Most of the pre-existing links should still work, but the categories probably don’t work. Also, the audio podcast automatically creates a post in the Substack, so there is some redundancy there.

Here is what you’ll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. The video is now native in Substack, but there is a link to the YouTube page here if you would prefer the centralized site.

If you’d like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougHibbardPodcast

Audible Link is https://www.audible.com/podcast/Doug-Hibbard-Sermons-and-Thoughts/B08JJND2RP https://bit.ly/3WnLNR2

Spotify is here: https://doughibbard.libsyn.com/spotify

The video is linked on my personal YouTube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/dheagle93

Yesterday’s sermon was Hebrews 13:8 focusing on the eternality and unchanging nature of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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August 16 2026

Mt. Olive Baptist Church

Morning Sermon

First thought, as I sit here with Spotify running through an Amazon Echo: our kids grew up with CD players in their rooms. We made mix CDs of soothing music for them, burned them on our laptops. There was instrumental music, playtime music, etc.. 

Now? They've got phones and bluetooth speakers and their Spotify accounts. Our middle child, 23, actually still has physical CDs but I'm not sure the other two do. 

Second, physical media of movies. We were still buying VHS tapes when our youngest was born. The kids watched TAPES. Tapes of singing vegetables and tapes of a rabbit doing opera. Tapes that taught wrong nature facts, because coyotes are faster than road runners....

Now? Stream it! Although we still have a stockpile of DVDs and Blu-ray, and even a few VHS tapes. I know, the physical media degrades. But it also cannot be altered remotely. And when I was a kid? Fast-forward, rewind, all those tricks with tapes. Generally, though, you want Bugs Bunny? 9 AM Saturdays.

Life changes. Technology evolves and develops. The rhythms of life adjust. After all, when I was a young adult, you could meet people at the gate for incoming flights. (Little Rock National Airport still needs to catch up with 2001 and build out an arrival area, it's been a quarter of a century.)

Some general thoughts on the nostalgia moments:

1. Remember the good parts and forget the bad ones as best you can; but just don't deny that it wasn't perfect. Again, nothing wrong with holding more tightly to the good than the bad, but there are challenges with everything. Sure, we walked to school and thought nothing about school shootings and such, but was it really safter? Stats show a mixed picture of the good ol' days. Plus hidden faults were just that, hidden.

2. Don't miss the good in the now just because you remember good from then. You're right: it was awesome to be on the field/on the stage/in the band. Now you're not. Is there anything good about your life and how you can enjoy it now?

Likewise as college move-in hits: sure, those were crazy days. But can enjoy the adulthood? (Except that sleep apnea garbage. Take it away!)

3. Listen to the joys of the people in your life in what they find good. And listen to others about what they found good. Realize that many of these judgments are subjective, not fixed. You can have a different opinion and still get along (unless you believe baseball is better with the universal DH, then you're just wrong). Let people enjoy their things, you enjoy your things, and build relationships together.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

However, it's predicated on the assumption that you will get everything written down.

And that you will check back on it.

See, it's not that simple for most folks. There are learning curves and habits to be made.

That's why you try and try and try again until you find tools for self-discipline and self-direction that work for you.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

If you're happy with the probable results of your habits, stay consistent with them and you'll get those likely outcomes. 

If you aren't happy with the probable results of your habits, make a change and be consistent with it.

Either way, bouncing back and forth will keep you from getting anywhere. 

The road of life is covered with flattened squirrels that wouldn't stick with a direction.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

As I'm working on my own health, there are certain realities in adding exercise.

First, I have more excuses than exercise enthusiasm. I'd rather just not. I can come up with a variety of reasons why I can't exercise. After all, there's some truth to the challenges of having a bum knee and asthma. However, these realities do not undo the necessity of some form of exercise.

Second, an important truth: imperfect is better than perfect; done is better than undone. There are some levels of "wrong" to avoid: you can lift, do a sit-up, even stretch wrong and hurt yourself. But, you can also start toward exercise by doing intentional repetition of movement you already do. That way, you are not putting your body under strange strains for exercise.

For example, walking is a great exercise. If you are walking, even a bit slowly, even with a bit of support, then you've already got the motion down for one of the best, most durable exercises you can get. You may not move fast. You may not move much.

You may even do what the old joke was: put a concrete block in the middle of the floor and walk around it twice, claiming you "walked around the block." But that motion and that movement helps.

More than you might realize. The goal is to get into motion.

