Archive for 2015
Christmastide: If You Want
Lectionary readings for December 25, 2015: Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98; Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12); John 1:1-14 Guidance on using the lectionary. St. John of the Cross If you want the Virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy and say, “I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, my time…
Read MoreDr. M. Robert Mulholland, Jr. 1936- 2015, honoring a beloved friend and teacher
Late last evening our beloved teacher and friend, Bob Mulholland, went to be with the Lord. We write this news with sadness — for his passing is a great loss to us — but also with gratitude for the significant friendship we shared with him in Christ. We have been privileged to walk with Bob…
Read MoreWhat is the impact of the Transforming Community in the life of a pastor?
Note: What does transforming leadership look like in the lives of leaders? The Rev. Robert Whinnen, Lead Pastor at Bauer Community Fellowship in Hudsonville, MI, shares how his involvement in a Transforming Community® has impacted his ministry. “It had been a long time since I felt connected with the presence of God in my life beyond what I was doing for others.…
Read MoreLearning to wait with Jesus
Lectionary readings for December 13, 2015: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Isaiah 12:2-6; Phillipians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18 Click for complete Advent calendar (Cycle C) and guidance on using the lectionary. “If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” – Romans 8:25 No matter how disciplined, organized and prayerful you are, you never outgrow waiting. Tracts of humanity wait: for…
Read MoreEntering Advent: Hurry Up and Wait!
Lectionary readings for November 29, 2015: Jeremiah 33: 14-16; Psalm 25: 1-10; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21: 25-36 Click for complete Advent calendar (Cycle C) and guidance on using the lectionary. “Unto you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust.” Ps 25:1, 2 “Hurry up and wait!” Usually this statement is laced with…
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 the…
Read MoreCelebrate with us on October 11
These are exciting days for the Transforming Center! We are finally moving into our newly renovated office space and are looking forward to sharing it with you—our good friends. As the process of rehabbing this 110 year old house has intensified and is now nearing completion, I have been surprised at how deeply moving (pardon the…
Read MoreSolitude: In God for the World
“Wherever there is something in our life that is not conformed to the image of Christ, there is a place where we are incapable of being all God wants us to be with others … a place where our life with others is hindered and limited and restricted in its effectiveness and in its fullness…
Read MoreRuth Haley Barton on Faith Radio
Recently, Ruth was interviewed on My Faith Radio’s program Connecting Faith with Neil Stavem. He had this to say about their time together: Community is a primary goal of most churches, but it’s not easily accomplished. Through the well-known story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, author and teacher Ruth Haley Barton gives us insight on…
Read MoreCongratulations to 2015 Northern Seminary Graduates
Congratulations to eight Transforming Community alums who graduated from Northern Seminary on June 13, 2015 through our academic partnership with Northern Seminary. Wendy S. Cordova Doctor of Ministry Spiritual Transformation Emphasis BA, Gordon College, 1992 MDiv, Fuller Theological Seminary, 1999 Testimonial I am grateful for the growth that has taken place in my heart, life, and ministry since starting…
Read MoreEastertide : Then They Told What Had Happened on the Road
That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord had risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking…
Read MoreEastertide: The Nature of the Spiritual Journey
You can also read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this Beyond Words series. Then he said to them, “How foolish you are, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26) If you ask…
Read MoreNEW DVD with Dr. M. Robert Mulholland and Ruth Haley Barton
Dr. M. Robert Mulholland and Ruth Haley Barton discuss spiritual transformation in this new Transforming Resource. Ideal for use in leadership, congregational, and small group gatherings. Each segment is followed by questions for reflection and discussion, enabling you and your group to join the conversation as you pursue spiritual transformation in your setting. This compelling 65-minute dialogue…
Read MoreWhat does transforming leadership look like for Rev. Jackie Matisse?
Note: What is the impact of the Transforming Center in the lives of leaders? The Rev. Jackie Matisse, Rector at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church in Lebanon, OH, shares how her relationship with the Transforming Center has impacted her ministry. At the beginning of my ordained ministry I identified my calling: “to help a community grow deeper spiritually.” For…
Read MoreHow Can You Lead Your People Somewhere You’ve Never Been?
