Kyria

A Partnership Made in Heaven?

If Tree Top, the apple juice company, offered your church a donation for outreach ministries, would you take it? What if Coca-Cola gave a contribution, no strings attached, to your building fund? Or if Budweiser sent a sizable amount for your missions project?

Some of you will consider those questions carefully. Others of you will dismiss them altogether—after all, they pose hypothetical situations ...

The "Other"

Several years ago, my friend LaTonya invited me to a gospel concert at her church, a predominantly African American congregation. Admittedly my first thought was, Will I be the only person there who isn't black? Before I could voice my concern, LaTonya told me she'd invited several mutual friends, people I knew were of various ethnicities. Still, I was rather fixated on how out of place I was going ...

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I Thought You Ought to Know That ...

Carl called me aside after Sunday school class. "You haven't seen much of Pete lately, have you?" he asked. Before I responded, he said, "I thought you ought to know that you offended him by something you said."

"Offended him?" I wondered what I could have done.

"One Sunday he tried to get into the church office and the door was locked. You came by and said, "That's the first time I ever saw you trying ...

Related Topics: Conflict resolution, Confrontation, forgiveness

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I Found Community

For many years on any given Sunday after church, I'd feel like Lisa Simpson, the daughter on the TV sitcom The Simpsons. As the Simpson family opens the door to their home after church, they breathe in deeply and declare Sunday afternoons the best time of the whole week. "It's the longest possible time before more church!" Lisa exclaims.

When I was younger, nothing beat the feeling of freedom as the ...

Related Topics: Church involvement, Community, Small groups

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Open Circle

The sound of their laughter carried across the crowded lobby one Sunday morning after church, as one of the women in the group momentarily glanced in my direction. I read her glance and smile as an invitation to join them.

"How are you all this morn—"

Another wave of laughter rippled around the group, swallowing the rest of my greeting. I tried gently inject-ing myself into the conversation, but ...

Related Topics: Church involvement, Cliques, Friends, Friendship, Lessons Learned

Kyria Talks to Margaret Feinberg

Margaret Feinberg didn't set out to become a Christian communicator. At age 18 she wanted to go to Georgetown University and study pre-law and public relations, but she didn't get in. Instead she attended Wake Forest University in North Carolina, the first of many God-driven course corrections in Margaret's life.

Margaret embarked on a journey that led her to graduate with a religion major, try ...