It’s strange to watch you now, now that I am no longer one of you. I see things more clearly than I did before. It seems there are two camps: those whose lives appear to be perfect, never letting frustration dealing with the ministry seep through your Facebook posts, blogs, or emails; and those who [...]

Some churches are wonderful. They want to pay their pastor well, love him, and support him as he supports and encourages them. These tend to be the poorest churches who can’t afford to pay their pastor well, and are embarrassed. What they don’t realize is that many ministers would rather work for them than the [...]

“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” -Matthew 22:21
It’s tax season! In the secular world, you hear a lot of complaints that some of these mega churches are tax exempt. What you don’t hear a lot of complaining about is that not only do churches not pay those kind of [...]

There is one thing I never understood about Baptist theologians. With Ph.D.’s in theology, they claim that Jesus is their best friend. How can you be best friends with someone you have to have a Ph.D. to understand?
I found it rather confusing because person A believed a certain passage asserted a particular cultural value or [...]

When I was a Christian, I had trouble making friends. I was a lot more shy than I am now. Even now, though, put me in a room full of Christians and I clam right up out of habit. I don’t blame them. I don’t know why I am that way at all. I just [...]

Mark Driscoll, the pastor I love to hate, gave several ways to help the pastor’s wife. Here is his outline with my thoughts. The video can be found here.
1. The wife needs a clearly defined and guarded role.
Yes and no. He’s close, but just misses the mark.  He is right when he notes she’s not [...]

It’s kind of amusing, really, the ways in which Bob and I managed to offend and hurt people’s feelings in church. Really, some people say I was too sensitive, but recalling a few of these stories makes me feel much better.
Bob got in trouble once for saying, “Crap!” in front of the youth group. Now, [...]

Today is “To Write Love on Her Arms” Day. While I never had a habit of cutting, I did do it once.
It wasn’t for the reasons chronic cutters cut. After a particularly bad week at the church, where Lorraine asked me for the twentieth time why I wasn’t in choir, and the deacons tore into [...]

by Steve

Laura’s Note: I met Steve the same day I met my ex-husband, Bob. The two were roommates and ministry majors. Steve changed his major to history, though, and is currently a third year law student. This post explains why. Steve is technically my husband–we eloped back in May, 2009 for some legal reasons, but [...]

Click here for part one.
January, 2006-July, 2006
Over spring break, Bob’s brother came to visit. I told Bob that I would need help with the house if his brother came, and he agreed. Of course he didn’t, though. The two left me to make dinner and do the dishes while they played video games and trashed [...]