Posts Tagged ‘Writing’

28 Apr

Another Writing Milestone: My First Print Publication

Posted by Jennifer Clark Tinker in Community, Vocation. Tagged: , , , , , .

For the first time today I held my first paid, print publication in my hands. It is an article for Connect: Journal of Children, Youth & Family Ministry, the official publication of the ELCA Youth Ministry Network.

The article is called, Seven Ways That Hands-On Service Builds Connections and Confidence for Young People and you can read it online with this link >> http://issuu.com/elcayouthministrynetwork/docs/connect_journal_winter_2014_167/14

And just for fun, here is a picture of me holding the print version in my very own hands…

My First Print Publication

Special thanks to Clint Schnekloth, a colleague and friend, and author of Mediating Faith, who helped me get this opportunity.

12 Mar

So Far: My First Blogiversary

Posted by Jennifer Clark Tinker in Inspiration, Vocation. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

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I can’t believe that it has already been a year since I started blogging here at Living Faith! What’s even more astounding is how many folks have come along for the adventure!

I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I started my blog. I never could have guessed where it would bring me in one short year, but I’m sure glad I’m here!

At first when I seriously considered starting a blog it was for the sake of staying connected with people after they hear me speak. As a “freelance” speaker & preacher I meet people in various locations and I wanted a way to maintain a presence in people’s lives after the speaking events or worship services.

But once I started the blog, then it began to take on a life of its own and I’ve done relatively little speaking & preaching compared to what I had hoped. So the blog itself became an entry-point for connections.

And then there were more and more connections through the blog!

Even people from my small town, people from my own church began getting to know me more deeply on the blog before hearing much from me live and in person or up front from a pulpit.

And then the other opportunities started coming along, some highlights of which were joining the staff at Life & Liberty, and getting my first real writing contract! Then a bunch of preaching and speaking opportunities came all at once in December which was cool.

My depression–which kept me from writing for so long–has tried to hold me back even since I started this blog. It has been particularly bad since December. I am getting help though, so that’s a good thing. And I am not letting it stop me from writing!

The biggest way I am combatting the depression is by trying to get more and more clarity about what I want to do with the blog and with my writing in general. I figure if this blogging & writing stuff is taking off for me, I want to be crystal clear about my purpose in it all.

I am particularly excited about the new series about “Receiving Others as Gifts” that I announced last Friday. It is exactly the kind of thing I need to be about with my writing and fits beautifully with my life message. I hope you will follow that series each week and let me know how it resonates with you.

This is for keeps now people. I am really, really, really doing this writing thing, and I look forward to many more blogiversaries! Thanks for being with me in this!

11 Mar

Imagination, Reality, and Kindness in the Realm

Posted by Jennifer Clark Tinker in Community, Leadership. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

kindness-heart

One of my earliest areas of interest as a writer was in writing short stories. I often used my study halls in high school to write fanciful stories about imaginary lands. I even had a science teacher who would let me read my stories to the class if she finished her lecture early.

One gem of a story idea was inspired by an odd panel in the family room of the house where I grew up. This one panel was 1/5 the width of all the others and it had a knot-hole toward the bottom.

I imagined a land of little people who lived inside the knot-hole of that panel. And the little people inside there had what I considered a utopian society.

My version of utopia? The little people all lived and worked in harmony and treated one another with kindness.

Brilliant right?

And what laws governed this utopia? None. None at all.

The people weren’t good and kind because laws told them to be, they were good and kind because they wanted to be.

I never quite got around to writing the knot-hole people’s story because somehow this was not like my other stories. It was more of a vision. And it felt too big and too important to reduce to a short story.

But this utopian vision has stayed with me ever since then…

Click the heart in the photo above read the rest of this essay at Life & Liberty and find out what that youthful vision still means to me today.

8 Mar

Introducing a New Series on Receiving Others as Gifts

Posted by Jennifer Clark Tinker in Community. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

20131206-163719.jpgI wrote a post in December based on a portion of the Deaconess litany about the idea of receiving others as gifts. I said then that this is a topic that I wanted to write more about.

Then in January, inspired by an old post from my friend, David Housholder, about finding your “life message,” I did some journaling about my own life message. I came up with three parts:

  1. I want to help people know to the core of their being that they are dearly beloved by God in a right-now, no-matter-what way. (I realize now that this is why I love to preach so much.)
  2. I’m passionate about seeing all of God’s gifts unleashed in his created people and I want to support others as they walk boldly in their gifting for the sake of others.
  3. I envision a world where people respect others and receive one another’s ideas & service as gifts. I believe that we need each other, not to control each other but to serve one another.

