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...