Kenda Kreasy Dean’s book Almost Christian has been the hot book for many youth ministry people this year. I’m finally reading it. First, I can’t say this enough, I think everyone in ministry should be reading it. Not just the youth people. If you know me well, you know that I am not so enamored [...]
My friend Martha has a great post on Santa and her kids. I’m about 100% there with her. Neither Erik nor I remember discovering that Santa wasn’t real. It never seemed like a deliberate choice by my parents, and I felt like there was always a little bit of a wink and a nod about [...]
Inspired by Mary Allison. Sharing the stage with Santa, simple awe…
Zora’s response to my contention that she is turning into a picky eater. “I’ll eat cereal and french fries and mac n cheese and honey and fruit snacks and apples with peanut butter with the skins off and not poached eggs and peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches without jelly, and that’s about it. I’ll eat [...]
We made a big decision this fall, and now that it’s public to my congregation, I’ll post it here. Short version: I’m leaving my current call in about nine months. We’ll be relocating so that we are much closer to Erik’s job in city sometime over the summer. Erik and I decided that there had [...]
Please feel free to use this, other youth people. (I’d appreciate if you let me know in the comments…that you did use it, and, even better, if it worked.) I know the next few weeks can get a little out of hand!!! We are planning to use this with our youth group in small groups [...]
Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122 Fox Valley Presbyterian Church If you were here last week, you know that Pastor Carl recommended the practice of making it through a whole church year. It’s New Year’s Day for the church calendar today. You could start afresh and make it through the whole year. This is your chance! Maybe, [...]
In seminary, I remember a guest speaker saying that every preacher had a certain aspect of the Gospel to which they were predisposed, and each preacher’s preaching will tend toward similar themes throughout their preaching career. This, he said, was perfectly fine: think of a sheet, he said. and it will stay up as long [...]