The Rural Think Tank
…It's Different Out Here.
This post was originally published on my other blog, MinistryPlace.net Last weekend brought a snowstorm like I have never seen before. I grew up in the midwest, and have seen and done some really crazy things in snow and ice, but this was beyond anything else. We had temps, not wind chills of -12 and …
This post was originally published on my other blog, MinistryPlace.Net If you live in a community of any size, there is a decent probability that one of the churches will have hired new or replacement staff members. Uprooting and moving a family two miles or two thousand miles is a big deal. How can the believers …
This post was originally published at my other blog, MinistryPlace.net I had a first in ministry today. A cat as a visitor to the congregation. The church I am serving is across the street from a home with several kids and a few cats. Often when I come on Sunday morning, there is a black and …
This post was originally published on my other blog, MinistryPlace.net It all starts with a young coal miner named John Kuhnert. He had a young family at home, and not a lot of resources to put food on the table to feed the young growing family. John and his brothers discovered that they could get …
I read an interesting article that makes a ton of sense, yet many of our small town employers have not implemented the idea – reaching students in High School early in their experience to help them see local opportunities. In this WSJ article by Dante Chinni, He quotes a local HR manager in a small …
What happens when a generation leaves the rural area to seek education and employment in other parts of the country? The Southern Illinoisian Newspaper did a series looking at the students that leave small communities in that region. The article does a great job of pointing out that we are training our best and brightest …
If you work in a rural community, there is something you need to be aware of. For the most part, farmers are hurting. I am not talking about poor harvests, lack of technology. Farmers have a significantly large suicide rate. At the present time, we do not know how large, as the CDC has retracted …
The phrase “Rural Brain Drain” originated from a book called “Hollowing out the Middle“, which is based off a study performed by the authors. It looked at the effect that adults were having in their community by preparing their best and brightest to be shipped off to colleges and universities, sometimes never to return to …
Debbie Weingarten wrote an article at TalkPoverty.org, looking at the shortage of rural primary care health providers in America. She looks at the closings of rural health centers and hospitals and how that can affect the surronding communities. Link to Article
This article from the Atlantic has been out on the web since 2016, but it gives a snapshot of what rural America looks like in many places. There are many small towns all over the landscape that were once prominent, but are now smaller and grayer, as the generations have moved on. Link to Article