by Tracee Swank | Jul 13, 2026 | Leadership, Movement, Prayer, Tracee J. Swank
Scripture “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19a NIV) God spoke this to people in exile, still grieving everything they had lost. He did not minimize the loss. He simply refused to let it become a ceiling. He was...
by Tracee Swank | Jul 9, 2026 | Discipleship, Leadership, Mission, Movement, Tracee J. Swank
Somewhere in the last half century, the Church quietly learned to think of pastors as products. Not crudely. Not on purpose. But the language revealed the assumption. We spoke of pastoral searches the way people speak of hiring. We talked about the pastoral market. We...
by Tracee Swank | Jul 7, 2026 | Discipleship, Mission, Movement, Tracee J. Swank
After all the walking, listening, and honest reflection, the temptation is to do something big. Do not. Not yet. The history of established churches trying to pivot is littered with well-intentioned big launches that exhausted the congregation, fizzled within a year,...
by Tracee Swank | Jul 6, 2026 | Challenges, Mission, Prayer, Tracee J. Swank
Scripture “All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’” (1 Kings 19:5b NIV) After his greatest ministry victory, Elijah collapsed in the wilderness and asked God to take his life. God’s first move was not a sermon or a strategy. It was food. Then...
by Tracee Swank | Jul 2, 2026 | Discipleship, Leadership, Mission, Tracee J. Swank
The phrase seminary partnership sounds official, expensive, and slightly intimidating. For most mission-focused churches, the mental picture is a formal affiliation agreement, a financial commitment the church cannot afford, and a relationship that benefits the...
by Tracee Swank | Jun 30, 2026 | Discipleship, Mission, Outreach, Tracee J. Swank
After a few months of walking, listening, and looking at your community honestly, a quiet realization usually begins to settle in. The things your church offers and the things your community actually needs are not quite the same things. The mismatch is not dramatic....