So start there: what are you doing that you can do at regular intervals through the day? Can you make the time to get up and walk, even 200 steps? Go to the bathroom that's farther from your office? It may add 5 minutes to each trip, but if you are being productive when you are at your desk, that might be feasible.

And it's better if you are doing a half-sit-up than doing no sit-up. Do it right, do it slow, do it halfway. Or do a push-up from your knees. Push off from the wall.

Lift 5-pound dumbbells if you've got them. instead of 10s. Do something.

Third, do it repeatedly. Make it part of your habit. If your lungs won't let you do long cardio, do short cardio. If your knees won't let you take the stairs, take the ramp twice.

We often make picture-perfect, instagram exercise the goal when our bodies just need us to get the blood circulating.

Take the small win and build on it.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

If you’d like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougHibbardPodcast

Audible Link is https://www.audible.com/podcast/Doug-Hibbard-Sermons-and-Thoughts/B08JJND2RP  https://bit.ly/3WnLNR2

Spotify is here: https://doughibbard.libsyn.com/spotify

The video is linked on my personal YouTube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/dheagle93

Sermons are stockpiled here: http://www.doughibbard.com/search/label/Sermons

August 9, 2026, saw us get into the last chapter of Hebrews. We'll be there this Sunday, take a break as CJ Womack from the UAM BCM will bring the word and share a bit about the ongoing work of collegiate ministry, then finish off Hebrews at the end of August.

So, on to yesterday: Hebrews 13:1-7

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

August 9 2026

Morning Sermon

Mt. Olive Baptist Church

Well, today I need to engage in my hobby, as it is something I do both for fun and it provides a benefit: I roast my own coffee. Do I do this because it's cheaper than buying already-roasted coffee? No. Eventually, the equipment purchases might break-even and then buying unroasted (green) coffee will save money.

For now, we're not going to pretend that this is cheaper. I do it because I like it.

So, how did I start? First, I started with one of these: 

First Coffee Roaster

Mine has a different brand name on it, and you cannot buy one from the same link on Amazon that my order history shows, but a very similar device is here. This took about an hour a batch, and ultimately led me to realize that I wanted more control. Still, you can follow easy directions here and it takes a *lot* to burn the coffee if you use a stirring roaster like this. Set it, let it run for an hour. It's not easy to remove the beans from the roaster, though. One of these, though, can also be used to roast peanuts, cashews, cacao beans...so we still have ours.

After roasting in one of these for a couple of years, I wanted something a bit more focused. The friend who first showed me home-roasting uses one of these, FreshRoast.  Specifically, mine's a FreshRoast SR800 with an expansion tube. I bought the package from Amazon that had all these accessories, based on the assumption that the salesmen knew more than I did. Probably wasn't true. The great thing with the FreshRoast is that you get more fine control over heat and time. The AMAZING thing about the FreshRoast is the chaff basket at the top which helps you have a cleaner bean result after it's over. That's very, very helpful.

That's equipment. Your equipment will include guidelines on how to get the results you want along the grading of coffee roasts. I personally like a "Viennese" or "Full-City" roast, though a bit of flexibility is in order.

Now, if you just want to buy everything from Amazon, you can get "Green Coffee Beans" there. Some of mine have come from there, I've enjoyed the beans I've gotten from Smokin' Beans brand there. 

However, you could also go with a specialty coffee show. Burman Coffee Traders has great varieties. They are also a reasonable source for equipment and have some good how-to guides available. 

The other thing you can do is check with local coffee sources to see if they sell Green Beans. My personal favorite coffee comes from Leiva's Coffee in Little Rock, Arkansas. I have met the owner, I've been to his shop--both the old one he got started in and the new one that has a fancy coffeeshop attached to it!

I love the mission and the work that Geovanni Leiva is doing through coffee. And he sells green beans (coffee ones) for as good of a price as I get anywhere. Almost all are sourced from the same general group of coffee farms in Guatemala as his roasted products come from. So, when I'm low, I get green beans from him. 

(Also, I still get roasted coffee from him, especially flavored coffees. His Dolce Amaretto is my favorite.)

The beans I do not get from Leiva's are decaf beans. This is another place where the health concerns match up with the hobby: I need to cut back on my caffeine. I decline to eliminate coffee and 100% decaf is a bit bitter. Plus "cut back on" does not mean "eliminate" and I like the coffee. So I buy decaf, usually from Burman, and roast decaf and regular beans and make my own blend.

