I’m here to find resources that can help me innovate faithfully and renew Christian communities.
A blog post by Tim Bowman As youth ministry people, so much of our time is spent either planning or being active that it is sometimes difficult for us to listen. It is not so much that we do not want to listen, because I genuinely believe that we do, but when there are camps,…
A blog post by Pastor Nancy Lee Gauche I read this post on Kenda Creasy Dean’s Blog on April 14, 2011, and it got my juices flowing around this question: “What are the Top 10 Characteristics of a Healthy Youth Ministry?” There are a million lists like this floating around, but my challenge to you…
A blog post by Megan Clapp I recently moved from Arizona to Iowa. Before we left, my husband and I spent an evening with a family that we had grown to be friends with. We played laser tag, raced go-karts, and finished up the evening with a round of mini-golf. It was our last time…
A blog post by Sarah Bane A wise educator once told me, “Learning is the residue that’s left over after the experience is over.” If this is true, then how has our Christian witness invited us to experience and think about the world around us? In the case of Abraham and Sarah, God said to…
Courtney Young is a graduate of Luther Seminary – M.Div. with an emphasis in Congregational Mission and Leadership. Missional, a Millennial, and a new mother, Courtney shares her thoughts with us here: Now that Christmas is over, way over, can we please talk about Christmas? I hold this idea that if something actually matters,…
Ecclesiastes 3 begins … “For everything there is a season and a season for every activity under heaven.” Recently I have been reflecting on time and its relationship with leadership. And I am convinced that a key practice of leadership is helping a community identify what time it is and then discover that it means…
Did you read Amanda Nelson’s thesis yet? If not, it is posted at the bottom of the previous post. I want to commend Amanda on her work in digging into what the church needs to learn about the spiritual lives on young adults. Her stories of young adults are similar to so many stories of…
This week on FirstThird.org we begin sharing the amazing thesis work of our Luther Seminary Children, Youth and Family Ministry MA students. We have five finalists, and will feature one writer and their topic for each of the next five weeks. You’ll be blown away by their ideas and the quality of their thinking about…
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 friends. Yesterday I showed a friend a picture of my dog. Pretty unremarkable… …except when you consider the fact that I live in Minnesota. My…
We have spent almost two months offering various perspectives on mission and service, but at the end of the day…What’s the point? I love Chicago, and a few weeks ago I has in Chicago for a meeting. Taking the train into the city and walking the streets is exciting, at least for me. As an…
Trinity Lutheran College is continuing its study on what makes service projects and mission trips transformational. It’s all part of the SALLT (Service And Learning Leadership Team) program. What they have found is so vital that they have even developed and APP to help leaders through this process. Check it out at www.sallt.org/store. This…
By Eric Elton, Mission Outreach Director at Prince of Peace Church in Burnsville, MN Ah yes … the mission trip. As many of us know, on these trips, God often takes us to a new mountaintop place. A place we may have never been before spiritually. We return home … we are fired up ……
By Pastor Nancy Lee Gauche It has been a rich dialogue on mission over the past month. As I reflect on this trip, I will bracket some key practices that shape my understanding around outreach and short-term mission to add to the conversation. Enjoy! Not too long ago I led a Women’s Mission Trip to…
Want to dig deeper in the First Third conversation on mission? Webinar: Inculturating the Gospel; Dr. Colleen Windham Hughes A webinar from the Practice Discipleship Initiative by Dr. Colleen Windham Hughes, or California Lutheran University. Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence by David A. Livermore (Apr 1, 2006)…
“Many church members today recognize that evangelism is vitally necessary for the church to have a future amidst widespread decline. At the same time, few prospects provoke greater dread and discomfort. This conference offers an opportunity to reframe evangelism in a grounded, holistic, accessible way for a new apostolic age.” Dwight Zscheile, assistant professor congregational…
