Ryan Burge, amplifying the results of the longstanding Pew Religious Landscape Survey, wants us to pay closer attention to the data on belief in the United States—and especially the data on what underlies belief. How often are people thinking about the meaning and purpose of...
TMC Program Staff Mark Ramsey and Beth Daniel (with a cameo from our producer, Marthame Sanders) discuss Walter Brueggemann's three-fold assessment of the prophetic tasks of the church: to tell the truth in a society that lives in illusion, grieve in a society that practices...
According to a recent story, Pope Leo XIV ran into a wall of sorts when he tried to change his contact information with his bank in Chicago. About two months after the Chicago-born cardinal became Pope Leo XIV and moved to Vatican City, he put in...
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32) The two downcast followers of Jesus said this to one another, after Jesus had drawn near to them on the...
TMC Executive Director Mark Ramsey speak with Robb Webb (Duke Endowment) about their rural church work in North and South Carolina, the importance of prioritizing theological formation ahead of denominational metrics, and why creativity is so critical for ministry today. Episode Transcript....
Ministry leaders of all contexts, traditions, and roles know on some level the experience of trying to produce “fruit” and only finding frustration. I don’t deal well with frustration - just ask my sister about our marathon Monopoly sessions growing up. Frustration, of course, is an...
What happens when an institution vacates a function or a role? Where does that function go? Sometimes it disappears altogether. Sometimes, other institutions pick it up—or a version of it—and carry it forward within their own scope and aims. We received an interesting email this past...
TMC Program Staff Mark Ramsey, Jennifer Watley Maxell, and Amy Valdez Barker speak with the Rev. Dr. Joe Scrivner (Stillman College, Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church) about what Nehemiah and Paul have to say about persistence in the face of challenge; the importance of community in helping...
In a season when ministry can feel like it demands constant creativity, urgency, and reinvention, these recent reflections offer something steadier, and ultimately more sustaining. Together, they point us back to the core of our calling: to trust what is already true, to recognize God at...