Jason Locke's Blog

Church leadership is messed up in the United States. Broken. Egocentric. Toxic. Nonexistent. Dysfunctional. That's the way it feels to lots of commentators and professional ministers like me. It's such a big deal that talking about it is kind of like watching replays of major racing accidents. You just can't look away. How else can one explain the great popularity of books and podcasts that do autopsies on some of the most dysfunctional church leadership structures of our day? (For those with an interest to explore what I mean, you can check out a few examples at the bottom of this article.) I have a much younger friend named Jacob. He served four years in the Marines before going to college. Once, he was telling me about being part of a flight crew for those giant refueling planes, something like a KC-130. It was fascinating to hear about flying with that huge plane all across Europe. As Jacob shared, I realized something shocking yet crucial about the way the US military

Here's a parable. Let's say that you love swimming. You love swimming so much in fact that you are part of a swim club. You believe that swimming is the healthiest thing a person could do, and you feel stronger and more vibrant when you are actively swimming. Every week, you meet with your swim club to do laps together and then go out for drinks. It's one of the most enjoyable parts of your week, and you see this as incredibly important. You and I are good friends, in this parable at least. And as an advocate for swimming as the key to a healthy life, you keep inviting me to the swim club. You use various enticements to get me to go. You even introduce me to another swim club member in the hopes it will push me over the edge. Do you know where this parable is going? Read on for the conclusion. (from www.goodlife.org.au/squads) Clear of Covid, I have resumed my planned sabbatical schedule. It was hard to let go of the planned visits in Hamburg and Frankfurt, but the wise pat

Last Friday, we left for my first ministry sabbatical. The trip to Germany was mostly uneventful. Completely full flights. A strange delay of 2.5 hours at DFW. But no real problems. We had an eventful Sunday, which I describe below. On Monday morning, though, I woke up with congestion, headache and sore throat. Since I had a couple meetings planned that day, I believed it wise to take a Covid test to rule it out. The result was positive. Shocker! No idea if I picked it up before leaving Fresno or somewhere on the flight over. This has led to the very sad cancellation of a number of activities and appointments I had this week. We're extending our stay in Frankfurt to try to get well quickly. Back to our arrival in Frankfurt... We got checked in to our simple hotel in the heart of Frankfurt and then had one goal for that day: Stay awake until evening. The worst way to overcome jetlag is to succumb to the afternoon-nap temptation on day one. Mission accomplished. I was in Frankfurt on

This summer, I embark on my first ministry sabbatical. It's a very unusual sabbatical, not least because this should have happened in 2014, after 5 years of ministry here. The timing back then was terrible, so I didn't even bring it up. And it hasn't been great in recent years either. Finally, the moment has come. Summer of 2022 sabbatical, here we come. The idea of a sabbatical comes from the academic world, or so I'm told. It's a period of paid leave for the minister or teacher, who spends that time in research, writing or exploration of one kind or another. In university settings, a tenured professor might receive a year of sabbatical for every seven years of teaching. In ministry settings, two or three months is a more normal length. In my church tradition, sabbaticals are not a common thing. It's not because people think it's a bad idea — it's just not something they are probably familiar with. The concept has taken root, however, and an increasing