The first article I posted in this mini-series was about our visit to a hidden lake in the mountains of Colorado called Burned By Deep Ministry Hurts. As we drove up to the Trapper’s Lake area there were burned trees from a previous year’s forest fire, they stuck up like toothpicks, monuments of life now hurt and dead. Being burned in ministry can leave us feeling dead like that forest, with little hope of new life.

Burns in the ministry are caused by traumatic experiences that deeply wound you by a person or people within your church, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or a member of the community or family that has sought to do you harm.

These fires from others can be directly aimed at you publicly by fiery darts or they can be like arson, hidden fires built in secret, only to be discovered when the troubles…

As we drove last summer toward a hidden lake among the mountains of Northern Colorado there was the beauty of the forest surrounding us. Tall dark green pine trees on both sides of the road clinging to the sides of the mountains. It was a magnificent sight to see until we came into vast expanses of burned pine trees standing up from the ground like toothpicks. The evidence of forest fires from previous years went on for miles. The ground was also littered with fallen trees that had slid down the mountains and hills, making the beauty of the landscape dissipate to a very disturbing sight.

Trapper’s Lake

A few minutes into our hike I noticed patches of trees that had been saved from the forest fires, but all around them stood the skeletons of the forest. The burned trees stood as monuments of a life that once was vibrant…

Hello all! I want to introduce you to Tricia, who is a pastor’s wife in Kansas. She and her husband have been in full-time ministry for only 15 months. Tricia’s new ministry in Kansas has changed her outlook on hospitality and that is why I wanted to share her testimony and hospitality tips with you.

From Tricia:

Hospitality according to the Webster’s Dictionary, is “the generous and friendly treatment of visitors and guests.” According to the Apostle Paul, we, as saints, should be “given to hospitality” (Rom 12:13). In our busy and hectic lives, have we forgotten the Lord’s command to love and serve one another?

I have to be honest, I did not learn hospitality from my mother. Don’t get me wrong, my mother loved to cook and bake. She was generous with her creativity and loved to coordinate parties and get-togethers. But stop by my house unannounced, and…