How does the majority/minority dynamic affect our role as pastors and counselors? My thoughts below are focused on the context of ethnicity, but they could equally be applied to other situations—for example, where older persons receive ministry from younger counselors or pastors or single people are receiving care in a context where most people in the community are married. Continue Reading →
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I was looking at images of Sigmund Freud’s office recently—the “treatment room,” as he called it—where Freud conducted his psychoanalysis. The iconic photos show a parlor room in his house with the famous couch where patients would recline to receive therapy. Freud’s chair sits catty-cornered from the head of the couch, facing toward the opposite side of the room from where the patient faced. This arrangement, where the patient is staring upward into space and being guided by the disembodied voice of the therapist, was carefully arranged by Freud to establish the spatial experience he desired for his treatment goals. It made me step back and think about my own “treatment room.” How is my primary counseling space set up to fit my counseling goals? How is yours? Continue Reading →
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I co-host a podcast with a friend and fellow pastor. JT is a thirty-year-old African American brother in his first five years of pastoral ministry. I’m a 64-year-old white man beginning my fourth decade in ministry. The podcast is called “That Don’t Fit.” We chose the name because our purpose is to explore commonalities and differences across ethnic and generational lines. In May 2021, we did an episode on the place of friendship in our lives. We spent some time talking about friendships in our seasons of life. Continue Reading →
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Why not gamble as a Christian? What we really need, in this day and age where most gambling is legal and doesn’t carry a cultural stigma, is a reason from the Bible to consider not gambling. I believe that reason can be drawn from the eighth commandment and its promotion of equity. Continue Reading →
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This past summer our church had a sermon series on the Ten Commandments. Each week I was freshly reminded of God’s commitment to holiness in his people and, just as importantly, the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have Savior who has fulfilled the law for us, provides ample grace to live in obedience to God’s law and merciful forgiveness when we don’t. But if I’m totally honest, most weeks during the series I felt like the Lord was pointing out some misdemeanors, but no felony lawbreaking. Until the last message on the Tenth Commandment. “You Shall Not Covet”. Guilty on all counts! Continue Reading →
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