Messages for the Younger Marcus In line with a blog post written by one of our coaches, Jessica Carlson, I thought it would be good to share the messages I would give to the younger me after more than 25 years in ministry. Find a Pastor Pastors need pastors too. Read more…
Sometimes I learn some of the strongest spiritual lessons when I’m outside. There’s something about being in God‘s beautiful creation that helps me to stop thinking about my own issues and open my eyes to the bigger picture. I was pulling in weeds in my garden a short time ago. Read more…
We received a knock on our front door a couple weeks ago. Ms. Rebecca’s daughter had come to deliver a giant box of peanuts. Ms. Rebecca had passed away, and our kids had been asked to carry on Ms. Rebecca’s legacy of feeding the squirrels every morning. Although Ms. Rebecca was known in Read more…
Church and ministry staff, especially pastors, need a lot of support from other people. The work is hard, emotional, and isolating. One source of support is just not enough, and there are joys and challenges for each kind of support. Congregational Support Every pastor and church staff member needs some Read more…
The world is really messy right now. The church in the US is in its most challenging season in history. Working with pastors, ministry leaders and churches I see a lot of conflict and crisis, especially lately. It is really easy to get discouraged, defeated and even hopeless. That said, Read more…
Preparing for Amazement focuses on the health of people and congregations. To aid you in thinking through such health, I want to take a moment and consider what it means for congregations to ask the following question focused on spiritual health: Do we have a plan for the care of Read more…
My oldest daughter once brought home from junior high school an art piece she had sculped from clay. She presented it to me with no explanation other than, “Hey mom, look what I made at school.” “Oh,” I replied trying not to reveal in my tone the true sense of disgust Read more…
I grew up in the 80s, and I engrossed myself in movies we call classics now. Star Wars, Goonies, Ghostbusters. I loved all of them. One of my favorites was Back to the Future. While the time hopping in the film gets confusing, it makes me wonder what message from the future Read more…
The Wizard of Oz was one of my favorite movies as a kid and I see its reemergence as something worth noting. Recently I found myself reflecting on three of the characters from the original movie and realized each has something to teach us about leadership. While the scarecrow without Read more…
Preparing for Amazement focuses on the health of people and congregations. To aid you in thinking through such health, I want to take a moment and consider what it means for congregations to ask another question focused on spiritual health: Do we practice spiritual disciplines on a regular basis? Before Read more…
