A few weeks ago, I had an epiphany. It sprang from an odd source: Episode 178 of a podcast called The Bible for Normal People, “Pete Ruins Isaiah.” Pete Enns is an Old Testament scholar determined to bridge the great…
Three words of hope for the church in transition
The words came out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying: “This is the only conversation that matters right now in the church.” I was teaching my adult Bible class Sunday morning, continuing a slow verse-by-verse exposition…
Music and change, blowin’ in the wind
Although travel is still restricted and we look at the outside world from our windows, my husband and I recently ventured out to the Northern California coast. Settling into our quiet upstairs room, with a balcony overlooking the magnificent Pacific…
Row with the dual oars of God’s word and the wind of the Spirit, pastors proclaim as CBF assembly opens
The Spirit of God is blowing, and Christians can either follow that wind or be left in the past, a team of preachers said in a fast-paced dual-language sermon that opened the 2021 virtual General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist…
The peril of getting too comfortable in church
More than 65 years of “church going” has made me appreciate a comfortable “church.” My bum is not what it used to be, so a little padding helps — actually a lot. A good sound system that can fill in…
Moving churches from risk management to risk-taking
On this one-year anniversary of the start of the COVID pandemic, it seems appropriate to take stock and assess the American church. For many of us, the year has been the challenge of a lifetime in ministry leadership. The obstacles…
Church leadership series offers help finding resilience required to navigate change
Church leaders in denial that change is inevitable got a wakeup call during the coronavirus outbreak. “The pandemic has made it so that now everybody is paying attention” to change, said Tod Bolsinger, executive director of the Fuller Depree Center’s…
Six lessons living with chronic illness has taught me about surviving a pandemic
For the last seven years, I’ve battled chronic pain and illness. A traumatic back injury in 2013 was only the beginning of what these years have held for me. Intense treatments and therapies with very slow results kept me hopeful…
What will we see less of and more of in America’s churches in the 2020s?
Even with all the uncertainties around and within us, there appear to be some broad truths and trends emerging that are going to define our work in the Church for the foreseeable future.