evangelism

Birth Order Bingo

August 23, 2011 By Erin Wathen 4 Comments

We've all heard the rumor that first children are more successful. Well, it's not a rumor. More recently, I heard it supported by scientific evidence. First-borns get more alone time with their parents, an uninterrupted infancy, mom's more likely to breastfeed before there are multiple kids to juggle, dad's got more time to listen to Focus on the Family (ok, i made that one up because i always get lots of hits when i tag j.d...) In any case, you've probably heard all this. It's not a new … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Marriage and Family, Uncategorized Tagged With: arizona, birth order, children, christianity, church, community, desert, development, disciples of christ, discipleship, discipline, evangelism, faith, family, fisher price, focous on the family, gifts, grace, hope, hospitality, james dobson, Jesus, joy, kids, ministry, neighbor, neighborhood, parenting, play, progressive christianity, relationships, siblings, simplicity, spirituality, talents, toys, vocation, west, wilderness, work, worship 4 Comments

The Greatest Sweepstakes EVER

August 22, 2011 By Erin Wathen 4 Comments

My aunt has won vehicles in sweepstakes contests. Not once. Not twice. But THREE TIMES. Impossibly good luck? Maybe that too. But mostly, it's because of the sheer volume of entries. Filling out those forms is how she unwinds. She doesn't knit or watch junk tv or go on frivilous shopping errands. She does plenty of worthwhile things in her very full and busy life, like granparenting and teaching nursing students and being a full-time minister's wife, just to name a few. But when she has … [Read more...]

Filed Under: faith and community, Uncategorized Tagged With: arizona, barney stinson, christianity, church, community, connect, contests, desert, disciples of christ, discipleship, discipline, evangelism, faith, family, gifts, grace, grey's anatomy, hope, hospitality, how i met your mother, Jesus, joy, mark sloan, marshall erickson, ministry, neighbor, neighborhood, phoenix, prizes, progressive christianity, relationships, simplicity, spirituality, stewardship, sweepstakes, vocation, west, worship 4 Comments

Too Marvelous For Me

August 20, 2011 By Erin Wathen Leave a Comment

On occasion, it becomes necessary to bring one's children to one's office. I may not be the most organized person in the world. I may not be a compulsive cleaner. But the calamity that ensues any time i bring my kids to work for a few minutes...let's just say, it makes the rest of my life look orderly to a fault. For every 15 minutes that I spend making a few quick phone calls, gathering some reading to do at home, or answering emails--it takes an hour to clean up the next day. Sometimes, I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: faith and community, Marriage and Family, Uncategorized Tagged With: arizona, children, christianity, church, community, connect, desert, disciples of christ, discipleship, discipline, evangelism, faith, family, gifts, grace, hope, hospitality, Jesus, joy, kids, ministry, parenting, peace, phoenix, progressive christianity, relationships, sabbath, simplicity, spirituality, stewardship, vocation, west, work, worship Leave a Comment

A Little Bit Red…

August 11, 2011 By Erin Wathen 1 Comment

"Why is it that every time we go to southern California, we are absolutely the Clampets?!" A personal favorite Bartlett-ism from The West Wing gospel files. President Bartlett and his staff have travelled to California, where they need to really impress some people who could help them get re-elected, and calimity ensues. Ultimately, his personal aid and his White House Communications Director get into a bar fight and wind up in jail. Thinking of that moment as I wonder: Why is it that, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: faith and community Tagged With: agolia moore, alabama, Appalachia, arizona, christianity, church, community, connect, disciples of christ, discipleship, evangelism, faith, family, grace, hope, hospitality, jed bartlett, Jesus, joy, kentucky, ministry, mississippi squirrel revival, mobile county, neighbor, new welcome baptist church, Pentecost, phoenix, progressive christianity, ray stevens, redneck, relationships, rev. darryl riley, simone moore, simplicity, southern, spirituality, st. elmo community, toby ziegler, west, west wing, work, worship 1 Comment

There is No One Like Our God

August 10, 2011 By Erin Wathen 13 Comments

There is no "I" in Christian. Oh, wait... I've finally figured it out. Why I can't stand Christian radio. For years, it's been driving me bananas, and I don't even listen to it enough to make a fair justification of why. I keep thinking maybe I've judged the whole industry unfairly. Kind of like cauliflower. Every now and then I figure, "I'm a grown up now, I should like this..." So I give it another bite--another 30 seconds or so of my listening time... After all, I like to know how … [Read more...]

