Fun fact about PTS: you can earn credit within the Practical Theology department for being a part of the spring play. We’re performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of my all-time favorite plays. I’ve been cast in the role of Bottom the Weaver–a craftsman who loves acting and can be a bit melodramatic. Long ago, [...]
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 [...]
Below is the sermon I preached earlier this month at the CPM meeting where I was certified ready to receive a call. I got great feedback, and if I preach this again I will tweak some things. For now, I have kept it as I preached it. Will you pray with me? Holy Spirit, come [...]
Yesterday the committee overseeing my ordination process certified me ready to receive a call. Now I can start writing the long resume form my denomination uses for everyone looking for ministry jobs, and basically I can start formally looking for jobs really soon. I know about the realities of finding ministry jobs in the current [...]
One of my favorite modern writers Carol Howard Merritt wrote an article on The Christian Century entitled “Generational Roadblocks.” In it she identifies five obstacles to young adults’ participation in the church: 1. The leadership is from one generation. 2. The leadership lacks diversity. 3. Our congregations disregard technology. 4. The church ignores its physical [...]