Rural Ministry
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Re: Pastors and Churches Endorsing Candidates
Posted same day on my Facebook Page I will speak briefly on the ability for houses of worship/religious leaders to now endorse candidates and move on. According to the report, when a house of worship “in good faith speaks to its congregation, through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with Continue reading
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July 9th, 2025 – On Food Insecurity in Rural Places
This post was originally published on my Facebook on July 9th, 2025 Now, a word on cuts in food assistance. One thing we need to be reminded of when we talk about food insecurity in rural spaces is that rural does not equal agrarian. The assumption that all rural people can or know how to Continue reading
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July 8th, 2025 – Healthcare and Hope
This was originally posted on my Facebook on July 8th, 2025 Alright, now that we’ve acknowledged the realities of passing of the Trump administration’s Big Beautiful Bill, let’s talk about our role in what comes next with the realities at play. While the “Big Beautiful Bill” doesn’t outright target rural communities, we know that rural Continue reading
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Preaching on Sunday July 6th, 2025
This post was originally posted on my Facebook the Sunday Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law. I’m not preaching today, I’m off until tomorrow. But if I were leading worship, I would do three things, regardless of what I had planned. First, I would speak to the continuous natural disasters (Texas Continue reading
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On the Passing of “One Big Beautiful Bill”
This was originally published on Facebook July 3, 2025. The day the bill passed the House. We are doing the very thing the prophets warned us against and failing to heed the warning of Christ’s prophecy of the “sheep and the goats.” This is sin. The pedestal of the statue of Liberty has a plaque Continue reading
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An accidental parable?
When we moved into our house in 2019, this shrub had been cut pretty far back and was unrecognizable. It didn’t have the blooms or the dried out flower/pods that follow. We considered digging it up. Then I said no, let’s give it year. Well, it came back. And each year, with some pruning, and Continue reading
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Bless this Land
Bless this land to which we’re boundBy gravity of joyful soundFeed the hearth and feed the herdHope must stand on every word -Emily Scott Robinson “Men and Moons” This song lyric spoke to me as it closed out the concert I attended last Friday. Emily Scott Robinson wrote the song “Men and Moons” as an Continue reading
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Bread Ties and Homemade Banners
In my time off this weekend, we went to the Mint Museum in Charlotte. It was there I came across a piece of art made from bread ties. It reminded me of my love for pop art, found object, and even some of Dada, because it uses the things we see each day and lifts Continue reading
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Missions in the Rural Church
One rural reality that seems to be overlooked is mission and service. Often, denominational bodies continue to push mission as this singular thing a church does. For a while it was going on a mission trip, and then “big event” missions, and then it is regular service as a group in the community. However, if Continue reading
Jonathan LeMaster-Smith 