brian shivers

Thank you.  Thank you for being passionate about the world in which you live. Thank you for demanding authenticity over flair.  Thank you for your goofy sense of humor.  Thank  you for the depth of your questions and the honesty of your thoughts.  Thank you for your faith and for your doubt.  Thank you for your willingness to be sincere about your own brokenness.  Thank you for your eyes            which look upon the world with interest, desire, and hope.  Thank you for your hands            which text, tweet, blog, and post but with which you also dig into the soil to make change happen.  Thank you for your feet            which are in perpetual motion from one adventure to the next.  Thank you for being my teacher.  Your school, your community, your world have been transformed because of...

Every Sunday in Marion, Indiana, my family attended a small Assembly of God church directly across East 29th Street from my maternal grandparents' home. Following church, we would walk across the street to join my grandparents for lunch in their quaint two bedroom home my grandfather built when my mother was five years old. This house was a second home of sorts not only for me and my immediate family but also for all of my great aunts, great uncles, and their children (of which there were many). There was always great home cooked meal to eat, room to sit on the davenport, and plenty of love and acceptance to go around. This was a home that reminded you that you were deeply connected to something much bigger than yourself and that you mattered. The richly paneled walls spoke the beautiful and sometimes painful stories of family. The rooms sang the songs of love and devotion. The faces in the family portraits of time and people long since passed reminded us all of who and what was o...

I am in love. I am in love with a woman... who is more woman than the man I will ever be;  who is more than the image of beauty the world tries to sell her; who is more than her curves.  I am in love.  I am in love with a woman...  who possesses a mind that is an amazingly beautiful mystery         full of more intelligence than anyone I have ever met; who is passionately in love with the world         and the people who fill it.  Oh yes, I am in love.  I am in love with a woman... who is the most incredible creature to grace the face of this planet (or any other);        her eyes, full of light,        her skin, silky to caress,        her scent, home to me.  I am in love.  I am in love with a woman...  who desires to be exactly who she is created to be    ...

This is an important week in the life of Second Presgyterian Church in Indianapolis. This is confirmation week. I  have had the distinct privilege of walking through the confirmation journey with students every year for the last 24 years in the same place. It is one of many highlights in youth ministries for me.  There are plenty who question the efficacy, necessity, and relevance of confirmation.  There are others who wonder if it is anything more than checking a box in order to fulfill a religious obligation. I willingly admit that many important questions must be asked and addressed concerning confirmation as the church as a whole continues to change in our increasingly post-Christendom world (for more on post-Christendom see John Vest's helpful posts here ). However, I firmly believe that confirmation continues to be important. My adventure at Second has allowed me to see the importance of confirmation (and all of that which follows) on and in the lives of the a...