If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. – 1 Corinthians 12:26

I’ve been thinking about these words of Paul a lot lately, as COVID continues to spread throughout our country...

I’m a fan of Kristen Welch – both her writing and her ministry. My husband gifted me with a subscription to Fair Trade Friday Earrings several years ago and I LOVE it. It’s one of my most favorite gifts EVER. Because of my familiarity with Kristen...

Many congregations, including mine, bless teachers at the start of the school year. This year, we did so during live Zoom worship. Since it worked well and we heard many good things about it, I'm posting it below in case you're looking for...

As a children and youth minister, I’m often sought as the “expert” on parenting. I lead the classes, refer parents to other professionals in times of crisis, and share parenting stories in my sermons. As much as I try to share parenting failures,...

In this strangest of back to school seasons, my congregation wanted to offer a blessing for college students - regardless of whether they're going or staying, in-person or virtual. 

Because we are not gathering in person, we offered this as...

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 ...

My congregation held virtual VBS a couple of weeks ago. As I’ve continued to reflect on the experience, I keep returning to these six things I learned from virtual VBS:

1. The problem isn’t Zoom. Four months into this pandemic, you’ve no doubt...

In late April and early May, my VBS leaders and I began wrestling with what to do with VBS this year. We felt skeptical that things would be open enough for us to offer in-person VBS. We felt even more skeptical that people would come if we did...

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...

As states reopen, the conversations are raging in youth ministry circles about when and how to “reopen” our youth ministries.

My youth ministry will not be regathering this summer.

I'm using that word, regather, intentionally because even though...

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,...

This week has broken me.

George Floyd.

The protests.

The looting.

The pandemic.

It’s left me feeling exhausted.

And I’m someone who knows what exhaustion feels like.

I’ve felt the complete and utter exhaustion that defines a first trimester...

As a parent, I, like so many, want to shelter my girls from the horrors of the world. At 10-months old and 5-years-old, they are, after all, still so young.

Yet, the reality is that Hope (the 5-year-old) hears EVERYTHING… And she asks questions...

Although I grew up in the church and was taught that Jesus sacrificed himself for my sins on the cross, I didn't really learn about self-sacrifice until twenty years ago when I was a summer staffer for YouthWorks Missions.

That summer, I was told...

As we stood at my mother-in-law’s casket, my nearly two-year-old nephew chased my four-year-old daughter around the empty funeral home room – something they could do since, thanks to the COVID-19 restrictions, the room was empty except for us.

...

At the start of the New Year, we signed our then 4-year old daughter, Hope, up for a dance class at the local park district.

Hope LOVES to dance. We’ve known that for a while and figured this would be a fun way for her to learn some skills and...

The weekend after I miscarried, my mother and father-in-law, Nancy & Keith, showed up at our house.

Truth be told, I didn’t want them there.

I didn’t want anyone there.

I was knee-deep in some of the most profound sadness I’d ever...

In every church I’ve ever been on staff at, we've inevitably wrestled with the question, “Who belongs?”

Oh, we never say it like that.

Instead, we raise questions like, “Who is active here? Who worships here? Or who gives an offering here?”

We...