By: Kim Sanford on November 19, 2024
There has always been a sort of underlying assumption that the sciences are measurable and immutable. The arts, on the other hand, have long been viewed as more subjective and less clear-cut. And as anyone who works with people knows, humans are anything but measurable and clear-cut. Highly relational fields like social work, psychology and…
By: John Fehlen on November 18, 2024
Allow me to state the obvious: Margaret J. Wheatley is wicked smart. And often (sadly), when you come across someone with that level of intellect, you can almost bet the farm that they’re going to be, well, how do I put this… socially deficient. Ok, bluntly put: a real dud. Emotional intelligence: zero. But with…
By: Jenny Dooley on November 18, 2024
Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World and Finding Our Way: Leadership For an Uncertain Time, written by Margaret J. Wheatley, present a complementary vision of what non-anxious, collaborative, and transformational leadership can look like in our chaotic and uncertain world. I was reassured by the necessity and normalcy of chaos…
By: Dinka Utomo on November 14, 2024
It is still fresh in my memory when I was still in the 3rd grade of junior high school when the senior pastor in our church passed away. He was a man who was so loved by the congregation. A man full of compassion and gentleness. When I was about to attend his funeral service,…
By: Todd E Henley on November 14, 2024
“Our careers, our companies, our relationships, and indeed our very lives succeed or fail, gradually, then suddenly, one conversation at a time.”1 While no single conversation is guaranteed to change the trajectory of a career, a company, a relationship, or a life, any single conversation can. This is why I strongly believe the words of…
By: Adam Harris on November 14, 2024
Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay’s book “How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide ” should be required reading for high schools, colleges, non-profit organizations, and churches. I appreciate the difficult conversations these two have intentionally engaged in and the insights they have accumulated over the years about difficult conversations, changing others’ minds, and…
By: Kim Sanford on November 12, 2024
Hi, my name is Kim. I’m an ideologue. At least, according to Boghosian and Lindsay, I think I might be. They define ideologue as “one who is unwilling or unable to revise their (moral) beliefs.”[1] And just to be clear, they portray an ideologue in, shall we say, less than complimentary terms. I found How…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on November 11, 2024
Let Them Be Wrong I have learned to let people be wrong. It is something that I have learned to do over time, after many failed attempts at trying to convince someone of something that they did not want to be convinced off. My sister is highly skilled at letting people be wrong. She and…
By: John Fehlen on November 11, 2024
As a Christian, I would find a conversation with Peter Boghossian nearly impossible. Hmm…I wonder if there is a book on the market that could help me with this? Oh wait, Mr. Boghossian wrote one called How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide. Allow me a moment of sheer snark: I think this…
By: Jenny Dooley on November 11, 2024
A Story After checking in with the apartment management office where I’m staying in Penang, Malaysia, I was asked to wait as ID cards were made. A few minutes later, I was greeted by a friendly gentleman who worked at the facility. He welcomed me to Penang and spoke of his upcoming holiday. A few…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on November 11, 2024
I am terrified at the moral apathy, the death of the heart, which is happening in my country. These people have deluded themselves for so long that they really don’t think I’m human. And I base this on their conduct, not on what they say. And this means that they have become moral monsters…
By: Cathy Glei on November 11, 2024
Our Children’s Ministry is in the process of adopting a new curriculum. The curriculum resource we are currently using was adopted just after the pandemic. It was purchased because it fit our scope & sequence, Biblical foundation, and spiritual formation benchmarks for kids. It also had components that fit our needs during the pandemic. Currently,…
By: Esther Edwards on November 11, 2024
My daughter has two-year-old twins. It can be quite comical to see how they are learning to negotiate and converse. Without a doubt, they are beginning to see that they are not alone in the universe. The controversy is continually around what is “mine.” My toy. My food. My shoes. But skills are being taught…
By: Dinka Utomo on November 7, 2024
My Standpoint Colonialism and slavery, in my view, are both kinds of oppression and exploitation that are carried out by a group of people or nations against other groups or nations who are weaker. Colonialism and slavery are practices that are carried out to accrue the most significant possible benefit from the people or nations…
By: Adam Harris on November 7, 2024
‘Yes, I got my wife’s approval for the title. This week we are supposed to write about our views and assumptions about colonialism and slavery before we read A History of Slavery by Jeremy Black[i] and Colonialism by Nigel Biggar.[ii] Pre-Reading Thoughts First, I realize our tendency with just about anything and everything is to…
By: Todd E Henley on November 7, 2024
Shame can often feel like an overwhelming and paralyzing force in our lives. As a therapist, I’ve learned to navigate my own feelings of shame, and I have come to realize that openness is key. Honestly, before delving into this topic, I had no understanding of colonialism, and my background kept me from shaming myself.…
By: Cathy Glei on November 5, 2024
This week, I set aside time to reflect deeply on the complex histories of slavery and colonialism, revisiting both my education and early teaching experiences as a fifth-grade teacher. Teaching these topics early in my career required me to navigate difficult historical truths while fostering an environment where young students could begin to understand the…
By: Esther Edwards on November 5, 2024
To summarize my current convictions and deeply held beliefs regarding colonialism and slavery before the reading, I had to reflect on my early years. I was taken back to my 6th grade class, and I distinctly remember my time in the library with a class assignment to create a booklet of one-page summaries on quite…
By: Kim Sanford on November 5, 2024
As I sit down to reflect, a few thoughts come to mind. Slavery is unequivocally wrong because it cruelly dehumanizes one who is made in the image of God. A worldview which allows for one people group to dominate, control and enslave another does not truly uphold the dignity of each human as a bearer…
By: John Fehlen on November 4, 2024
What is a summary of your most deeply held convictions before the readings? To answer this question, I need to quote myself from a recent blog post: “I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin. By small, I mean less than 1500 people. We were an hour from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I mention that because…
