The Ministry Collaborative

06/17/2026

New podcast episode! 🎙️

“You’re a Shepherd, Not a Cowboy: A Round Table Conversation on Simplicity”

https://mministry.org/podcast/youre-a-shepherd-not-a-cowboy-a-round-table-conversation-on-simplicity/

Adam Borneman and Adam Mixon speak with the Rev. Sherrad Hayes (Union Baptist Church, West Point, GA) about the “long game” of spiritual transformation, the difference between the immediate and the urgent, and the importance of our core identity in Christ.

Episode Transcript. (https://mministry.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/06-17-26.pdf)

06/16/2026

“Grace – Relentlessly Relational” - Adam Mixon

https://mministry.org/grace-relentlessly-relational/

The Problem We Share

There are a few things about human relationships that are absolutely unavoidable. We all change, and we will disappoint one another. We all have the capacity to act selfishly and get on someone’s nerves. And we all want to be seen, heard, and understood. Every one of us…

So, with such a propensity for failure and disappointment, how do we make any relationship work? How do we guard ourselves against bitterness? How do we keep ourselves from just avoiding one another or dealing with one another superficially? How do we cultivate deep and lasting relationships with people who are just as flawed as we are?

The Answer: Grace

The answer is simple – Grace. Whenever we are threatening to wash our hands of everything and everyone, remember that none of us is perfect. On any given day, we are all selfish, clumsy, and stupid… every one of us!

Are we willing to extend to others the same grace and patience we crave? Are we willing to offer and announce to others the grace that God freely gives us? I contend that no one is unlovable when we see them as God sees us.

Don’t get me wrong, hurt and disappointment are real. Our hurt, anger, and frustration are often founded and reasonable. But we are all flawed and come short. We are all weak, and we will all disappoint someone we love. Surprised? Don’t be!

Be gracious to one another. Be gracious to yourself. Love others as you love yourself. It is the only foundation for healthy and lasting relationships. If we can do this personally, then I believe we can practice this publicly.

Living It Together

What grace makes possible in individual relationships also shapes the kind of community we are called to become together.

So, here at The Ministry Collaborative, we are determined to be relentlessly relational. We don’t agree about everything, and some of our disagreements may stem from the many and varied experiences we have as individuals and as communities of peoples. But, here at The Ministry Collaborative, we view the richness of our diversity as an opportunity for growth rather than division – an occasion to listen and to cultivate compassion.

Even as we grapple with our very real differences, we do so with grace, believing that tension offers an occasion for deep learning and connection and is a faithful demonstration of the Gospel of Jesus.

****

Questions for Reflection

1. Where in my relationships am I most tempted to withdraw, harden, or settle for superficial peace instead of practicing grace?


2. What would it look like to extend to someone else the same patience and understanding I hope to receive?


3. How might our community become more compassionate, courageous, and relational if we chose grace more intentionally?

06/10/2026

New podcast episode! 🎙️

“The Holy Spirit in the Room: A Follow-Up Conversation on Facilitation”

https://mministry.org/podcast/the-holy-spirit-in-the-room-a-follow-up-conversation-on-facilitation/

Jennifer Watley Maxell and Adam Borneman follow up our earlier conversation about facilitation, discussing Jesus’ model of letting silence linger; understanding that information itself is not transformative; and how learning to move toward tension together can be productive and faithful.

Listen to the earlier episode on facilitation. (https://mministry.org/podcast/great-companions-on-this-journey-a-round-table-conversation-on-facilitation/)

⁠Contact TMC Staff about Facilitation Training.⁠ (https://mministry.org/contact/)

⁠Episode Transcript. (https://mministry.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/06-10-26.pdf)

Listen now! 🎧

06/04/2026

As many of us grieve the passing of our friend and colleague, Lamar Hardwick , I wanted to share a conversation I shared with him a little over 5 years ago. I listened to it again today and found it just as powerful and resonant now as it was then. So grateful for Lamar's ministry and witness.
- Adam B

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1FOEPFIPX2ama58yRLu7q1?si=kgE_qHxZQLm1fNkE9bce7Q

The Ministry Collaborative Podcast · Episode

06/04/2026

New podcast episode! 🎙️

“Great Companions on This Journey: A Round Table Conversation on Facilitation”

https://mministry.org/podcast/great-companions-on-this-journey-a-round-table-conversation-on-facilitation/

TMC Program Staff Adam Borneman, Jennifer Watley Maxell, and Mark Ramsey talk with Elizabeth Lynn (Shifting Ground) about creating space for deeper reflection, alignment vs. agreement, and why facilitation is a critical tool for all areas of ministry.

⁠Contact TMC Staff about Facilitation Training (https://mministry.org/contact/).

Episode Transcript (https://mministry.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/06-03-26.pdf).

Listen now! 🎧

06/02/2026

“Series Recap & Key Takeaways: Staying Rooted in a Ministry of Presence”

https://mministry.org/series-recap-key-takeaways-staying-rooted-in-a-ministry-of-presence/

Over the past few weeks, we have explored what it means to be relentlessly relational, not just as a tagline for our work, but as a lens for thinking about ministry more broadly. What does it actually look like to prioritize relationships in a culture that rewards efficiency, scale, and measurable results?

