The Ministry Collaborative Podcast: Highlights from Our First Year
“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” Mitch McConnell was probably not setting out to create a viral meme when he gave this explanation for silencing Elizabeth Warren on the Senate floor. Within hours, however, “Nevertheless, she persisted” was showing up...
Arabella Young was a gossip! Her tongue was always getting her into trouble. She gossiped so much… that on her tombstone in an English cemetery, her family wrote this epitaph, “Beneath this sod, a lump of clay, lies Arabella Young, who on the 24th of...
“Simon, son of John, do you love me? Simon said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”...
One of the best ways to understand the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to remember the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. The French Army was commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte and the British allied army was commanded by the Duke of Wellington. The fighting...
I was greeting parishioners one Easter Sunday morning with a hearty, “Christ is Risen,” enjoying the joyous refrain, “He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!” Until I got to Bernice Knuckles (not her real name.) “Christ is Risen,” I exclaimed to her. She looked at me blankly...
https://vimeo.com/212982654 Our Christian faith began in a cemetery. Think about it; we are Christians because the tomb is empty. God raised Jesus from the dead in a cemetery to remind all of us that death is not a period at the end of the sentence of...
During the Passover Feast, one of the greatest festivals in Judaism, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. When Pontius Pilate, the governor, put the question to the crowd, “Who do you want me to release for...
The well-known preacher and author, Dr. John Claypool, had an unforgettable experience in college. On the very first day of class, his Greek professor, Dr. Henry Trentham, shocked the students by handing them the final exam! Claypool wasn’t just being cute when he said, “It...
Legends and stories about Albert Einstein abound in Princeton, New Jersey, where I went to seminary. You don’t have to live in Princeton very long before you discover that one of the gorgeous framed wood houses with black shutters was Einstein’s home. One of my...
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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