A few tips as you get started:

1. Watch your beans as you roast them. Especially if you're using something quicker like the FreshRoast. The 15 minutes you are roasting are NOT multi-tasking minutes. Focus. 

2. If possible, roast outside. There's a bit of smoke, just enough to lightly color your ceiling. If you do a lot, you definitely want somewhere ventilated. In the winter, if you live where it gets cold, you'll want a warmer area. Right now in the South, it's too hot and humid. Roasting is pushing back moisture and you're going to need to be inside for that.

3. Roast THEN blend. Different beans from different sources roast slightly differently. And decaf roasts differently. So today I'll do two batches: regular and decaf, then I'll blend it.

4. Don't skip the "let the beans degas" step. They get bitter quick if you seal them in early.

5. Remember, there's a lot of heat here. Be careful with yourself.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

So the first key: Conflict occurs any time there are two different ways to do something. Therefore, conflict is normal and inescapable to the human experience. You are going to have conflict if you have more than one person involved.

Second: the other people involved in the conflict may not be aware they are involved. They may not even be alive. Many people in church leadership encounter stress because they compare themselves, their work, their ability to do things to people in the past. Or to other exemplars that you do not see all of. Far before "Influencer Culture" started wrecking normal life, it was disruptive in the ministry world. One would hear of a pastor "over there somewhere" who amazingly made all the visits, preached all the best sermons...and then start trying to match him.

Doubly-so if your deacons/church leadership heard of him. Or you read The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter in seminary came to believe your work needed to match his, without making any adjustments for culture changes, economic differences, basically failing to acknowledge that you're not a 17th-Century Puritan. These conflicts arise between unstated expectations and results.

A frequent place they show up is when you are ministering in the shadow of someone. Every person has a different personality and the shift from Gregarious George to Contemplative Christopher can raise a conflict between a church member who found George great and Christopher seems...colder. Both ministers love their church, but the unspoken conflict rises.

Third truth about conflict: Left unaddressed, conflict will grow into crisis. Crisis then becomes catastrophic after a time. Here's the hard part of all of this: you are going to have to address the conflict. I know, you want to get along with everyone--but a false unity is like the skin that grows over a splinter. Underneath, problems are getting worse, not better.

What do you need to do?

First, listen for those voices of conflict early and try to address it. Start with the unstated expectations or the ones brought in from outside. Keep in mind that there are no definite Biblical examples of what pastoring a church looks like. The closest you get is Paul reminding Timothy to "appoint elders" in each town, but beyond that, Paul's generally a missionary and traveling teacher, not a long-term pastor. 

Any comparisons you make are to historical figures or contemporary figures and never to a complete profile in Scripture. That means they can make mistakes; it also means that you may not have the full picture. It's interesting to read biographies or book forewords that peel back the home life of some of the "heroes" of the age. Ask yourself who was cooking, cleaning, taking kids to school, etc., while Famous Pastor was spending 4 uninterrupted hours in prayer and Bible study. Who mowed the yard? Who did the administrative tasks at the church?

You are very possibly stressing yourself because you don't see the help he had, so you assume he carried it alone and therefore you must or you're not good enough.

Second, you'll probably have to talk this one out with others, but you'll have to confront the conflict that you are not meeting people's expectations. Now, some expectations are legitimate. I'm the pastor of a traditional Baptist church. My folks expect that I'll be the main guy preaching most of the time. It's not unreasonable for them to expect that out of 156 ordinary sermon opportunities (Sunday AM/PM, Wednesday), I'll do 120-140 of them. There are also unreasonable expectations: 156 of the sermons would be unreasonable. That would require never taking a break, vacation, or ever being sick.

If you are being held to unreasonable expectations, you need to have a chat with those putting them out there. It is also likely, though, that you are perceiving demands that aren't real. You may need an ally in the discussion, such as a denominational worker or fellow church leader, to help you be clear. (I know, sometimes it's hard to trust some of those outside folks; I have some I trust and some that I do not trust.) You may even need to just calmly chat with some of your folks about how what they say hits differently than what they mean: they think it's a joke that "you can't go on vacation, preacher, we can't live without you." You hear "pack twice, once for the mountains, once for the guilt trip."

But you're going to have to confront it, especially if you can't get it out of your head.

So, address the conflict. It may or may not end well for you, but conflict is real and it causes stress, especially when left unaddressed. And, as a wise man once said, "when you set out to clean up a mess, you don't sit around watching the mess get bigger." You'll need to be about it sooner rather than later.

