The World's Okayest Pastor

 So I haven't blogged in awhile. I just couldn't write about so much because it was too real and raw and just flat out hurt on so many levels. I'll share more about things as time goes on but not at the moment. So here's a brief life update. 2020 was a year that no one predicted. Covid 19 became a global pandemic. It meant that church had to be different because it wasn't safe to be around people for the year. Wearing facemasks and washing hands became a political issue - this I'm still trying to wrap my head around. Iowa experienced a derecho - a new word for me. It's basically an inland hurricane. The derecho devastated a lot of Iowa. Belle Plaine was without power for more than a week. I became the unofficial relief coordinator for the town and that expanded into surrounding areas. I'm really happy to not see a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for awhile but hey people got fed. I spent three weeks hosting various mission groups from the Seventh Day Ad...

I’m a minister and I care about ministerial credentials. This is partially why I enjoy my work on my association’s COM (Committee on Ministry - we work with those who have ministerial standing and those who are discerning a call to ministerial). I’d like to think that I’m fairly good at it. I have gone to college and seminary and keep up with certificates and continuing education yearly. I find this to be important because I want to be the best I can be and faith is constantly evolving along with the scholarship. So I am very bothered when I see colleagues who don’t do continuing education. I’m gravely concerned about people who think they can become pastors simply by going online and paying a fee or taking a one weekend class. I’m not saying that lay people, those who don’t go to seminary or divinity school, cannot become great, well rounded pastors. I fully support alternative routes to ministry and if I was looking at going into ministry today, I would probably use an alternative ...

During the early part of the 2018 election cycle, one of my friends ran for an office. They had a results party at a gay bar in the closest big town. I have been to other events at this bar because it has hosted public events that match my call for social justice and public ministry. Afterwards, several people just assumed that because I knew this bar and was comfortable being there, that I identified as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Not that it’s anyone’s business, but I don’t. I identify as a cisgender, white female who is an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. So at best I am a welcomed outsider but I am an outsider to this community. Once people got to know me better, folks started to apologize to me for labeling as part of the LGBTQ+ community.  My response was it wasn’t a big deal to me and I don’t really care that I was labeled as such. Some people accepted this but others seemed taken aback because I didn’t have a strong response of concern about being mis-labeled.  As I w...