Receive and embrace God’s grace for you. For your own sake, and for the sake of those around you, hear God’s word of grace declared over you in Christ. Receive the promise of that deep, sustained, sabbath rest that is always available, as the author of...
Congregational and Pastoral Formation Curator Amy Valdez Barker speaks with Chef Hank Reid (Lettum Eat!) about God feeding into his life, how he sees food as ministry, and what it means to use your God-given talents for the sake of the world....
Ministry Collaborative program staff (Adam Borneman, Jennifer Watley Maxell, and Beth Daniel) discuss the difference between waiting and anticipation, how hope is tethered to despair, and how hope leads to belonging. ...
On a recent podcast, my colleague Jennifer Watley Maxell offered that “hope is not scarce, and it is not fragile.” Our conversation took other turns, leaving that important insight behind. I want to return to it now. “Hope is not scarce, and it is not...
Under the Wall Street Journal headline “Have You Checked Your Mailbox Today? Neither Has Anyone Else” comes more data on changing patterns of life that we have, for so long, taken for granted. Today, only three-quarters of Americans check their mail daily. Some go weeks—or months—without...
Ministry Collaborative program staff (Adam Borneman, Adam Mixon, and Amy Valdez Barker) discuss the the in-between-ness of Advent, what we can learn from Watch Night services, and the beauty of waiting for God with God....
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! Isaiah 64:1-2 On...
Ministry Collaborative program staff (Mark Ramsey, Amy Valdez Barker, Ryan Bonfiglio, and Jennifer Watley Maxell) discuss the ample reasons for despair, people's yearning for depth, and the disruptive purpose of Advent....
Blog Series: God is Near. God is Now. Recovering the radical hope of the Advent and Christmas seasons has vast implications for how our congregations or alternative ministry contexts see themselves, the world, God’s presence, and how to move forward in turbulent times. In the weeks leading up...