by Tracee Swank | Jun 11, 2026 | Leadership, Mission, Movement, Tracee J. Swank
Ask an older pastor how they learned to do the job, and you will usually hear a name before you hear a degree. It will be the senior pastor who let them tag along on hospital visits at 23. The elder who taught them how to read a budget. The mentor who took a phone...
by Tracee Swank | Jun 9, 2026 | Mission, Movement, Outreach, Tracee J. Swank
Your community has living rooms that are not in anyone’s house. They are the places where people actually gather. The coffee shop where the regulars know each other’s orders. The diner where farmers meet at six in the morning. The laundromat where parents fold clothes...
by Tracee Swank | Jun 8, 2026 | Mission, Movement, Prayer, Tracee J. Swank
Scripture “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10 NIV) David did not start with strategy. He started with himself. The Hebrew word for “create” is the same word used in Genesis 1, the kind of work only God can do. A...
by Tracee Swank | Jun 4, 2026 | Leadership, Mission, Movement, Tracee J. Swank
There is a conversation happening inside theological education that most pastors have not heard. While pastors navigate the realities of their own congregations, seminary leaders are sitting with hard questions about how the Church forms its leaders. The best are not...
by Tracee Swank | Jun 2, 2026 | Discipleship, Mission, Outreach, Tracee J. Swank
The single most underused pastoral tool in the American church is the 30-minute walk. Not a walk for exercise. A walk around the blocks surrounding your church building, slowly, with your eyes open and your phone in your pocket. Most pastors have not done this in...
by Tracee Swank | Jun 1, 2026 | Mission, Movement, Prayer, Tracee J. Swank
Scripture “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20 NIV) Laodicea was a wealthy, comfortable city. Even so, Jesus did not stop knocking on the...