Fronting some stress now can save you loads of it later. And stress-loads onto your health are like radiation: cumulative. It builds up over time, bit by bit, even without a major event.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

By the way: even with as small of a circle of connection as I have, I have known of at least ministerial death-by-suicide every 6 months since 2018. Pastors are not immune to desperation. This does *not* include definite criminals evading earthly accountability for their actions.

Let's start off with this very basic reality:

If you are in ministry, you are asking God to entrust people's spiritual well-being to you. That is inherently stressful. Period. If you are not taking this seriously, you need to get out now. We are better off with a pastor shortage then pastors who just come up short in caring. 

You may be like me and your caring doesn't always look like other people's caring, but you had better care. That's part of the calling.

Now, you may think that we can spiritualize away all the stress and say "Just rely on God, you won't have any stress." That's nonsense and if you're honest with yourself, you know it is. It's vague enough to have a ring of truth, in the same way that claiming I had "something like eggs and toast" for breakfast because "eggs and toast" have the same ingredients as "cake." (They do: flour, sugar, eggs, seasonings...) Or saying you eat a well-rounded meal because you eat the whole pizza.

Truth is, faith does not utterly eliminate stress in the everyday life of anyone. Including those of us in the ministry. The lie that we should be able to just "float away from it" makes it even harder, because you pile that sense of failure into the stress.

So the first thing to do is own that you're in the ministry and that is a choice. It was the call of God that brought you here, but you still chose this life. We'll address that duality in another place. Just know that you need to own that your life is a result of your choices.

Usually we say about things like seminary or Bible classes that "the call to preach is a call to prepare," but we don't take the next logical step and include "prepare yourself for the lifestyle," as if lexical forms and funeral outlines are all we need. One ends up learning on the job: you have to find a way to manage the stress.

Community and good friends are frequently a key factor in helping with stress. However, friendships take two people and we're going to focus on things that each of us can tackle on our own. Besides, to an introvert or L1 autistic guy, "go make friends" adds stress.

First, as stated above, acknowledge the stress is real and inherent in the work. Embrace the reality. And then be sure you are seeking God for your guide and help in the midst of it all. He will carry you. He will also help you have wisdom about what additional steps to take.

Next, identify the differences in stresses of the moment and the general stress-load. For example, are there specific activities that spike or heighten your stress? I've served churches with good deacon meetings and churches with anger-filled, distrust-laden deacon meetings. Guess what? Deacon meetings are now always stress-inducing. It's not the general stress of life, it's a specific moment.

If you can separate out the two primary types of stress: everyday, endemic stress and momentary stress, that will help you start to deal with the consequences. Generally, the efforts you need to make are slightly different.

For example, if you have moment-driven stress and can identify it, you can also start to plot stress-relief ideas to go with it. For me, it's impractical to come home before deacon meetings but I do it anyway because a hug is a good help for stress. Also, to the fullest you can, ask for adjustments that might ease the stress. We've slightly reformatted deacon meetings here, it helps allay my stress. 

Eventually, hopefully those high-stress moments can be defused for you. Other stress moments hit differently: hospital visits or funerals tend to pump the blood pressure a bit. Address the funeral issue by getting to know your local funeral directors (easier if there's not many funeral homes, otherwise pay attention to the ones most frequented by your church members) and that will increase your trust in their professionalism at handling the details. Remember that they may do a hundred funerals for every one you do; they should know what they are doing.

Hospital visits may need a smidgen of stress relief going or coming, and it's okay to sit in your car in a parking deck and cry over the fact that you know someone you care for is not leaving that hospital room alive. Let it out. Be strong for that family as you need to, but cry it out.

One habit to avoid, though, is addressing stress by eating. If you find, for example, hospital visits stressful and treat that stress with French fries, you are not doing yourself any favors. Maybe you need to find a calm, peaceful spot to sit and collect yourself before or after--a lot of hospitals do have garden spaces.

Another thing about stresses of the moment is to be less hurried from moment-to-moment. I know that we often feel like we must hurry from this situation to the next--and in a real crisis, that is true. But everyday is *not* a crisis. 

Which brings us to the big issue: you may have to frontload a bit of stress by telling people: "NO." Or even simply telling people that you will get to it in due time. Be a person of your word and actually get to it, but you do not have to fill every last moment with activity. Doubly so for frantic activity. If you have to be on the phone with the office to dictate the bulletin as you rush out of the hospital, you are doing things you ought not do. Let some of it be handled by others. Let some of it go undone.

