Western North Carolina Conference Leadership Development

08/21/2026

When screens become a theological question

This is an interesting and insightful commentary by Dr. Brett McKinley Pardue

Pardue is resident theologian and organist at North Raleigh United Methodist Church (Raleigh, NC) and a visiting researcher at Boston University School of Theology. His work follows doctrine into the visible, audible, and embodied life of the church — through worship, images, music and material culture. He is especially interested in how these forms shape who belongs, who speaks with authority, and who is believed.

Read here:

The question isn’t whether a screen belongs in a sanctuary, but whether the sanctuary is helping the people belong to one another in prayer.

08/20/2026

Spiritual Discernment: Listening for Wisdom in a Distracted World

In a noisy world, it can be hard to hear your own thoughts, let alone hear to voice of your deeper knowing or God's quiet whispers.

Read more:

In a noisy world, it can be hard to hear your own thoughts, let alone hear to voice of your deeper knowing or God's quiet whispers.

08/19/2026

"Being welcomed home offers us dignity, safety and belonging. Hard to fake, worth working hard to create."

A role for the church.

Read the complete (short) blog by Seth Godin:

What if they meant it? What if your return felt special to the people behind the counter? What if they knew, without looking it up, or being told–what if they knew that you were here, again, …

08/18/2026

The hard and surprisingly hopeful lessons for churches five years after COVID

Pastors share what they’ve learned about their congregations, about the work of the church and about themselves five years after the pandemic forced most to close their doors.

Read more from Alban at Duke Divinity:

Pastors share what they’ve learned about their congregations, about the work of the church and about themselves five years after the pandemic forced most to close their doors.

08/17/2026

Are you using AI? What are you using it for? Let us know in the comments

08/17/2026

Save the Date!

Ecumenical North Carolina Clergy Women Preaching Event

Homegrown 2026
Cross Pollination: Shared Wisdom across places, spaces, and identities

November 5, 2026
Trinity Avenue Presbyterian
Durham, NC

North Carolina Women's Preaching Festival

08/15/2026

Twenty-one months have passed since that fateful announcement (of ChatGPT), and the impact of AI continues to unfold. Like the arrival of the internet and Wikipedia, the advent of machine learning and large language models are a milestone that cannot be ignored by professors and administrators in Christian higher education.
https://www.wnccumc.org/resourcedetail/should-christian-higher-ed-be-worried-about-ai-19938409

08/15/2026

From Scarcity to Abundance: Congregational Assets and Community Renewal
Aug 14, 2026 01:30 PM
Free Webinar from Common Table Network

In this interactive virtual gathering, Rev. Dr. Reggie Blount, Executive Director of the Oikos Institute for Social Impact, will explore how congregations can identify and steward these assets in ways that strengthen neighborhood well-being, foster communal flourishing, and support economic renewal

Register:

https://commontable.network/upcoming-gatherings

08/14/2026

Well, welcome to the age of AI, which brings with it a host of new challenges. Like this one. AI answers every question instantly. God, as you know, sometimes doesn’t answer at all. That gap is about to become one of the biggest discipleship challenges the church has faced. https://www.wnccumc.org/resourcedetail/the-discipleship-crisis-nobody-saw-coming-when-ai-answers-meet-a-silent-god-19938402

08/14/2026

Carey Niewuwhof interviewed Eugene Peterson weeks before he retired from public life. I talk to Eugene about the origin of the Message and the life rhythms he and his wife Jan adopted that helped produce the legacy millions have appreciated. Plus, we discuss what it was like to lead through the turbulence of the 1960s.

In Part 2 of this summer’s Required Listening, I interviewed Eugene...