Last Sunday was Bandshell Sunday at Lake Harriet in Minneapolis for my congregation. It's an outdoor worship service with a reading, sermon and a storytime for kids. But something weird happened. After I preached my sermon, some people clapped. My first thought was to shy away. Clapping in church as kid was strictly forbidden. The … Continue reading Choose Love, Please

Church #16. Meet Corey Lange. He is the solo pastor at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Arenzville, Illinois. With an averaging worship attendance of 50-60 people on a given Sunday, St. Peter’s is in the middle of the farm country. “It’s a rural context where the farming community is shrinking!” says Lange. Young people are … Continue reading Church Farm: God First Then Neighbor

Next week is Vacation Bible School at Lutheran Church the Good Shepherd. Over the past 10 years, VBS has shared God's love with kids through launching pandas, deep sea adventures and now Maker Fun Factory. But what do you do to keep things fresh and kids coming back year after year? Here is what I … Continue reading This is How We VBS

Church #15. Meet Katya Ouchakof. She is a co-pastor at Lake Edge Lutheran Church in Madison, Wisconsin. With an average worshiping attendance of 200 people, Lake Edge is a community that dares to embody the Gospel or the Good News of Jesus Christ! Along with the congregation, Ouchakof and her co-pastor, Stephen Marsh, have established … Continue reading Socially Justice Minded

Maybe you have heard the idea "God's story is our story?" I cannot remember who coined this phrase but it is one that has shaped my work. What it does is give a model of how we can use God's story and our story to tell others about God's love for the world. I had … Continue reading Know Your Story

God knows that I have been given the best mentors a wanna-be pastor like me could learn from. Last week, I had the opportunity to catch up with one of those great people. Our conversation circled around one particular question she had asked. The question was "How can we tell if the people we serve … Continue reading How Do We Know?

Church #14. Meet Mike Markwell. He is the Youth Ministry Coordinator at Shepherd of the Hill Lutheran Church. Located in Lockport, Illinois, this congregation worships 180-200 people on a given Sunday. Situated on a hill, this congregation is a product of two churches that merged in the 1960’s. For the past three years, Markwell, who … Continue reading Try Something New

The model of evangelism has shifted. Gone are the days when a missionary or preacher stands up and tells people what to think. No longer are we baptizing people by the thousands at a time. Nor can we depend on Billy Graham crusades to "save" the world. Nowadays, evangelism looks more like Acts 8 through … Continue reading 60 Seconds Storytelling

Church #13. Meet Aimee Frye Appell. She is the solo pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in Washington, Missouri. Peace is located about one hour west of St. Louis with an average worshiping attendance of 70 people. Peace was a mission start congregation in the 1980’s with Appell serving as their 3rd pastor. Like many congregations, … Continue reading Transformative Healing

Church #12. Meet Josh Ehrler. He is the solo pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Mount Morris, Illinois. Ehrler describes Trinity as a rural or small town congregation with an average worship attendance of 110. Trinity’s mission statement is “Believing in Christ, we are called to grow and sent to serve.” Five summers ago, Trinity … Continue reading Build One Thing