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What is essential
Over the past few weeks I have listened to an argument online about the problems of evangelicalism. Two books that recently came out have seemed to arrive at different solutions because they perceive two different problems with evangelicalism. The Holy Post Podcast weighed on the books, the authors, and more in this episode and it is worth the listen. One…
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On the occasion of my ordination anniversary
Four years ago I was ordained by the grace of God to the sacred order of deacons in the Anglican Church. It was a holy moment for me as I was making a huge shift in my ministry life. It was also during COVID, so it was memorable in more ways than one.
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Missing the Kingdom of God
Last Sunday our gospel text was Mark 3:23-35. The story here is the pressure Jesus is getting from his family and then the religious leaders. Neither one is happy with him. For his family, Jesus was avoiding them and his ministry was attracting so many people that his own family couldn’t get into their own home to eat. This put…
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The under-utilized ministry of a deacon
One alternate text for the 5th Sunday of Easter this year is Acts 8:26-40, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Having grown up in a Pentecostal tradition, we didn’t have any true category for “deacon.” We saw “deacon” in 1 Timothy but in most churches that was translated to “board member.” It wasn’t an ordained ministry.
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Deacons and serving
I have been just over a year in ordained ministry as a vocational deacon in the Anglican Church. The main thing we know about deacons is… they “serve.” It’s that term “serve” that may need a little work because I think it may have atrophied. These are some initial thoughts and very much in process.
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A year as ordained deacon
I am approaching my one year anniversary of ordination as a vocational deacon in the Anglican Church in North America. It has been a journey from 30 years of ministry in one tradition and now entering ordained ministry in a new (to me) tradition. The vocational deacon is still being “formed” in the ACNA. It is honored and given the…
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Spiritual Abuse
It doesn’t matter the denomination I serve in, spiritual abuse is a possibility. It is being exposed in my current denomination, the ACNA, in a diocese that is different in operation than my own… which is proving to be a bigger problem overall.
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We will be held accountable for the abuse we have heaped on others inside the church
I am working my way through the Christianity Today podcast series: “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.” As this podcast unpacks the undoing of Mars Hill Church and Mark Driscoll, we still see the same things playing out in real time… like we just can’t learn anything from examples that have gone before.
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We have to hold powerful people accountable
The series “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” is a devastating podcast series. It is a hard look into Mark Driscoll and the poisonous culture of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. But it needs to be told. And it needs to be heard. In my own group, the ACNA, more news comes out about the mishandling of sexual abuse…
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We are not yet broken
I love David French. He pulls no punches. This past week my own (new to me) denomination has been exposed for mishandling sexual abuse claims in a diocese. French highlights that to point out the ongoing problems we have in the American Church.