In upstate NY there is a beautiful region for climbing called “The Gunks”. They are one of America’s premier climbing areas. It’s just minutes from New Paltz, a funky college town, and 85 miles from New York City. Climbing here is characterized by huge rock roofs that shoot over the trails, big traverses, and waterfalls peppered throughout the route. Thinking …
The V3 Movement is pleased to host this guest blog from our Praxis 2023 Partner, Seminary Now. Thank you for your support! I spent the first 20 years of my pastoral journey insisting I did not need bible college, seminary,or any formal training in theology. As far as I was concerned, I went to the seminary of hardknocks, where I …
I officially started my new call as the head pastor on July 1st, 2022. I am all official now, reverend and everything. It has been a really long road for me to get to where I am and I am so thankful to be here. Overall, the people have been extremely welcoming; excited, even, to have someone say “yes” to …
How have church gatherings changed as a result of the global pandemic? I am making an assumption here, of course, that your community has changed in some manner in an effort to connect to the needs of marginalized people, particularly the disabled/immunocompromised community (a post for another time). But most of us have not recovered the “old normal” entirely. Many …
The well-known idiom, “if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door” is often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. What he actually said was, “If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will …
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother …
Purpose of Community When we consider community, what are some things that come to mind in terms of the purpose of community? While many of us can think of the benefits of community in both providing a sense of belonging and a sense of purpose within a neighborhood and actual place, the unspoken hardship is that, most of us, if …
Our anxiety muscles have grown. We were told to be anxious. We were told that this anxiety should drive our behaviour, and that our lives depended on it. This behaviour created physical space and safety, which in itself was necessary. But was there another spirit by which we could have achieved that? Could we not have been driven by courage? …
In times where the “cancel culture” goes both directions (a cultural reaction of taking offense and rejecting someone due to their biases and assertions), it takes maturity to listen with hope, love, and faith. We listen with hope knowing the Redeemer. We listen with love for our neighbor. We listen with faith that God will give us wise, gentle, humble, …
Most of us have developed a level of proficiency for “Zoom church” and its many lacking facets. To what degree has moving online been helpful to your church? In what ways has it been a hindrance? These pandemic times have made many leaders re-think prior assumptions surrounding the online church. I would certainly count myself as one. Incarnation Church planters …