It is more than a little ironic that you are reading an e-mail message that is about to warn you of the dangers of e-mail, but here goes: You may be familiar with—perhaps even have participated in—”parking lot meetings.”  Those…

Discerning God’s Will Together, which Danny Morris and I co-authored, was jointly published by Alban and Upper Room books in 1997. I had incorporated prayerful spiritual discernment as one of the four practices in the Worshipful-Work model, which was presented…

What is work-life imbalance? You might answer that question by reflecting on your own life. Do you feel stretched and unsettled? Does it seem like you never have enough time to do everything you feel you need and want to…

The senior minister at First Church was actually looking forward to the weekly staff meeting. For some time the staff had been tip-toeing around problems with the traditional worship service, and today they were going to address the problem head…

Imagine that it’s Rosh ha-Shanah and you are about to give your sermon. For the past year, you and your board have been working hard on fundamentally rethinking what it means to be a congregational community in the 21st Century….

In an earlier Weekly, Barbara Day Miller outlined the POWR model for worship planning . Here, she addresses how pastors can help implement—and benefit from—this new process.     Susan and Richard were engaged in conversation at the local ministers’…

Congregations, or perhaps more precisely, congregational leaders, need to learn new skills all the time. Such are the demands on congregational life. What do you do when your congregation either needs or chooses to do something new? Perhaps your congregation…

On July 26, Mark I. Pinsky will receive a Justice for All Award from the American Association of People with Disabilities. The award, which recognizes individuals who have proven to be extraordinary champions in advancing the goals of the ADA,…

As a congregational leader—a pastor, a rabbi, or a congregational member who holds a formal or informal position of leadership—you have to think about planning. Planning is de rigueur, a nearly obligatory responsibility of leaders across all faith and denominational boundaries….