Church #18. Meet Brian Hughes. He is the solo pastor at St John Lutheran Church in Columbia, Maryland. With an average worshiping attendance of 300 people on a given Sunday, St. John empowers their congregants to reach out. Hughes’ community asks two questions: “What is God saying to me?” and “What am I going to … Continue reading New Patterns for Ministry

Each summer, I like to challenge myself. I've done a variety of things from fundraisers to triathlons. But this year, I did something different. While it seems like evil is in my face 24/ 7, I am on the hunt to find kindness in complete strangers. My tool to engage strangers was a simple homemade … Continue reading The #BeKindHearted Sermon

Church #17. Meet Linda Bailey. She is the Family Missionary at KidStreet PlayCenter, a ministry of Trinity Lutheran Church located in Lisle, Illinois. Trinity is a multi-site church that has an average worship attendance of 1000 people on a given Sunday. They describe themselves as “one church with many locations.” Trinity’s second site is referred to … Continue reading Kid’s Indoor Playground Meets Church

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