Dear Future Self –
I want you to remember this week ten years from now.
This is the week you made a controversial parenting decision. Oh, don’t get me wrong. It isn’t the first you’ve made. It won’t be the last. But this is the one I want you to...
As a person, youth worker, and parent, I value hard questions. Yet, I also admit feeling completely flummoxed when my four-year old asks me hard questions. For that reason, I was excited to read When Kids Ask Hard Questions: Faith-filled Responses...
In the days leading up to the birth of our second daughter, Kendall, our oldest daughter, Hope, would often curl up in my shrinking lap and fearfully ask, “Will you still love me after the baby comes, Mama?”
Of course, I reassured her that I...
What the book's about: They Call Me Mom by Michelle Medlock Adams & Bethany Jett offers 52 encouraging devotions for every moment of motherhood.
Why I read this book: As a mom who's love language is words of affirmation, I'm...
As a working mom who’s got a job, a side hustle, a four-year old, and a five-month old, my life often feels as though it’s a bit out of control. For this reason, I was intrigued by the title of Kristi Clover’s book, M.O.M: Master Organizer of...
I grew up with what can only be described as an eclectic Christmas tree: Gold ornaments from my grandparents hung alongside Hallmark ornaments as well as homemade ornaments. One of my mom’s all-time favorite ornaments is an angel I made when I was...
I love geeking out on research. And when that research is related to youth ministry, it’s even better. For that reason, I was excited to read David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock’s Faith For Exiles: 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in...
Like many youth workers I know, I make it a point of reading anything that Kara Powell writes. She’s brilliant and so is the research that she and Steven Argue do at Fuller Youth Institute. It continues to shape the way I do ministry and for the...
Dear John –
You don’t know me, but your books have sat on my shelf long enough that I like to think of you as a friend so I‘ll call you by your first time.
Your book, 12 Ordinary Men, was hugely influential in my understanding of the apostles and...
I was in my 30s before I began wrestling with the concept of my privilege, thanks largely to a senior pastor who was passionate about fighting systemic racism. My interaction with him sparked my desire to continue learning about and understanding...