Sherrad Hayes helped ground that question in It Starts with the Vine, Not the Fruit (https://mministry.org/it-starts-with-the-vine-not-the-fruit/), reminding us that relational ministry does not begin with outcomes. It begins with abiding. Staying connected to Christ is the source of everything lasting, and when we lose sight of that, it does not take long before ministry becomes marred by frustration or exhaustion.

From there, Mark Ramsey’s Barriers (https://mministry.org/barriers/) brought the conversation into the realities of relationship and belonging. Instead of treating obstacles between people as problems to eliminate as quickly as possible, he invited us to consider what it looks like to meet one another within them. Drawing on Jesus’ practice of table fellowship, he reminded us that belonging often grows through presence, through staying, listening, and refusing to disengage when things get complicated.

Amy Valdez Barker’s Out of Place, Into Purpose (https://mministry.org/out-of-place-into-purpose-creative-dislocation-and-the-deepening-of-our-connections-calling-and-capacity-for-ministry/) continued that thread by reflecting on the experience of disorientation. When we find ourselves outside familiar rhythms or environments, it can feel unsettling, but she helped us see how those moments can open up space for deeper dependence on God and a renewed attentiveness to others.

And finally, Adam Borneman’s Inefficiency, Inconvenience, and Interruption (https://mministry.org/inefficiency-inconvenience-and-interruption-gospel-witness-in-the-age-of-the-actual/) named something many of us feel but often resist. The gospel rarely operates on our timelines. It shows up in interruptions, in unplanned conversations, and in the moments that feel like they are getting in the way of real work. Those are often the very places where relational ministry takes root.

What comes into focus is how prioritizing relationship in these various ways reshapes the posture of ministry. It requires a different way of showing up, one that resists the constant pull toward efficiency and instead makes room for presence, patience, and attentiveness. That is the invitation we keep coming back to. To abide before we produce. To stay engaged when things get complicated. To pay attention when we are interrupted or out of place. It may be that these times and places are not detours or distractions from the work, but the work itself.

05/27/2026

New podcast episode! 🎙️

“The Yearning Beyond Their Walls: A Round Table Conversation on Recent Church Attendance Data”

https://mministry.org/podcast/the-yearning-beyond-their-walls-a-round-table-conversation-on-recent-church-attendance-data/

TMC Program Staff Ryan Bonfiglio, Adam Mixon, Mark Ramsey, and Adam Borneman discuss the April data from the ⁠Hartford Center for Religion Research⁠ (https://hirr.hartfordinternational.edu) on church attendance trends, as well as what it might – and most certainly doesn’t – tell us about ministry today.

⁠Read the April, 2026, Report⁠ (https://www.covidreligionresearch.org/research/national-survey-research/signs-of-rebound-amid-uneven-recovery-the-changing-congregational-landscape/)

Episode Transcript (https://mministry.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/05-27-26.pdf).

Listen now! 🎧

05/26/2026

“Inefficiency, Inconvenience, and Interruption: Gospel Witness in the ‘Age of the Actual’” - Adam
Borneman

https://mministry.org/inefficiency-inconvenience-and-interruption-gospel-witness-in-the-age-of-the-actual/

“Our systems are trained to ask, ‘Is this worth the time and investment?’ Jesus keeps asking, ‘Is this one worth my Father’s love?’ The real calculus is not ‘What will this do for the bottom line?’
but ‘Who is missing from the table, and what are we willing to set aside so that we can all feast together?’

We are therefore faced with challenging questions that cannot remain hypothetical but must be made concrete: which meetings, which line items, which long-standing programs are we willing to sacrifice to be interruptible, inconvenienced, and faithfully inefficient? Which forms of polish and control can we relinquish in order to pursue a deeper gospel witness that might be interpreted by some as a ‘waste’ of time, energy, and resources?

Witness in an age of the actual will sound simple and costly: you can call, you can come by, we will be here, we will call you by name. This has to be true not only of congregations but of the individuals who participate in congregational life, deciding each day whether their lives will be interruptible, available, and a little less optimized than the culture demands. If a congregation cannot wrestle honestly with these costs in its own neighborhood, the message probably won’t matter. In our ‘communicational crisis,’ the world is understandably less interested in messages, statements, and performative slogans. What it is still wondering is whether anyone is willing to live without the protective distance that keeps us from one another.

Taken together, inefficiency, inconvenience, and interruption point toward an alternative imagination of witness, suggesting that a congregation’s calling in the community is not first to market itself effectively or implement impressive initiatives, but to become a people with whom neighbors can share in our inescapably fraught, gritty, complex human reality. This will mean listening before speaking, joining what is already happening before starting something new, and valuing forms of faithfulness that are difficult to quantify. It will mean refusing to treat neighbors as audiences, constituents, clients, recipients, or even potential congregation members, learning instead to receive them as fellow laborers in a shared place and time for the common good.”

Read today’s blog post in its entirety by clicking the link above ⬆️