Just as most pastors and church board members were easing into a few Thanksgiving days of leisure and the anticipation of a “more normal Advent,” news of Omicron filled our feeds. The groans and exclamations—"Not again!”—could be heard everywhere. Certainly, it was the most common...
In this season of gratitude, the Ministry Collaborative program staff (Adam Borneman, Jennifer Maxell, Mark Ramsey, Adam Mixon, and Ryan Bonfiglio) discuss the importance of lament, the difference between gratitude and gratification, and the greed that undermines our ability to be grateful....
“Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.” Yeah, right. There’s been no shortage of ink spilled, thoughts spent, and lectures given over the course of the pandemic on how we can all be more “resilient.” That’s all fine and good. I’ve needed those reminders...
In part two of this conversation, Program Director Adam Borneman speaks with the Revs. Amy Starr Redwine (First Presbyterian, Richmond, VA), Susan Rogers (The Well at Springfield, Jacksonville, FL), and Kjell Ferris (Peace Lutheran, Plymouth, MN) about their recent sprint cohort experience; truth telling and...
The word ‘contentment’ carries for many of us a negative connotation of complacency and ease that is the enemy of progress and productivity, so we’ve been disciplined to resist it. We are driven, motivated, accomplished, and busy. There is always something more to do, another...
In part one of this conversation, Program Director Adam Borneman speaks with the Revs. Amy Starr Redwine (First Presbyterian, Richmond, VA), Susan Rogers (The Well at Springfield, Jacksonville, FL), and Kjell Ferris (Peace Lutheran, Plymouth, MN) about their recent sprint cohort experience, truth telling, whiteness,...
Last week, I had the chance to spend some time with a large group of ELCA pastors from the Midwest. Despite being from the heart of Lutheran country they, like the rest of us, are facing the full litany of declining things: members, attendance, budgets,...
Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! - Isaiah 58:1 About the last thing most pastors feel like right now – along with their church boards – is a trumpet. Worn down by months of uncertainty, discord over masks and more,...
Executive Director Mark Ramsey speaks with Dr. Donyelle McCray (Yale Divinity School) and the Rev. Dr. Tom Long (Candler School of Theology) about their new book of Advent Devotions, the "disappointing Jesus", and what's required of us....