For this Holy Week, we have no questions for you or your church board. No agenda. No “let us go and do.” Instead, just a joyful reminder of the source – and the enduring hope – of the work we all share, from Frederick Buechner’s...
Program Director Adam Borneman speaks with the Rev. Melanie Marsh Baum (Covenant Presbyterian, Jacksonville, FL) about her background in the arts, the abundant resources of faith's raw materials, and the life-giving power of diversity....
As a third-generation preacher I have been in the church my whole life, however, there were times where my church involvement and attendance was episodic at best. Yes, I was one of “those people” who didn’t attend church regularly despite my deep relationship with Jesus...
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....
When I think of the “where” of the formation that has taken place in my life, there are certainly some places and spaces where I can "drop a pin" and say, I was changed here. In reality, I was not changed in that place. The formation...
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...
The end of Luke’s Gospel can teach us a lot about where spiritual formation happens. It’s Easter afternoon. Two individuals, likely a man and a woman, are traveling the road to Emmaus after having been in Jerusalem for Passover. The recently resurrected Jesus appears to them....