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What Are You Selling?
Before I got into ministry, I spent many years as a salesperson. I learned so much about life while I was in sales and I find myself constantly finding similarities between sales and ministry. I thought for fun I would share some of those with you today: #1) You win some – you lose some! You are going to have days where you nothing goes right, people mistreat you, your lesson falls short, you make a change and you feel as if your volunteer staff, the kids and the parents are all going to hang you from a tree. Those days happen and if we let the evil one get in our heads,…
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Pampered, Religiously Indifferent and Other Lies about Young Adults
Often when the subject of young adults as a demographic arises, we hear negative descriptors like “snowflakes” and “pampered” and “religiously indifferent.” But are these actually true of most young people in the US today? Researchers Tim Clydesdale and Kathleen Garces-Foley in their new book The Twentysomething Soul: Understanding the Religious and Secular Lives of American Young Adults (Oxford University Press) say no. And they provide hard data to back up their assertion. The authors, a professor of sociology and a professor of religious studies, interviewed more than 200 young adults, which they added to findings from an existing national survey of 1,880 twentysomethings. Their process and conclusions, including summary graphs in…
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Get Organized—For Good
Lots of folks are talking about tidying up these days. And January seems to be the month when doing so is especially on our minds. While we’re at it, why not dispose of items in a way that benefits some ministries or minimizes the effect of used goods on landfills? Here are a few options to get us started: · Used Bibles and Christian literature. "Love Packages" recycles Bibles, Sunday school materials, VBS literature, and tracts. Ship yours to Love Packages, 220 Union Street, Butler, IL 62015. · Technology. Take used books and DVDs to your church library or resale shop. Some electronics stores pay for phones—giving more cash for items with…
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Introverts: The Forgotten Fifty
Shy, timid, aloof, anti-social, not a team player, nor a good leader—what type of person does this describe? An introvert, right? No, not necessarily. Your boss and the most successful leaders in your organization might be introverts. Your favorite music artist who performs on stage in front of thousands might be an introvert. Many famous actors, athletes, authors, CEO’s, movie directors, teachers, presidents, vice-presidents, and human rights activists are known introverts. Despite a wealth of research on introverts versus extroverts, misconceptions regarding introverts still abound, and these misunderstandings might be damaging your church, organization, or company from furthering its mission and vision. The following is an excerpt from my book,…
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An Interview with Theologian Nika Spaulding: Instinctive Theology
Today I’m happy to have as my guest Allie Mock, who talked with theologian Nika Spaulding about the need to have our theology deeply ingrained in us: Without even thinking about it, Nika Saulding instinctively jumped up and chased the man down the street, vaulting over chairs and pushing aside tables. She could see her laptop tucked under the thief’s arm. Her legs burned as she put on a burst of speed. Ahead of her, the thief veered off the sidewalk and straight into a getaway car. Nika watched, helpless, as the car skidded away, her computer safe inside. Replacing her laptop, though annoying and expensive, wasn’t Nika’s first concern.…
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Accept the Pastoral Position God Has for You
The past few weeks have brought much discussion about the role of women in the church, seminaries, in ministry. To be honest, I found myself several times yelling at my computer screen for reasons I can only describe as temporary insanity. I huffed, not because of the discussions, but because of how nasty the people of God behaved. A bit ironic, isn’t it? Mostly I found it disheartening to read the attacks on those who shared their beliefs. If I could, I’d sit and have coffee (or tea) with all of them. I would pray with them and give thanks to God for the gift we have in thinking beyond…
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Singleness, Sex, and Cold Showers
“Boys will be boys.” “It’s not healthy to suppress those sexual urges.” “You can’t expect a person to go without it for too long.” “If she (or he) doesn’t ‘put out,’ I’ll just look elsewhere.” We’ve all heard, or been told, one of these lines. Sexual purity and fidelity seem to be values of the past. Just read the most recent headlines associated with the #MeToo (#YoTambien) movement, and you will quickly learn of yet another actor, CEO, judge, pastor, president, reporter, or news broadcaster who has fallen from grace because of his or her history of promiscuity and/or sexual harassment. Where are our role models? How can we…
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Mary Magdalene = #NotAProstitute
What do you get when you mix myth, legend, incorrect interpretation, and a dose of Hollywood all together? The misrepresented life story of Mary Magdalene—shaken, not stirred. For centuries Mary Magdalene’s reputation as a reformed prostitute has lived on, despite her official Roman Catholic exoneration from bad-girl status in the 1960s. Just do a simple online search for Mary Magdalene and you’ll quickly feel overwhelmed by the plethora of books and movies that portray her not only as the penitent prostitute, but also as Jesus’s secret lover, an apostle greater than John or Peter, and the poster child of gnostic literature. Yet of the thirteen times the New Testament mentions…
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Cutting Teeth
There’s a reason why “cutting teeth” became a popular phrase to describe a newcomer struggling to learn a task. Cutting teeth is hard—as any momma and her child can attest. Swollen gums. Sleepless nights. Endless fussing with no relief. Weeks of waiting for a single tooth to painfully push itself through. Our first foray into leadership often feels like those early infant days of cutting teeth. We work countless hours, often on little sleep. We muddle through conflict, navigate bureaucracy, and endure opposition. We question our purpose. We struggle and strive and stress for what feels like years with seemingly little to show for it. Where’s that beautiful pearly white…
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Seriously? Teach Toddlers about God?
I f you were given your choice of classes to teach which age group would you choose? Our last Sunday before leaving for our mission work in Japan we asked for the two year old class. If you’re a missionary going for the purpose of raising money this might not be the best class to choose. If you’re going to make an impression though, this class may just be the most impressionable. We had a wonderful time telling them how God had asked our family to go to a country far away in Japan to teach the people about Jesus. We explained that we would be in the air traveling to…
