“But they're just so happy.”
I’ve lost track of how often I’ve heard someone—either a teenager or an adult—use this phrase to describe someone they served during a summer mission trip.
It doesn’t matter whether you go to a Native American...
I preached on March 5, when the lectionary text of the day was John 3:1-17. This passage includes the beloved (or despised, depending on who you are) John 3:16.
As part of my sermon, I talked about how while I was in college, my friends from the...
It’s Ash Wednesday. I was supposed to be serving at church today, imposing ashes on people for an hour this afternoon.
Strangely, I was looking forward to it. While Ash Wednesday is morbid, there’s also a sacredness to it that I appreciate.
...
Is it easier to bring Jesus to the progressives or social justice to the evangelicals?
This is the question I’ve spent most of my professional life wondering, as I’ve alternated between evangelical and progressive settings, respecting both for...
I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Kelley Nikondeha speak a couple of times, first at the women’s’ retreat she mentions often in Defiant, and more recently at Evolving Faith. Having heard Kelley in person and experienced first-hand her heart for the...
The first author book signing I ever went to was for Ann M. Martin – author of The Babysitters Club. To say I was in love with this series as a kid is an understatement. It fostered my love of reading AND contributed to my desire to become an ...
I was supposed to be on a mission trip last week.
With the exception of the two summers I was on maternity leave, this is the first time since 2003 that I haven’t spent my summers leading mission trips.
Mission trips are – for so many junior...
Over the last few weeks, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about Martin Luther King Jr.
As a kid, MLK was the ONE black man I learned about in a positive way. He was the pastor who gave the “I have a dream” speech and who advanced the notion of...
Perhaps in the last few weeks, you’ve seen a meme like this one:
I certainly have.
Between the pandemic, the murder hornets, the killing of another black man, the protests, and the riots, I've heard more people than ever before say something...
Hope is very into party planning right now.
Yesterday, she planned a carnival for our family to participate in, complete with individual tickets for each activity – tickets she spent two hours making.
One of the carnival activities was CHALK,...