"for the life you didn't choose" by Kate Bowler Blessed are you when the shock subsides,when vaguely, you see a line appearthat divides before and after. You didn’t draw it,and you can barely even make it out.But as surely as minutes add up to hours and days,here you are,forced into a story you never would […]

We recently finished up a sermon series for church on the book of Titus. It wasn't the easiest book to preach on, but I am pleased with how it turned out. As I was finishing the last sermon, one refrain that I kept going back to "lead with love" as a way to live out […]

It's been busy. Our church has been busy trying to get back on track while covid and leadership stress/burnout have been throwing a barrage of banana peels and turtle shells at us. And as I've been talking and listening to members in our church and discussing with other staff, I've come to realize that many […]

At this past Sunday's Town Hall Meeting, I briefly presented our renewed Community Group vision that we hope to start in the Fall and made a call for help to make this vision a reality. I want to outline this vision here for those who couldn't make it but also to better explain the rationale […]

If you've been with our church this past year or have attended one of our community groups, you likely would have participated in one of our EmbRACE studies. I've written about these studies before, but the actual studies themselves were only shared within our community group ministry so I wanted to put these studies out […]

This month we commemorated one year of Covid-19 lock downs. We experienced collective pain and grief over the deaths in Atlanta.And endured even more hardships daily in this season of Lent. In a book I started reading this Lenten season, I came across a reference to The End of Suffering by Scott Cairn where he […]

Everyone is afraid of burnout Everyone is afraid of burnout. We talk a lot about spreading ourselves too thin, about over commitment, about work-life balance. Everyone seems to be concerned about self care… but is it really self care? I’m starting believe that what many are now passing off as “self care” when choosing not serving […]

Indeed, the past year has been one of much loss, grief, and pain. Challenges in identity, community, ministry. Please forgive me getting this out after the year has rolled over. These reflections have been a long time coming. Longer than most of my posts here. I'm sure we'll still be processing for many years to […]

In this Advent Season, we are reminded that all of creation longs for things to be made right. Everything is not right and longs to be set right. The Apostle Paul writes to the church in Romans that "creation waits with eager longing... to be set free from its bondage to corruption," and we know […]

We're at this again? It's just after Thanksgiving -- and not a "normal" one at that. I must confess that the thought of having to engage in another race study... now... sounds... well... it doesn't fill me with excitement. My finger to the pulse of our church and immediate community is that we're tired of […]