Category Archives: Uncategorized

My Hero

Faithful, strong, generous, smart, caring, witty, honest, interested and interesting – these are only some of the qualities I admired in the man who is my hero. He would laugh when I would tell him he was my hero. He would reply, “Many people have it much worse than I do.” But I’m not sure […]

Grievance Filed Against Attorney-Mediator

How much must a mediator disclose to the parties about the mediator’s social relationship with one party’s attorney? That question is at the heart of a complaint filed by the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission against an attorney-mediator in a divorce case who failed to disclose to the husband’s attorney during the course of their year-long […]

Pastors as Public Mediators

As conflict continues in Flint between its city council and its mayor, an unlikely group has stepped in to mediate: concerned pastors. That’s actually the group’s official name: Concerned Pastors for Social Action. They are a group of local pastors who has worked for years “to ensure that the voice of the people is heard […]

Five Elements of Good Apologies

Just learned about a Ted Talk given last year by Jennifer Thomas on how to improve our apologies, “Getting the last word on apology.” She researched what people want to hear in an apology, and discovered that it varies, depending not only on the seriousness of the offense, but also on personalities. Just as we […]

Peacemaker Ministries and the Institute for Christian Conciliation

The ministry now known as Peacemaker Ministries began in the early 1980’s with a singular purpose: equip the church with dispute resolution skills so that disputes among Christians are resolved among Christians, using Christian principles, to God’s glory. The two foundational Scriptures for the ministry complement one another: I Corinthians 6:1-7 exhorts Christians not to […]