2005-7 TiM Pastoral Resident
Parish Associate at Brentwoood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, CA
July 18, 2011
After completing the Lilly Residency Program at the First Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, MI I took a call as an Associate Pastor in a small
city in Michigan. Knowing that the adjustment would not be an easy one,
and reflecting on what I had learned from my time in the Lily program, I
decided that the first thing I needed was colleagues who could also be
friends. So, I went in search of colleagues in the hopes of also
finding friends. Knowing I would have a colleague in my Head of Staff,
in other clergy in town, and in my governing body, I wanted to seek out
colleagues who were in a similar place in ministry—so I sought out young
women clergy. In my first few months in my new call I compiled a list
of the young women clergy in my denomination in my area, there were
about a dozen of us in our first call within a 2 hour drive of each
other. At our first meeting we gathered for lunch at a one woman’s home,
eight of us arrived...
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2011 Undergraduate Fellow
University of Kansas
June 29, 2011
The Fund for Theological Education held their conference in New Orleans
this year. Two uncertainties already in my mind: what is a ministry
conference like and how does New Orleans look after two Gulf Coast
disasters? The shuttle from the airport to Dillard University was cold
and full of chattering voices. I observed how we instinctually
categorized each other: What kind of Fellow? What denomination? What
seminary? The words felt empty when I said them. They did not actually
say much about who I was. It was like placing everyone on a map and we’d
only just met ten minutes ago. My own response to people’s answers was
mixed. Some traditions conjured vivid images while other denominations
were relatively unknown to me. It seemed hopeless. A real live person
standing in front of me, and I was asking them assist my assignment of
the most convenient preconceived notion I had for easy future reference.
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FTE Ministry Fellow ('11)
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
June 27, 2011
From our 2011 Leaders in Ministry Conference in New Orleans, LA
As we left the airport and boarded the bus to go from the airport to
Dillard University where the conference is being hosted, I was assaulted
with the heat and humidity of the Southern summer. Riding through the
traffic on the freeway, I looked out the window wondering if I would
catch glimpses of the damage and recovery from Hurricane Katrina. We
exited the freeway and were stopped at a red light and I saw a person on
the side of the road “panhandling.” He had written some illegible words
on a sign he was holding that I couldn't read. But I caught a glimpse
of the back of the sign which used to hang at an apartment complex and
read “The American Dream, for rent now!” I was struck by the completely
contradictory message, this guy was definitely not experiencing the
American Dream standing on that corner in the oppressive heat and
humidity.
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Lay Minister
Roundtable Leader for 2011 FTE Leaders in Ministry Conference
June 20, 2011
This blog post was produced during our 2011 Leaders in Ministry Conference in New Orleans, LA
Day 1: Getting off of the airplane and touching ground in New Orleans, I let go of my worries, frustrations, anxieties of home life and welcomed in the spirit of God to fill me with the comfort of simply being present, listening and conversing with others on their journey of faith as spiritual social change agents in a world of complacency and despair. I am honored to be in the company of such greatness of minds and comforted in the knowing there is hope for the Christian church and hope does not disappoint...
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FTE Congregational Fellow ('11)
Wartburg Theological Seminary
June 18, 2011
What I have experienced here at the FTE Leaders in Minstry Conference in New
Orleans is so powerful that I feel compelled to try to put it into
words. Why? I have experienced community, and it is good.
I don’t actually remember how I came across this fellowship. It may
have been suggested to me by my pastor or possibly the seminary I will
be attending. What I do know is that despite my research, I had no idea
what to expect when I left for my trip to New Orleans. In my wildest
imaginations, I would not have pictured what this conference has become
for me. One of the most wonderful aspects of this conference is the
people I am meeting and the friendships I am forming both with other
Lutherans and with people outside my denomination. I am surrounded by
Mennonites and Baptists and UCC and Methodists and Episcopalians and
Presbyterians and Jesuits and Pentecostals and Christians unaffiliated
with a denomination.
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FTE Ministry Fellow ('02)
Sr. Pastor, St. John's United Methodist Church
Baton Rouge, LA
June 17, 2011
This blog post was produced during our 2011
Leaders
in
Ministry
Conference in New Orleans, LA
It seems like talk of “practices” is popular again. People and groups
both inside and outside the church are re-discovering that our faith is
not just about beliefs or intellectual affirmation but about a way of
life, a way of living, that connects us to one another and to God. These
are not in and of themselves “salvific.” In other words, practices for
practices sake, for getting our own spiritual fix, are not
transformative, are not converting. But if we engage them with...
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May 02, 2011
I have been praying for Osama bin Laden for ten years. I was not
surprised by news of his death. As I asked myself why, I suspect it is
because, in my eyes, bin Laden died long ago. He died to goodness; he
died to mercy; he died to shalom. He died to the things that God cares
most about. He was alive until this week—but he died to life a long
time ago.
I have wondered over the years what God tried to do to get him back. I
wonder about the confounding ability of human beings to resist the love
of God. I wonder about these things for Osama bin Laden and I wonder
about same things with respect to my own life. Today, as I have many
days before, I pray for my enemy—I pray him into the hands of the God of
justice and of mercy.
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