the carnival in my head

yeah, my life is wonderfully crazy and full and chaotic and fun.

i’m a co-pastor at the refuge, an ecletic beautiful faith community in north denver, a mommy of 5 (3 teenagers & twins that are 10), teammate & partner to jose, my fab husband of 19 years….a writer now & then…a trained spiritual director (one who’s a little on the loud side)…an advocate for my friends in hard places…a cultivator of voca femina, a creative arts site for women to use their voice…an online faculty instructor to make a little extra money here & there…and a group-facilitator-whenever-i-can-be-because-that’s-one-of-my-favorite-things-in-the-whole-world-to-do!  they all sort of just blend together and make for one messy life in the trenches with incredibly lovely & amazing & courageous people.

most of all, i’m passionate about community, the marginalized, healing, spiritual transformation, equality, justice, “church”, relationships, diversity, and learning to love and be loved.

please don’t hold me to everything i say here.  i am in process.  and i’m sure a year from now i’ll cringe at some of the things i’ve said out loud here on the world wide web for everyone to see.  but what i’ve been trying to do with the carnival  is stay as current as i can.  as honest as i can.  i love Jesus.  but you need to know i am mad about a lot of things done in his name, too.  i’m tired of churches being run like corporations. i am frustrated that women do not have access to leadership in far too many churches and we’re missing out on so much wisdom.  i’m mad that power gets so misused & the beatitudes get tossed out the window in favor of strength & put-togetherness.  i’m sad that so many people in this world are poor, lonely and ignored.   i sometimes rant, i sometimes rave.  i try to speak as honestly as possible, and remember these are just my opinions, that’s all.

i’m glad you’re here…i hope reading helps you feel a little less alone, a little less crazy, a little more inspired, a little more brave.

i always appreciate emails & comments!

peace & hope, kathy

kathy@therefugeonline.org

“no heart is as whole as a broken heart, and i would say that no faith is as solid as a wounded faith.” – elie weisel

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projects i’ve been part of here & there:

books i co-authored:

come with me, an invitation to break through the walls between you and God (with elaine hamilton, discovery house press 2002)

this is a nifty spiritual direction tool that explores our distortions about God and helps create a space to interact with God, ourselves, our stories.

refresh: sharing stories, building faith (with laura greiner, new hope publishing 2007).

this is an interactive Bible study and spiritual direction tool for women.  it’s in a really lovely magazine format & each chapter explores real women’s struggles related to self-image, fear, relationships, depression, etc.  the largest christian Bible study retailer wouldn’t sell it because i am a female “lead” pastor so it never originally made it into a lot of hands it could have touched, but it’s still out there!

some articles i’ve written:

• alongside: man and woman co-pastoring together (with karl wheeler, christians for biblical equality, e-quality magazine summer 2006)
• moving from male privilege to shared leadership in the church (with karl wheeler, christians for biblical equality mutuality magazine, summer 2007)
• the stained glass ceiling (porpoised diving life, faith in a dress edition, 2007)
• suburban missional: the iceberg underneath (mustard seed associates, april 2009)

pieces from voca femina:

removing the stitches (february 2009)

jump (april 2009)

they roar, they rattle, they rob (mp3, may 2009)

what have you got to lose (voca blogita, october 2009)

new voices (voca blogita, september 2009)

pieces i’ve written for communitas collective:

a wonderful site for dreamers, church burn-outs, and those hoping to find new ways to live out their faith.  the posts i write are focused on experimenting with new forms of “church”, one of my fav topics!

workshops & events every so often:

• transform network east coast gathering (april 2010) – main session: cultivating missional communities
• new conspirators conference (february 2008) – workshop: emerging women finding their voice
• off the map live’s born again church tour (fall 2008) – main session: faith in a dress
• the emerging church for the existing church (fall 2008) – workshop:  exploring shared leadership
• woman come forth! (springl 2008, fall 2009) – main session:  unbind her