For Lent a few years ago, I gave up the other. It was a ridiculously messy process in which I tried, for 40 days, to see myself as part of a larger whole and to strike second and third person pronouns from my v...

There are millions of refugees in the world with nowhere to go. OneLife Matters, under the umbrella of the International Mission Board, recognizes the significance of this travesty, but also sees the enormous p...

We make choices every day that have small and large impacts on the world around us. Most of us, if we're honest, live lives that lack critical thinking or space for helpful reflection. We live lives that are tr...

Winter was brutal in Nashville this year. The cold was colder and longer than usual and had our whole town crying, "Uncle!" by mid-March. Spring never has been such a reprieve; and while there were multiple day...

Teenage identity is wonderful, isn't it? Depending on the context, a teenager who attends our programming is a student, a child, a sibling, a friend, a girlfriend/boyfriend, and so much more. You know all about...

"May people tell of Your wondrous deeds" (Ps. 75:1).If there is one thing teenagers need in their lives, it is praise. Everyone needs a pat on the back, a good word, an accolade from time to time. For this...

"The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple" (Ps. 119:130, ESV).Within this single verse lies a proleptic power that can transform generations of human beings, birth new cul...

I remember my first days as a girl's minister. It was a struggle at first. I had leaders clamoring for a minute of my time so they could point out the broken girls who really needed mentoring. Other leaders wer...

Nobody wants to be that guy. That guy is the one who blurts out a spoiler to a movie you haven't seen. She (Yes, that guy can be a male or female.) is the Debbie Downer who tells you, "Sure you won a vacation f...

"Out of the overflow of the heart, the fingers tweet" (Matt. 12:34, paraphrased).I remember in the Democratic primary when Bill Clinton was asked if he'd ever tried marijuana. His response is the now very memor...