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I love to travel. I took a plane for the first time when I was a teenager and recognized the privilege of experiencing and exploring new places. As the daughter of a coalmining father and a stay-at-home mother, the luxury of travel was not lost…

A conversation last week with a group of pastors sounded a familiar theme.  Although these pastors belong to different denominations, their refrain was the same when it comes to annual reports.  “Why aren’t we ever asked to report on something that actually matters to a community…

I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.   John 15:5 In a Denver-area congregation I served some years ago, there was a family who had…

One hundred years ago this week, the poem that Robert Frost called “my best bid for remembrance” was published in The New Republic.  Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is one of the best known and loved poems in American literature. Here it…

One of my favorite moments in TMC’s immersion experience to Glacier National Park is the evening we spend stargazing at Logan Pass. Surrounded by mountains and miles removed from any ambient light, you are blanketed with darkness. Upon the pitch-black canvas of the night sky,…

As we continue to respond to the needs we’re encountering nationwide, we’ve once again curated some of our articles, podcasts, and other resources, organizing them under key areas of need and opportunity. Please use these resources in whatever way is most helpful to you in…

For a few months last year, the church I pastor practiced pausing at “thresholds” throughout the week. Each time we came to a doorway, we were asked to pause, to become aware of our leaving one place and going to another and to prepare for…

“OK, I get it.  Out with our three-minute devotion,” wrote one colleague last week in response to our previous two posts.  “But what now?  If I go to our board with a poem or a longer Bible study, that’s a sudden change.  I don’t think…

Over the next several weeks, my colleagues and I will be reflecting on the “I Am” statements in the Gospel of John.  The practice of reflecting upon, and recalling who God is, should be a source of comfort for us – especially in times of trouble,…

Last week, we shared responses from colleagues around the country to the question: What makes it hardest to go deeper (spiritually) with your church board?  Now, we turn to responses to the second question we asked:  What are you doing, right now, to become a…

Over the next several weeks, my colleagues and I will be reflecting on the “I Am” statements in the Gospel of John.  The practice of reflecting upon, and recalling who God is, should be a source of comfort for us – especially in times of…

Responses to our last two posts about the turnaround at Barnes & Noble and its parallels to church life led us into some extended conversations with colleagues who, perhaps like you, face the challenge of crafting an effective board agenda each month. We followed up…

Writing in The New York Times last month, Margaret Renkl brought back to me a key moment in this past season of “The White Lotus:” Not quite halfway through the new season of HBO’s “The White Lotus,” a young woman, Portia, breaks into tears at…

Our post last week on the turnaround of bookseller Barnes & Noble (big takeaway: they got a leader who loved books!) generated a lot of thoughtful response from those who read the piece. One colleague wrote to us: My friend has worked for them for…

Years ago, when I was invited to participate in a cohort for the Ministry Collaborative (then called Macedonian Ministry), I had no idea of the impact it would have on my life.  I admit that I was more than a bit skeptical about the outcomes…

What do you love that keeps you in church leadership?  In the last chapter of 1 Corinthians, after Paul has thrown every theological argument he can muster at the church at Corinth to encourage them to love one another, and three chapters after his iconic…