This is a message I gave at First Friends Meeting in Greensboro on December 22, 2019 following Revelation 12 and Matthew 1:18ff. Here is the recorded version of the message. Rev. 12:1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman eclothed with fthe sun, with fthe moon under her feet, and on her headContinue reading “Sermon: The Birth of a New, Contrast Community”
Category Archives: Featured
Origin Stories: Celebrating Barberton Friends Church
Recently, Barberton Evangelical Friends Church in Barberton, Ohio – the first church I ever worked in – celebrated their 75th anniversary. As a token of my own love and appreciation for this community and their investment in me, I wanted to share some of my fond memories and role this community played in my earlyContinue reading “Origin Stories: Celebrating Barberton Friends Church”
Four Key Aspects to Understanding Renewal in Faith Communities
“Kindness eases change Love quiets fear” ― Octavia E. Butler In a lot of my classes and work at Guilford College, I talk about renewal. I think that much of my work is focused around renewal, not because of a failure in the institution but because change is constant, change is inevitable, and with eachContinue reading “Four Key Aspects to Understanding Renewal in Faith Communities”
Becoming Facebook Free
I’ve struggled with Facebook for some time. For about the last 2.5 years, I’ve basically wanted to deactivate my account and have even downloaded all my information from it more than once in preparation but then I chickened out or lost my motivation. So I’ve settled on not using it but still having an account.Continue reading “Becoming Facebook Free”
End of the Year Reflections
We had some friends over for New Year’s, which was a lot of fun and just the right way to close out the year. Having a variety of people from across various social groups gather and enjoy one another’s company was a very real way for us to see how far we’ve come in GreensboroContinue reading “End of the Year Reflections”
Conducting an Annual Review
I posted this article last year on a different blog. It’s still pretty useful and worth sharing here for those of you interested in doing an annual review or learning about the process I follow. Some things have adapted or changed for me in the past year but this is still generally what I amContinue reading “Conducting an Annual Review”
On Traveling in the Ministry
This is a post I’ve been wanting to write about my traveling in the ministry with Lloyd Lee Wilson, a member of Friendship Friends Meeting and North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative) this past June. It is about my first experience of traveling in ministry and what I learned in the process. Lloyd Lee and IContinue reading “On Traveling in the Ministry”
A New Kind of Nursery of Truth – Part 3
This is the third of a three-part series on whether or not Quakers can be “Publishers of Truth” today. In this series I want to talk about how I think early Quakers understood what it meant to be “publishers of truth” in earlier years (Part 1), just a couple challenges we face when it comesContinue reading “A New Kind of Nursery of Truth – Part 3”
The Original Nursery of Truth – Part 1
This is the first of a three-part post on whether or not Quakers can be “Publishers of Truth” today. In this series I want to talk about how I think early Quakers understood what it meant to be “publishers of truth” in earlier years (Part 1), just a couple challenges we face when it comesContinue reading “The Original Nursery of Truth – Part 1”
In the Deep End With Grief: Thoughts On Pastoral Care to Those Hurting Most
As the previous year comes to a close, I’m reposting some articles from 2014 I wrote elsewhere on the web. This is a post I wrote about grief that originally posted on the blog Antioch Session. I find it hard to carry the weight of my own pain, let alone the weight of another. IContinue reading “In the Deep End With Grief: Thoughts On Pastoral Care to Those Hurting Most “
Gathering in Light 