| | | | | | | | | | | | PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | On the first night in his new RV, Cody Stone stared at the queen bed. Neatly made with new linens, it looked far more inviting than the low concrete wall where he used to sleep in downtown Austin, Texas. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to pull back the covers and get in.
The gleaming, fully furnished RV -- his new home at Community First! Village, a master-planned development for people who have been chronically homeless -- brought the past several years of Stone's life into stark relief: two bouts with rectal cancer, abuse from his meth-addicted ex-boyfriend, an eviction that landed him on the streets, and beatings that he took there.
That first night, Stone, a slender man who wears leg braces and speaks with a Florida drawl, felt overwhelmed and alone. He slept on the couch.
But over the next few days, Stone, 51, began meeting his neighbors. They brought welcome gifts and dinner invitations and showed him around the property. He started thinking about new possibilities -- he could cook again, do his own landscaping, make friends.
Occupying 27 acres about 8 miles northeast of downtown Austin, Community First! Village is a residential development with 240 micro homes and RVs run by a faith-based nonprofit, Mobile Loaves & Fishes. Most residents have previously been homeless for long stretches, some living on the streets for decades. But about 20 percent are "missional" residents -- retirees, families with young children and others who feel called to live there and to serve.
The philosophy of Mobile Loaves & Fishes is simple: homelessness is caused primarily by a "profound, catastrophic loss of family." Housing alone won't heal that wound; community will.
Read more about Community First! Village » |
| | CAN THESE BONES PODCAST: MARTY ST. GEORGE |
Ask any JetBlue Airways crew member the company's five values, and he or she can rattle them off: safety, caring, integrity, passion and fun. Naming those values isn't just a rote exercise, says Marty St. George, the executive vice president for commercial and planning at JetBlue; it reflects deeply held convictions that guide decision making at every level of the company. In this conversation, St. George and "Can These Bones" co-host Laura Everett explore the lessons an airline executive can teach Christian leaders about creating a healthy organizational culture through team building, leadership training and talent cultivation.
Read or listen to this podcast »
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| | IDEAS THAT IMPACT: INNOVATIVE MINISTRY |
| The church needs both those who are loyal to existing religious institutions and those eager to usher in what the church will look like next, writes the managing director of grants at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity. Read more from Victoria White » |
"Innovation" is a term not typically associated with religious institutions, which tend to be oriented toward conserving and maintaining tradition. Yet at its heart, the Christian church is about innovation-embodying God's new life, hope, and community for the world. It is time to claim this identity amidst powerful disruptive forces in today's world, writes a professor at Luther Seminary.
Read more from Dwight Zscheile » |
Varities of Gifts: Multiplicity and the Well-Lived Pastoral Life by Cynthia G. Lindner
If there's one thing upon which contemporary pastors and their congregations can agree, it's that the practice of ministry in our rapidly changing, increasingly diverse context is a complicated business. Varieties of Gifts highlights the stories of ministers who thrive in this environment, offering inspiration to readers-ministers, seminary students, and people who care for them-on engaging their own multiplicity to build healthy, sustainable ministry.
Varieties of Gifts illuminates the inner lives of clergy who lead with courage and creativity, stamina, and soulfulness. The author mines in-depth interviews with twenty pastors in order to demonstrate that the human experience of multiple-mindedness is an essential ingredient for healthy, innovative ministry. Cynthia Lindner, herself an ordained minister, pastoral psychotherapist, and professor, illustrates how the Christian tradition bears witness to creation's complexity, and how our own multiplicity mirrors God's abundance. Through the accounts of the pastors themselves, the book illustrates how well-tended ministerial multiplicity can cultivate a rich pastoral identity, navigate congregational conflict, and embrace change in rich, life-giving ways.
Rather than an unattainable "quick fix," Varieties of Gifts profiles relatable pastors and congregations whose lives highlight the rich potential for multiple identities to enhance pastoral life, even in challenging times.
Learn more and order the book » |
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