The Ministry Collaborative Podcast: Highlights from Our First Year
We once met a woman, well into her 80’s and confined to a wheelchair, in a nursing home. On the wall opposite her was a print of Andrew’s Wyeth’s painting, “Christina’s World.” Asked how she was doing, the woman pointed at the frame and said...
The Ministry Collaborative program staff (Ryan Bonfiglio, Jennifer Watley Maxell, Mark Ramsey, Adam Borneman, and Adam Mixon) talk about developing the muscles for depth, the danger of familiarity, and why formation needs community....
Change is a word often surrounded by flashing caution signs for church boards. Mention “change” and you just know someone will be upset. (Curiously, we often overlook the upset caused by our failure to consider change.) Change in the congregational context can be like atomic power....
Executive Director Mark Ramsey speaks with the Rev. Dr. William Watley (Saint Philip AME Church) and our own the Rev. Jennifer Watley Maxell (The Breakthrough Fellowship) about how the true sense of calling can fall prey to distractions, how vocation requires discovering what energizes, and...
Chances are, if you find yourself scrolling through cable channels late at night, you will come across a 1950s sitcom filmed in grainy black and white and called The Honeymooners. It starred Jackie Gleason, one of the biggest stars of stage and screen in those...
Well-written obituaries offer a treasury of cultural observation and life wisdom. Take the New York Times obituary of Joni James, a best-selling singer in the 1950’s who died last month at the age of 91. James recorded over 700 songs in her career, sold more...
Executive Director Mark Ramsey and Content Curator Adam Mixon speak with the Rev. Marthame Sanders (AIJCast, Mudeif Productions) about improv, adversity, and the fraudulent line between sacred and secular....
Many years ago, we moved to a new community. As the moving van was unloading the last of its boxes, a neighbor came over to introduce herself. Looking at the out-of-state license plates on our cars, she asked what brought us to town. I explained...
At first glance, the title of the Harvard Business Review article “Managers Can’t Do It All” elicited the response, “Well, Who on Earth Can?” The article summarizes so many shared feelings of this moment: everything out of control, one-time work satisfactions seeping away, the erosion of...
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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