One of my favorite questions to ask both old friends and new acquaintances alike is “What book or books are you reading right now?” I’ll share the contents of my current pile of books, and I’d love it if you’d share the title of a book or two you’re reading (or have read recently). If…

(This post is part of the Patheos “Why I Am Still An Evangelical” conversation.) My four decades in the Evangelical world has been a pilgrim’s road trip. I came to faith in 1974 in the waning days of the Jesus Movement, and have since swum laps in a variety of different streams within Evangelicalism: fundamentalist,…

We may be in the dog days of summer, but this year’s record rains have made this season more of a wet puppy where I live.  Though it’s late July, the back-to-school commercials are already saturating the airwaves. Our calendars may tell us a new year starts on January 1, but there is a “new year”…

How do you spend your social capital in your church? Have you ever stopped to take stock of your relationships and influence? I’ve found few with positional or social authority in a church ever consider what they possess. Instead, we count what we lack. I’ve known pastors who believe they’re outsiders in their own church. I’ve…

When it comes to event planning, I am a person who loves a themed event. Think a pirate party for a five year-old boy, complete with pirate-themed games, a cake that looks like a ship, and eye patches for all the mateys. My love of themed-events played well when I was planning and producing church services.…

Sue Monk Kidd tackled midlife transition in her 1990 classic When The Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions. I’m blogging my way through the book. (Click here to read previous installments in this series.) Monk Kidd’s gentle observations have been helpful to many facing their own emotional and spiritual changes at this life stage.…