Each week on the blog I get to share some of what I have seen, read, and found interesting and thought provoking over the past week. To help make sense of all of these links, I have grouped them by the following categories: Church and Ministry Thought & Practice; Cross-Sector Collaboration; Leadership Thought & Practice; Millennials; Neighbor Love; Social Media & Blogging; Stewardship; Vocation; and Miscellaneous. I hope you enjoy these links!

Church and Ministry Thought & Practice

For those of you preparing for worship or writing a sermon for this weekend, I have some helpful thoughts and commentaries to share. If you are following the revised common lectionary, David Lose shared and asked, “Pentecost 21B: Who Will You Serve?” Friend and professor Rev. Dr. Karoline Lewis dug into the gospel passage more in thinking about, “The Ability of Ableness.”

If you are following the narrative lectionary, Vanessa Lovelace shared a very helpful “Commentary on Ruth 1:1-17.”

Friend, blogger, and communications director, Hannah Heinzekehr reflected about, “A complex communion.”

If you are into church, social media, and digital ministry, you should check out these “12 Top Digital Ministry Experts You Should Know.” I’m happy to see friend and professor Dr. Mary Hess included, as well as Meredith Gould and pastor Keith Anderson.

Speaking of Meredith Gould, she moderated last week’s Church and Social Media (#ChSocM) chat all about “Memories.”

Are you planning to participate in Social Media Sunday on October 25th? I highly encourage you to join.

Friend, pastor, and blogger Joe Smith reflected about, “The Full-Time Ministry Ideal.”

LEAD shared about, “The Powerful Art of Alignment,” and the great importance of having aligned ministries.

Bishop Micheal Rinehart shared some presentations and handouts being used in presentations for the Delaware-Maryland Synod.

Friend, pastor, and blogger Diane Roth shared about her “faith, in community,” and about how she has “Loved Sunday School.” In thinking about Sunday School Diane writes, “I have loved Sunday School, but I have to admit that, for a lot of churches, and a lot of children, it isn’t working.  They are not learning the stories of the Bible, but most of all, they aren’t learning that other adults in the church care about them. But one of the gifts of the church is still relationships.  It is a place where we can meet each other and know each other across generations, where we will realize that Forgiveness Is a Really Big Number, and where we can share stories and songs and pray and catch faith from one another. If only we will only make the space.” What do you think?

It’s generally not a good sign when church conflict makes it into the news, such is the case from the Twin Cities when you see a story about a “Church torn apart.”

Blogger and pastor Jan Edmiston writes, “Kill the Meetings. Set People Free.” What do you think?

Blogger and pastor Tim Brown offered, “3 Reasons No One is Joining Your Church (Plus One More).”

In a couple weeks for Lutherans anyway, is an important day in the church year, Reformation Sunday. We’re also about 2 years shy of the 500th Anniversary of the start of the Reformation. In thinking about the Reformation, friend and Ph.D. student Tim Snyder writes, “Re-formed in God’s vision of love.”

Also with Reformation in mind, Beth Lewis helps set the stage by writing, “Have some fun on the Road to Reformation! (& learn some new things, too).”

Speaking of Beth Lewis and the company she is CEO of, Augsburg Fortress, pastor and blogger Clint Schnekloth reflected about, “Meeting Augsburg Fortress Publishing House Again as if for the First Time.”

Rachel Held Evans shared thoughts, “On Giving Testimony: Why ‘Why Christian?’ Worked,” in thinking and reflecting on the “Why Christian?” conference that was held last month.

Are you involved in leading youth ministry? If so, I encourage you to check out the schedule for the 2016 Youth Ministry Extravaganza, and hope that you decide to register and come.

Cross-Sector Collaboration

Tom Murphy at The Humanosphere notes that the, “World Banks draws a new-ish extreme poverty line.”

Social leadership theorist Julian Stodd shared some more reflections on change, writing and sharing, “Change Curve: Foundations of Change.”

