Lee Ann M. Pomrenke

This pandemic is definitely an era I am tempted to just keep my head down and “get through” by running on autopilot. This fall I felt like I was in near-constant motion to get through the pattern of every week: church communications, distance learning for the kids, editing, e-mailing, staff meeting, sermon prep and recording,… Continue reading Turning Off Autopilot: More Than Just Getting Through It

I used to believe that quality creative writing required empty time and space for my ideas to percolate. Sermons are a primary example of this for me. I tend to get irritable the day before I want to have a draft done if it is not yet in hand, unable to fully focus on anything… Continue reading Creating without Getting Away

Late last spring I wrote about 3 values for liminal times for congregations, based on my experience as an intentional interim pastor. I was trying to frame the stressful adaptation to the pandemic as an opportunity for congregations to learn and grow. Now emerging from the post-Christmas stupor, we are most certainly tired of stretching… Continue reading The Freedom of an Interim Leader

In the midst of frequent cries of “this is not what I trained for!” from church leaders during this pandemic, I stepped into one role that I must have been preparing for since ordination. Last May I began to work as a very part-time contractor for Luther Seminary’s Faith+Lead, the separate but related continuing education… Continue reading The Joy of Asking Others to Write

It is awfully difficult to be a person of faith in isolation. There are ascetics who have done it, but it is such a challenge that they are definitely the exception, not the norm. For the vast majority of us, a faith community is a core part of the life of faith. We most often… Continue reading My Faith (Writing) Community

In pre-pandemic times I knew how to answer the question, “But if you're always leading church services, when do you worship?” I encounter the Holy Spirit in the preparation of the sermon, and even sometimes in the prayers and hymn selection. The insight surprises me every time, like a little awakening, and I am grateful… Continue reading This Is Not Worship At Its Best For Preachers Either

Jen Hackbarth (Lutheran)Meta Herrick Carlson (Lutheran)Hannah Tucker-Flarity (Christian)Molly Phinney Baskette (United Church of Christ)Kathryn Campbell (Presbyterian)Angela Denker (Lutheran)Tiffany McDonald (United Methodist)Aimee Grantham Baxter (United Methodist)Sarah Griffith Lund (United Church of Christ)Rosalind Hughes (Episcopal)Mindi Mitchell (Baptist)Laura Stephens-Reed (Baptist)Jealaine Marple (Lutheran)Elsa Anders Cook (United Church of Christ)Grace P. Burson (Episcopal/Anglican)Kimberly Knowle-Zeller (Lutheran)

Guest writer: Grace Pritchard Burson is an Episcopal priest and single mom currently serving the Anglican Church of All Saints by the Lake in Dorval, Quebec. She is also a gardener, writer, and certified birth doula. Twelve years ago on Ash Wednesday, I was sitting in the pediatric intensive care unit of Yale New Haven… Continue reading Embodied Blog Tour – Guest Post #2

Guest writer: The Rev. Dr. Kathryn Nichols Campbell is the pastor of Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Greenboro, North Carolina. I am a lot of things: a child of God, daughter, sister, friend, wife, and now mother. My journey into motherhood isn't unique, I'm sure, but isn't typical. Our daughter was born in 2012 and we… Continue reading Embodied Blog Tour – Guest Post