Dr. M. Robert Mulholland and Ruth Haley Barton discuss spiritual transformation and the work of the Transforming Center. Learn more about the Transforming Community experience
Read MoreSpiritual Transformation, Community, and the Church
David Johnson is senior pastor of Church of the Open Door in Maple Grove, Minnesota. The website describes the mission of the church as follows: God invites us to take Next Steps inward. We use the word discover to describe the journey inward. There is no greater journey of discovery than to personally discover how…
Read MoreEastertide: Welcoming the Stranger
Part 1 of this Beyond Words series can be found here. “While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’” —Luke 24: 16, 17 Just think! If the disciples…
Read MoreEastertide: The Emmaus Road – Between the Now and the Not-Yet
“Liminal space is a unique spiritual position where humans hate to be, but where the Biblical God is always leading them.” –Richard Rohr Luke’s account of Resurrection Sunday includes the story of two dazed and distraught disciples traveling along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It was Sunday, the third day of the most traumatic…
Read MoreHoly Week | Walking in the Way of the Cross
Click for guidance on using the lectionary Lectionary Readings for Good Friday Year B: April 3, 2015; Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10: 16-25; John 18:1-19:42 If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Mark 8:34 The cross means different things to different people these…
Read MorePursuing God’s Will Together Video Series – Part 4: Including Scripture and Lectio Divina
Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups (InterVarsity, 2012) was written to provide hope that there is a way of doing life in leadership that does not have to rely on our own brilliance and ability to think hard, a way of being involved in God’s work that ends up being more about God’s…
Read MorePursuing God’s Will Together Video Series – Part 3: Introducing Fixed Hours of Prayer
Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups (InterVarsity, 2012) was written to provide hope that there is a way of doing life in leadership that does not have to rely on our own brilliance and ability to think hard, a way of being involved in God’s work that ends up being more about God’s…
Read MorePursuing God’s Will Together Video Series – Part 2: Introducing Silence
Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups (InterVarsity, 2012) was written to provide hope that there is a way of doing life in leadership that does not have to rely on our own brilliance and ability to think hard, a way of being involved in God’s work that ends up being more about God’s…
Read MorePracticing Lent: Ash Wednesday as a Way of Entering In
Click for guidance on using the lectionary Lectionary Readings for Ash Wednesday Year B: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Psalm 51:1-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 Today is Ash Wednesday—the beginning of the Church’s observance of the Lenten season. At some point throughout this day, many of us will experience the symbolic gesture of receiving the…
Read MorePursuing God’s Will Together Video Series – Part 1: Catch the Wave
Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups (InterVarsity, 2012) was written to provide hope that there is a way of doing life in leadership that does not have to rely on our own brilliance and ability to think hard, a way of being involved in God’s work that ends up being more about God’s…
Read MorePreparing for Lent – Returning to God with All My Heart
Click for guidance on using the lectionary Lectionary Readings for Ash Wednesday: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; 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 Whether we feel ready or not, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of…
Read MoreLeadership that is Transforming or Deforming?
For the last few weeks I have been pondering what one journalist calls “The Painful Lessons of Mars Hill Church.” For those who may not be familiar, Mars Hill is a mega, multi-site church in Seattle whose high profile pastor, Mark Driscoll, resigned in October amid “an avalanche of allegations, ranging from charges of bullying, to…
Read MoreReveal: Finding God in the Ordinary
Click for guidance on using the lectionary. Epiphany of the Lord: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12 “The incredible gift of the ordinary! Glory comes streaming from the table of daily life.” – Macrina Wiederkehr Today, in the rhythm of the church year, we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany—the manifestation of…
Read MoreSpiritual Transformation in the Church
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH WHEN IT COMES TO SPIRITUAL FORMATION IN CHRIST? Barton: The Church (capital C) is the body of Christ on earth now and it is the primary context in which we grow up in every way into him who is our head (Eph. 4:15). In Pauline writings, instructions about…
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