Blog Archive

The Lies We Believe

There is a whole contingent of people in wellness sectors of the internet promising that celery juice will not only detoxify your body and regulate your digestion, but clear your mind, help you drop ten pounds, and maybe even cure you of diseases (they say it with an asterisk so they can’t get sued). There […]

The Scientist Mindset

In his book Think Again, Adam Grant suggests that the key to being an effective, innovative entrepreneur is all about being a good scientist. He suggests that being able to frame our work with the mentality of the scientific method – hypothesis, experiment, analysis, hypothesis – allows for the mental flexibility necessary to succeed in […]

THE 4 DISCIPLINES OF EXECUTION

Anyone who works in Church leadership can imagine what we mean when we say that much of work energy is devoted to “the whirlwind.” Emails, meetings, bible studies, setting chairs up, it is no surprise to anyone in ministry that most of a church leader’s time falls victim to the tyranny of Sunday. It comes […]

3 Lessons on Innovation from the Christmas Story

Here at Ministry Incubators, we’re focused on missional innovation, sustainable revenue streams, and learning everything we can from design thinking, tech startups, Native American agriculture, psychologists, and ivy league business schools. But we are also people of faith, and before any of our work is informed by the latest research or biggest trends, it is […]

The Nap Ministry

How will you be useless to capitalism today? The question covers the landing page for the revolutionary performance-art meets ministry meets social justice movement called The Nap Ministry. This simple, and powerfully subversive “REST AS RESISTANCE” model suggests that our cultural resistance to appropriate rest is a crisis that affects our entire humanity, causing depletion […]

The #1 Way to Reduce Stress

When one of Ministry Incubator’s leaders sat down with a mentor, feeling the pressure of a to-do list that was quite literally impossible for him to achieve that week, his mentor asked him to circle a few things he actually could do.  To the stressed-out leader’s surprise, his mentor circled, “develop an exercise routine.” The […]

Three Sisters

When the first Europeans landed on what is now called North America, they noticed an agricultural practice of the indigenous population that was radically unfamiliar to them. They saw gardens, where, instead of neat rows of separated crops, beans wrapped themselves around corn stalks, and pumpkins grew thick stems around their bases. They took these […]

Students Leading Students to Worship: Olivia Williamson’s Story

By John HarrellMinistry Incubators staff “Worship me.” That’s what Olivia Eckart Williamson experienced as God’s call to her when she was a senior in high school: to worship the Lord, with her school as the venue. She remembers being at a restaurant with a friend, three hours into planning for a student-led worship event, and […]

Tags: Hatch-a-thon, Hatchathon, Ministry, ministry design, missional entrepreneurs, missional innovation, social enterprise, student ministry, youth ministry

Drowning in Details? Maybe We Can Surf Instead

Task management can be discipleship By John Harrell, Ministry Incubators Staff It was a typical weeknight shortly after Ana and I were married and we had just finished inching our little car home through the molasses of Seattle traffic. We had no way of knowing that as we clomped up the stairs to our apartment […]

Tags: discipleship, missional entrepreneurs, missional innovation, Resources, social enterprise, task management, time management

Announcing Our New Vice President for Coaching and Training, The Rev. Dr. Aqueelah Ligonde

This week we are delighted—giddy, actually—to welcome our new Vice President for Coaching and Training, the Rev. Dr. Aqueelah Ligonde! Dr. Ligonde (“Q,” for short) is no stranger to Ministry Incubators.

A Few Words on Innovation: An Interview with Dawn Lynch

Are you interested in what ministry innovation looks like in action? Our own John Harrell interviews Dawn Lynch with Community Yoga in Mooresville, NC—a ministry that aims to create community through yoga! Check it out!

A Few Words on Innovation: An Interview with Rev. Bryan Wilson

Want to see what ministry innovation looks like in action? Our own John Harrell interviews Rev. Bryan Wilson about Still Waters Landing in Hayesville, NC—a ministry that aims to renew their community through “faith, food, farming, and fellowship”! Check it out!

Innovation Curious? Mark DeVries and Meg Gaston Explain

Have you ever wondered what innovation looks like in the church? Check out this video, created by the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, that features Meg Gaston and our own Mark DeVries!

New Futures for the Post-Pandemic Church: A Continued Conversation with Kenda Creasy Dean and Paul Nixon

Thursday, May 27, 20214:00-5:15 pm (Eastern) • via Zoom Last June, in the midst of a terrifying pandemic and countrywide protests against police violence, the BTS Center invited Paul Nixon and Kenda Creasy Dean to share their insights about what the future held for post-pandemic faith communities, as we all looked forward to the day when everything […]

How Faith and Gaming Help Us Survive the Worst of Times

If you have a couple of minutes, check out this article by one of our innovators, Rev. David Petty with Crossfire:faith+gaming! David was one of our Hatchletes in 2020 in the Mountain Sky Conference. For decades, people have talked about churches “meeting people where they are.” Getting out of the building and into community requires […]

Tags: community, entrepreneurship, gaming, missional enterprise, missional entrepreneurs, missional innovation, resilience