Michelle Snyder ’09 is a church consultant and a national leader in suicide prevention training for faith communities. In this post, she shares about her journey from “ministering” to the point of self-neglect to finding theological grounding and healing that enabled her to serve others with energy, joy, and unimaginable impact in faith communities around…
Category: Ministry
Christian Mission: Past Treasures, Future Hopes
Why would the work of Dr. Kenneth Bailey ’55, who died nearly 10 years ago and retired 20 years earlier, matter today? The title of this year’s W. Don McClure Lecture, “The Life and Thought of Presbyterian Missionary and New Testament Scholar Kenneth E. Bailey,” points to two answers. As a scholar, Bailey produced a…
Sourcing and Sustaining Lay Leadership
Since graduating from seminary in 2011, one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced as the pastor of a small, rural congregation is recruiting, retaining, and replacing leaders within the church. At Nixon United Methodist Church, we have a practice of rotating new leaders out of leadership after three years. This policy has been challenging to…