Last night, I mentioned to my husband in passing, "Tomorrow's the first day in weeks I feel like I have some breathing room in my schedule."
For me, January is always a sprint - one of the busiest months of my ministry year. To make matters...
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Early on in my career in youth ministry, the time came for us to go on our summer mission trip. When it did, I freaked out because I realized I had no mission trip t-shirts.
As with retreat booklets, I thought that for something to count as a...
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What the book's about: Lauren Winner's Real Sex is a book that talks openly and honestly about sex, confronting the lies both our culture and the church tell about it. It also explores the discipline of chastity.
Why I read this book:...
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The first retreat I ever led was about authentic relationships. I spent HOURS prepping every aspect of this retreat – including hours on a retreat booklet for participants. The retreat booklet contained cartoons, quotes, the Bible passages we were...
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What the book's about: As it's subtitle suggests, Damaged Goods is about new perspectives on Christian purity. Using her own story as well as stories from interviews she conducted, Dianna explores some of the damage Christian purity...
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This weekend is my youth ministry's annual winter retreat. During it, my high school students and I are exploring the book of Revelation.
After learning what our topic is, I've lost track of how many times someone has asked me, rather...
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Sarah Bessey is a writer's writer. Her words are beautiful; Her language, poetry. She's someone I read when I need inspiration.
Needless to say, my expectations about her second book, Out of Sorts, were incredibly high, so much so that I...
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Churches today are struggling financially.
Oh, I know that's not true of ALL of them.
But I know it's true of a lot of them.
As a result, it's entirely possible for you to do the hard work of crafting a budget proposal only to be told, “We'd love...
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I first heard Brenda Salter McNeil speak when I was the Youth Pastor at a multi-ethnic congregation in the suburbs. Knee-deep in the (often) painful reality of cross-cultural ministry, I found her words both challenging and inspiring.
Now, in a...
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I'm thrilled to be guest posting today in Abby Norman's series, Sane for the Holidays.
November has traditionally been a dangerous month for me.
It’s when people start blogging about their ideas for advent. In a single day, you can see...
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