Believe it or not, your sermon can go with a plain slide that says "SERMON." And your staff (if you have one) should be competent enough to not need you managing every moment.

Because that stress is coming from your choice to control things. You have to let that go.

Which transitions us into talking about the all-the-time stress. This is different, as you cannot really set an offset for it. 

Instead, you need to build-out the disciplines that will help you carry it. First, your spiritual disciplines. Prayer, worship, time in the Word of God are all crucial. So is seeking Christian community that you can find encouragement within. Second, you need some physical discipline: basic walking is truthfully enough if you can do it. Especially if you can find a place outside with green stuff like trees and grass and walk 20-30 minutes a few times a week. 

And don't be on the phone while you're doing it. If you have a family, see if you can work this in with them. 

But you need it. You also need a hobby. And that hobby should not be "oh, I'm a pastor and my hobby is helping my pastor buddy write his sermons, too..." And no, past-Doug, "seminary" is not a hobby. Something that you can do that helps you relax and set aside your stresses. Some people golf. Some hike. Some do woodworking.

Find something.

Rest helps address stress. And you need to do that.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

(I can most assuredly tell you how wrong things can get without medicines like vaccines that we take for granted now, but ultimately, you should talk to a real medical professional about such things for right now. If you wonder about someone's qualifications for that role, ask them basic questions about human anatomy, what disease-causing organisms look like, and what disease vectors are. If they need a quick YouTube video to answer, go find someone who went to medical school. And get your MMR.)

Back in March of 2026, I went to the doctor for the first time in several years. This was the included "Annual Wellness Exam" that individual insurance plans are required by law to cover 100%. We haven't done it, because our previous insurance company had a very limited network and then also expected you to front costs and then wait for reimbursement. Trust me, if the insurance company has all the money, it's not coming to you very quickly.

However, we changed insurers this year. Another time I'll run down what a blessing that was starting in January with our son's collapsed lung, but that opened up the possibility to get a basic checkup without worrying about having to front all the money and hope for some back later. 

Ann and I went in, and my blood pressure was a "little high." Well, honestly, it was 180/140. That's not a little high. It's a lot high. Doctor told me to start keeping a journal on that and come back to see if we need to try some medication to get it down while I do the work of losing weight. Blood pressure is like any other hydraulic pressure: if you are over the specifications of the hoses, you can do damage with pressure even if it doesn't blowout and leak. If your BP is high, you need to get it down while you make the lifestyle changes to keep it down.

So, that was the plan. Then a few weeks later, I was not feeling right. I went back to the doctor. Nursing student took my blood pressure. Left the room, got a nurse, who took my blood pressure. Who left the room and got another nurse. Apparently, the numbers they were getting were just a bit outside the range of experience. After a brief incident where I threw up while walking out to the truck, I was sent to the emergency department at the hospital next door.

Where my blood pressure was taken and was 232/115. Folks, you should not have blood pressure like that. It's bad. The emergency doctor shot me full of stuff to bring the BP down. They took CT scans of my head and chest, looking for blockages, aortic dissection, and more. They found nothing.

I came very close to not leaving the hospital. Then, my BP came down just enough they let me come home. I'm still on meds, trying to be diligent to lose weight, etc., but a few quick notes:

In this same time span, I've had 4 friends in ministry die from health complications. One more died by suicide related to stress in the ministry. None of them were "old." Not to take away from beloved older folks, but generally one is not surprised when 80-90 year-olds die from heart attacks and strokes. When it hits people from 40-60, something has really gone wrong.

I'll make my first health reflection here: get to the doctor and address your health. Find out the basics, and make it happen. If you are serving a church, pastors, and they begrudge you taking time to visit the doctor, get someone you can trust to help you have a confrontation with the obstacles. Same with a church that will not let you take time away for rest and recovery. They are actively working against you living.

Don't let them.

Now, the next installment, we'll talk about our own responsibility for our health.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

We're still in Hebrews, although we're about to run out of it. After that, we'll be in Psalm Pseptember then I'm probably starting Romans.

Sunday nights and Wednesdays are still running chronologically through the Bible. We're at the Flood and will likely be out of the boat Wednesday night.

Here is what you’ll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. You’ll also find the embedded YouTube videos of each sermon.

