Jessica Carlson, a coach with Preparing for Amazement Ministries, works behind the scenes to support the ministry through social media and website management, content writing and editing, and data management. She is passionate about international ministry having served on many international service trips. She is a 20 year veteran of Read more…
Erick Liona, a coach with Preparing for Amazement Ministries, believes we have all been called to serve others. He was born in one of the largest slums in Africa and currently lives in Nairobi. He studied business and economics in college and has a talent with videography and visual storytelling. Read more…
Nathan Whittaker is an ordained pastor currently serving in Seattle, WA. He received his BA in history at Ohio State and is currently working on his doctorate, focusing on the question, “What if we worshiped as if the gospel were for the other?” As a coach for Preparing for Amazement, Read more…
“A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” Mark 6:4 I have been pondering this verse quite a bit lately over the last year. It has come to mind randomly and situationally quite a bit. There are lots of Read more…
In 2002, while serving in my first full-time church ministry job as a youth pastor, I attended the National Youth Workers Convention. During the convention, I attended a seminar called Getting Fired for the Glory of God by Mike Yaconelli, one of my spiritual and ministry heroes. It would be Read more…
One of our three key areas of ministry focus is Church Revitalization. There is a prolific amount of writing on church revitalization, including various definitions. Our team at Preparing for Amazement once asked how we, as a ministry, define church revitalization. Our definition of revitalization includes three considerations. Looking like Read more…
As long as there are people, there will be problems. As one of my colleagues and friends likes to say, ‘humans tend to human.’ There is no such thing as a problem-free church, yet most churches have far more problems than are necessary or desired. Over the years, I have Read more…
At first, she looked at me with some confusion. My friend came over to us in order to translate and explain to her what I had handed her. It was the summer of 2018, and we had just exited her corrugated metal home with a packed dirt floor. We sat Read more…
Recently in meeting where a group of us were discussing a discipleship model for academic theological education, I made a statement that I make often about my own formation as a follower of Jesus. I said, “The person I am today comes as a result of three things: Jesus, the Read more…
In our work with churches and pastors, we have found the Stockdale Paradox to be an essential underpinning for leader health as well as church health and revitalization. Jim Collins term this concept the “Stockdale Paradox” named after Admiral James Stockdale, one of the most decorated United States Navy officers, Read more…
