Blog

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Ivana Tomášková from Pixabay Last week I wrote about Starbucks and “forced joy,” a directive from corporate leadership that employees would express joyful interactions by writing encouraging messaging [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Did you see Starbucks in the news in recent weeks for adding an additional mandate to the responsibilities of employees?  Beginning in January, according to an edict from CEO Brian Niccol, all [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image used under Pixabay content license. I had designated the past couple of weeks to work on home projects. I am not known as a handy guy. I can get [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Perlinator from Pixabay I went to the county fair with my wife and my godson last week, and although we had gone mostly to check out the prize-winning [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by StockSnap from Pixabay I’ve always been a Saturday Night Live fan, and I’ve been consuming comedy for most of the show’s tenure, so I really enjoyed the 50th [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Wolfgang Eckert from Pixabay I went to see the local opera company perform this week, and I had a great time.  I realize that puts me squarely in [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Chances are you are reading this blog on your smartphone.  If so, it will have come to you by email, a now old-timey communications [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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.  [...]

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 [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Keith Johnston from Pixabay In my sports watching of the past week, there were heartbreaking moments of excellent players failing in spectacular fashion.  The Yankees leaped out to [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by kp yamu Jayanath from Pixabay I voted yesterday, October 31st.  In some ways, it seemed an ironic commentary, the scariest thing I could think of to do on [...]

Image by Alberto Adán from Pixabay There I was, reading another home design article (one of my hobbies for killing time when I should be doing other things), and I had that moment [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Th G from Pixabay This is the last in my series based on my recent backpacking trip to Yosemite National Park and this week, it’s all about the [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay Last week, I wrote about hiking in the stunning Yosemite Valley.  I did this trip with a high school buddy, one of my oldest [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Photo by Pipkin. I was blessed to do a week of backpacking in Yosemite National Park recently.  Truly spectacular.  If the word spectacular was invented to describe visually stunning scenery, [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by bunditz from Pixabay What to keep and what to get rid of?  It’s a modern dilemma.  We are so blessed, our homes so filled with stuffthatwe’re constantly having [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by David from Pixabay My wife and I took a little excursion over to SeaWorld to ride the new roller coaster, Penguin Trek.  It’s always a thrill to ride [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Uwe Baumann from Pixabay I had a good friend who was telling me about attending one of those “Sip & Paint” events.  She does this on occasion, meet [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay One last thought on the just completed Olympic games.  In all the hoopla over the superhuman performances of American gymnast Simone Biles, it’s important [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by David from Pixabay It’s time for the XXXIII Olympiad, Paris 2024, and I hope you’ve blocked off your calendar to watch some of the 329 medal events that [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Alexa from Pixabay I wrote last week about my recent trip to Costa Rica.  It’s the rainy season in Central America, so we saw rain every day we [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Cornell Frühauf from Pixabay A couple of mornings ago, I took my coffee out to the back porch and balanced it on the little table beside my favorite [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Willfried Wende from Pixabay I had a great Father’s Day last weekend, and if you’re a dad (or a bonus dad), I hope you did, too.  I received [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by tookapic from Pixabay Last week’s blog episode referenced a podcast from Hidden Brain.  This week you get a referral to the Freakonomics universe.  An April podcast from the [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Katja Riedel from Pixabay Ministry leadership groups love to brainstorm ideas.  One of the most popular activities among those who are sketching out their vision for the coming [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Storme from Pixabay I have a great yard, a Central Florida acre that features some fruit trees, plenty of flowers, and assorted colorful tropical landscape plants.  I tend [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Peter H from Pixabay I turned 61 a couple of weeks ago.  I know, I know, dear readers, you thought from the tone of my exuberant observations and [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay One of the great strategies for helping people feel empowered is to consistently seek their authentic feedback and engage them in the process of [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Wow Phochiangrak from Pixabay I faced an imminent personal crisis last week.  I was at Cracker Barrel with my mom for an early Mother’s Day breakfast, and the [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Evgeni Tcherkasski from Pixabay In a crazy moment last week, a baseball manager got kicked out of a game for something he didn’t even do.  Yankees manager Aaron [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Alexa from Pixabay As a long-suffering Orlando Magic basketball fan, it was worthy of celebration last week when our young, scrappy team made it to the NBA playoffs.  [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Pavlo from Pixabay Following last week’s “Staple Girl” blog, I continued to think a lot about the nature of ministry.  I argued in that blog that our work [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay I’m writing this blog during Holy Week, so there is a very good chance that many of you won’t even be reading it until the [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Aritha from Pixabay Jonathan Haidt has a new book coming out at the end of the month called “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Alana Jordan from Pixabay The NFL Players Association does a highly detailed survey each year in which they have each member evaluate the working conditions at the various [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by SplitShire from Pixabay I was at a wedding with chosen family this past weekend in Atlanta, and what a joyous time it was.  The venue was beautiful, as [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by pixel1 from Pixabay I was making myself a quick snack-lunch the other day, a banana with peanut butter, when I thought, “You know, sometimes two great tastes really [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Julien Tromeur from Pixabay I was at the Friday night NASCAR truck race at Daytona International Speedway last weekend – always an evening of high-speed thrills and great [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay This year marked one of the rare occasions on which Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday aligned.  The two “holidays” have antithetical purposes – one to [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by ambermb from Pixabay The pandemic interlude had a dramatic impact on ministry.  Looking back on that era, we can see ways that things that felt like they were [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by BeccaH from Pixabay You may or may not have seen a recent article from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership identifying ministry trends for 2024.  You will already [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay Jim Harbaugh, coach of the national champion Michigan Wolverines football team, is famous for, among other things, motivating his players with an old family [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by majolala from Pixabay Last week I wrote about the collision of different schedules and lifestyle logistics when people in the same household are visiting together over the holidays.  [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by 955169 from Pixabay During the holiday season, we travelled a lot, and we hosted a lot.  That means that sometimes we had guests sharing our home (no less [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Bob Dmyt from Pixabay It’s that time of year when we are either eager to give gifts or compelled to give gifts or, most likely, experiencing both compulsion [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by M W from Pixabay We’ve been sampling the wide range of local Christmas events that our metro area has to offer, from formal orchestral performances to school holiday [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by mcmurryjulie from Pixabay I was catching up on the sports news from the weekend – don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I loooove sports – and in reading [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Keith Johnston from Pixabay My wife and I attended our last home football game of the year last week.  It’s been a fun inaugural year in the Big [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Alexa from Pixabay Do you ever get worked over a mistake someone else made – just to realize upon reflection that it’s your own darn fault?  Apologies to [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by 愚木混株 Cdd20 from Pixabay We like to keep things running smoothly.  We like to keep things drama free.  We like a day characterized by the smiley-faced emoji, not [...]