Filed Under: faith and community, Spirituality in Culture, Uncategorized Tagged With: arizona, bluetree, chris tomlin, christian radio, christianity, church, community, connect, conservative radio, contemporary christian music, disciples of christ, discipleship, dr dobson, dr laura, evangelism, faith, family, focus on the family, god of this city, grace, hope, hospitality, james dobson, Jesus, joy, ministry, parenting, phoenix, praise and worship, praise and worship music, progressive christianity, relationships, simplicity, spirituality, stewardship, talents, vocation, work, worship 13 Comments

Muffin Moment: A Mean Mom and Minister

August 8, 2011 By Erin Wathen 5 Comments

I gave her 3 chances. I am not a mean mom. 3 chances to help me make muffins without sticking her hand in the bowl of flour and sugar. After the third, she was not allowed to help me anymore. Kicking screaming meltdown ensued. Morning—day OFF morning—disrupted. Was it worth it? Thing is, it was not about the muffin mess. I don’t mind cleaning a little flour off the counter. But after 3 times, she was testing. And the answer to that test is, if you do something mom or dad says not to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: faith and community, Marriage and Family, Uncategorized Tagged With: arizona, bailey edwards nelson, baking, baptist, baptist church, christianity, church, community, connect, cooking, discernment, disciples of christ, discipleship, discipline, disfellowship, evangelism, faith, family, flat rock baptist church, furman university, gifts, grace, hope, Jesus, joy, learning, mcafee school of theology, ministry, muffins, neighbor, north carolina, north carolina baptist assocation, parenting, peace, phoenix, progressive christianity, relationships, simplicity, spirituality, stewardship, surrey baptist assocation, talents, vocation, worship 5 Comments

Nice Enough

August 3, 2011 By Erin Wathen 2 Comments

Nice Enough… I moved last month. If you haven’t seen a blog post about the spiritual exercise of moving , or the theological value of letting some things go, blah blah blah, it’s because I’ve been too overwhelmed to write anything. Moving on… we love our new house, and its wilderness views. (I’ll post pics soon). Bad news: the neighbors. To be fair, I’ve only met two of them. One was nice enough, but did not seem at all interested knowing the people next door to her. I went … [Read more...]

Filed Under: faith and community Tagged With: arizona, christianity, church, coming out, community, connect, desert, disciples of christ, discipleship, evangelism, faith, family, grace, hope, hospitality, Jesus, joy, mainline christianity, ministry, mission statement, neighbor, neighborhood, OnA, open and affirming, progressive christianity, relationships, simplicity, spirituality, stewardship, talents, vision, vocation, west, wilderness, work, worship 2 Comments

Wherein I Decline to Support Cancer

June 20, 2011 By Erin Wathen 2 Comments

So, after i wrote a lovely blog post about neighborhood evangelism (See post http://irreverin.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/do-i-have-something-in-my-teeth/) i went to the grocery store across the street to pick up lunch. The same store where i go for intentional people-watching, neighbor-meeting and stranger greeting. I walked in all open to the spirit--then i promplty left, annoyed at the one person who tried to speak to me. Here's why. When i walked in the door, she was set up at a folding … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Being a Person, faith and community, Uncategorized Tagged With: christianity, church, community, evangelism, faith, faithful giving, generosity, good news, gospel, neighborhood ministry, prostate cancer, Safeway, solicitation, spirituality, stewardship, sustainable ministry, transformation 2 Comments

An Abundance of Sunshine

June 15, 2011 By Erin Wathen 2 Comments

My husband and i were visiting Phoenix for the first time. It was exactly 5 years ago this month, and i came to town to interview with the Foothills search committee. They flew him out too, which told me a couple of things about this church, where i am still blessed to serve. 1--they were pretty interested in calling me as their pastor, based on the phone interview. 2--they were ready to start making some concrete decisions and get moving toward their future. 3--they understood that my spouse … [Read more...]

Filed Under: desert life, Marriage and Family, Uncategorized Tagged With: abundance, arizona, christianity, church, community, desert, disciples of christ, evangelism, family, hope, marriage, nature, phoenix, spirituality, sunrise, sunshine, wilderness 2 Comments

Trash Day Discipleship

October 14, 2009 By Erin Wathen Leave a Comment

Try this: put your trash bins out on the wrong day, and see how many of your neighbors follow suit. You will be amazed. People are looking for leadership and direction all the time, and they don't even have to know you well (or at all) to try what you are doing. The simple presence of your bins out on the curb suggests that, perhaps tomorrow is trash day after all. Rather than trusting their own experience, or the neighborhood newsletter, many will simply put theirs out just in case. They … [Read more...]

Filed Under: desert life, faith and community, Uncategorized Tagged With: community, discipleship, evangelism, joy, neighbor, neighborhood, peac, phoenix, spirituality, trend, west Leave a Comment

Birth Order Bingo

The Greatest Sweepstakes EVER

Too Marvelous For Me

A Little Bit Red…

There is No One Like Our God

Muffin Moment: A Mean Mom and Minister

Nice Enough

Wherein I Decline to Support Cancer

An Abundance of Sunshine

Trash Day Discipleship

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