Jessica and I are expecting our second child to arrive in a couple of months. As you might imagine, we’re incredibly excited. Excited, because this pregnancy was totally unexpected, given that we endured infertility for five years before the birth of our first daughter, Maggie....
I’ve seen the quote below making the rounds on the internet this Pentecost season and it’s quite striking. It’s excerpted from a presentation that Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Ignatius of Latakia (port city in Syria, historically known as Laodicea) delivered before the World Council of Churches...
I’ve written in a previous post about what it means to pray the “Psalms of Vengeance.” There I drew upon pastor, theologian, and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who reminds us that when we pray those Psalms calling on God to crush enemies, break the arm of...
This week I’m on a retreat with some of the best friends I’ve ever had. These brothers from Birmingham have given me a sense of what Jesus meant when he redefined family as those who do the will of the father, a family that exhibits...
Do you garden? My mom loves to garden. To put it in technical terms used by the gardening establishment, she’s somewhere between avid and addicted. And we all benefit. I frequently return home from my parent’s house in rural South Georgia with baskets and old grocery...
“We and our fathers have sinned” - Daniel 9:8 As many of you know, for about four years I served as pastor of a small congregation in Birmingham, AL. Taking the reins a week after my 27th birthday, I was idealistic, wide-eyed, naïve, and ambitious. But...
My daughter and I usually read two or three short books every night before bedtime. One of our favorite books is Maurice Sendak’s classic, Where the Wild Things Are. For those unfamiliar the story, it tells the tale of Max, a mildly recalcitrant and lovable...
One of my all-time favorite movies is the Big Lebowski. In many ways, this cult classic is about an unlikely yet strangely beautiful friendship between two characters – Walter and The Dude. Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) is a seemingly crass Vietnam War veteran who, despite...
“There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies.” So wrote Walter Lippman in his famous 1920 book, Liberty and the News....
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I was the Facilitator for the first New York City cohort, and at the time, I was working in theological education on Christian leadership formation, so it seemed like a natural fit. What I discovered, though, was something quite different from my “day job.” While the content and topics of the curriculum was a crucial part of our gatherings, it was the community of mutual care and support that made the content relevant, not the other way around. And second, having three years of strong bonding created an extraordinarily resilient community that, in turn, was able to build up resilience in our leaders. I think every member of my cohort went through significant seasons of both joy and heartache, professionally and vocationally, during our time. And the cohort, in turn, lived out the exhortation of Romans 12:15, “rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep,” with a depth and integrity that I have rarely experienced, and often doing both in the same gathering. It was a privilege and a blessing to me and my own faith and ministry to be their facilitator, and I am eternally grateful to the Ministry Collaborative for calling me to that work!”
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It was unique to my particular situation. It was needed, appreciated and healing. It was affirming. Most valuable was the unspoken understanding of what we all were facing in our ministry context. There was a sense that we could finish each other’s sentences. Solidarity and empathy.”
Graduation Date:
May 23, 2021
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It was unique to my particular situation. It was needed, appreciated and healing. It was affirming. Most valuable was the unspoken understanding of what we all were facing in our ministry context. There was a sense that we could finish each other’s sentences. Solidarity and empathy.”
Graduation Date:
May 23, 2021
“I truly looked forward to this every week. The discussion topics, activities, and small group conversations were all very rich and meaningful. This experience gave me space to reflect on what’s happening right now in my congregation and community. It helped me to think about what might be next in my own ministry. It offered some very concrete ways I might work on equipping leaders in my congregation. I really enjoyed meeting colleagues from different places, denominations, and contexts–and learning from their experiences and reflections. I also appreciated hearing further conversation and reinforcement in the podcasts.”
Graduation Date:
July 14, 2021
“The experience was, in one word, enriching. It was timely as well. I was at a critical point in my own ministry and this literally breathed life back into me. The time went by so fast that I didn’t even realize two months had passed. To be able to share that type of camaraderie with other preachers, and realize that my struggles are not isolated, was liberating.”
Graduation Date:
March 18, 2021
“It was great to find confirmation and affirmation of my ministry through the voices of other pastors. I particularly enjoyed the focused time on talking about each of us as individuals and pastors, and not so much on what our churches look like.”
Graduation Date:
January 31st, 2020