“What is your calling?” If we were visiting over tea, what would your gut response be? Would you think for a while before answering, or would the words drip freely from your mouth? Embedded within humanity is this deep-felt desire to not only know that our lives have meaning but also experience the peace of mind that we are indeed living ...

Exhausted from a long, demanding day, Joseph feels his body begin to release stress and his mind struggle to let go of its seemingly endless list of responsibilities. It’s almost Sunday, he tells himself. Maybe I’ll finally get a chance to rest. The sad irony is that this is a relatable situation for many pastors, ministry leaders, and members of congregations who ...

“There weren’t a lot of books on leadership in those days. So I studied leadership by reading biographies of leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr.” When my mentor shared how he had studied leadership as a young man, it initially took me by surprise. Especially when I mentally surveyed my growing library of leadership books — none ...

You see that three year old who can’t sit still during the sermon? The one whose daddy had to take him out of the worship gathering three times last week because he was being disruptive? Yeah…that one. Well, in 15 years he will be 18, graduating from high school and youth group. What if I told you that 18 year ...

Week after week, year after year, students of all ages – infant to elderly – take their seat to engage in some form of Christian education. And at the end of each Sabbath school class or Bible study, we stand up, walk out, and more often than not, quickly forget most of what we were supposed to have learned during ...

Once a year, the kids in my congregation’s Sabbath School classes are called to the front of the sanctuary. With smiles on their faces, they are given certificates and, in many cases, “promoted” to their new classes. On one particular Sabbath several years ago, I watched this ceremony with fear and trembling as it ushered in a new season of ...

Dishes pile up, noisy disagreements echo off of toddler-decorated walls, my newsfeed baits and agitates and broadcasts destruction and heartache. I pick yet another wayward lego off the floor as my teeth clench to narrowly avoid lashing out in frustration. Today, it is so easy to forget that tonight, we remember. We remember that… The Lord Jesus, on the night ...

Being a parent is intimidating. It isn’t just the funhouse of potty-training, bedtime (why won’t they sleep?!), sibling squabbles, schoolwork, table manners, and housework that threaten my sanity…it’s the knowledge that I have to navigate this maze of mirrors while actually teaching them things. Important things. I have to teach them, these four daughters of mine, not just to master basic life ...

Christianity is changing. Not in the core essentials that were affirmed by the apostles. But rather, the way we talk about, communicate, and even view our faith has changed radically in the past few decades. Anyone who spends much time reading serious analysis of 21st century Christianity, culture, and ministry will frequently come across the term “postmodernity”. Indeed, much of ...

“It seems like we are speaking two different languages.” If you have ever thought this, you aren’t alone. As religion columnist Phyllis Tickle observed, approximately every 500 years, Western culture—and the Church in particular—undergoes such a significant change in paradigms that words often develop two sets of meanings. True to the pattern, we are currently in an era of significant ...