Merry Christmas from the Joyners! Here’s a little bit of our life this past year. We hope and pray the Lord’s peace and blessing over you this Advent season. D – Our little guy is now 5 years old! This year he played Tee Ball in the Spring and started soccer this past Fall when…

One Sunday last month, I taught the children’s sermon. In our church, the children are with the adults for the first half of the Sunday morning worship. Then they come to the front for a blessing and/or children’s sermon before being dismissed for a separate teaching time during the adult sermon. I have found that…

On September 26th, I will be facilitating a breakout session at the KidzMatter Conference in Evansville, IN called “When God Calls Kids: Helping Kids Discern and Grow in Their Callings.” If you’re going, come find me on Thursday at 4:30pm in Locust D at the conference! Check out my free resources from my talk right…

“Out of the Mouths of Children” Sermon from Sunday, April 21, 2024 Dr. Jesse Joyner *Scripture passages are from the NIV unless otherwise noted. Matthew 21:6 “…and they said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and…

Today is Good Friday on the Christian calendar. I would like to share a Good Friday reflection with you. Thank you for reading… When I speak at children’s events, I tell the story of Jesus and his ministry on earth. I point out that Jesus was the only human in history who lived a perfect…

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, the day of the Christian calendar where we celebrate the Triumphal Entry, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey while the crowd shouted “Hosanna!” That means, “Save!” The choice of donkey versus a horse demonstrates that Jesus is the humble king. But there is another detail of this story that…

Mr. Belton was an elderly gentleman who lived next door to my wife and I when we lived in the first house we purchased. It was a small fixer-upper. I was determined to breathe new life into this house and make it a fine little abode for us. Every day, for as many hours as…

For lowly academics like myself, getting something published in a peer-reviewed journal is an exciting achievement. For a recent conference, I summarized the findings of my dissertation research as a paper presentation. The editor of the journal affiliated with the conference asked me to submit the paper for consideration in the journal, which I did.…

I was an early adopter of Facebook, joining sometime around 2007. In its early days, I appreciated the value it brought to my life – connectivity, networking, posting pictures for friends and family, engaging in shared interest groups, finding local deals on their marketplace, etc. But over the past several years, I discovered that though…

Merry Christmas! How many wise men (or magi, more on that below) came from the East to visit the baby Jesus? Most traditional depictions show us three. But what does the Scriptural text say? Simply put, Scripture is ambiguous on the exact number. We know there were three gifts (gold, frankincense, and myrrh), so it…

Watch three of us professors from Ascent College discuss what we think about Christians and Santa Claus (among other Christmas ideas for children and family ministry:

For those interested, I’d like to share with you the paper I presented at the 2023 SPCE conference in Chicago, IL (Society of Professors in Christian Education):

November 1st is a day where Christians worldwide celebrate the saints who have gone before us in the faith. Preacher Charles Spurgeon implored parents to teach many things to their children, including the “deeds of the martyrs and reformers” (see the slide below). When we teach our children the stories of the saints, we are…

This is my favorite time of year. The weather will be cooling down soon (hopefully :). Sarah and I celebrate our anniversary next month. My birthday is shortly thereafter. The leaves will be turning. But it’s not just all those things. School is back in session. And for some reason, I have always loved school…

Screens and digital devices are not inherently evil, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to observe that the overuse of them can lead to unhealthy effects – especially for children and youth. The Mayo Clinic points out that the overuse of screens for young people can lead to such negative outcomes as “obesity, irregular…

Have you ever heard a child say something surprisingly profound? We adults have a saying for that: “from the mouths of children” or “from the mouths of babes.” For example, when our six year-old Annie wants to “cheers” to something, she proclaims, “To the life of God!” We have no idea where she got that…

If you haven’t heard, an extraordinary event has taken place in Wilmore, Kentucky. I called this small rural town home for 5 years when I attended Asbury Theological Seminary from 2002 to 2007. In early February, one of the chapel services for students at Asbury University (the school across the street from the seminary) spontaneously…

A dear friend and colleague (Danny Yamashiro) recently interviewed me on his radio program in Boston. He gave me the opportunity to share about my recent dissertation research about the sacred calling of the variety performer. He made the episode available on Spotify and I’d like to share it with you here:

A sermon by Dr. Jesse Joyner, delivered at Eternity Church in Richmond, VA on Nov 13, 2022. Read full text below or listen to the podcast here. First Reading Isaiah 65:17-25, English Standard Version 17 “For behold, I create new heavens    and a new earth,and the former things shall not be remembered    or come into mind.18 But be glad and…

Last month, an old seminary friend of mine (Dr. Andy Miller III) called me up for an interview on his podcast. He was interested in learning more about my dissertation research. It means so much when people care to listen and learn about something that took up a good two years of my life. Yes,…