If you’d like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougHibbardPodcast

Audible Link is https://www.audible.com/podcast/Doug-Hibbard-Sermons-and-Thoughts/B08JJND2RP  https://bit.ly/3WnLNR2

Spotify is here: https://doughibbard.libsyn.com/spotify

The video is linked on my personal YouTube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/dheagle93

Sermons are stockpiled here: http://www.doughibbard.com/search/label/Sermons

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

August 2 2026 AM

Mt. Olive Baptist Church

Human Raised

Nurturing Connection, Curiosity & Lifelong Learning in the Age of AI

Dana Suskind, MD

310 pp., hardcover

Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House Publishing

When I was a child, when President Reagan was calling on Mr. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” and you had four options for broadcast television (and a converter box if you wanted to be entertained by 4 or 8 bits of processing power!), my parents would not buy me the cool toy the kid down the street had. It was a nifty little Texas Instruments device called a “Speak & Spell,” and they were concerned that my sister and I would end up trying to talk like the digitized voice rather than speaking like a person.

I just wanted something to use for communicating with aliens if they crashed on our street. After all, I had seen E.T. In truth, I had a habit of mimicking movies far more than what noises I could get out of educational toys. Still, this part of my childhood echoes to the present moment because we’re still challenged about how much to expose children to screen times, digitally-processed responses, and non-human learning aids.

While I have not gone back and read the parenting advice from the disco-era that guided my upbringing, my wife and I did consult other turn-of-the-millennium books as our kids were born. Now, we’re looking at parenting tips for friends and future grandchildren in the new era, where Generative Artificial Intelligence is part of the fibers of life, along with algorithms that guide our shopping and the ads we see when we stream programs over dozens of platform options.

Into this milieu comes Human Raised, by Dana Suskind, MD. Dr. Suskind writes here to set forth some templates about how to keep your parenting (especially) guided toward making human connections, so that your children end up more human-focused than digitally guided people as adults. After all, the goal is not “good kids,” but adults capable of thriving in the world around them. “Good kids” are a stage in that development process, but then again, “challenging kids” are also a stage. 

Some folks will likely fault Dr. Suskind’s work because she does not come out flatly against using AI-tools in parenting, including exposing children to the products of AI. While there are valid ethical critiques of many AI-systems, from their flamboyant thefts of intellectual property to their excessive destruction of environmental systems, she approaches the situation with the realism that says: “There will be AI, so how do we deal with it?” If you’re looking for a debate about AI overall, this is not it. She does not deny the need for that debate, but is not hosting it here.

Instead, you have basic guidance on researching AI and what you should and should not use it for. There are several chapters first establishing the very real need for parents and caregivers to be human-first in their interactions with children. Suskind makes plain that imperfect human interaction far supersedes algorithmic perfection. (She also acknowledges that most algorithms aren’t going to hit perfection anyway!) Her medical specialty in pediatrics and otolaryngology (I was a frequent ENT patient as a kid, lots of ear infections!) exposes her to many children’s diverse development challenges and provides good illustration of the real-world principles she writes about. 

I found her acknowledgement that family resources, such as financial wealth, access to medical care, and extended support groups of people, will affect whether you can use AI to strengthen your parenting, help you survive challenges, or not even be able to use it a valuable note. Too often, guidance on technology assumes equal access. Again, life in pediatrics has made clear that not everyone can do everything. (If you’d like to see authors who don’t note these inequalities, check out most nutrition writers. The assumption is massive that anyone can afford, in time, energy, and access, to eat perfectly all the time.)

Each chapter in this book ends with a helpful TL;DR section, giving you, the reader, the main takeaways from each chapter. One should still read the chapters! However, life gets busy. You will see the value of each chapter as you check these chapters out. If you see this book on a bookstore shelf and want to know if it’s worthwhile, take a peak at any of those chapter endings.

Finally, almost worth the price of purchase itself, she walks the reader through an investigative framework using DETECT as an acronym. This shows up in the body of the text starting in chapter 8, but then is helpfully pulled-out into an appendix for easy reference. This framework guides the reader in evaluating AI and other technology implementations. I expect to see this material to show up in parenting seminars soon.

All-in-all, Dr. Suskind has produced a well-constructed argument for rational use of AI and other technology tools to allow parents more space to build human connections with their children. She provides good cautions about not letting the technology overrun human imperfection, and the gives a good framework for investigating any technology or activity you involve your children with.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

Still, we left her unresolved, waiting for an answer to her weather delayed flight. It was a good time to reflect on being powerless and the reality that our lives are often filled with powerless moments and it's more about how well we navigate them than eliminating them. After all, if you are always "in control" then you are rarely out of your normal space. (That's not to minimize that you often do have at least the "control" of backing out of a situation. That's not exactly "in control" because you can't change anything from it.)

