What I learned from Max
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary We’re a week into 2013 and I, like many, use this c... Read more.
Prepare the Table
By Neil Christians At the First Third Conference on “Why Can’t Church be more like Camp?” there was a lot of talk about adults needing to... Read more.
Prepare the Table, part 2
By Neil Christians This is part 2 of this post. See Part 1 here. Reflect We are the ones who hold up a mirror to our students. We need to show them w... Read more.
Immanuel
By Julie Hagen Christmas is quickly approaching and the to-do list that might otherwise stress me out, seems somewhat insignificant this year. Instea... Read more.
How about a NEW Year?
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary Are you ready for that? We at the Center for First Third Mi... Read more.
Moments beyond words
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary Where were you when you heard the news on Friday? I was in Cali... Read more.
Twenty Percent
By Andy Sahl Continuing education types of gatherings must walk a fine line for me. If the ideas presented are purely practical, I get the sense of &ldquo... Read more.
Presently Separate & Separately Present
By Derek Tronsgard Last Christmas my wife’s sister joined us while we opened our presents. A few weeks ago I did pre-marriage counseling for some fr... Read more.
Communities of Practice
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary I love change. Most people don’t, but I do. Get this, I even love ... Read more.
Waiting
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary I have a confession to make – I’m not much fo... Read more.
Awe
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary I just had dinner with friends last week. Â I hadn’t seen them in ... Read more.
Time and Place
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary This weekend I attended the funeral for the mother of thr... Read more.
How to be an un-welcoming congregation
[Author’s preface: In my travels I have visited many churches (mainly Lutheran) and have experienced both the best and the worst in terms of how congregat... Read more.
Thinking about change in your first third ministry?
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary – Are your ministries with young people more interested in program... Read more.
Holy Spacers vs. Holy Embracers
By Derek Tronsgard Earlier this week Mike King led a First Third Dialogue session talking about the power of space in our ministry and it got me thinking.... Read more.
Traditions, and more
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary Thanksgiving has been celebrated, and now the Elton family has ... Read more.
First Third Coaching Cohort
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary – Are your ministries with young people more interested in program... Read more.
Really, I’m not that different…
I read articles all through seminary like “Spiritual Nomads,” an article The Lutheran published to offer their explanation about what makes us Mille... Read more.
Thankful
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary I am sitting on a plane, exhausted and with a full heart. You s... Read more.
Camp and Church
By Neil Christians In view of the upcoming conference at Luther Seminary on November 26-27 entitled “Why Can’t Church be More Like Camp&r... Read more.
Introducing the First Third Coaching Process for 2013
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary Change is hard isn’t it? Many Children, Youth, and Fam... Read more.