“practicing what we preach” is a lot easier said than done! like most everyone, i’d rather preach it than practice it. it’s fun to talk about community, to dream about community, to advocate for community. and to actually live it is a whole different story. i am very grateful to live in a community that […]
Read Moredreamers, lovers, and status-quo rockers
this post is part of the july synchroblog – a bunch of bloggers writing on the same topic. this month is centered on the wild goose festival, a justice-arts-spirituality festival held the last week of june in north carolina. some of us weren’t able to make it to the festival (i would have loved to […]
Read Morethe practice of the better
“the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better” – richard rohr * * * * * i had an interesting conversation with a friend this past week who didn’t really know my story of the past 7+ years of the ups of working on a big church staff to the downs […]
Read More5 years. 5 years? 5 years!
this past weekend the refuge celebrated our 5 year birthday. it’s really hard to believe that over 5 years have really passed. when we first started, as so many of you know, we were beaten & bloody, armed only with some dreams for “what could be” and coming out of a rough experience from serving […]
Read Moredescent.
“…the society in which we live suggests in countless ways that the way to go is up. making it to the top, entering the limelight, breaking the record – that’s what draws attention, gets us on the front page of the newspaper, and offers us the rewards of money and fame. the way of Jesus […]
Read Morecross-gender friendships
if you’ve been reading here for a while you know i am extremely passionate about cross-gender friendships and men and women learning how to be with each other, side by side, as friends– leading, loving, learning, growing, giving, practicing, sharing, connecting as equals. we have terrible models for this, not only “in the church” but […]
Read Moreopen.
this post is part of february’s synchroblog – a bunch of bloggers writing on the same topic at the same time. this month’s topic is creativity & christianity. check out the links at the bottom of this post; they are a great mix of different voices. i’ll add more links as they come in today. […]
Read Morewhat a lot of my missional-in-the-trenches-friends have in common
i’ve been walking a lot lately. before my surgery it was the one thing that helped best with my pain and after surgery it is part of my daily re-hab & makes me the happiest. at first i had to have friends go with me but now i can walk by myself (if someone can […]
Read Moresitting at the rickety-card-table-in-the-family-room for thanksgiving dinner
this part of the monthly synchroblog i enjoy being a part of, bloggers writing on the same topic on the same day. november’s is a topic near & dear to my heart, seeing through the eyes of the marginalized. i encourage you to check out some of the other writers who participated, the link list […]
Read Morebeing known for love
“they will know we are christians by our love, by our love. they will know we are christians by our love.” – peter scholtes when we started the refuge 4 1/2 years ago we said that we never wanted people to come to the refuge for the “great teaching, worship, or kids program.” i am […]
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