It began with Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) students sitting in guest homes on a tour with their music group right after Christmas. After giving a concert that day, members of Pointless, an all-male accapella group, watched television news accounts of the tsunami that destroyed coastal villages in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and elsewhere, killing hundreds of thousands of people. They decided then that a portion of the proceeds of their tour should go toward assisting the tsunami survivors.

I once visited a church that had advertised a special event on a Sunday afternoon. I knew that church well, yet I really went as a guest for the special event. This event was supposed to wrap up all the church had done and learned during a six-week emphasis on winning new people to the Lord and for the church. When I entered the church building I felt busyness and nervousness behind smiling faces. People were occupied, talking with each other, and doing last minute preparations.

On my journey of 44 years as a pastor and district superintendent, I have observed many amazing stories of God's grace. I estimate that I have had in my care more than 20,000 of God's people from Washington to Illinois to Oklahoma.

Some experiences, feelings, longings, and heartaches seem beyond words. Common phrases hurt more than help. Spouses whose partners die are widows or widowers. Children whose parents die are orphans. But how do we name those whose children, siblings, or closest friends have died? This is a "grief with no name."

How do we talk to bereaved parents, siblings, and friends?

Acknowledge the loss. 

Do you remember your first job? Whether it was helping in the yard at home or assisting a neighbor with a project, I have always held some kind of job.

My first job with a consistent paycheck was in high school. Working in a more structured setting with a variety of people meant that I had to learn the expectations of the actual job as well as the relational aspects of the workplace.

My coworkers and bosses didn’t always share my faith convictions or my approach to work.

Shortly after I completed my bachelor's degree and got married, I began work toward a master's degree. Several promotions, two children, and more than a decade later, I finally reached that long-awaited target. Then I realized I needed a doctorate to accomplish my goal of teaching in a university setting. By then, I was a 36-year-old wife and mother with no way to pay for a doctoral education.

A few months ago I awoke to a typically rainy and gray Pacific Northwest November morning. The flapping butterflies in my stomach took up so much room that I could not fit in any breakfast. I had not felt so nervous about standing in front of a congregation since 2001 when I preached my first sermon as a youth intern.

"Ships that pass in the night/ only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness," Longfellow wrote in his epic poem, Emma and Eginhard. He speaks of the minimal signals given to vessels on the ocean which pass each other in the blackness of night with "only a look and a voice/ then darkness again and a silence." The two boats going to different destinations proceed on their own singular missions, each with little regard for the well-being or final port of the other.

From grocery stores and airports, to restaurants and the urban intersections of Tokyo, London, Johannesburg, Toronto, New York, and beyond, our visual senses are bombarded daily. Today, video screens can be found just about everywhere: cell phones, mall checkout counters, vehicles, and even fuel pumps. Is it any wonder that a growing number of churches are also incorporating the use of projected video in worship?

Recent research by pollster George Barna has been interpreted to describe what he feels is a growing disenchantment by some believers with the traditional ways of doing church. As a result, he established a Council of Senior Advocates to examine the situation and offer insights targeting solutions. Dwight M. Gunter II, pastor of Trevecca Community Church of the Nazarene in Nashville, was invited to serve as a member of this council.