A blog post by Kinna Nordstrom

Image Credit: Fruit Salad by lisaclarke on Flickr

Hello, my name is Kinna and I am a food addict. I am a compulsive overeater who stuffs her feelings. And you know the best place for me to get my fix? Church!

I love being a youth minister, but now that I don’t eat pizza, sugar, or drink soda, I am finding that I loathe going to events with the youth that include food. For example --I am dreading our lock-in on Friday. There’s going to be pizza, candy, …

A blog post by Terri Elton

Image Credit: Social Media Apps by Jason Howie on Flickr

As we come to the end of our month thinking about this command and wrestling with what this question means for our leadership and ministry, let me pause and reflect on seven learnings.

1. It’s ok to feel incompetent! We live in a time when we are moving off the map, away from the territory many of us knew and into uncharted waters. It’s ok to be disoriented. But it’s not ok to let that …

A blog post by Terri Elton

We’ve spent the month wandering through ideas, insights, resources, and research on younger adults, their understanding of faith, and implications for ministry. Each post offered a picture, a snap shot, of what’s important and meaningful for younger adults today.

We were reminded that Martin Luther was a younger adult when he reformed the church; we got a picture of the breadth and depth with which younger adults engage in ministry, among their peers and with …

A blog post by Kate Reuer Welton

"I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without …

A blog post by Luke Halverson

What is one thing I have noticed about young adults?

Early on in the book of Job, Satan is granted power over Job’s life. From Job losing his children to having sores inflicted all over his body, Job endured enormous amounts of pain and loss. When Job’s friends heard of his pain, they sought to comfort him, but when they saw Job, they just sat with him for seven days and seven nights without speaking a word to him. They didn’t offer a ten step -- or …

A blog post by Isaac van Bruggen

Picture this: it’s the early 1500s, and you are a young Martin Luther. Disenchanted with some of the Church’s teachings, you begin to form your own ideas and question authority. You go rogue.

Do you ever wonder what it must have felt like to completely change the church in your thirties? Look around -- it’s happening again! What an empowering time to be a young adult in the Church. Understanding that there are exceptions, in this post I’ll …

A blog post by Terri Elton

As a continuation of yesterday's post, here are some additional blogs to check out from our ministry leaders who offer their voices of leading from the frontlines of congregations. Enjoy! 

Adam Copeland is a Presbyterian pastor who currently serves on the religion faculty at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. But don’t let either of those things confine your view of Adam. Adam offers a refreshing voice as he shares his thoughtful and critical perspective about …

A blog post by Terri Elton

Today’s virtual world is filled with more blogs than we have time to read. But blogs are a great resource for leaders in the church. Many people are aware of the blogs from “ministry stars,” and I encourage you to follow those church leaders because they offer a wide picture of the church.

But most of us are not a “ministry star” and will never be one. So often times reading their insights has a dual effect -- both helping us frame ministry …

A blog post by Nancy Lee Gauche

There are so many fascinating people who have lived and contributed to our lives. Peter Drucker is one of those people in my estimation. Drucker was born in a suburb of Vienna, Austria on November 19, 1909 and died in November of 2005, just shy of his 96^th birthday.  His kindergarten teacher taught “the concept of management,” and his 4th grade religious instructor asked, “What do you want to be remembered for?” His father held gatherings …

A blog post by Megan Clapp

Have you heard “Brave” by Sara Bareilles? I’ve been listening to it on repeat all summer. If you haven’t heard it yet, check out the lyrics video below before you keep reading:

http://vevo.ly/2AqimM

Also on my summer agenda has been reading, processing, and living with Brene Brown’s incredible book, Daring Greatly. She writes about vulnerability and how it can transform the way we live, love, parent and lead. She also writes about shame and …