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Youth group…the very words strike fear into my heart. As a teenager, I never loved youth group and actually opted myself out of normally scheduled youth events to help with children and music ministries instead. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my leaders or even the other kids. I just never understood other teens. After […]
Interview questions: Where did you grow up? How did where you grew up contribute to preparing you for life in small-town pastoral ministry? I grew up in Brazil as a Missionary Kid/Pastor’s Kid. As a missionary family, we ministered in settings from small churches in a large city, to a larger church in a smaller […]
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-24 Of all of the fruits listed in these verses joy is consistently the most elusive. We often hear the correct and encouraging phrase, “Choose joy!” Although this idea of […]
Where did you grow up? How did where you grew up contribute to preparing you for life in small-town pastoral ministry My earliest memories are in our home in the Philippine Islands where my parents were missionaries for eight years. After that my dad went into the pastorate where I observed first hand what was […]
Have you ever noticed how many times trees are mentioned in the Bible? BibleGateway brings up 269 references for the word tree. (Don’t worry. I’ll just mention a few.) Trees figured prominently in Creation as God made trees bearing fruit and seed for future trees. Genesis 2:9 states that “out of the ground the Lord God made […]
Lace up your gym shoes, grab your water bottle, and let’s go! It’s time to work out! For the last two years of our Flowers blog we’ve been talking a lot about LOVE and JOY. Now it’s time to walk the talk. You can find out more about our Summer Devotional by clicking here. Go […]
Interview questions: Where did you grow up? How did where you grew up contribute to preparing you for life in small-town pastoral ministry? I grew up in a suburb of Denver, Colorado and really was a “city girl.” My sole claim to “rural” experience was a high school boyfriend who was from a small […]
“…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) Everyone always told me that when you hold your newborn in your arms for the first […]
Mel Boyle is a member of our Flowers Board of Reference. Interview questions: Where did you grow up? How did where you grew up contribute to preparing you for life in small-town pastoral ministry? I grew up on a farm outside of Grand Forks, ND, so I grew up in a rural context. I was […]
Hebrews 10:23-25 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” […]
