Last week was pretty momentous in my life as a woman, a minister, and a wife. On Wednesday, Sam and I found we were pregnant and expecting a baby in November. The next morning dawned my 30th birthday. My twentys were filled with school and searching (in America and in Germany) for who I was …
When I came to Emmanuel as the Interim Pastor, I didn’t know that this was a congregation who was breaking stereotypes and setting the stage for what it means to be an open and affirming congregation. What I did know was that they were brave enough to ask a non-ordained student to be their Interim …
The Spring of my student teaching, I was interviewing for my first job as a bona fide school teacher. I was terrified and excited and hopeful and nervous. I had chosen to ask for a student teacher placement in Spartanburg, over an hour drive from Furman, because I wanted to work in Spartanburg school districts …
Part of being a minister is to bear people’s burdens and to walk beside them as they walk through life. And that burden can be a lot to bear, especially if you consider the number of people that a minister ministers to, but there is something absolutely mysterious about being invited to be there for …
On Being Asked to Be There for the Important Moments Read More »
We have now published 3 books in print and after agonizing after each and every detail of the formatting and book cover, it makes it hard for me to read other books. I notice things I didn’t notice before. (Is it just me or are all the copies of Ken Follett’s Edge of Eternity printed …
I did it. I actually renewed my books before any fines were incurred. This sounds simple, especially since the options for renewing your library books are endless: by phone, in person, online. Why I haven’t been able to do it effectively is beyond me, but it has gotten to the point that my husband won’t …
My week this week has involved a couple of different hospital systems. Each time I find myself wandering aimlessly in the hospital halls, I inevitably run into hospital staff and doctors all of whom are extremely helpful. None of the people I encounter in the hospital doubt or question whether I am minister (although I …
I’ve recently gotten brave enough to ask some of my female baptist minister colleagues, who have been ministers much longer than I have, what the norm is for salaries and benefits and overall packages for female baptist ministers. Notice I said female baptist ministers, not baptist ministers because unfortunately the norms are not the same. …
I’m reading Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal and ran across this moment of brilliance from the character of Joshua or Christ in Christopher Moore’s narrative: No, action. Contemplation. Steadiness. Conservatism. A wall is the defense of a country that values inaction. But a wall imprisons the people of a country as much …
I felt bad rousing her sweet, sleepy self this early on Saturday, but we had a Missions Day. We had to pick up the breakfast and deliver it to both missions locations. I promised they would get a donut on the way, hoping that these wouldn’t be one of the things they remember later in …
