I always felt like the odd (wo)man out in Youth Ministry circles. First, there’s the gender thing. Super fun to be in the “regional” youth ministry gatherings that are basically a bro fest. (Even more fun when you’re serving in a conservative area and several of the guys in the group aren’t sure if they […]
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It’s our last day of “Women in Youth Ministry Month,” and I want to take today to share something I’ve been working through for the last month or so. Last month I went to the FIERCE Conference, a gathering of mostly United Methodist Female pastors (and some strays, like me. #unordained). The gathering included the […]
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“I have no where to put that.” I said to our creative director ten minutes before the service started. I had carefully crafted my outfit to hide the growing baby bump, but I had failed to consider the mic pack. “Just clip it to your waistband.” Sure. They looked like jeans, but they were not. […]
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I’m not coming to your conference if there aren’t women on the platform. I’m not coming to your conference if there aren’t people of color teaching and not just entertaining. There. I said it. I said what my spirit has been screaming for all 20 years of ministry I’ve walked in. If your conference does […]
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I’ve always felt like making friends is an awkward endeavor. Growing up, I had one friend, Linsey, who I spent all of my time with. Sure, I was friendly with other people and had fun with other kids, but Linsey was my best friend and my other relationships were just not as good as that […]
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There’s a billboard on the freeway by the exit to my house. It’s for a furniture discount store that opens only on the weekends. The imagery is simple: a black background with two lines of yellow text “We can please your wife three days a week. Can you?” There’s this concept of men in our […]
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My College professor told us in my first ministry class, “If you can do anything else and be happy, do it.” I have used that question as a gauge throughout many years working in small churches, large churches, rural churches, city churches. When Ministry became very hard and I wanted to quit, it was this […]
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Since my first taste of youth ministry back in 2001 as a volunteer with middle school youth, I have had only one passion and felt only one call in my life. That call was to be a youth minister. After finishing college, I proceeded directly to seminary where I interned at a church in their […]
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I’ve got three kids. Three kids is SO MANY KIDS. (I know that there are many serving in ministry who have more kids. And you are amazing. Look:. you’re amazing if you have one. Or two. Or nine. Or none. Let’s just agree everyone is amazing, unless they actively undergird the systems and policies that […]
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3 years ago, I was at the gym, trying to furiously work off the weight that I’d been gaining, but to no avail, could not lose. I ate all the right things, drank zero calories, but I couldn’t lose the weight. So, I went to the gym regularly to try to get skinny. This particular […]
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