Archive for 2014
How Silently, How Silently, The Wondrous Gift is Given
Christmas Eve: Isaiah 9:2-7 Psalm 96 Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-14 (15-20) Christmas Day: Isaiah 52:7-10 Psalm 98 Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12) John 1:1-14 Click for complete Advent calendar (Cycle B) and guidance on using the lectionary. “Christ is born to us today, in order that he might appear to the whole world through us.” -Thomas Merton…
Read MoreWhat does transforming leadership look like for Pastor Prince Rivers?
Note: What is the impact of the Transforming Center in the lives of leaders? Prince Rivers, Senior Pastor at United Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, reflects on his Transforming Community® experience. I have been a pastor for 15 years. Most pastors spend the majority of their time pouring out without ever having anyone pour into them. The Transforming Community experience has…
Read More5 Christmas Gift Ideas for the people you love
Looking for something a bit unique for a special Christmas gift? Something you can’t buy anywhere else? This Christmas celebrate the coming of our Lord with some of these gift ideas from Transforming Resources. Most are exclusively available from the Transforming Center. Stocking stuffer – Christmastide: Music in Solitude CD. Our newest CD is a perfect companion…
Read MoreAdvent – An Invitation to Wait on God
Lectionary readings for the first Sunday of Advent (Cycle B). Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37 Click for complete Advent calendar (Cycle B) and guidance on using the lectionary. “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down!”—Isaiah 64:1 Waiting is one of God’s immensely sweeping invitations. To wait expectantly…
Read MoreA Different Kind of Calendar
“When we submit our lives to what we read in Scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.” – Eugene Peterson I can still remember the first time I heard…
Read MoreQ&A with Ruth About New Book Life Together in Christ
Why are community and spiritual transformation two of the most over-promised and under-delivered aspects of the church today? Ruth Haley Barton: When I hear people speak in glowing terms about their vision for community, I have my doubts. When they tell me about painful things that have happened to them in community, I am never surprised.…
Read MoreWith Gratitude for Pastors Everywhere
“On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.” Psalm 138:3 Several years ago I went to a particularly difficult memorial service with my daughter, Haley. It was the funeral for one of her friends from high school who died in a complicated way from causes that were not entirely…
Read MoreWho’s Your Training Partner?
I changed out of my dress slacks and button-down into spandex tri-shorts and my favorite red technical shirt as slowly as I could. It had been a long day at the office with several meetings and requests for assistance. I knew what was ahead so I was in no hurry. Most days I looked forward…
Read MoreThe Courage to Dream: Celebrating the Vision of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The forces that threaten to negate life must be challenged by courage, which is the power of life to affirm itself in spite of life’s ambiguities. This requires the exercise of a creative will that enables us to hew out a stone of hope from a mountain of despair.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Today marks…
Read MoreLeadership as Intercession Part 3: Entering into the Suffering of God’s People
The rest of our summer eReflections series can be found here: Part 1 and Part 2. “Do not be afraid to suffer.” Rainer Maria Rilke Oftentimes when I am in God’s presence on behalf of others — especially during times of corporate intercession or healing prayer when I am actually looking into the faces of those I am…
Read MoreLeadership as Intercession Part 2 : Present to God on Others’ Behalf
Part 1 of our summer eReflection series can be found here. “I look at God, I look at you, and I keep looking at God.” —Julian of Norwich The practice of intercessory prayer has been a hard one for me to incorporate into my life as a leader because the way it was taught early…
Read MoreLeadership as Intercession Part 1: Key to Surviving and Thriving in Ministry
Editor’s Note: Every summer we offer a special eReflections series that offers the opportunity to reflect on some aspect of leadership that requires a bit more consideration and prayer. Since summer rhythms are often slower and more spacious for pastors and ministry leaders, we thought this would be the perfect time to encourage the practice…
Read MorePursuing God’s Will Together Summit Photos