By Eddie Pipkin Image by Guy from Pixabay I got to attend my first Formula One race last weekend in Texas.  Aside from all the fast cars and great music (it being Austin, [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay There are lots of things that local churches do well.  There are plenty of things that local churches don’t do well at [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Dee from Pixabay Even if you don’t watch pro football, and even if you don’t follow pop music, you may have been unable to avoid one of the [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Luisella Planeta LOVE PEACE 💛💙 from Pixabay I was assembling a new bike last week, and even though I am not a handy person, things were going pretty [...]

by Eddie Pipkin I was on at a complex of hiking and mountain biking trails a couple of weeks ago, and down by the informational kiosk at the start of the route, I was delighted [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Артур Закиров from Pixabay I was at my young friend, Chance’s, amazing wedding in Colorado last weekend.  It was visually outstanding, held on a farm in a valley [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay My wife and I have a household trophy that we use to celebrate small but meaningful moments that might otherwise pass without mention. It's [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by congerdesign from Pixabay When reading an article this week that contemplated which kinds of institutions do the best job of bringing rich Americans and poor Americans together in [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Pexels from Pixabay Football season is right around the corner, and I can’t wait.  I love football, pro and college (go Knights!), and I will spend waaaaay too [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay I was cleaning up the good ol’ Honda CRV last week, when, lo and behold, I discovered a feature that I had never used [...]

by Eddie Pipkin (Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay) Last week, at the conclusion of my “Misaligned Metrics” blog, I teased you with a reference to Excellence in Ministry Coaching’s new Leadership Skill [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by FlitsArt from Pixabay Reading author and reporter Ann Helen Peterson’s Culture Study newsletter on Substack last week, my ears perked up when she got on a rant about [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Peter Dargatz from Pixabay I was out for a sunrise run on the beach last week, when I found myself approaching another runner coming in my direction.  It [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, or you don’t do the ‘socials,’ or you don’t go to movies, you may have missed [...]

