Two-Minute Tuesday: Doing Hard Things

I’m not a big fan of doing difficult things. If I have to, I usually can, but I like to know how long I’ll have to do them.

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Separation of Church and Social Media

BySteven Martin October 25, 2021December 7, 2021

This week Curtis Ramsey-Lucas published a provocative article in The Christian Citizen asking important questions about Facebook’s outreach to faith leaders. He begins: This summer, Elizabeth Dias, who covers faith and politics for the New York Times, wrote an article titled “Facebook’s Next Target: The Religious Experience.” Published July 25, it chronicled Facebook’s efforts to partner with…

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Online Church, Peloton, and the Wilderness

BySteven Martin February 15, 2021February 15, 2021

Recently an article was published by the Washington Post which examined the ways tech and spirituality are intersecting these days, specifically, a debate that’s emerging about the role Peloton is playing in the field. It was a terrific jumping-off poin…

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Leadership in Crisis Times

BySteven Martin September 21, 2020

Rev. Jake Morrill is in his 18th year as Lead Minister of a thriving congregation in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He’s also a non-profit executive director, a therapist, and a clergy coach, anchored in Bowen Family Systems Theory. He teaches systems thinking th…

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REPLAY:Hot Metal Bridge to Zoom

BySteven Martin October 28, 2020

You might have missed our inaugural episode, so I’m reposting today. I interview Tom Cox, interim pastor of Hot Metal Bridge, a faith community in downtown Pittsburgh. Tom describes this amazing ministry and its move toward holding worship services via…

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Dispatches From an Impossible Ministry Situation

BySteven Martin February 8, 2021February 11, 2021

I interviewed Valerie Ohle a few months ago. She had been given an impossible assignment: start a new church during a pandemic. An online church, based in a rural community. Oh, and did I mention that she’s bivocational? She’s a full-time paralegal a…

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Keeping the Human Element

BySteven Martin September 1, 2020

Rev. Kerra English is a half-time pastor near Richmond, Virginia, and works hard to keep a personal connection to her congregation. Sure, it’s easy to see how many people are watching your online services, but who are they, exactly?