More than twenty years ago, when I was training to become a minister shortly after I obtained my doctoral degree from Harvard University, I learned an important concept still applicable today. In preparing a sermon to preach, the minister studies in two ways: one way to prepare the sermon, the other to prepare the preacher.… Continue reading 21st Century Ministry: Pulpits and Prayer Life
Thoughts for the New Year
A new year brings new opportunities for achievements, for joy, for receiving blessings and bestowing blessings on others (Psalms 126). For many people, 2020 was a difficult year, and 2021 brings the promise of a better future. The sun sets on New Year’s Eve and rises on New Year’s Day, and one year turns into… Continue reading Thoughts for the New Year
Holiday Blessings
Today marks the end of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the United States. In a world that has experienced the challenges of a pandemic this year, words like thankful, grateful, and blessed may seen foreign. Holidays are filled with traditions and expectations, but no one year tells the story of a holiday celebration. Similarly, no… Continue reading Holiday Blessings
In good hands
Confidence is a necessary item, especially in young people. Looking over a few of the press clippings from when I was an undergraduate at Penn State University, I found my response to a newspaper editorial when I was only twenty years old and freshly appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania to serve on a University… Continue reading In good hands
Happy Mother’s Day
Happy Mother’s Day 2020! I hope all women who are moms can relate to Proverbs 31:25 today. I know women experience this holiday differently, as I have myself during different seasons of my life. In my early twenties, married and working long hours as a cancer researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and leading a… Continue reading Happy Mother’s Day
The Value of a Sparrow
Someone visited my blog and asked: “Who set the market value of sparrows in Jesus’s time? What where sparrows used for? Modern farmers see them as a liability to be exterminated to control over population. From a supply and demand analysis, sparrows would be worthless. Why would a market exist in the first place? Therefore… Continue reading The Value of a Sparrow
Reflections on Publishing
Five years ago, InterVarsity Press published my book, “Questioning Your Doubts: A Harvard PhD Explores Challenges to Faith”. I hope the book has been a blessing to its readers and will continue to bless new readers in 2020 and beyond. Since writing the book, I have had the opportunity to travel across the country and… Continue reading Reflections on Publishing
Tailoring Ministry to the Individual
In this day of megachurches and churches spread across multiple campuses, is it really possible or even practical to care about the individual? Yet ministry is based on the model of a shepherd willing to leave a flock of ninety-nine sheep in an open field while searching for one lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7). In Chapter… Continue reading Tailoring Ministry to the Individual
The Gift of Presence
Scroll through the newsfeed on any platform and you will find people sharing happy moments in their lives as well as people facing tragedies and loss. On any given day, a pastor may go from celebrating the birth of a new child in the congregation to visiting a church member in a hospice. Whether in… Continue reading The Gift of Presence
Thinking about Faith
Some things become so much a part of our lives that we do not need to stop and actively think about them. When I ice skate, I no longer think about every little movement needed to maintain balance. I can safely plan next week’s schedule in my mind while gliding along. Of course, a person… Continue reading Thinking about Faith