by Eddie Pipkin Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay There is always that one elusive personal goal, the thing you really want to accomplish but can’t ever seem to get done. Maybe it’s a fitness goal, maybe a writing goal, maybe a home improvement project, or if you’re a ministry professional or volunteer, [...]
by Eddie Pipkin Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay I was watching a basketball game last week, a spirited back-and-forth between two evenly matched teams, and my team was ahead and had victory in their grasp. That is, until one of our players made a mind-boggling mistake, being whistled for taking longer than five [...]
by Eddie Pipkin Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay My wife and I were driving through mountainous terrain during Christmas vacation, and as we were rounding a windy corner, we saw a sign common to those parts: “Watch for Falling Rocks.” We’ve seen that sign plenty of times, but my wife was bemused on [...]
by Eddie Pipkin Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay My wife and I did not send Christmas cards this year. We've been mailing out season's greetings with adorable family photos for three-and-a-half decades, so that's a big change. The transition from old year to new year is often a time for big change [...]
by Eddie Pipkin Have you ever planned an event that went completely off the rails? Of course you have. We all have. For those of us who started out in youth ministry, we have a whole shelf full of stories of plans that went dramatically awry. We tell them in excruciating detail whenever we reunite [...]
by Eddie Pipkin Image by 1tamara2 from Pixabay I was reading about an emerging design trend for 2025 that sounded like something I could embrace: a concept called “pretty-ugly.” It’s not about intentionally including something discomfiting as part of the décor: “This isn’t about collecting aesthetic disasters—it’s about curating pieces that raise a [...]
by Eddie Pipkin Like everybody else, I am susceptible to clicking on those listicle articles. You know the ones. It’s an article that’s structured as a list: “Five Keys to Financial Independence” or “Ten Clues That Your Boss Is Ready to Hand You a Pink Slip.” They are the favored structural tool for organizing ideas [...]
Image by Geordie from Pixabay It’s always a challenge to write a seasonal blog. That’s because you do it every year, and everybody else is doing the same thing thematically, too. And most of y’all work in ministry, so you know what I mean, because you’re in the business of designing worship and [...]
by Eddie Pipkin Image by Olga Fil from Pixabay I was checking out National Public Radio’s excellent resource, “Life Kit,” and the featured broadcast article was all about techniques for finding missing things. It focused on strategies for how to find personal items we’ve misplaced, but I was struck by how useful versions [...]
by Eddie Pipkin Image by Keith Johnston from Pixabay I had a personal experience this week that I hope you can benefit from hearing about. I let myself be coached. This is probably momentous news only if you have known me for a long time. Traditionally, I am thoroughly, unfailingly, notoriously uncoachable. Don’t [...]