“What an awesome experience. It was more than I could have imagined, it was life transforming.” “Excellent theological and Biblical foundation laid through the teaching.” We’re thankful for the many pastors, leaders, and teams who participated in the 4th Pursuing God’s Will Together Summit held in Lombard, IL at Northern Seminary. Below are some highlights.…
Read MoreTransformation Before My Eyes
“See, I am doing a new deed, even now it comes to light; can you not see it?” (Isaiah 43:19, The Jerusalem Bible) As a former long-term pastor of a congregation, I had the honor of witnessing occasional spiritual transformation in the lives of congregants. Generally, the changes were more gradual than sudden, more subtle than…
Read MoreWhen Human Wisdom Isn’t Enough: Becoming a Community for Discernment
One great need of the church today is to experience the dynamic leadership of Christ as its Head…This is the most striking implication of one’s belief in the resurrected Lord. If Christ is alive, he desires to lead his church. If Christ desires to lead his church, his will should be sought. If his will…
Read MoreMinistry update and match gift opportunity
Out of 20 pastors who enter ministry, how many will stay in ministry until they retire? As a former pastor I would have guessed possibly 15, but probably 10. I was not prepared for the real answer—1! This sad reality is not so surprising if you listen to the news. Almost monthly we hear about a Christian leader…
Read MoreWhat does transforming leadership look like for Pastor Vincent Rife?
Note: What is the impact of the Transforming Center in the lives of leaders? Vincent Rife, Lead Pastor at Grace Christian Church, shares about corporate leadership discernment (from Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Summit for Leaders) and about his Transforming Community® experience. I never want to be the singular person by which the people are trusting that…
Read MoreA Cruciform Journey into the Cruciform God
A journey into God may be the best way to describe Lent and Holy Week. Of course, it is also the best description of the Christian life. In Paul’s words, we are to “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Eph. 4:15). Peter frames it more boldly; we are…
Read MoreThe Practice of Keeping Vigil During Holy Week
Scripture for Good Friday (April 18, 2014): Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42 “Who can stay awake in this night of God? Who will not be as if paralyzed by it? Christ’s struggle was with God. This was his real agony. He overcame it through his self-surrender. That was his victory, and our hope.” …
Read MoreSeason of Returning: Rain at Winter’s End
“Look, a little cloud no bigger than a person’s hand is rising out of the sea!” —I Kings 18:44 I love the way the rain comes at winter’s end hosing down the sooty earth, washing away the dirt that comes from who-knows-where. Oh God, I need a cleansing rain in my life, sullied as I…
Read MoreSacred Rhythms Now Available in Indonesian
The Transforming Center is thrilled to announce that Dr. Ruth Haley Barton’s book, Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation has recently been translated into its fifth language since being released in 2006 by InterVarsity Press. The book is now available in Indonesian; learn more about how to purchase the edition here. Other Transforming Resources have been translated…
Read MoreAn Invitation to Walk With Christ on Good Friday
Prayerfully walking through the stations of the cross is one way we can keep vigil with Christ during these holy days, and as a part of our Holy Week observance we are inviting you to keep vigil through our Stations of the Cross Prayer Guide. Traditionally, there are fourteen Stations of the Cross—most of them taken…
Read MoreAsh Wednesday: Crossing the Threshold into Lent
Scripture for Ash Wednesday: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 51:1-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 “‘And yet even now,’ says the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart . . .’” —Joel 2:12 Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Church’s observance of the Lenten season—six weeks that are set apart for…
Read MoreSeason of Returning: A Leader’s Journey into Lent
Scripture for Ash Wednesday: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 51:1-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 “Lent is a time of returning to God. It is a time to confess how we keep looking for joy, peace, and satisfaction in the many people and things surrounding us without really finding what we desire. …
Read MorePresidents Day: What We Know for Sure
“The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.”…
Read MoreTransforming Worship: Encountering God in Ways that Change Us
“And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to another.” II Corinthians 3:18 From our earliest days in the Transforming Center one of the basic, non-negotiable elements of our shared practice has been…
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