I knew that Imagine No Malaria was about saving lives. I knew it was about God’s mission. But the more I sit in training, the more I hear the stories of people impacted by the campaign, the more I understand the training and empowerment of both church folk in the U.S. and the on the…
Wheat & Tares
the church in the world: mission, justice, good news
Assumptions
I remember vividly a leadership event when I was in middle school. Well, I vividly remember two things about it. First – we were at Kirkwood Community College and we got to eat in their awesome cafeteria and drink Clearly Canadian sparkling water. For some reason, that was a big deal 😉 Second, there was…
The Spirit of the Damascus Road
If one is going to preach through the book of Acts, you can’t leave out the story of the transformation and conversation of Saul/Paul. It is a chapter I have heard many times, from many different angles, and recently heard powerfully preached by Bishop Palmer at our Iowa annual conference. Sometimes, having an overwhelming number…
labeling cans of corn
The project site I am working at for the first two days of our mission trip is the Emergency Foodshelf Network. They distribute food to about 70 area foodshelfs and help to channel donations from organizations and larger corporations. Including cans… without labels. Part of our job yesterday was to begin making a dent in…
Turning the Other Cheek and the American Justice System
Yesterday, the Tuesday morning small group at my church had an interesting conversation. Is it possible or practical to follow the commands of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in this world? Can we do it? And what barriers do we face if we try? We were focusing on the verses about turning the other…
selling the good silver
Our church hosted a rummage sale as a part of our city-wide garage sales this weekend. We invited congregation members to bring us their items, we sorted and priced them and the church kept the proceeds. About 8 people put in a bunch of work and over two days we made almost $600… not too…
Shake It Out… #gc2012
I’m not even sure there are words to describe the last 24 hours. My roommate and re-acquainted friend from our youth days, Jessica Ireland, was hit by a truck in an intersection last night. She came out on the other side sore, scraped up, with deep scrapes on her foot that will take a while…
when the storms of life are raging #gc2012
Our General Conference has been full of metaphors of water. Storms, wind, rain, water, shoreline, sails, rope, salt, you name it – we’ve shared the image. And it has been extraordinarily powerful when those symbols have captured the moments we have experienced: healing, encouragement, etc. But that metaphor is also difficult when you feel like…