Can we imagine a church where play and imagination are seen as serious spiritual disciplines? I did training last year in Godly Play. If you’re not familiar, Godly Play is an interactive storytelling method that focused on children’s innate relationship with God. That makes it sound boring… Godly Play tells biblical stories using playful objects [...]
Advent is weird in higher education. Good weird but still weird. Advent officially begins when we are in the last swings of class and start prepping for finals but officially ends after we have left for the semester. So the question is, when does Advent/Christmas begin for college and all higher ed students? At my [...]
This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. Again. Isn’t it strange that every year we take the beautiful story that many of us have been told all our lives and that we consider very familiar and try to make it strange and new? I can’t be the only person who thinks this is weird. [...]
I live in New Jersey, and I have never felt more like I live in New Jersey than this week. I nestled into my apartment last Sunday afternoon expecting things to be normal by Tuesday afternoon. I have been through tornados, snow storms, and ice storms. It’s a matter of preparing and waiting it out [...]
5. Social media is not for everyone or for everything. Individuals and communities need to know what they’re going for and what medium or social media platform will be best for that. If you are looking to streamline communication between staff people, Twitter is not the place to do that. Google Docs might be a [...]
4. You can’t control everything, but you can be part of the conversation. At the social media discussion at PC(USA)’s General Assembly one lady was concerned that someone outside of the church was posting about a random mission trip not associated with the church or their denomination. Recently a youth group leader told me with [...]
The third theme from the social media event at General Assembly was: 3. Your church’s website needs to be useable Here’s something to consider if you think your church doesn’t need a website: I’m not going to attend a church without a website. If I’m new to an area or passing through, I usually don’t [...]
On Saturday the Spirit moved in what to many people is a strange way–over the internet. After PC(USA)’s General Assembly last week many people felt disheartened and frustrated. There were three big issues although two of them feel very connected, and you can find full information about them in other places. For a quick summary [...]
Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in a social media discussion at the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly that is meeting this week. Myself, Jordan Whitt with PC(USA) Special Offerings, Ryan Kemp-Pappan, and Andy James were on the panel. The big thing I would like to emphasis that was talked about yesterday is that [...]
Recently I have been reading through a Psalm each morning, and I find myself repeating a phrase throughout the day. Yesterday the phrase was from Psalm 28 “do not refuse me,” and it sparked the writing of this new hymn. This hymn is dedicated to the Presbyterian Church’s 220th General Assembly which is meeting this [...]