Tag: clergy
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Put A Song Back In Your Pastor’s Heart With A Sabbatical
Sometimes, when we hear of how some of our pastor friends are struggling in their ministry, we remember the story of the parakeet who lost his song. Lester the parakeet’s sad story began one day when his owner inadvertently sucked Lester into the vacuum bag while cleaning his cage. After removing Lester from the bag,…
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Let Me Please Breakdown
I remember the first time a pastor colleague told me that he had a breakdown, requiring hospitalization and therapy. It was 35 years ago. He blew my mind. He was successful—the pastor of a large church. He was very matter of fact about the incident. It was Sunday morning. He was, at home, getting ready…
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Slow Down To Stay In The Game
Bill figured out how to slow down and stay in the game. The game was racquetball. Bill was one of three pastors with whom I regularly played racquetball at the YMCA in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, back when I was in my mid-30s. Bill was retired. As I near retirement, I find myself still looking up…
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Alban Institute and Home Exchange
For 40 years, Alban Institute was an amazing ecclesiastical institution serving congregations and their leaders. In 2014, this organization founded by the Rev. Loren Mead in 1974, entered into an agreement with Duke Divinity School to transfer it’s intellectual properties to Duke. As a result of this agreement, Duke Divinity maintains an archive of the…
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Pulpit Exchanges
I just read a very exciting—and a very disheartening—article in a church newsletter. Two pastors in Montana did a pulpit exchange for one Sunday. The article refers to this as an “opportunity” for two pastors and two congregations to “link up” as those sharing life in the same community—and in Christ. News of two churches…
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Help Your Pastor “To Remember the Sabbath”
As a Lutheran, I grew up memorizing Luther’s Small Catechism, including Luther’s explanation to the commandment “to remember the Sabbath.” We are to fear and love God, so that we do not despite preaching or God’s word, but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it. (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 1160) “The…
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Christmas and Stress
[From my diary] Tomorrow is the Fourth Sunday of Advent. The next day is Christmas Eve. Then, of course, comes Christmas Day. This wonderful time of the year we celebrate God becoming human like us–to save us. With the added intensity of the next few days, your pastor is probably struggling with his or her…
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Leadership Matters And So Does Your Sabbatical
A certain type of self-understanding is essential for the parish pastor who wants to be a great leader. I appreciate Anthony B. Robinson’s insights into the importance of the pastor’s self-understanding for leadership in the parish in Robinson’s article, “Leadership That Matters.” Robinson draws his insights from James MacGregor Burns (Leadership, 1978), Edwin H. Friedman…
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Getting Ready For Home Exchange — Closets, Drawers & Cabinets
Our next home exchange is scheduled for August 2012. We are doing a home exchange with a pastor and his family from England, as part of our 3-month ministry sabbatical. As I looked over our home exchange agreement, I saw one line in the agreement that was exciting and a blessing: “Sufficient closets, drawers and…
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Home Exchange Membership Discounts
We have loved the idea of staying in someone else's home for about 30 years. Back when we first started to look for a place to stay, it was called, "sublet." Dell was working on his doctorate (DMin. at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN) and we needed a place for our family to stay…