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Those Who Lack Friends
David Powlison: ‘Those who lack friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their own hearts….This communicating of a man’s self to his friends works two contrary effects; for it redoubles joys and cuts griefs in half.’ (Francis Bacon, ‘Of Friendship,’ 1625) A former pastor of mine often reminded us of these truths and called us to genuine, authentic friendship (the “one anothering” of Scripture). I am praying that even today I will BE a friend and GROW even just one or two friendships a little more in grace and intimacy. For it really is not good to be alone. Blessings on your Tuesday! Yours, Tara B.
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When Opposed and Reviled
I really enjoyed this post over at Christ is Deeper Still: When Opposed and Reviled It’s only one paragraph–but it’s definitely worth the read.
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Leaders as Peacemakers
We just finished our afternoon peacemaking training and we’re about to start the marriage retreat. What a JOY it was to spend time with the leadership of this church! What an honor. Their love for God and the Church–and their interest in biblical peacemaking reminded me of this article by Ajith Fernando. Hope you enjoy! Yours, Tara B. ———- LEADERS AS IN-HOUSE PEACEMAKERS by Ajith Fernando I have found that one of the most important roles of leaders is to be “in-house peacemakers,” that is, to lead in solving unity problems within the group they lead. This priority is seen in the high priestly prayer of Jesus when he prayed…
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Things Seminary Never Taught Me
Wow. Amazing list over at IX Marks: Seventeen Things That Seminary Never Taught Me What a great reminder to pray for our pastors.
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Thank You, Pastor Anyabwile!
Wow! What an encouragement. I was clicking through to check in on my favorite bloggers and look what I found! Something I’m Hoping to See the Ladies of FBC Use Pastor Anyabwile is such a churchman! I am humbled and honored by his post. (But also a little nervous–I hope that his wife and he LIKE the series! 😉 ) Soph’s cold is getting worse, so we’re staying tucked under blankets all day long. What a grace to be home AND to have a Golden who likes to cuddle too. Blessings! — Tara B.
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Special Needs Ministry and The Church
I attended a wonderful workshop on special needs ministry and the church and I hope to share my notes with you one of these days (if I can pull myself together!). But in the interim, I encourage you to click to this website and SCROLL DOWN to the bottom of the page and watch one of the videos. (One is 10 minutes long and the other is 20.) They are professionally made and well worth your time! Hope you enjoy– And hope they might encourage you to think even more intentionally about how your church might integrated people with disabilities more purposefully into the life of your church. Sending…
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Persevering with Grace When Our Leaders Let Us Down
Well … I tried my best to present a new teaching this afternoon in a sensitive, biblically-faithful, honest, gospel-focused way: Persevering with Grace When our Leaders Let Us Down: As wonderful as headship is (and it is wonderful!), our leaders are not perfect. No matter how hard they try, their leadership of us will always be flawed. They may misunderstand us, take offense at something we do or say, or simply not like our personality. In their fallenness and sin, they may actually wrong us intentionally. Often, they hurt us most deeply by their neglect—they fail to give us the proactive attention and care we long for. So how do…
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Elyse Fitzpatrick Endorsed My Video Series!
Wow! What an encouraging email I received today from one of my favorite authors, Elyse Fitzpatrick. She has reviewed my video series (The Peacemaking Church Women’s Study–Living the Gospel in Relationships) and endorsed it! What a grace. Here is what Elyse wrote: “It’s with overwhelming joy that I can highly recommend ‘Living the Gospel in Relationships’ from Tara Barthel and Peacemaker Ministries. I am recommending these teaching sessions not only because they beautifully avoid the moralistic strategies so common in our me-centered churches but because she connects our struggle for peace to the only source of peace, the one who is called the Prince of Peace. The gospel of Jesus…
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Lili is Great and We’re Off to Chattanooga
Just a quick note to let you know that Lilikoi is doing great–hooray!–and we’ll hopefully be off for our events in the morning. (Snow and ice might delay us a bit, but we’re hopeful that we’ll make it out OK.) Hope you’re all doing well! I’ll try to write more if I get any time–but not having a laptop on my flights means that I can’t be nearly as productive. Blessings and joy, Tara B.
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Poor Puppy!
Well … I’m trying to be more like Fred and NOT freak out … But we just found big, huge drops/smears of BLOOD all over our kitchen floor, living room carpet, back stairs, back landing, etc. !!! Apparently, Lilikoi cut her paw on a sharp stick (Soph went into super sleuth mode to see if she could figure out what cut Lili’s foot in the back yard and she found the culprit) and man! Did Lili cut the pad of her paw. I held her and applied pressure while Fred cleaned up the blood (I was TOTALLY sick to my stomach at a) all of the blood and b) my…
