Good morning, -

I have so many cool and interesting things to share this morning! Please take a few minutes to look it all over . . .

1. Interview episodes with Bruce Reyes-Chow coming soon

2. Clergy Appreciation Month give away - don't miss it
3. A book about vocation by Bonnie Miller-Mclemore
4. No Stress November starts on Friday, November 1

5. Support Pastors Struggling after the Hurricanes

6. Mini Writing Retreats, New Podcast, and more!

Interviews with Bruce Reyes-Chow coming soon!

First, did you know we have video interviews coming soon with Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow? I talked to him recently about his new book Everything Good about God is True: Choosing Faith. Here is a short reading from the book when it arrived in my mailbox. Can't wait to share the interview episodes! 

Clergy Appreciation

At the end of this month are conducing a drawing from all Three Minute Ministry Mentor followers. We are giving away this exciting bundle of books, stickers, tote bag, and a journal. 

How to enter this giveaway? Everyone on our email list is entered in the giveaway - that's you! Is there someone you think should also be finding inspiration and support for their ministry? And a chance to win the clergy appreciation bundle? Forward this email. 

On Sunday, I was fortunate to participate in the ordination of a former student, someone I first talked to about seminary nine years ago. Kelly Moreland Jones it’s really such a gift to be able to follow through with people that you’ve been watching grow up in the practice of ministry for so long. 

I also felt joy in a service where I could witness ministry colleagues working with wisdom and imagination. Women who were ordained three decades ago. Women who’ve come into a second career of ministry. Women who are making a new way to do ministry, re-envisioning and re-embodying the practice. 

Every new generation not only needs to remake their faith, but also the practices of leading, caring, guiding, supporting, disturbing and good-trouble-making! The communities that they lead and the world in all its beauty and brokenness needs them, needs you! It is such an absolute blessing to me to be part of such a community doing this work and leaning into grace for more than two decades. If you’re in Nashville, come worship with us. Or join us on zoom.

Wherever you are and where you are working at in your ministry, I know that much of it remains hidden. A piece of my own commitment is to make more visible and public the kind of work that ministers, do which is both professional and spiritual, a culmination of giftedness and learning. Some of the hardest work I know and yet, when it is your calling, deeply joyful and meaningful.

A New Book on Calling and Vocation
by Dr. Bonnie Miller-McLemore

Speaking of calling, I have another guest coming up later this fall. You are going to love hearing from my doctoral dissertation advisor and friend Dr. Bonnie Miller-McLemore who has a new book. Find out more about the book when I opened my mail recently! Watch later this fall for my conversations with Bonnie!

No Stress November - Starts on Friday!

When I used to work in with women in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, we thought about the way October 31, Halloween is the start to the holiday season that lasts through New Year’s Day. This is an intense season in the United States. Perhaps it feels similar in other parts of the world? 

For ministers, November can be a very stressful month, preparing for Advent and Christmas, setting a budget for the next year, stewardship sermons and campaigns, putting together the annual church report. For professors, it can be an intense time of grading student assignments, looking after students who are not keeping up, writing conference papers, and so much other administrivia of academic life. For writers, there is the stress of conversations about writing an entire novel or book in the month of November. 

Good grief, what?! That is a lot of stress.

I decided this year to offer a counter space and practice to those stressors. It is a space for pastors, professors, and anyone who needs to do creative work or writing, time and space to do deep work. Maybe it tedious or maybe its joyful, but it's often squeezed out by all the other demands of life.

So, in November we are launching No Stress November as a counterpoint to all these ways that we can be hurried and distracted by the pace and pressures of life. Especially this time of year.

If you need a dedicated hour in your day during the month of November to give your full attention to your writing or other deep work, we invite you to be part of this online community November 1-29. I will provide you with an inspirational quote and a prompt each weekday. Our outstanding team of hosts will welcome you to time and space to gather with a community of writers and creators. 

If you choose the spiritual practice of writing to fuel the rest of your vocational life, we’ve got you covered. If you just need the time to do the work, in a humane and compassionate way, we have support, camaraderie, and accountability waiting for you. I hope you will join us for No Stress November.

Support Pastors Struggling after the Hurricanes

If you know someone who lives in one of the hurricane devastated areas, especially in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas Eastern Tennessee, or West Virginia, who could use an extra hour of calm community? Someone who may be struggling to get their work done during this stressful time of recovery, we’ve set up a way for you to give No Stress November to them. 

At this GIFT LINK, we are offering a small discount to help you gift the month to any friend, minister, professor, or writer who needs a solid hour of writing each day. Be part of helping them to recover their well-being with this gift.

Mini Retreats at The Writing Table

Next writing retreats December 6 and January 3. 

Mark your calendars. Register soon!

3MMM Podcast

Catch up on the latest episodes of the 3MMM Podcast to inform and inspire your practice of ministry. 

Catch up on these 3MMM episodes 
with Rev. Dr. Claudio Carvalhaes

Finding Our Way Study

Fall study, anyone? Retreat focus? Deacon study? Small group curriculum?

People who have bought the Finding Our Way Study are diving in to conversations about how we are finding our way and dealing with multiple changes - to the world, to our lives, and to the church. Erin Robinson Hall wrote this study guide to help you lead important conversations as you navigate a new era of ministry. Could your group use a new study for Fall?

We need to acknowledge the changes, ask good questions, listen, make space for grief, and start to tell new future stories. The “Finding Our Way” Study Guide can help you do all this and more.

PHONE LOCK SCREEN - FOR YOU!

In addition to No Stress November, we want to offer a little gift to you . . . a phone lock screen image for your #pastoralimagination. 

If you like, save this image in your phone and use your settings to place it as a lock screen - see it as a way to remind you of the practices that give you life these days. 

📌 Would you take a moment and follow us on Pinterest? Head over and look for Three Minute Ministry Mentor, and share or pin some of our favorite quotes and blessings. Find inspiration for your practice of ministry!

We believe that your work matters, . May you find prayers, gifts, and renewed pastoral imagination this week!