Leadership Thought & Practice

Dan Rockwell shared a number of good leadership reflections and tips, including “The Potter’s Wheel of Leadership,” “How to Disrupt Your Way to Exponential Growth,” and “7 Ways to Find Purpose.”

Justin Irving asked, “Are You Able to Lead with Clarity and Calmness?”

Ted Bauer argues that, “It’s time to start caring about developing new leaders.” Amen!

Lolly Daskal shared some “Communication Mistakes to Avoid in a Difficult Conversation,” as well as, “Everything You Need to Know about Becoming a Great Leader.”

Terre Lupberger argues that, “Great leadership begins with coaching.”

Friend, blogger, and communications strategist Carrie Gubsch shared this great look by Elizabeth Grace Saunders on, “How to Stop Overplanning (even if you’re a perfectionist).” Carrie also shared this post highlighting, “7 Ways Blogging Makes You a Better Leader.” What do you think?

Michael Soto makes the case for leaders to “Start looking at business with a ‘Shared Value’ approach.”

Brian Dodd shared, “21 Leadership Quotes from Brene Brown.”

Tanveer Naseer shared ideas for “How Leaders Can Manage the Perception of Progress,” as well as asked a great and important question, “Are You Inspiring Those You Lead to be Extraordinary?”

Steve Keating shared a few leadership themed posts including, “Leading You,” and thoughts about, “When Managers Don’t Lead.”

Now that both the Democrat and Republican parties have had their first presidential debates, Polly Mosendz shares a look at, “How the Republican Presidential Debate Topics Compare with the Democratic Debate.” I think this is very interesting. What do you think?

Congratulations are in order for Dr. Ana Mari Cauce who was named the next president of the University of Washington.

Friend and coach Jody Thone shared these thoughts from Russ Moxley about how, “Becoming a Leader is Becoming Yourself.”

Thin Difference shared a number of great posts related to leadership and Millennials. These included: this post from Megan Dougherty about, “The Potter Box: Staying on the Right Path“; an interview by Jon Mertz with Whitney Johnson, “Disrupt Yourself“; as well as thoughts from Eric Torrence on, “Going Off the Grid: the Uncomfortable Potential of Unplugging.” Check out all of these posts!

Millennials

Thin Difference also shared a guest post by Daniel Weinzveg, “Debunking the Myth of Generational Gaps,” and some great thoughts from Jon Mertz about the reality and importance of “Shifting from Digital Native to Digital Citizen.”

Amy Tobin wrote about, “Generational BS: Millennial Hype has Driven Us All Mad.” Agree or disagree?

Peter Economy unpacked, “4 Ways Millennials Are Changing the World.” Peter argues that, “As Millennials become more engaged in the world around us, they are changing it for the better in their own unique ways.” The ways he points to include that Millennials: challenge us to think qualitatively instead of quantitatively; they challenge old assumptions about careers and jobs; they challenge, ‘one size fits all’; and they challenge us to make decision making more distributive. What do you think?

Anne Loehr shared, “Six Tips for Marketing to Hispanic Millennials.”

The Millennial Journal shared reflections from Millennials, “on the Pope’s Visit to the US.”

Lisa Earle McLeod wrote about, “Why Millennials Keep Dumping You: An Open Letter to Management.”

Neighbor Love

Friend and professor Dr. Ron Byrnes wrote about, “The Secret to a Kind and Gentle Spirit.”

In light of more recent gun incidents in schools this year, Nicholas Kristof shared ideas for “A New Way to Tackle Gun Deaths.”

Liz Lin shared a response over at The Salt Collective, entitled, “In Response to Opponents of Gun Control.”

David Gibson shared that the “Chicago archbishop calls for tough gun control laws.”

Pastor and blogger Clint Schnekloth shared, “If you just read one article on gun violence.”

