told them โI am just as new as you are! We will be learning together.โ And I feel it.…
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3MMM | Episode 39: Pulled up Short
Orientation. Disorientation. Reorientation. This week is orientation for many people going back to school… including me! I’m starting a new teaching appointment for the coming year. And orientation begins this morning. The week has hardly begun and already I have…
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3MMM | Episode 38: Action + Reflection in Preaching
Recently I joined a few other preachers to talk about the craft of sermon writing. We held our conversation as a panel discussion in a Sunday morning worship service. Six women talking together about how they might plan for preaching…
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3MMM | Episode 37: Salience
Salience. Seeing what is important in a field of things or a situation;ย sorting through possible meanings to find the one that is pertinent, urgent or more immediate in character. Salience. /หsฤlฤษns/ This week’s episode of Three Minute Ministry Mentor…
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3MMM | Episode 36: Improvisation
Improvise. Rearrange and fit to size. Change. Adapt. And revise Move it around as time flies. Pivot. Shift. Sidestep. Riff. Play it like jazz. Do you get my drift? A finely honed practice of professional tennis, or vegan cooking, or…
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3MMM | Episode 35: Overcoming Isolation
Erosion. Not a pretty word to think about when it comes to chaplaincy, activism, congregational pastoring, or nonprofit leadership. And yet, it is real. The routines and daily rigors of the work can surely wear ministers down emotionally, relationally and…
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3MMM | 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…
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3MMM | Episode 33: Cultivating Questions
“Questions?” When I took a public speaking course a few years ago, this is how the instructor taught us to end our speeches: Ask, “Questions?” And then wait for the audience to start asking. In ministry, teaching, and lots of…
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3MMM | 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…
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3MMM | 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…
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3MMM | 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…
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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 27: Preaching and Prayer
What is the role of prayer and meditation in the practice of ministry? I have worked on that question for many years. It became focused as a question around the time that I finished my doctoral studies. In these last…
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3MMM | Episode 26: Future Stories
My training in psychology prepared me to look with careful attention to the past and to analyze how stories from family and childhood experiences that shape our lives. Not just our personal stories, but also stories embedded in religious rituals…
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3MMM | Episode 24: Vocational Discernment
Discernment. Vocation. Purpose. Life. Unpacking oneโs purpose for life is no small thing. For many people it takes most of a lifetime to say fully what they believe their purpose to be. And for others purpose changes over time and…
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