2017
From Performer to Pastor
CeCe Winans Love is known for many roles. With her family, especially her brother BeBe, she was a longtime fixture in Gospel music before launching a solo career. Now she’s a ten-time Grammy Award winner, a wife, a mother, a friend to many, a TV personality, a book author, the subject of a documentary, and a voice of inspiration to generations. We wanted to talk with ...
The Problem with Colorblindness in Pastoral Counseling
The topic of racial diversity has grown louder and stronger in recent years. As a fourth generation Chinese-American woman who was born and raised in Hawaii and currently lives in the Pacific Northwest, I am happy that race and ethnicity are being brought into the forefront, and that there are movements across the nation to increase awareness about these issues. What bothers ...
The Surprising Reason Women Go to Seminary
I grew up in a church with an abundance of female role models, and I enjoyed the support of two enthusiastic parents. They spotted my gifts early, and helped name my calling. When I decided to attend seminary, no one was more excited than they were, and nothing about this path seemed unusual to me.
In reality, it was.
Not many women go to seminary, and even fewer seek the M.Div., ...
Join Our Summer Study Group
I was naïve when I took my first staff position at a church—about a lot of things. As the minister for small groups and community outreach, I was eager to get started and excited to join people together in meaningful community gatherings. The church didn’t have small groups prior to my arrival, and I knew I’d face some battles getting buy-in, but there ...
How I Found a Support Network
I remember the first time I found “my people.” I had been invited to present several workshops at a conference for women ministry leaders. It was the first time I was exposed to a group of people just like me. Women! And not just women, but women who were leaders! In ministry! In the large group sessions, in the workshops, and in the speakers’ room—these ...
The Extra Job in My Head
I was sitting in a meeting with my team when I found myself drifting off to my to-do list located smack dab in my head: the sheets need changing, the dog needs groomed, the chicken’s been thawed for two days and needs to be cooked before it goes bad. On and on and on. This wasn’t a random occurrence of my mind wandering. This happens daily. It’s as if I’m ...
Four Questions to Ask When Complacency Calls
My husband recently teased, "What are you freedom fighting this week?" I snickered, because we both know how my empathetic tendencies get ignited when bedlam wreaks havoc on our broken world, and within the people to which we minister. I want to always be ready to battle for hurting people while pointing them to the God who heals. But too often lately, I find myself ...
3 Reasons to Heed Limits in Your Leadership
Recently I was pursuing an opportunity that I was really excited about. Not only was it something that I would enjoy, but also it would enable me to be closer to my family and be helpful to the future of The 4Sight Group. I started out cautiously optimist, and with each step it seemed that this opportunity was going to become a reality. But then a major roadblock emerged unexpectedly ...
Diminish the Power of Negative Circumstances
In 1955, Martin Luther King Jr. preached a sermon titled, “Looking Beyond Your Circumstances.” It was eight years before his “I Have a Dream” speech that would change America’s course. In this lesser-known sermon, Dr. King suggests that one of the great temptations is to become too absorbed in our circumstances, which leads to the conclusion that ...
To Fight Discouragement, Fan Your Flame
I finished delivering my sermon for the second service that Sunday, and headed back to my seat. Before I could sit down, church member Vicki grabbed me, hugged my neck tight, and whispered: “Woman, you were on fire today!”
I smiled and sat down, feeling exhausted, but satisfied. God had accomplished yet another miracle. After the horrific week I’d had, as ...