Dr. Virginia Holeman |
July 7, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5 Thriving Clergy
Ambiguous Loss The COVID-19 virus has changed the way we “do life” and “do church” so that we are simultaneously absent and present. In her book, Loss, Trauma, and Resilience, Pauline Boss writes: “This ambiguity between absence and...
Ethan Linder |
June 30, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thriving Clergy
When a Thrive Team (a team of laity who partner with a pastor for financial planning and investment in well-being) comes together, they typically address challenges like debt payment, fiscal responsibility, and retirement planning. But when a Thrive Team partnered...
Michael Blue |
June 23, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
Choosing the Kingdom Path Gary Hoag, Scott Rodin and Wesley Willmer challenge churches and ministries to recalculate the route for Christ-centered ministry by examining the presuppositions that drive decision-making and vision casting. They contend that the way...
Dr. Toddy Holeman |
June 9, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
Creating Shared Meaning Relationships that last, especially in families and congregations, have a sense of shared meaning. Shared meaning is bounded by trustworthiness and commitment, built on a “you’ve got my back and I’ve got yours” attitude and grounded in...
Linda Gist |
May 26, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
Contemplative Prayer: Palms Down, Palms Up During this time of Covid-19, we feel it is vitally important for pastors to continue to learn to carve out a few moments each day to simply be with God in prayer. In this edition of Thrive in 5 we are deviating from our...
Ethan Linder |
May 18, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Pastor Spouse Connection Thriving Clergy
As a pastor of two churches—Woods Harbour Wesleyan Church and Coastal Church (freshly planted in September 2019)—life is full for Pastor Jason Parker and his family, so health is especially important. Over the past few years, Jason and his family have partnered with...
David B. Lewis |
May 12, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
A Theological Perspective on Essence & Performance In today’s world, some would argue that our human value is based upon function or performance. For example, assertions are made that the unborn child developing in her mother’s womb is not truly human or...
Dr. Eric Hallett |
April 28, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
Time for A Missional Reset The Covid-19 pandemic is the largest societal disruption of the 21st Century. It is easily the largest church disruption. Covid-19 will reset our lives in many ways. I want to advocate for a missional reset that builds off the recent heroic...
Linda Gist |
April 27, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
From Solitude to Community to Ministry As a pastor, does your ministry flow out of regular time alone with God and authentic community with others? Or do you reach out for help in ministry only when it isn’t working and then maybe you pray? Henri Nouwen presents a...
Ethan Linder |
April 21, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Pastor Spouse Connection
As COVID-19 changes the landscape of public life, churches, business, families, and neighbors are coming together to find fresh ways of building community. Indiana Wesleyan’s Fusion team–tasked with facilitating the annual Fusion youth conference in Marion,...
Dr. Virginia Holeman |
April 14, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5 Thriving Clergy
Are you a “High Hoper”? All of us will face moments when we must exercise hope. Hope researchers observe that hope is active, not passive. “High hopers” exert whatever degree of control they have to reach that for which...
Michael Blue |
March 31, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
Truth in Troubling Financial Times This past month has been one of the most turbulent months in the history of the financial markets. From a new record high in the S&P 500 on February 19th to a nearly 35% plunge just one month later, this past month has created a...
Russ Gunsalus |
March 24, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development The Church & COVID-19 Thrive in 5
This image has been in the news recently, and it has gripped me. Thirty years ago, Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee was stolen from Boston’s Gardner Museum in the largest art heist in U.S. history. But today, what I find most interesting is the peaceful...
Dr. Toddy Holeman |
March 17, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
Honor Each Other’s Life Dreams In strong and vibrant marriages, mates honor one another’s life dreams. Life dreams are much more than personal whims. Life dreams go to the core of your being and reflect an essential part of who God created you to be....
David B. Lewis |
February 18, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
The Peloton Bike Commercial & A Fitness Focus Over the Christmas holidays social media buzzed with criticism over a Peloton Bike commercial. The commercial portrays the excitement of a woman who receives a Peloton Bike as a Christmas present from her husband....
Jessica White |
February 7, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Pastor Spouse Connection Thriving Clergy
Driven by a passion to teach visual literacy to his students and his own desire to be a lifelong learner, John Rhett has discovered his calling through his position as an art professor at Houghton College. Rhett has always been interested in art, but never imagined he...
Dr. Eric Hallett |
February 4, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
Developing a Wesleyan “Fake News” Filter We live and serve in an “information” age so how are we doing as ministry leaders in processing the news presented in popular culture? A new term has emerged in recent years called “Fake News.” The Cambridge Dictionary offers...
Dr. Virginia Holeman |
January 21, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5 Thriving Clergy
Emotional Rule of Life You may have heard of a Rule of Life, but have you ever considered creating an Emotional Rule of Life in 2020? Your typical Rule of Life represents spiritual growth commitments that you make after a...
Michael Blue |
January 8, 2020 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
Financial Convictions in the Five Uses of Money New years are full of new convictions. Whether it is eating better, working out more or spending more time with God, most people think about doing things “better” than they did the year before. Money is an area in which...
Jessica White |
December 19, 2019 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Pastor Spouse Connection Thriving Clergy
“Everything you do or don’t do; everything you say or don’t say sends a message–so make sure all you do or say reorients people toward Christ and not toward the world.” “I want everything that I do or say from the stage to reorient people toward Christ,” he...
Gabriela Akpaca |
December 19, 2019 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Pastor Spouse Connection Thriving Clergy
Three years ago, Cory Doiron moved with his wife and baby boy from Rapid Springs, South Dakota, to Portland, Oregon. Unlike many vocational moves that pastors make, this move was signing Doiron and his family up for a lifelong term, not at a certain church building or...
Dr. Toddy Holeman |
December 18, 2019 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Thrive in 5
Five Keys to Good Conflict Management Relational conflict is an inevitable result of family life, including clergy families, but it can have positive effects in our relationships — provided it is managed well. Wise conflict management creates relationship...
Gabriela Akpaca |
December 17, 2019 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Pastor Spouse Connection Thriving Clergy
Rev. Dan Jones shares his experience with church transitions If Rev. Dan Jones has learned one thing in 17 years of ministry, it is how to live within tension. Tension – between visions, theological views and practices – seems to come with the pastoral vocation,...
Gabriela Akpaca |
December 13, 2019 |
Blog Education & Clergy Development Pastor Spouse Connection Thriving Clergy
It started with a 7-by-4-foot wooden table with bench seats placed in the middle of a neighborhood in Benton Harbor, Michigan, by an ordained pastor who worked at an outdoor gear shop. On summer days, girls and boys filled the benches to eat grilled hot dogs and...
