A new book released!

I haven’t posted in a while, but my first post back is a big one! My latest book has been released by Wesley’s Foundery Books, the publisher of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church. Check out the video.

A step-by-step guide for hearing and claiming God’s calling for your life for students, mentors, and faith leaders.

Find clarity about how God has uniquely gifted you to participate in God’s ongoing mission for the sake of the world. This book provides a structure and step-by-step guide for discerning God’s calling and corrects misconceptions. Gibbs provides guidance and helps organize discernment into three intersecting categories: needs of the world, passions, and tools. [Read more…]

UIndy Lenten Devotional 2017

I’m glad to offer a free devotional created by the students and for the students of McCleary Chapel Ministries at the University of Indianapolis. I hope that you too will enjoy taking the Lenten journey with them. I’m so proud of these students, their love for Jesus Christ, and their heart to share that love with others.

Here is the PDF download: UIndy Lenten Devotional 2017

A little about the creators of it: Christianna Lopez is our Chapel Steward of Devotion this year. She is the primary editor. Christianna is an evangelical student from Zionsville, IN, majoring in music. Our layout and graphic designer is Emma Hogsett; she is a marketing major from Goshen, IN, and is a United Methodist. The rest of the authors are Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Evangelicals, Baptists, and lots of other kinds of Christians. They are studying a variety of fields at UIndy including Social Work, Art, Physical Therapy, Nursing, Education, Philosophy, Religion, and many others.

You can print and distribute as many copies as you would like. We ask that you not redistribute electronically (just point them to this site!) or use the text that belongs to these authors without attribution. Otherwise, we’d be thrilled if you share it far and wide.

3 Steps to Making Friends in a New Place

IMG_3055Lots of people struggle to build relationships when they get to new places. In my work as a university chaplain, my main experience is with new college freshmen. But people experience the same challenges when they move to a new town for work or even during significant shifts in their community when they don’t move anywhere (new job, divorce, etc.). Thankfully, watching freshmen succeed and fail at forming new friendships has taught me a lot about what is required to start building new relationships. [Read more…]