About as long as I can remember, the fall, winter and spring seasons have been punctuated by fairly predictable bouts of bronchitis/sinus infections, usually at least two doozies a year. This week, like clockwork, a sinus infection ambushed me, and even the twice-a-day doses of unpleasant antibiotics didn’t work much magic on the misery. When my kids were little and I was sick, I would run from activity to activity with them, only slowing down if I was running a... Read more

“They’re all here to hear John Ortberg, don’t you think?” a first-time attendee at this morning’s Catalyst Lake County “Bonfire” gathering wondered aloud. Warm conversation filled the room as 400+ congregational leaders, community builders, non-profit heads and church champions representing over 75 churches from Lake County, IL (and beyond) spent the morning talking, laughing, weeping, schmoozing, worshiping and praying together.  Hearing a well-known speaker like Ortberg was definitely a draw for some. But for many others, simply discovering the joy... Read more

The recent news that a child’s death has been blamed on the parents’ adherence to the extreme fundy teachings of Michael and Debi Pearl made me think about the bombastic, insistent voices claiming to offer the perfect formula for not only raising children, but living a godly life. (As if a holy life was a recipe!) Voices of folks like Bill Gothard, Jonathan Lindvall and the Pearls dominated the home school movement in the `90’s when we began home schooling.... Read more

When I first came to faith in Christ, Bible study tools were like comprehension drills: “For God so ____ the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Though they were the spiritual equivalent of busywork, like those SRA boxes full of multi-colored reading comprehension cards tucked in the corners of 1960’s elementary-school classrooms, the fill-in-the-blanks books did a good job helping to acquaint me... Read more

My dear friend and long-time prayer partner Meg and I both kept expressing the same thought to one another: “I could really use a silent retreat.” The thought of an uninterrupted block of time to simply listen to the Lord, to rest, to soak in the Word, to rest, to unplug, to rest.. Well, you get the idea. We’d always imagined ministering together someday – she’s a woman of the Word and an amazing contemplative musician. But last fall, we... Read more

Julie Ferwerda, the author of One Million Arrows: Raising Your Children To Change The World (Winepress Publishing, 2009), wants to inspire you to hit the parenting bulls’ eye as you raise your children to be spiritual champions. Motivated by both the work and message of her mentor, M.A. Thomas, and her deep desire to see her teen children take ownership of their faith, Ferwerda pulled together a self-published book filled with stories designed to motivate parents to aim at a... Read more

The Jewish holiday of Purim takes place this weekend. The holiday is a miraculous story of survival in the face of super-size, demonic anti-Semitism. The book of Esther never once mentions God’s Name, yet His unseen hand is visible in every moment of this drama: “The story is about the Jewish people in Persia during the reign of Xerxes (486-465 B.C.). The ultra-short version of the story is as follows: An evil man named Haman hates the Jews, and manipulates... Read more

Yes, it’s a picture of shelves full of Tylenol and some of Tylenol’s pain reliever cousins.  Go ahead and ask the burning question: “Why do you have this picture on your blog, Michelle?”  To answer your burning question, I have to give a bit of backstory. A year ago, I had a job that required me to go sit in an office each day. Like all jobs, it had great parts (the students with whom I worked) and some not-so-great... Read more

We are hungry people. Author Chris Tomlinson explores the contours of these hungers in a pithy, engaging 218-page read entitled Crave: Wanting So Much More of God (Harvest House). Each of the book’s 15 short chapters tackles a different desire within us ranging from comfort to purpose to significance. His confessional style gently coaxes readers’ longings into the light. Here, he discusses the slow “ah ha!” that dawned on him as he learned to quit making prayer into a Job:... Read more

The pastor’s wife leads the worship ministry at their small congregation. Or…the pastor’s son-in-law becomes the youth minister. It’s only natural that family members serve together at a local congregation, isn’t it? Even some of Jesus’ first disciples were brothers, right? The ideal is that families share an active, engaged faith. Wouldn’t the logical conclusion of this shared faith be shared ministry? Yes. And no. Did you know that the word nepotism has its roots in medieval church practice? One... Read more