Book reviews

Due to declining membership and budget deficits, churches are switching to part-time clergy. This book provides a new model where congregations can flourish and thrive with part-time clergy.

“Wait. THAT’S what this was about? I did NOT get that,” were the words out of my 21 year old daughter’s mouth when she and I were discussing my feelings about My Guncle and Me by Jonathan Merritt. She is an education major and regularly pores through my stacks to find...

Finding resources to use with teens is challenging. Finding resources that are theologically sound is tricky. Finding resources to use with leaders who don’t teach full time is a tall order. Finding resources that are engaging and meaty is not easy. Finding resources...

I am probably not the intended audience of Hear Our Prayer; Prayers of the People for the Revised Common Lectionary by Jon White and Lisa Graves. I’m not someone who leads corporate worship. I’m not someone who gets called into rooms pregnant with conflict and in need...

I think everyone knows my deep affection for and constant use of Common Prayer for Children and Families. (TL;DR version: I found it when cleaning out my new office last summer. It’s from 2019 and couldn’t believe that I had never seen it before that day.) I get a...

I find it ironic that adults will often comment that they don’t know how to pray when just about every young child I know will pray with the most beautiful authenticity. I am always honored when I get to pray alongside them, because they enrich my prayer life...

My big sister has Down Syndrome. My early years were immersed in the world of her therapies and classes through early intervention, which was a brand-new thing in the late 70s. I never knew that other families did NOT live lives regulated by bus schedules, push-in...

For the past twenty years, you will find me on a couch, in a kid’s bed, or even in a tent in my backyard reading with children before bedtime. We’ve cycled through so many wonderful stories, devotionals, and children’s Bibles that I have bookshelves in every room in...

I have hit that part of human development where stretching is a necessity for me to be able to maintain my posture, balance, and ability to keep up with my children. When I began this practice, I used the wonderful internet to get me started, but I needed extra help,...