Here’s Why I Leave the Sanctuary When the Sermon Starts
Every Sunday morning when the sermon begins, I duck out of the sanctuary, walk down the hall to the nursery, and start singing.
Ministry
Welcoming People with Disabilities in Church Music Ministry, with Pastor Lisa Heffernan, on Music and the Church Ep. 35
We believe that people all people are made in the image of God. Full stop. So, when we are talking about how to make our churches more inclusive, we aren’t talking about welcoming people even though they have disabilities (or even though they are children, as we talked about in last month’s episode). The goal …
How to Develop a 5-Year Ministry Plan (And Why You Should)
I’m in a new-to-me place: a full-time ministry position with a reasonable expectation of being here for many years. Of course only God knows the future, but with past positions, I knew I would probably move for my husband’s job after a year or two. But with this job, there’s no move on the horizon, …
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Setting Goals When Your Personal and Professional Identities Overlap
I have a really hard time distinguishing between my professional and personal goals. That’s because my professional goals almost always spring from who I am as a person. Lucky me, for sure, but it’s not always a good thing to have overlapping goals.
“A Noisy Church Is a Living Church” with Anita Smallin, on Music and the Church Ep. 34
Children and the church. Children in the church. It’s complicated, especially with music in the mix. Join Anita Smallin and me as we discuss how to welcome our littlest sisters and brothers in worship services.
How to Use Your Annual Review and Report to Evaluate Your Ministry Program
Is your annual report due soon? Mine was due today, so I just spent some time thinking about the past months and summarizing the music ministry’s growth and direction for the congregation I serve. I also had an annual review a few months ago. Both my report and review were a bit different because I …
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The new year’s resolution that changed my life and made me not a crazy person (plus a goal-setting template)
Spoiler: I made sleep my #1 priority. ALSO if you aren’t interested in sleep, there’s a cool goal-setting template at the end of this post. So: sleep. It’s my #1. Not God. Not family. Not job. Nope: sleep is #1. Simple as that. And yet, not so simple.
Theme Your Days for More Deep Work and Less Stress
Dear Creatives and other people with flexible schedules: I used to work on a lot of different things every day. I would work on my podcast, and my music, and send emails and and and…all on the same day. Oh and that book that I was “writing”? Ha. Yeah, that never got my attention. But …
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I switched to a 6 week work cycle, and I’m never going back
Earlier this year I switched to a 6 week work cycle. Here’s what it is: 6 weeks of concentrated work on a handful of goals/projects, then 2 weeks of buffer time to tie up loose ends, rest, and plan the next cycle. When I finished the cycle, I realized something had fundamentally shifted in my …
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Just a Job? Job Versus Ministry When You Work for a Church But Aren’t Ordained, on Music and the Church Ep. 30
What’s the difference between ministry and a job when your income comes from a church but you’re not a pastor? What is your vocation and calling? In this week’s podcast episode, church musician Crawford Wiley and I discuss how our personal identities align with our ministry in the church. Neither of us is a pastor, …