We in Chicagoland are enjoying the fact that the new pope, Leo XIV, grew up here. But what sticks with me from the papal transition is a painting. After the death of Pope Francis, I read that his favorite paintingRead more…
Spiritual Gifts? People Eager for More
Younger respondents have bigger and more emphatic responses to . . . gifting. “Gifted for More” is a new resource on spiritual gifts with convincing evidence that the time is right for churches to help people identify, develop and shareRead more…
If Every Church had a Volunteer Champion…
Odds are good your church does not have a staff person who focuses on healthy volunteerism. Few churches do, and the numbers are decreasing. But I’m willing to bet your church does have a person or two or ten whoRead more…
Review: But Now I See. . .
Sometimes life throws us a curve — health or job changes, a world-wide pandemic, a midlife crisis. They often cause us to wonder if and how it all fits into God’s plan for us. In But Now I See: FindingRead more…
Tool: A Look at My Serving
What would my life look like if I saw everything I do as serving Jesus? What if I could serve more intentionally, joyfully, impactfully and faith-fully? What if my church family were to do this? What if Jesus’ followers throughoutRead more…
The Covid Pivot
Covid has brought change — tragic changes in health and employment, and inconvenient change, like mask-wearing and limits on eating out. At church we’ve dealt with change in how we worship, share communion, celebrate marriages and bury loved ones. FewRead more…
Praying Psalm 23
For Caregivers and those they care for Attached is a resource I created some years ago. Just realized it never got shared on this website, mostly likely due to the fact that I was a caregiver at that time!
A New Normal
Here in Illinois, the coronavirus has me in my eighth week of working from home and we’re all in our seventh week of sheltering-in-place orders. We’re worshipping at home via screens and all the familiar church activities are cancelled. We’reRead more…
A Caregiver’s Education for Life-Long Serving
Sunday, June 29, 2010, at age 89, my mother-in-law moved in with my husband and I, at our invitation. Monday, Dec. 2, 2019, at age 99, God called her to the home she longed for. In the intervening 9 years,Read more…
Serving God and Others Through Entrepreneurship
I generally think of entrepreneurs as people aiming to make a living. But this post is by a man who is an entrepreneur in order to serve his city and his Lord . . . and to change the culture.Read more…
Add a Little Jesus to Your Serving
“I never thought of that as serving Jesus!” I hear this a lot. We all tend to equate ‘serving Jesus’ with volunteering that is at church or that is specifically religious. But St. Paul says, “. . . whatever youRead more…
Simplify Your Serving
Some of us don’t need to be encouraged to serve. We’re serving at church and elsewhere so much so that we’re running nonstop. If you’re overwhelmed by obligations, if a relaxed family dinner is a rarity, if you say ‘yes’Read more…
Get Off the Couch!
Is it time to get up and get moving? To start giving back? To spend a little more time helping others? We all need time to rest and refresh, and to care for ourselves and immediate family. But it’s easyRead more…
What’s Your Joy Level?
Have you measured your joy level lately? We count the miles we jog or the steps we walk and we track our bank accounts. What if we quantified our daily joy? Our joy goes up when we’re praised at work,Read more…
On Your Feet
Note: This is the fourth in a series of five reflections. The series begins here. If God’s calling us to specific tasks (see Eph. 2:10), how do we know what they are? It sounds like a high-stake guessing game. What jobRead more…
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