At Ascent College (where I teach), we believe that children are active participants in the kingdom of God even now. We don’t have to wait until they grow up for God do do great things through them. Furthermore, we as adults have a lot to learn in life from children (especially how to have faith).…

Tomorrow morning, I have the privilege of teaching a workshop at a conference (the LEAD Conference for the Potomac District of the Assemblies of God). The topic is about how to affirm and support children in their God-given callings in life. The content of the workshop comes from my recent research about calling. Here is…

Here is the sermon I preached yesterday at Eternity Church in Richmond, VA: “His Hesed Endures Forever,” March 27, 2022, by Jesse Joyner Scriptures: Psalm 136, Micah 6:8, and 1 John 4:7-12 The Ironman I have been a fan of the game of baseball my entire life. My mother got me into it. She herself…

My First Job Do you remember your first job? My first job was working as a waiter and dishwasher at Gayton Terrace, an assisted living community in the far West End of Henrico County. I was in high school at the time, about to get my learner’s permit for driving, and my parents were not…

In my PhD research about Christian variety performers, I am coming across a theme known as “agents of vocation.” That term comes from scholar Kathleen Cahalan, who found in her own research that “many people first experience a sense of ‘calling’ through another person.” Someone spoke into their lives in a way that led them…

My family recently visited the Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel near Shenandoah National Park. Originally constructed as a train tunnel in the 1850s, the tunnel went defunct near the end of WWII (1944) when a newer tunnel was built close by to take it’s place. The old tunnel was left unused for some time, until…

Can you think of a time when someone spoke life into you through an affirming word? Did anyone ever tell you, “You’re really good at that” or “You should consider doing such-and-such with your life, it would really help/serve others”? I’m studying the topic of calling for my research and I am learning that we…

We continue our Eternity Kids Club series with two episodes for Thanksgiving! This is a ministry of our church in Richmond, VA (Eternity Church). Join Mr. Mike as he wanders around our house looking for things he’s thankful for….

On Monday night, I experienced a first in my life: I performed an entire show while wearing a face mask. Here’s the story: a retirement home had originally booked my show for March 28th, but that date got postposed for obvious reasons. Skip ahead to September 2020 and now the retirement home is letting people onto…

Hello! In today’s episode, we are finishing up our series called “Children of the Bible.” Over the past few weeks, we learned about different kids in the Bible and how God used them for big and important things. Click on this link to find all the Eternity Kids Club episodes. Simply click on the one…

Join Larry the Lizard and some of my other friends as we learn about the Bible and have fun at the same time. Warning: there will be flannel graphs! Every Wednesday and Friday at 11:30am EST at the Eternity Church Facebook page.

If you read or study about calling and vocation (which, by the way, comes from the Latin vocare, “to call”), you will most likely come across this poetic quote by Frederick Buechner: “The place God calls you to the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” (1993, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s…

We just wrapped up our third annual youth circus arts camp in Richmond, Virginia. This is the only camp of its kind in the state of Virginia. For two weeks every August, a few dozen youth participate in a day-camp where they learn how to run away with the circus! We teach them juggling, hooping,…

I recently got this question in an email from someone who is struggling with the way others perceive his love of juggling…. “I’ve been losing a bit of inspiration in the juggling world and could use someone with faith to support my hobby which is usually frowned upon. People just don’t welcome juggling. In my…

On one of my plane rides this past month, I watched a new documentary about the late Reverend Billy Graham. The film is called Billy Graham: An Extraordinary Journey. It is a wonderful summary of the life of Graham and the prolific reach of his ministry. There was one thing in particular about the documentary that…

I know we are a long way off from Christmas, but I want to share a resource with you that I came across recently. It is called “Miracle in a Manger.” I met the founder, Kim, who assisted me at my merchandise table for one of my juggling shows in Mississippi last month. She told…

There is a famous children’s song called Deep and Wide. You’re probably familiar with it. It goes… Deep and wide, deep and wide. There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide (x2). -Sidney Cox, early 20th Century The song was written by Sidney Cox, a major in the Salvation Army. He wrote hundreds of songs, but…

The word “vocation” comes to us from the Latin vocare, which means “to call.” Keller and Alsdorf point out that calling indicates a caller – and that caller is God. In their 2012 book, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work To God’s Work (New York, NY: Riverhead Books), Keller and Alsdorf say that vocation is…

Revelation Memory Verse. We made it! Thanks for joining me on this journey through the Bible for one memory verse per each of the 66 books of the Bible. They are all now archived at #mvotwyear on Instagram. May the Lord bless you. And know that in Him, it is finished.