For Me New Year’s Resolutions I Will NOT Be Making, and One That Maybe I Will 3 Jan 2021 By Kristeen Bruun New Year’s Day has come and gone, and I am struggling to convince myself that I will not fall apart when I go back to work on…
For Me… Top Bloggers of 2020 31 Dec 202031 Dec 2020 2020 was a strange and wonderful year in so many ways! The Next Step Community shared 135,572 words in 186 posts, encouraged 13,625 people who viewed our next step content…
For Me Top Ten Blogs of 2020 28 Dec 202031 Dec 2020 Here are The Next Step Community's most read blogs this year. Thanks to all of the 13,569 visitors who helped us log over 27,000 views since we launched in March…
Advent… Joy to the World 26 Dec 202014 Jan 2021 The Next Step PodcastSeason 3: Light in the DarknessEpisode 9: Joy to the WorldDate: 26 December 2020Guests: Conrad Gempf, London School of Theology Also available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts,…
Cultural Studies… Far as the Curse is Found 26 Dec 202029 Dec 2020 By Justin Rossow When Isaac Watts published the text for the now-famous hymn Joy to the World in 1719, he was actually paraphrasing Psalm 98:4-9. (Read more.) Watts pushes poetic…
Cultural Studies… When Joy to the World Comes True 25 Dec 202026 Dec 2020 By Justin Rossow Joy to the World, one of the best-loved Christmas hymns, wasn't originally written for Christmas at all. At least, that's what I heard on a Christmas special…
Advent… Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence 19 Dec 202021 Dec 2020 The Next Step PodcastSeason 3: Light in the DarknessEpisode 7: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep SilenceDate: 19 December 2020Guests: Pastor, author, and coach Jeff Meyer Also available on: Apple Podcasts,…
Advent… Have A Very … Christmas 18 Dec 2020 By Justin Rossow I love Christmas time! Except when I don't. And a Covid Christmas brings up all kinds of mixed emotions (shaken, not stirred). My parents decided not to…
Advent… My Virtual Secret Santa 17 Dec 2020 By Naomi Rossow This time last year, I was in Detroit on Wayne's campus with my friends gearing up to take my first round of college finals. My friends and…
Advent… O Zoom, All Ye Faithful 16 Dec 202015 Dec 2020 By Katie Helmreich In those days a decree went out, that everyone should return to their own homes and stay there. This was the first pandemic in a hundred years,…
For Me Mom’s Trash Can 15 Dec 202015 Dec 2020 By Kim Longden My mom went to be with the Lord six months ago, and one of the things we brought from her kitchen to ours was her trash can.…
For Me My Favorite Tea Kettle 14 Dec 2020 By Rachel Hinz Earlier this fall, our cute, teal tea kettle of 12 years finally needed to be replaced. As usual, it was a busy week, so I wasn’t sure…
Advent… Dear Jesus, I Have Survivor Guilt 13 Dec 202014 Dec 2020 By Kristeen Bruun Over the past ten days, I have been working on writing my annual Christmas letter, something I have sent out for at least the past 30 years.…
Advent… Noel 12 Dec 202011 Dec 2020 The Next Step PodcastSeason 3: Light in the DarknessEpisode 5: NoelDate: 12 December 2020Guests: Artist Deanna Rossow& Author Heidi Goehmann Also available on: iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, and Amazon Music. In…
Advent… Immanuel in Our Mess 9 Dec 202016 Dec 2020 By Katie Helmreich We're "real tree" people. Come what may, we load everybody in the Suburban and head to the tree farm early each December! I love the cozy, Courier and…
Discipleship Tools… Light in the Darkness Hymn Journal Book Tabs 6 Dec 2020 Once again, our Lead Illustrator, Valerie Matyas, has provided a printable set of book tabs specially designed to go with your hymn journal. These tabs complement Light in the Darkness:…
Advent… Emmanuel 5 Dec 20204 Dec 2020 The Next Step PodcastSeason 3: Light in the DarknessEpisode 3: EmmanuelDate: 5 December 2020Guests: Musician Brendan Knorp & Visual Faith™ Ministry Artist Ann Gillaspie Also available on: iTunes, Spotify, Pandora,…
Cultural Studies… My Identity, On Deposit 4 Dec 2020 By Justin Rossow I’ve been struggling a lot lately with the question of identity. Well before COVID made working from home a common, cultural experience, I left a job and…