[This article is available in audio format on the Pondering Purple podcast.] With so much written about the challenges that come from growing up between worlds, it’s important to highlight TCK strengths too. One of the most powerful of them is “Cross-Cluster Influence.” Cluster Analysis is a social science theory that essentially supports the fact […]

[This article is available in audio form on the Pondering Purple podcast. Search for it by name on your preferred pod platform or follow this link.]   Just a word of caution about this article. It is not explicit, but it delves into a hard topic and I want you to know that in advance. […]

[This article also exists in podcast form. You can listen to it on Pondering Purple, HERE.] Someone asked me, recently, why there is such an emphasis on grief and loss in my speaking on MK topics. Muki, one of the participants in a reentry retreat this summer, said it best: “I feel like grief has […]

  [Note: many of my articles are now available in audio form on the Pondering Purple podcast.]   I remember the phone call. I have no recollection of who was on the other end of the line. But even eighteen years lately, the words are still a paralyzing wound. “Riley killed himself.” He was a […]

Being a kid isn’t easy. Under the best of circumstances, life throws challenges and risks at us that can increase our anxiety. Add to that the high-pressure context of ministry and the chances of some level of anxiety rise. Then COVID-19 strikes. I’ve received calls and messages from so many families lately whose children are […]

  [This article also exists in podcast form, on Pondering Purple. Click HERE to listen or find it on your usual podcast platform.] This article is the third is a series on Transition. The others are – Part I: Leaving Well and Part II: Entering Well. We like Top Ten lists, don’t we? Bite-sized bits of information […]

[This article also exists in podcast form, on Pondering Purple. Click HERE to listen or find it on your usual podcast platform.] Many eons ago, I walked onto the Wheaton College campus for the first time. Everything felt hugely new. New culture, new way of life, new educational system, new homework load, new roommate… New everything. […]

[This article also exists in podcast form, on Pondering Purple. Click HERE to listen or find it on your usual podcast app.] This is the first in a series of three articles about transition. In this one, we’ll cover “Preparing to End Well.” The next one will be about Entering Well. And the third one […]

[This article is also available on the Pondering Purple podcast. Simply search for it by name on your preferred podcast platform or listen online HERE.]   As I’ve lead sessions with MKs and mission groups around the globe, I’ve seen an increase in questions regarding MKs and marriage. Why is it that some of us […]

  [Note: You can also listen to this article on my podcast. Simply search for Pondering Purple by name on your usual platform or listen online by clicking HERE.] It feels like it’s been going on for a long time, doesn’t it? This sheltering-in-place. This waiting with insufficient evidence that this will truly end anytime […]