Friend, blogger, and artist, Vonda Drees shared a number of beautiful posts. These posts included: “search and be found“; “heart listeners“; “the veil parts“; “for Beauty’s sake“; “To what are you profoundly devoted?“; “presence spills“; “turn, turn, turn“; and “body, awaken!”

David Gushee wrote that, “Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Can Be Deadly.”

Carol Kuruvilla wrote and shared, “Sorry, Islamophobes: Your Anti-Muslim Rallies Ended Up Inspiring Acts of Love and Service.”

Friend, pastor, and blogger Aaron Fuller shared his recent sermon, “about a whole lot of Law…and just a little bit of Gospel. (Because you have to put it in there.).”

Friend, pastor, and blogger Frank Johnson also shared his recent sermon, writing, “What toddlers tell us about the law.”

In an update to recent news and reports, Jennifer Bendery wrote that, “GOP Probe into Planned Parenthood Funding Comes up Empty.”

Friend and professor Rev. Dr. Dwight Zscheile wrote, “Searching for Purity.”

James Smith shared a “Good News” Story of the Week, sharing, “South Carolina’s thank you: Death Valley was ‘the place that faith went to be restored.'”

Rev. Dr. Theresa Latini explained about, “Why ‘The Donald’ Isn’t Reformed and Why His Stance Isn’t Christian.”

If you haven’t seen it, the Fall 2015 issue of Word and World is out and it has a number of great articles under the broad theme of “Sports.” Check out these articles and good food for thought from authors including friend and pastor Aaron Fuller, professor Rev. Dr. Eric Barreto, and Rev. Dr. Rolf Jacobson.

Social Media & Blogging

Kevan Lee shared some great, “Twitter Tips for Beginners: Everything I Wish I Knew about Twitter When I Started.”

Friend, blogger, and communications strategist Carrie Gubsch shared a post about “The Science of Storytelling through Facebook Images: 10 Actionable Strategies from Successful Brands.”

Last year, Cindy Alvarez shared about some of, “The ‘Do’s and ‘Don’t’s of Cold Emailing.”

Friend, blogger, and professor Dr. Ron Byrnes shared a few links, writing, “Read This If…”

Stewardship

Erin at Young Adult Money asked, “Do You Have an Emergency Financial Plan?” Erin also shared some ideas about, “How to Be Frugal Without Being Boring.”

During October, the COMPASS blog is sharing reflections and ideas about having a “Frugal Fall.” The latest post in the series comes from friend, Nicole Brennan at Barnabas Foundation, who wrote and shared about, “Frugal Fall: A Financial Self-Examination.”

Related to the COMPASS theme during October, Jon Mertz shared, “5 ways to get ahead financially in October,” as explained by Jonnelle Marte.

Vocation

Friend and blogger Julia Nelson shared her regular vocational installment of “Tuesday Tea Time.”

With thoughts about vocation, discernment, and education in mind, David Brooks wrote about “The Big University.”

I am excited to share that my alma mater, Pacific Lutheran University (PLU), “Ranks in Top 10 of ‘value added colleges’ in the New York Times.” This news also comes on the recent news that the “Choir of the West received high honors in global ranking.” Attaway Lutes!

My friend Meagan Grandall, and her group Lemolo were profiled about the recent premiere of their new video, “Low Halo.”

Miscellaneous

Friend and blogger J.W. Wartick shared a review of the film, “The Martian,” writing about, “Hope, Humanity, and God- a Christian look at the film.” What do you think?

Friend and blogger Tim Chalberg shared an update on the Seattle Mariners and recent news that “Lloyd (was) Let Go.”

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That concludes this edition of the links. I hope you have enjoyed them. As always, if you have particular questions or topics for me to think about on the blog, please share them. Also, if there are things you would like to see included in the links, please let me know that too. Until next time, thank you for reading and being part of the conversation. Blessings on the rest of your week! -TS

Image Credits: The Links; and “for Beauty’s sake.”