By: John Fehlen on February 12, 2024
The dream of the 90’s is alive in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. In 1993, Bill Murray starred in the fantasy comedy Groundhog Day. It became one of the highest grossing films of 1993, and went on to be considered one of the greatest films of the 1990’s and one of the greatest comedy movies ever. I personal…
By: Dinka Utomo on February 8, 2024
It’s time to bring back the old adage “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.” -Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott- Two delicate matters cannot be handled carelessly in our country: first, politics, particularly the election of the President and Vice President. Second, religion. However, it is more harmful if the two are combined. In a…
By: Adam Harris on February 8, 2024
When it comes to the First Amendment and freedom of speech, so many conflicting thoughts run through my head concerning “Cancel Culture”. I’m a huge fan of Jonathan Haidt, who wrote the forward for this week’s book, The Canceling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott. In fact, I would put Haidt’s…
By: Todd E Henley on February 8, 2024
In the book, Rethinking Leadership, Annabel Beerel said, “Leading in a time of crisis requires multiple skills. These include a calm demeanor, the courage to speak to reality, an ability to find clarity amid chaos, a capacity for deep empathy, and sensitive timing.”1 And we are in a crisis. The crisis of cancel culture. It…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on February 8, 2024
“Think of the dumbest thing you did as a teenager. Now, imagine if that moment were preserved forever in the permanent record, available for anyone to see.”[1] I am so grateful that social media was not a thing when I was in High School or in college. My high school days were filled with…
By: Cathy Glei on February 8, 2024
“Gone are the days when dumb, insensitive, or offensive teenage mishaps were forgotten or simply disappeared. Their extensive digital record makes Gen Z the most cancelable cohort, and that makes modern adolescence kind of nightmarish. The ever-present threat of being canceled harms friendships, undermines trust, and fosters paranoia. And it’s certainly not helping the record…
By: Jenny Dooley on February 8, 2024
In the early 1980s when I was an undergraduate student at a large state university, I had several unsettling experiences in which it felt unwise to express a different point of view. To publicly disagree, raise alternative perspectives, or refer to my faith was risky. In my naivete I thought university would be a respectful…
By: Mathieu Yuill on February 8, 2024
Do you have a personal story – or a story of someone close to you who has been on the edge of being canceled? Anecdotally in my world it seems everyone can either tell of a moment they were on the verge of being accused of something or know someone who was accused of something…
By: Kim Sanford on February 6, 2024
“Cancel culture” has always seemed to be one of those terms that everybody uses differently. Ask ten people what it means, and you’ll get ten different answers. This coupled with the fact that many examples of canceling seem happen to celebrities and/or public figures, I’ve never really given too much thought to cancel culture. This…
By: John Fehlen on February 5, 2024
I have a bad case of jet lag. Really bad. I experienced it going TO Europe a few weeks ago, and I got it again coming BACK to Oregon a few days ago. I didn’t think it would affect my return trip, because I was drinking lots of water, holding off bedtime, and doing all…
By: Dinka Utomo on February 1, 2024
Avoiding living in a false world may sound academic and detached from everyday concerns. But that assessment rapidly changes the moment someone or some group comes along and tries to conscript you into their ideological fantasy … You can run, you can submit, you can bloody your knuckles. Or you can craft a better argument…
By: Adam Harris on February 1, 2024
If vertical learning requires reading widely and hearing ideas that conflict with my own then Matthew Petrusek’s book, Evangelization and Ideology, helped me grow like a weed this week. Maybe that’s an over-exaggeration. There were times I thought, “Great point, I could see that”, then other times I thought: “Hmm, that seems condescending and a…
By: Todd E Henley on February 1, 2024
January 30, 2024, began the trial of a West Caln Police Officer. It’s a trial many of us who live in West Caln have been nervously waiting for. November 10, 2021, a black lady, Takeisha Landry made a left turn while stopped at a red light. Sergeant Tony Sparano approached her car after she stopped,…
By: Mathieu Yuill on February 1, 2024
I was on a sales call today with a company that sells email automation and social advertising. I like meeting new people so I always make sure to learn a little bit about the sales person I’m speaking with and today was no different. This salesperson was in Louisiana and when he learned I was…
By: Jenny Dooley on February 1, 2024
Most political conflicts have little to do with politics. They are rooted in more fundamental disputes about moral values, moral knowledge, the definition of the human being, and even metaphysics.[1] Matthew Petrusek Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture, by Matthew R. Petrusek, is not a quick how to guide…
By: Cathy Glei on January 31, 2024
It was said of Author Matthew R. Petrusek, “Within the Church, Petrusek takes a “back to basic” approach to catechesis in an effort to recover an orthodox, pastorally-nimble yet intellectually-robust approach to faith formation and evangelization, using Scripture, the Catechism, and the great minds of the Church’s tradition as a foundation. His ultimate goal is…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on January 30, 2024
I watched Matthew Petrusek’s entire 10- part Video Seminar before I cracked the spine of the book. After I completed the viewing over the course of a couple of days, I found it fairly easy to determine which chapter and topic that I would write about. Chapter 8, The God of my Tribe: Progressivism…
By: Kim Sanford on January 29, 2024
I’ve prayed the Lord’s prayer since childhood. Along with “Now I lay me down to sleep” it was probably one of the only prayers I had learned by heart. Simple and theologically rich at the same time, it deserves to be prayed again and again across denominational boundaries. It even bridges the Catholic-Protestant divide…although let…
By: John Fehlen on January 29, 2024
At the height of the collective (and largely warranted) backlash following the murder of George Floyd, I asked my team to compile a resource list that could be made available on our church website. The resources were intended to express our value for people of color, a strong rejection of racism, and ways we could…
By: Mathieu Yuill on January 25, 2024
For a while, I hosted a podcast which featured several interviews with people from all walks of life. Some authors, others business leaders, nonprofit executives and more. One of my favourites was author, Joseph Michelli[1]. He had written a book, The Starbucks Experience, that really changed the way I looked at customer service and fuelled…
