by Rhett Smith | May 26, 2010 | Leadership
One of the topics that has been of great interest to me as of late is the idea of self-differentiation (differentiation of self). It has great interest to me in interpersonal relationships, and it has been really intriguing to me in terms of church leadership. There...
by Rhett Smith | Apr 19, 2010 | Leadership
Unfortunately, one of the ministry lessons that has been drilled into my head over the years is that numbers matter. Specifically large numbers. I was rarely asked by my supervisors how an event went, or what stories I could tell about the ministry. It always seemed...
by Rhett Smith | Mar 31, 2010 | Intentional Living
[image by epSos.de] God is Not Safe, So Why Do We Play So Safely There are lots of books, stories and examples displaying how we tend to play life too safely at times, and the need for us to overcome this complacency. One of the examples that is always in my mind is...
by Rhett Smith | Mar 26, 2010 | Intentional Living
Wednesday night I had the awesome opportunity to share about my trip to Haiti with a couple of hundred students at Epic Student Ministries of Hope Fellowship. It was an amazing experience. Not only did I get to share about the hope that I witnessed in Haiti, I got to...
by Rhett Smith | Mar 17, 2010 | Leadership
No, the irony is not lost on me that my last post was called ENOUGH: Put Down Those Ministry and Self-Help Books and Pick Up A Novel. But remember my caveat: So you don’t have to give up on your ministry and self-help books, but put them down for a season, and pick up...
by Rhett Smith | Mar 9, 2010 | Faith
Haiti was, and more importantly, IS, a life-transforming experience for me. I’ve been back for a couple of weeks now and trying my best to figure out how I can best be involved. I was scheduled to be back in Haiti this week as well, but for various reasons I...
by Rhett Smith | Feb 4, 2010 | Intentional Living
Last week I wrote about some of my initial thoughts on my upcoming trip to Haiti, and with each passing day I’m getting more and more excited, and a bit more nervous as well. One of the really exciting things is the coming together and completion of the team I...
by Rhett Smith | Jan 13, 2010 | Men
[image by iwona kellie] I’ve recently been reading a really phenomenal book by Richard Rohr and Joseph Martos, The Wild Man’s Journey: Reflections on Male Spirituality. One of the things that I have continually be thinking about is the distinction the...
by Rhett Smith | Jan 5, 2010 | Intentional Living
One of the things that I have been telling myself the last few months is that I want to do a better job of “being present” with others in 2010. 2009 was an awesome year, but I felt overwhelmed, and overextended throughout much of the year. There were lots...
by Rhett Smith | Dec 17, 2009 | Leadership
On Tuesday I posted the first part of my interview with Adam McHugh (“Introverts in the Church” — Interview with Adam S. McHugh/Part 1), whom you can find blogging and writing here. As I’ve already said about a million times already, his new...
by Rhett Smith | Dec 15, 2009 | Leadership
Back in the early part of the fall I made a comment on Twitter about being exhausted from all the deep conversations I was involved in at a conference, and Adam McHugh wrote an @reply to me asking if I was an introvert. It was an interesting observation and comment,...
by Rhett Smith | Dec 10, 2009 | Leadership
If you have been following my Twitter stream over the last week you will have noticed how much I love the new book, Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture by Adam S. McHugh. I will be blogging about the book more at length in the near...
by Rhett Smith | Nov 30, 2009 | Therapy Practice
[image by Ben Zvan] I’ve been thinking a lot about the topic of social media and the role of therapists (pastoral counselors) in the midst of it. There is a large percentage of therapists who thinks being online should be super limited, if online at all. And...
by Rhett Smith | Nov 23, 2009 | Therapy Practice
[image by dcfdelacruz] I made a comment on Twitter the other night that went something like this: Feel blog post coming on about how dangerous it is when pastors ignore serious mental health issues & blame it on spiritual problems And from that I received a lot of...
by Rhett Smith | Nov 12, 2009 | Parenting
[image by Jeremy] More and more recently I have been afforded some great opportunities to work with parents around the issue of their kids and technology. There have been some great conversations taking place in the context of therapy, church ministry and some...
by Rhett Smith | Oct 13, 2009 | Intentional Living
[image by Tamara Areshian] In my last post, When You Refuse To Take Care Of Yourself, You Are Refusing To Take Care Of Those Around You, I just briefly reflected on some comments by Rob Bell at the Catalyst Conference 2009 and how I felt they played into self-care....
by Rhett Smith | Oct 1, 2009 | Parenting
Here is an amazing opportunity that our church, HPPC, along with some other churches are putting on for people this weekend in Dallas. I hope to see you there. “For youth pastors, volunteer leaders, and parents, When Kids Hurt challenges caring adults to help...
by Rhett Smith | Sep 15, 2009 | Leadership
The Cultivate Conference in Chicago is getting closer every day. Two weeks ago I posted my interview with Carlos Whitaker [aka Ragamuffinsoul], and last week I posted my interview with Cynthia Ware of the Digital Sanctuary. Check it out. This week I’m talking...
by Rhett Smith | Sep 8, 2009 | Leadership
The Cultivate Conference in Chicago is only about 6 weeks away and I’m getting more and more excited everyday with the number of amazing people that are showing up to participate. Last week I posted my interview with Carlos Whitaker [aka Ragamuffinsoul], and he...
by Rhett Smith | Aug 28, 2009 | Technology
I’ve been really impressed with Clover and the beautiful websites they have developed, and especially the intuitive ease with which they are designed…especially for those of us who don’t know how to program or code. I recently sat down to interview...
