When I began my first job in youth ministry, the church I worked at was in the midst of worship wars: Fighting constantly about whether to have “traditional” or “contemporary” music.
Young, naive, and convinced we were right and traditional music...
As is the case every year in my congregation, Confirmation Sunday was also Reformation Sunday (the day we remember and honor Martin Luther and the beginning of the Protestant reformation). To commemorate this special occasion, Reformation Sunday...
Earlier this week, my youth ministry was asked to deliver a Welcome Pack to a newly arriving refugee family of three from Bhutan.
Even though I consider myself to be a refugee champion and even though we had the supplies on hand to do this...
During Holy Week, my congregation holds worship on each of The Great Three Days: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.
Though I grew up in a church that held a Good Friday worship service, the concept of worshipping on each of these...
A few weeks ago, my congregation held it's annual Youth Sunday, a tradition I have the ultimate love / hate relationship with.
For years, I've heard people describe this Sunday as the one in which our youth “take-over” worship. Even though I...
One of my favorite ways to end a winter retreat is with worship and communion. To me, there’s something so powerful about sharing the body and blood of Christ with those with whom you’ve spent a transformational weekend.
The problem is, in my...
Throughout my youth ministry career, I’ve intentionally taken students to worship in other Christian congregations.
The first time I did this I was working at a multi-ethnic congregation. One spring I canceled our own youth worship service for...
Recently, as I was reading through Scripture as part of Margaret Feinberg's 40 Day Wonderstruck by Scripture challenge, I was struck by the Message's paraphrase of 2 Kings 17:32-33, “They honored and worshiped God, but not exclusively… They...
My husband and I are blessed to be part of a small group with our closest friends that has withstood the test of time. The group began as part of a church that none of us attend any longer. It's weathered moves, job changes, and the birth of...
For the next two weeks, we'll be talking about transformational moments in ministry: Moments that have transformed our faith or changed the way we do ministry. You'll hear from me today and over the the next two weeks, from several other women in...