Notice the third part–there’s that phrase again–about receiving others as gifts. So, as you can see, this kept popping up as a theme.

Meanwhile, I was growing frustrated with the blog here. I mean, I was faithfully posting every Friday, but I felt like I wasn’t being very purposeful about my topics. When I sat down to do some brainstorming about blog topics, once again many of the topics I came up with seemed to relate to the idea of receiving others as gifts!

So all of that is why I am officially starting “Receiving Others as Gifts” as a series here on the blog.

To get an overview of my thinking on this topic, be sure to check out my previous post, Receiving Others as Gifts. I have also created a list of ten topics that will each become a post in the series. Here are those ten topics:

  1. We Need Each Other–Mutually Giving and Receiving
  2. Companionship Over the Long Haul
  3. The Giftliness of Others
  4. The Giftedness of Others
  5. Holy Others Belonging to God
  6. Sanctity of Life
  7. Working Together – Cooperation & Collaboration
  8. Finding Common Ground when Values Compete/Conflict
  9. Honoring Differences in Style, Personality, Approach
  10. Gratitude for & Gracious Reception of One Another

These are subject to change and I may add to the list. But, in general, unless the Spirit moves me otherwise, these topics will be on the blog over the next 10 Fridays.

I have no idea if any of this will make sense outside of my own brain, but it is in me to write it and I need to get it out there. I would love your feedback as this goes along. Please tell me what makes sense and what doesn’t. Let me know what you’d like me to expand on. And, if something rubs you the wrong way, I’d be honored if you would tell me that too.

 

 

Read all the posts in the Receiving Others as Gifts series:

14 Feb

So Far: 100 Posts -plus- Seven Things I Would Do 100 Times

Posted by Jennifer Clark Tinker in Community, Vocation. Tagged: , , .

So, I’ve been sick this week and got to today and realized it’s blog day–Friday is my day that I post something original here whether I feel like it or not. But my head is so cloudy that I didn’t know what I was going to write about. But then, I noticed that I have published 99 posts and this would be my 100th!

So, In honor my 100th post, I’m going to share some other things I would do 100 (or more) times:

  1. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario: This is my all-time favorite vacation place. I would go there 100 times if I could. My husband and I learned of a lovely cottage there by referral from my mother. We haven’t been there in years, but I’d love to go back time after time after time.
  2. Doodling my name: I love all forms of handwriting and handlettering. I could sit and doodle my name over and over 100 times in different styles and scripts.
  3. Carmine Park: There is a little park in the middle of my small town in Texas. It has natural interest, with a creek running through it and a lovely valley at one end, but it also has lots of great play equipment. I like to take my son there to blow off steam. Sometimes I play with him, but sometimes I take a notebook and sit and write. I could go there 100s of times.
  4. The library: I love to go to the library–sometimes to get books, but sometimes just as a quiet place to study or write. My son likes to go there too. It’s especially great to go there when the weather makes outdoor play unpleasant so we don’t go stir-crazy. I could go to a local library 100s of times and enjoy it every time.
  5. Pedicures: I haven’t had one in months, and I think I’ve only done it half a dozen times, but I would get a 100 pedicures if I had the chance! What’s really interesting too is that my favorite pedicurist told me that it was her favorite part of her job, I just loved going to her.
  6. Frozen: Okay, I have to say it. Frozen quickly became my all-time favorite movie. I know we joke about kids watching their Disney movies over and over and making us sick of them, but I personally could watch Frozen 100 times and not get sick of it. (To read more of my thoughts on the movie, try clicking these titles: Disney’s Frozen and the Misuse of Power, Disney’s Frozen and My Rant About the ‘Rents, and Disney’s Frozen and Using Power for Good.)
  7. How Great Thou Art: Somehow this one has become my favorite hymn and I love belting out all four verses (from memory) at the top of my voice. I could sing this one 100 times. I sometimes dream of recording myself singing it and then sharing it online, but I’m too chicken for that.

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Now it’s your turn! I’d love to hear from you: what are some things you would do 100 times if you could? Comment below or post to your own blog and be sure to give me a link. Or send me an e-mail at livingfaithjct (at) gmail (dot) com.

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