Lately I'm very annoyed with the commandeering of the word "church" by Christians to mean something it does not actually mean, as in using the word "unchurched" to refer to people who do not regularly attend a formal worship service conducted by a business also referred to as "church". The First Church of Anywhere is not a church in the biblical sense of the word. Rather, it is a business. A business that hopefully serves and perhaps helps organize some believers in Jesus. The First Church of...

In order to develop, we have to feel safe. Once we feel safe, we can try freely, unafraid to fail (becuase we will fail). Recovering from failure is how we learn. Without safety, we can't fail. Without safety, we can't be honest about our failures. Without safety, we can't humbly acknowledge our failures. Therefore the precursers to health are safety and vulnerability. Interestingly, those are also precursors to intimacy. Safety is one of the primary concerns in the counseling office. My job...

When I turned eighteen I had little interest in voting. My parents weren't particularly political, though I did know whom they voted for (for president). The whole process seemed uninteresting and inconsequential. History and political teachers in high school had been boring and dispassionate. Fascinatingly (and in retrospect, shamefully), I gradated from a public school without any real knowledge of the political process. In college I met a boy everyone called "Senator". He was friendly and...