Closer Still Co.

Can we talk about the part of kids ministry that nobody posts about? Not the cute craft photo. Not the moment a child prayed for the first time and you cried a little in the bathroom afterwards. Not the Sunday that just worked, where the lesson landed and the kids were engaged and you drove home feeling like maybe, just maybe, you are actually doing something that matters. I am talking about the other stuff. The Wednesday night spent on a lesson plan that took two hours to prepare and twenty minutes to deliver to a room of seven kids, three of whom were more interested in the carpet than in anything you had to say. The WhatsApp message you sent to confirm volunteers at 9pm because two people cancelled last minute, again. The Sunday you arrived early to set up and left late to pack away and somewhere in the middle of all of that you also led a session, managed a meltdown, ran out of juice boxes, and forgot to eat lunch. The work that nobody sees. The behind the scenes stuff that keeps t...

Fear and anxiety are two of the most universally human experiences, and two of the most consistently present realities in the lives of the people around us, including the people sitting in our church services on Sunday mornings who look perfectly composed from the outside. This devotional does not promise to make fear and anxiety disappear across ten days. What it offers instead is ten days of Scripture and reflection and practical action designed to help you build a genuine, sustainable relationship with the God who is greater than your fear, and to develop honest, grounded habits of returning to Him when anxiety rises rather than carrying it alone indefinitely. Begin wherever you are. The devotional will meet you there. Day 1 — Fear Is Not the Opposite of Faith Isaiah 41:10 — So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. One of the most unhelpful things Christian cul...

Continuing our journey through the miracles of Jesus, in the order they unfolded across His ministry. In Part 1 of this series we explored the wedding at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine and revealed His glory for the first time publicly. In Part 2 we walked through the healing of the royal official's son, where Jesus demonstrated that His authority operates entirely independently of physical proximity. We continue now to the third recorded miracle in the Gospel chronology, which takes place in a synagogue in Capernaum on a Sabbath day, and which reveals something new and significant about the nature of Jesus's authority. This miracle is recorded in two Gospels, Mark 1:21 to 28 and Luke 4:31 to 37, and it carries particular weight because of where it happens, in a place of worship, among religious people, on the most sacred day of the Jewish week, and because of what it reveals about who Jesus is in relation to the spiritual realm. The setting — Mark 1:21 to 22, Luke 4:...

There is a conversation that happens in church employment circles that almost nobody says out loud in a public setting. It happens quietly, between people who trust each other enough to be honest. It happens in cars after long Sundays and in text messages late at night and in the brief, loaded exchanges between young ministry staff members who catch each other's eyes across a room and know, without needing to say it explicitly, that they are both carrying the same weight. The conversation is about money. About what it actually costs, in very practical, very concrete terms, to build your life and your career around the local church. This post is an attempt to have that conversation honestly, warmly, and without pretending the difficulty is smaller than it actually is, while also holding onto something genuinely hopeful on the other side of the honesty. What the financial reality of church employment actually looks like. If you are employed by a church as a young adult, you ar...