Faith Wrestling
I get to hang around a lot of different students from a variety of places because of the nature of what I “do.” They come from varying ethnicities, socio-economic backgrounds, and from parents who go to church and others who don’t.…
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When Life Hurts, the Kingdom of God Helps
We live in the Kingdom of God, even when pain overwhelms us. Christine’s mom had been sick for a long time, so hospice sent her home to be comfortable and surrounded by family. We’d had numerous conversations with Christine and her siblings.…
How Your Emotional Health May Be Killing Your Ministry…
Nine years ago, I was on the path to success in ministry, but I was in danger of losing my fiancé. I was gaining the knowledge needed to pastor through seminary, but I was ill equipped in the art of relationships and did not have the emotional health to fix it.…
(PODCAST) JESUS IN THE REAL WORLD: Over-Functioning
Join Rick for the first episode in a new ongoing series—“JESUS IN THE REAL WORLD.” We’ll be pursuing the heart of Jesus through the lens of what’s going on in the world right now… Our focus will be, as always, stay squarely on the heart of Jesus—not politics or ideologies.…
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(PODCAST) THE HARVEST: Abide
Join Rick for the eighth and final episode in the series—“THE HARVEST.” In his commentary on the Gospel of John, the great contemporary theologian N.T. Wright says: “The urgent question, then, is this: How do we ‘remain’ in him?” The leaders of the Taize movement, commenting on the message of John 15, wrote: “The essential thing for believers, then, is not to be concerned about ‘results’ or to dream up ambitious projects but simply to remain linked to Christ, to ‘remain in his love’” And Vaughan Roberts, rector of St Ebbe’s Church in Oxford, says: “Jesus is not a decorative shrub, useful for giving an aesthetic religious touch to life.…
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How Many Do-Overs Do We Get?
I could hear my heart beating in my ears. The oxygen in my lungs felt like concrete, dragging me down. I could barely breathe. Everything was riding on this, and I had only one shot. But I missed. Again. In the sun and sweat of the playground, it felt like the 40th time I’d whiffed at kickball (reality check—maybe it was really only the second or third time).…
(PODCAST) THE HARVEST: Differentiation
Join Rick for the seventh episode in the series—“THE HARVEST.” We are all intimately attached to sources of life—a flower planted in soil, for instance, has more life flowing into it than cut flowers in a vase of water. Our attachments make all the difference… So let’s explore what wholeness looks like in Jesus, and in us—through the lens of how we attach (and detach) from our sources of life.…
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How do I know if I’m called to youth ministry?
Help Wanted! Or, how do I know if I’m called to youth ministry? Calling is a strange concept, and men and women far wiser than I have tried to tackle to subject. And the methods we see in scripture used to call men and women to Kingdom action often make our efforts to figure it out even tougher!…
Parent’s Perspective: A Mom’s Love/Hate With Fall
Ahhh summer. In ministry summer involves camps, trips, and exhaustion. In the world of my children it’s filled with more flexibility, days at the beach…and of course camps. School starts for us in a week or so. While I am looking forward to a “schedule” again, this time of year makes me feel more inadequate than every other time of the year combined.…
(PODCAST) THE HARVEST: Redeeming Our Story
Join Rick for the sixth episode in a new series—“THE HARVEST.” We know that Jesus is a storyteller who’s trying to tell a story of beauty in our soul—the story He’s telling in your life is a Romance. In the last episode we explored what the “Farmer” is doing about the “weeds” growing up in our field of “wheat”—our soul.…
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