Now, first, let's resolve the real-life situation: after a 3-hour delay in NYC, her flight arrived in Atlanta just as her flight from Atlanta to Little Rock took off. As in, one plane descending, one plane rotating off the tarmac on a different runway. Which led to spending the night in the Atlanta airport, flying back to Little Rock first thing the *next* morning, where we picked her up from the airport and took her home so she could sleep.

There are perhaps life lessons here about things God protected her from that she'll never know about, but I think there's also a valuable lesson here that sometimes, life just goes wrong. 

And that's it. There's no lesson. There was no "oh, if you had made your first flight, this horrible thing would have happened." (Although that is, at times, true.)

Life just is not always easy. And frustration comes from it. But you're well-served if you learn to only let the real frustrations bug you: sleeping in an airport chair is definitely frustrating! Don't add the frustration and emotional wreckage of being mad that it wasn't easy.

Some basic tips for this:

1. Be ready for things to go haywire at various times. It's going to happen eventually, anyway.

2. Be aware of the people that will help you as life takes weird turns. In this specific case, our daughter realized she needed help with sorting out getting home from the airport, since she was not coming when her roommate could pick her up. Oh, and then realized it needed to be someone with a key to her apartment, since it wasn't her roommate coming to pick her up!

3. Be calm when needed. Sometimes, you have to focus. Have some calm ready.

4. Be emotional when necessary. She called at 1 AM with tears. That's fine. I've melted down in airport in a chaos moment before, too...

5. Be available to others in their chaos. Without snark. Without criticism. Just be willing to help.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

One thing that needs to be said here: when you are introducing something new to a church family, especially a traditional church that has never done it before, there will be questions. Some of those questions will appear silly, nonsensical, or obvious to those who have been down that road before. That does not mean these are bad questions. It just indicates that there are larger gaps in understanding between many church folks and the people who are in one niche of Baptist life.

(By contrast, I have a feeling there are normal parts of being a traditional church pastor that some church planting folks would have an understanding gap about...)

None of these questions are shared with an intention of shaming the askers. Each one of these came from someone who had the best interest of Mt. Olive Baptist at heart. They were trying to understand and make sure we do what we are supposed to do in following Jesus.

(Also quick note: I did not write these down word-for-word, so in the tradition of Herodotus, I shall give the sense of the question as best I know.)

First question: "Why do they want us to be their "Sending Church"?" It's one thing when your church is sending out members to start something that the church is aware of; it's another matter when it's strangers that only the pastor has met. It's a good question.

Second question: "Why does El Dorado need another church?" It had close kin in the question "Why not just try harder with Southside El Dorado?" These are good questions. There are some long debates about whether or not it's necessary to start new churches especially in towns with lots of churches. I'll shortcut the debate and simply say that there are people who are going unreached by the churches we've got, then we may need more churches. As to shutting down the old one and starting a new one: sometimes, the organizational baggage is just heavy enough that the best thing to do is close the old shop and start a new one.

Those questions are better answered by asking this question: Do we trust the people we are working with to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit? That's a critical part of this situation. If you are partnered with a church planting team that you do not trust to be praying and following Jesus, then you need to back up and start with some prayers and reconsideration.

Third question: "Why are they asking us instead of a church in El Dorado?" First part is that you need to trust the team. The second thing we should consider is that sometimes churches aren't particularly as willing to help out locally. It's harder to suggest that we support a church down the street from us that might nab people that our church could reach. Unfortunately, we tend to judge churches and pastors on items that only show on spreadsheets and it can be hard to get past that.

Fourth question: "How much money will this cost us?" Whether or not your church has a lot of money, you will face this question. The truth is, you have options. You can contribute as much as possible, but you can also just be part of stewarding resources coming in from other sources. This is probably where our church is going to start out: Send Network money will come in, we'll forward it onward. We'll provide administrative help as part of our overall normal spending for such things.

Fifth question: "What happens if they need a pastor in a few years? Will you leave and go pastor that church?" Part of the underlying question here is even broader: "What will you do when they need something and we need the same thing? How do we make that work?" 

Sixth question: "How long are we doing this?" Ties in somewhat to the previous question: will this distract us from our work?

