In a life of leadership, especially ministry leadership, there are four key phrases that I’ve found to be extremely true, and healthy reminders. Start Low…
Continue reading 4 Phrases of Leadership
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Back in the early 90s, my family spent a couple of vacations with some family friends. We were in Central Florida, and to save parking money we’d all ride together to go out to eat or around to the tourist locations. Being the smallest person in the group, I was relegated to the front seat, between my dad and another adult. I did that whole no-foot-room-leg-tangle thing that children are somehow able to manage, and felt like I was getting the best seat in the house.
EVERY. SINGLE. AFTERNOON it rained. Every day of vacation. Gray skies, clouds for days, and none of that Florida sunshine we were expecting.
Continue reading It’s breaking up over there.
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My son became an angry black (little) man.
For days his behavior, his attitude, and his countenance were completely off-course. Sure, he always has his “moments” – what 8 year old boy doesn’t? But this defiance and yes, even aggression, was coming at Ben & I at a pace that wasn’t typical for my Little Man. He was upset and acting on it, and we had no clue why.
Finally, while dealing with consequences and struggling to breathe through the tears, he told us.
Brown and white don’t go together.
6 words. 6 words spoken by an 8 year old, that sent my 8 year old’s world into a tailspin.
Continue reading On Lazy Racism & Remembering MLK
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Proverbs 3:1 – “My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments.” (ESV)
I guess I tend to think about obedience as action, not intuition. But the truth is our thought life, better described as our heart life, is the place where action begins. Continue reading Heart Life Obedience
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“These reminders aren’t in the curriculum, but they’ll help get you through.” I wrote this article as part of a series produced by Vital in recognition of National…
Continue reading The Three Most Important Things We Didn’t Learn in Adoption Classes
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“Adoption is a beautiful, beautiful thing. But since we’re dealing with actual people and people are messy, there are a number of things that can go horribly wrong when you are adopting.” Read more from my recent article on VitalMagazine.com.
Continue reading Ten Things No One Tells You About Adoption
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I’m not really a glass-half-full kind of person.
But I’m also not a glass-half-empty person.
You see, I’m not so much an optimist or a pessimist, I’m typically just a realist and a vision-caster.
I like to say, “Look, there’s the water line. Now, where do we want to go from here? Fill it up? Absolutely! We can make it happen. Let’s make a plan. Drink it down? Awesome, there’s value in there that we can soak in – let’s go for it.” Continue reading A Reality Check re: Women in Senior Leadership
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I originally wrote this in 2008, two years before our children started to arrive en masse. When I came across it, I wanted to share it here because it all still applies. Perhaps even more so now that Ben made some major life sacrifices to do what he felt was his greatest job opportunity ever, being a dad.
“So does Ben want to be a pastor?”
No. The answer is no. No kidding. It really is no. Continue reading The Pastor’s Husband
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Ever had too much water to drink and can’t find a bathroom? Yup, we’re going there. Things can get pretty… uncomfortable. (And this blog post…
Continue reading The Harm of Holding It.
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It was actually my assignment to the PGs to each write a post about Freedom for the month of July. Mine was supposed to post this past Monday.
It didn’t.
I had absolutely no idea what to write while it was an assignment. Generally I work best with deadlines and pressure situations, but man, it just wasn’t happening.
And then came Friday. Ahh, blessed Friday. My Sabbath. Continue reading Freedom is a Messy Table on Friday
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Okay, so Joan was, to most audiences, being a touch dramatic here, don’t you think? I mean, come on… You can just imagine this as…
Continue reading I would rather die…
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Just over a year and a half ago I transitioned from serving as an Executive Pastor at a large church to serving as the Lead Pastor at a small church. There were lots of changes and some learning curves to deal with, but one particular adjustment was something I didn’t anticipate.
I had forgotten what my own voice sounded like.
Continue reading My own voice.
The Samson Strong series has been really powerful and relevant to our church family at Sacred. If you want to listen in, check out the…
Continue reading Samson Strong
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May you no longer see your life through the lens of guilt. May the shame be removed from your thoughts, and from your heart. And may…
Leave a CommentI’ve come to enjoy reading a prayer of blessing over our church family at the end of each service on Sundays. It’s become a part of my teaching preparation, and my hope is that it communicates my heart for this amazing group of people as we journey together each week. [Prayers and blessings are sourced from multiple historic and modern contexts.]
6/28/15
May God make you fully alive:
that your life might shine like the sun. Continue reading Blessing