Back in December, I spent almost an hour on the phone explaining to our insurance carrier what we do.  I explained that we coach, train and support residents who want to be agents of change in their community.  I explained that the “work” the leaders do is “theirs” and not...

After publicly outing myself as a pastor in hiding, I have received an outpouring of support as well as concern.  What would it look like for me to take off the Executive Director hat and put on a Pastor hat?  What in my work would change? The truth is absolutely nothing would change in my...

In a comment to my post, “Is the Church Relevant?”  Karen Muntzing asks a great question: “Serving in a seeker sensitive church provides challenges to my understanding of the gospel, which tends to look more like the island of misfit toys. How do we form communities of authenticity and...

John Perkins’ book, Beyond Charity, was my first exposure to Christian community development.  It became the text we used in our Unity Works training and was the foundation for the emphasis placed on “indigenous leadership development” that is core to our ministry at Embrace Richmond....

Over the past few months, I have been writing a series of blog posts about Northminister Church.  This series grew out of a post I wrote titled, “A Search for Kingdom Churches.” My definition of a Kingdom Churches are churches that: Seek to release their people and resources out into...

As I shared in my post “A Unifying Question”, I believe unity requires shared mission not a shared belief system .  Once we agree on our shared mission, in the case of Embrace Richmond that mission is strengthening impoverished communities.  The more challenging question becomes...