Dealing with Loss, Grief, and Grace in a Pandemic: A Conversation Among Friends

If you are a pastor or on a church staff, there is no shortage of suggestions for what to do during the current novel coronavirus pandemic. Many pastors find themselves forced to think about live-streaming services, using Zoom or Google Meet to offer Bible Study, and Youth Pastors are digging deep into their creative barrels to find some fun ways to make connection online. There is little doubt some ministers feel like they are working longer and harder as the uses of new technology represent more than deciding to add exercise into a weekly, or daily, routine.

My friend Marty Duren wrote a piece that was published on lifeway.com, Dealing with Loss, Grief, and Grace in a Pandemic. He writes,

I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced something that was so obviously good—yet felt like such a big piece was missing. It was a void that’s hard to describe, a sadness across the six-foot expanse. It was as if the circumstance set in place a bottomless crevice forbidding even the most brotherly/sisterly physical expressions of Christian love. We know the circle is unbroken, but in that moment, it felt busted into a dozen pieces.

On this episode of Patheological: A Podcast for the Pastor-Theologian, Alan Cross set up a conversation between friends. Alan currently serves at a Pastor in Sonoma County, California, Paul Littleton is a former pastor and currently serves in leadership in a local church, and Marty Duren is a former pastor who is currently the Director of Communications for the Great Commission Collective and serves in a local church.

Listen in as Alan leads us on a conversation about church leadership in a pandemic using Marty’s article as the springboard.

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About the Author
Husband to Patty. Daddy to Kimberly and Tommie. Grandpa Doc to Cohen, Max, Fox, and Marlee. Pastor to Snow Hill Baptist Church. Graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Reading. Photography. Golf. Colorado. Jeeping. Friend. The views and opinions expressed here are my own and should not be construed as representing the corporate views of the church I pastor.

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