By Eddie Pipkin Image by Dmitry Abramov from Pixabay I love reading about quirky phrases, so I was delighted when I came across this one sometime in the past few months -- I [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Marisa Sias from Pixabay I’ve been following the Major League Baseball number one performance by the Tampa Bay Rays this season (always the underdogs, those underfunded and underloved [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay Flying around to unfamiliar cities in the past couple of weeks made me acutely aware of the amenities and atmosphere of airports.  Here is [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Are you a “satisficer” or an “optimizer”?  If you don’t know the difference, this is the blog for you.  And you should know the [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Cleaning: Image by svklimkin from Pixabay It’s pretty common for publications to run an article or two about spring cleaning as the weather warms up.  And just as individual homeowners [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay Everybody loves a celebration.  Or as Gen Z (aka, the tech-savvy ‘Zoomers’) sometimes calls them, cellies.  I was reading an article this week about the [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Photo by Pipkin I was taking my wife to the airport for an early morning flight, and since it was Saturday, even though it wasn't yet daylight, we decided to [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Thomas Breher from Pixabay Well, I turned 60 yesterday.  Hopefully, I survived the day. I finished the blog beforehand, so that even if I didn’t make it through [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by David Mark from Pixabay I was at a wedding in Tennessee last weekend, in the Great Smoky Mountains to be precise, and if you’ve been blessed to visit [...]

By Eddie Pipkin Image by Christian Bodhi from Pixabay I’m nerdy enough to have been among the excited online onlookersfor last week’s long-anticipated Starship launch.  Starship is the largest craft ever lifted from [...]

by Eddie Pipkin I was at the awesome new St. Pete Pier last week.  It is a testament to innovative public space planning.  It’s been enthusiastically embraced by the locals and lauded in national travel [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by mastrminda from Pixabay I was checking off email a couple of weeks ago, and I clicked on an “IKEA Family” message, because I signed up a while back [...]

By Eddie Pipkin Image by Marc Pascual from Pixabay I’ve noticed this thing lately.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a pop culture reference, a personal lifestyle option, or a theological difference, it’s not [...]

By Eddie Pipkin Image by Schorsch from Pixabay We can’t close out March without me composing a riff on the basketball paradise that is March Madness.  It’s been an amazing tournament this year, [...]

By Eddie Pipkin Image by Carlos Lincoln from Pixabay I was reading last week about the inventor, Thomas Midgley, Jr.  His name was unfamiliar to me, but his inventions.  He was responsible for [...]

By Eddie Pipkin Image by Günther Mayrwöger from Pixabay We were on a road trip this past weekend, and I was treated yet again to an interstate phenomenon that seems to me to [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Stefan Kuhn from Pixabay Everything old is new again, and all formerly popular things eventually come back into fashion.  It’s true for high-waisted jeans; it’s true for mullets [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Yerson Retamal from Pixabay My mother-in-law passed away in early December, and my wife and her brother found themselves in that scenario in which we all inevitably find [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Aritha from Pixabay I was struck by the headline in a recent news scroll on my phone. “Am I fun enough?”  Before I clicked it, I thought maybe [...]

By Eddie Pipkin Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay Among the many heart-wrenching narratives from the recent catastrophic earthquake that impacted Turkey and Syria, none was more tragic than the realization that one of [...]

By Eddie Pipkin Image by Cheryl Holt from Pixabay I went with my wife on a cruise a few weeks ago.  It was one of those small ships, no more than 240 people [...]

By Eddie Pipkin I was at a race event at Daytona International Speedway last weekend, and I happened to have a pass that allowed me infield access.  Looking up from ground level from some distance [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay Now is about the time when those New Year’s resolutions start wearing off, so if you have any complainers in your circle who swore [...]

by Eddie Pipkin Image by Monika Grafik from Pixabay Did I even write this paragraph?  If you’re into tech developments, and you’ve been reading the recent articles about ChatGPT, you will already know [...]

By Eddie Pipkin Image by Pexels from Pixabay Last week I wrote about resolutions, but I left an important one out – which, of course, means that I left last week’s blog entry, [...]