After 15 years in our congregation, my senior pastor is leaving to take a new call.

As far as transitions go, this is a healthy one. No underlying conflict is forcing anyone to go. And yet, transitions are always hard. I’m grieving and so are many...

What I'm Reading:

Fiction:

Best chick lit: Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I devoured this book in just a couple days. It's fast, entertaining, and would make a great beach read. 

Book I'm still thinking about: ...

After President Trump signed the travel ban impacting refugees, I met with my student leaders. Together, we decided to postpone our previously scheduled discussion in order to insert a week into our teaching calendar about refugees. As Christians,...

As a parent, I've been astounded by how much I'm already learning from my 20-month old daughter. For that reason, when I saw Amy Julia Becker's book, Small Talk: Learning from my children about what matters most, I was intrigued.

Small Talk is...

We were out with friends on Saturday and as it often does in a group of readers, the conversation turned to books. One of my friends admitted how important fiction has become to her in the last few weeks as a means of escape from what feels like...

As the Church Council President adjourned our congregation’s annual meeting, the high school teens swarmed me.

“How can it just end like that?”

“We still have questions about the budget!”

They quickly rattled them off, rapid firing one after...

I'm a big believer in the power of experiential learning. To this end, instead of giving a talk about prayer, I'd much rather create a series of prayer stations designed to give students the opportunity to pray in a variety of ways.

Over the next...

Days before Christmas, mere miles from my home in the western suburbs of Chicago, my youth ministry and I delivered a Welcome Pack containing the basic supplies needed to begin life in America to a refugee family from Sudan.

They'd fled Sudan...

Less than 24-hours into our Peacemaking Trip, a student told me, “We've met ONE immigrant and I'm already changing my mind about this issue!”

Before our trip began, this student was in favor of Trump's campaign promise to build a bigger wall....

“Lots of balloons popping will give me a panic attack,” cried my student as she walked into our prayer station room in tears.

Moments before, I’d given students directions about how to complete our prayer stations, urging them to take them...

I'm a big believer in the power of experiential learning. To this end, instead of giving a talk about prayer, I'd much rather create a series of prayer stations designed to give students the opportunity to pray in a variety of ways.

Over the next...

Whenever I ask teens what they want to talk about in my youth ministry, they respond with enthusiasm, “SEX!”

As a youth pastor, I've lost track of how many times I've taught on sex or done a Valentine's Day sex series in my high school youth...

I took most of the week off between Christmas and New Years, as did most of my colleagues. During that time, my family vacationed in San Antonio. We explored, rested, and had fun. We shut our laptops and distanced ourselves from our jobs.

When I...

I'm a big believer in the power of experiential learning. To this end, instead of giving a talk about prayer, I'd much rather create a series of prayer stations designed to give students the opportunity to pray in a variety of ways.

Over the next...

Our youth ministry had its annual Christmas party last week.

That, by itself, isn’t all that remarkable.

What’s remarkable is the fact that I wasn’t there. Nor were any of our ministry’s other adult leaders. We were at adult leader’s training....

What the book's about: Assimilate or Go Home is a memoir about Mayfield's experience with refugees. It's a story about how her faith grew and changed when she befriended people whose faith looked nothing like hers. 

Why I read this book: I...

“You’re in ministry. How do you avoid the insanity of this Christmas season?” my friend recently asked. “I’ve got three kids and between all the church and school programs, we’re always busy!”

There was a time when I added to the Christmas chaos,...

Today, I'm linking up with Kate Motaung's Five Minute Friday. The rules: Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

This week's prompt: Joy.

I know joy is a fruit of the spirit, but it's one I struggle with. Joy...

What I'm Reading:

Fiction:

I read 4 fiction books in November.

Best mystery: The Perfect Girl by Gilly Macmillan. 

Most thought-provoking: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. This is a fiction book about racism. It is beyond...

Before my seniors leave for college, we spend a good deal of time talking about various campus ministries. Our hope is to encourage students to get involved in them (or in a church on their college campus).

As part of this ongoing conversation, I...