Seventh question: "What are we going to need to do as part of this?" Partly driven by folks who do not want to make just a verbal commitment and not really doing anything else. They want to know that there is meaningful involvement in the decision.

Eighth question: "Are we going to need to send people to be part of the new church?" Our church helped start a church more than 4 decades ago in the model of the time: preaching point, mission church, all frequently started out of realizing that "lots of people are driving a long way to our church and they all come from this area." 

Ninth question: "Will this take up too much of the pastor's time?" alongside "Pastor, you just recently nearly died because your blood pressure went nuts, can you handle adding stress/work to your plate?" There are certain parts of this partnership that, especially until someone else in the church is ready to step up into a leading role in it, will fall to the pastor. Be ready to address this. Especially if there are things that need doing at church that you haven't been able to keep up with.

Tenth question (and last one for now): "What does our church gain from doing this?" Answer that as best you can.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

It's frustrating. Frustrating for her, stuck in a plane. Frustrating for her roommate who is supposed to pick her up at the Little Rock Airport later tonight. Frustrating for her parents who want her home where she will, allegedly, be safer and sounder.

As I write, she's here.
And the thing is, we have more information about such things now than we have had for years before. I can pull up a picture of where the plane is waiting, I can find weather radar information, I can even access history of how quick the flight usually takes. (Note: it's usually quicker than the allotted time, by at least half-an-hour!)

Anticipated routing.

You know what I cannot do?

Change the weather. Or adjust the basic reality of life that taking off in an Airbus 321 in the middle of a thunderstorm line is just a bad idea.

We like to say that knowledge is power, but ultimately, no matter how knowledgeable we are, we remain powerless in the face of many things. 

Now, eventually, all such things can be considered "first world problems" and we should just get over them. I would suggest that, instead, we should see these as the same basic human problems as ever:

No matter how much we know, we have limits. Limits that we cannot exceed or change.

The real challenge is living within them and giving others space to live inside theirs. That takes grace. We need to have enough for us, which God gives, so that we have plenty to pass on to others until they know God's grace fully.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

One part of what I want to do is chronicle here this process and what we do. Here, let's hit the basics:

First, Mt. Olive is not a large church. We have a large building, but we are a very typical Southern Baptist traditional church: mostly we're adults over 50, with a small number of people that fit in the "young adult" category. We're struggling to connect with youth and children going back to a church split back in the COVID-era. Our budget isn't wide open with lots of space; we've had to trim positions and activities pretty seriously in the last decade.

I'll also say something here that isn't meant to be negative self-talk, just honesty: our pastor (me) isn't one of those "amazing" pastors who can triple a church with his energy and charisma. He's not a great "people person" but more of a teacher and equipper-type. He's not well-connected with all the great and amazing cool preachers and groups in Baptist life, either. 

Now, first question: How did we get involved in this?

I went to an event called "Sending Lab" from Send Network: Arkansas (which is the church-planting collaboration between Arkansas Baptists and the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board). The main reason I went was to find some ideas that might possibly help us get our church moving in the right direction.

A couple of weeks later, one of the ABSC guys reached out to me and asked if our church would consider being the official "sending church" for a group that was at Sending Lab. They were working on finding ideas and setting up their new church to include sending out missionaries to start churches from the very beginning.

I'm always willing to ask a question. I may get shot down. But it's worth asking.

Here's the important part of step 1 in this process:

Prayer. A lot of prayer. First, by myself and my wife as we prayed about how to introduce the idea to our church.

After all, it's helpful to remember that if your church has never done something before, they will not understand what is being asked of them. And uncertainty is the foe of commitment. (I know there are some "experts" who will say that I should be so effective as a leader that folks will follow without certainty, simply trusting my judgment. See above.)

After Ann and I prayed about this, I brought it first to our deacons. Our church still runs a fairly traditional organizational model: if the deacons aren't for it, it's not happening. I shared the information with them, encouraged them to pray, and asked them for their questions.

Then, we shared the information with the church and gave them time to pray and set a designated point to ask questions about the process. 

Finally, after several weeks of working through that as the process, we actually voted in a normal business meeting that we would make this commitment.

This may seem like it was longer than it should have been, but the church is supposed to work together in serving the Lord Jesus Christ. If you cannot take the time to pray through and find a basic floor of unity in the church, you may just be doing it wrong.

That's the summary of how we are moving from "not involved in church planting" to "starting to be involved directly in church planting."

Next up, I'll walk through some of the questions that were brought up here about our involvement.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard

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Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard