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The Person May be Doing their Part Behind the Scenes
I very much appreciated this recent article by Pastor Kevin DeYoung: Say Something Right Now Or Else In it, he talks about the pressure that people in public positions sometimes have to comment on, well, everything—doctrine, politics, biblical manhood/womanhood, education choices, organic food, recycling, cats versus dogs, tea versus coffee, whether The West Wing was a terrible show or a great show. (OK. OK. I’m making 99% of those examples up—Pastor DeYoung’s were only the serious ones. But hopefully you get the point.) This is actually a topic that I have tried to come to a prayerful, principled position on—especially as regards my opinions on certain Christian authors and speakers.…
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When Our Children Are Friends With Troubled Children
I really enjoy the connections I’ve made thanks to FaceBook … especially the ones from my disjointed childhood. It has been sweet and rich to talk with people who knew me, even just for brief seasons, during the confusing (and often dark) young years of my life. One of the connections I’ve recently made is with a woman who is my age (I’ll call her Mary) who knew me briefly during my junior high years. I don’t remember much of our contact back then, but I do remember that she was beautiful, kind, really smart, and that her parents loved her. (Her mother is forever ensconced in my memory as a…
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Apologies Should be a Part of a Leaders Life
Cap’n Dave has finished his seven-part series on Preserving Your Pastor (based on a survey Dr. Thom Ranier did of pastors) and I encourage you to check it out if you haven’t already done so. Dave has helped a lot of pastors over the decades and he has a lot of wisdom to share. Dr. Ranier had another excellent article today that I also urge you to read: Real Leaders Apologize The only thing I would change in his article is to add one more line to his close. He wrote: Real leaders apologize. Real Christian leaders apologize. I would add: Real leaders apologize. Real Christian leaders apologize. Real Christians apologize. Because truly, we…
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Bound Together: How We Are Tied to Others in Good and Bad Choices
I am very much looking forward to reading Chris Brauns latest book: Bound Together: How We Are Tied to Others in Good and Bad Choices And I just saw that the e-version of The Jesus Storybook Bible is available today for only $1.99 (!). This is a great price and I can say from personal experience that it is super fun for children to be able to read “their” Bible when we’re out and about and needing books—especially without warning/time to pack a book bag.
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What Do I Owe The Person Who Differs From Me?
My all-time favorite article on the Peacemaker website: Polemic Theology: What Do I Owe The Person Who Differs From Me?
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How to Fire Your Pastor
Our most read series over at RedeemingChurchConflicts.com: How to Fire Your Pastor
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Helping “Difficult People” in Your Church
It’s been a few months. Time to re-read this CCEF classic. If only I could staple it to my forehead until I have internalized all of its important (and helpful) truths: Helping “Difficult People” in Your Church
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Treasures from the PCA Bookstore
The wonderful Jane Patete just sent our family a very encouraging note (about my service at last month’s women’s leadership conference) and a number of treasures from the PCA Bookstore. We are so grateful and we can’t wait to read them. If you’d ever like to see what books are being added to our family’s library, I try to keep my LibraryThing catalog up-to-date: Tara Barthel’s LibraryThing.Com
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The Church as a Peacemaking Forum
This is a meaty read, but worth digesting if you are interested in the topic: Can the Church be a Peacemaking Forum?
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Discover Afresh the Manifold Wisdom of God in His Plan of Redemption
Today, Sophie and I had a fascinating conversation about architects, engineers, and builders. It sprang from a conversation about people who are more strongly gifted verbally versus those who are more quantitative and then the (super fun!) combination of people who excel at both. We then discussed people who are artistic and really good at math and how they often work in a field of creating things … like being architects, designers, or even certain aspects of civil engineering. This discussion led us to miss our dear friend P.Mark (who lives too far away from us!) and who could do anything he’d like in civil engineering, but who excels at designing the roads that lead up to…
