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Derek R. Nelson Before he was a great-but-not-much-appreciated painter, Vincent van Gogh was a lousy-but-very-much-appreciated pastor. The details of this little-known chapter in his life are of some interest, I think, to those who are wondering about how early career pastors find sources of resilience to sustain them in their ministries, and also how pastors…

Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program Director Rev. Libby Davis Manning and Dr. Art Farnsley discuss a new educational program where the ARDA holds seminars to help users IN INDIANA learn to get the most out of the data available at www.thearda.com. ARDA will form three cohorts of faith-based non-profit leaders, pastors, and civic officials to help…

by Raymond B. Williams, Senior Advisor to the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program The presupposition at the beginning of a leadership program was that a strong ego is a predictor of leadership potential. The leader would command respect, overcome obstacles, and get things done. A strong ego might be essential for the leader to stand as…

“Terroir,” the word for the local environmental factors that give a particular wine or honey its distinctive flavor, can be applied to ministry, writes the director of the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program. Click here to read Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program Director Rev. Libby Davis Manning’s March 2021 article in Faith & Leadership.

by Jerry Ingalls, Lead Pastor, First Baptist Church, New Castle, IN There are two things I want to share with you about how my experiences with the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program have continued to bless me over six years later. 1. Through my experiences with this program I was introduced to the Lilly Endowment Inc.…

by The Rev. Matthew Cowden, Rector, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, South Bend, Indiana Our Cohort 3, WPLP pilgrimage to South Africa in 2014 continues to be strikingly relevant; acutely so now in 2020. We saw firsthand that systemic, institutionalized racism doesn’t end with a legislative vote. We heard the difficult truth that…

by Tim Knauff, Senior Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Valparaiso, Indiana I hate plastic shopping bags.  I hate how they feel, I hate that they’re too weak for what we need them for and therefore require me to take two, I hate they are only useful once and then consigned to picking up my dog’s droppings. …