DLGP

Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives: Crafting Ministry in an Interconnected World

Category: Uncategorized

The Path of the Exile

By: on April 14, 2020

In David Kinnaman’s books Unchristian and You Lost Me, he details the saga of why young adults leave the church.  While Unchristian is focused primarily the way those outside of the church see Christianity (i.e., Christians are hypocritical, they care only about people getting saved, their sexual ethic is too prudish/antihomosexual, Christians are sheltered, judgmental,…

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When Shame Prevails and Grace is Non-existant

By: on April 14, 2020

Three years of groundbreaking research by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons through The Barna Group,[1]provided insight into how sixteen to twenty-nine-year olds, who consider themselves “outsiders” of the Christian faith, perceive Christianity. Their study results are consolidated in Unchristian: What a new Generation Really Thinks About Christianity…and Why It Matters. Their findings are grim and…

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Tell a More Hopeful Story

By: on April 11, 2020

One of the persistent comments I’ve read and heard in the midst of this pandemic is ‘nobody saw this coming’. At this point I always have to decide whether opinionated Jenn shows up or pastoral Jenn. Why? Because the fact is that some people did see this coming. Bill Gates in 2015[1]; epidemiologist Larry Brilliant…

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Mirror, Mirror

By: on April 10, 2020

I used to like to think of Jesus as a hippy. Jesus, a long-haired perfectly tanned and toned white guy who spoke with a surfer’s accent and walked with the swagger of John Lennon. He loved the outdoors like Dick Proenneke, the oceans like Jacques Cousteau and animals like St. Francis. He may have laughed…

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When a man speaks in the forest….

By: on April 5, 2020

“When a man speaks in the forest, and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?” Apparently, the answer is most certainly, yes. We held a vote on the subject at home, and the result was resounding. Consequently, I take comfort in Kathryn Schultz book, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin…

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What COVID-19 May Be Telling Us About Us

By: on April 1, 2020

In a phone call with a faith leader this morning, we discussed the “Jobian” feel of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reflecting together on the life of Job, we wondered about suffering and how this might be the first moment in modern history where suffering is the simultaneously shared experience of the entire world. We discussed the…

11 responses

Taringa Whakarongo (Let Your Ears Listen)

By: on April 1, 2020

Te timatanga o te matauranga ko te wahangu, te wahanga tuarua ko te whakarongo. The first stage of learning is silence, the second stage is listening. [1] Culture is meaningful. I have observed a culture of leadership, specifically of the Christian ilk, that seems to be quite fearful at its root. Hierarchy and a striving…

6 responses

Don’t Do As I do; Do as I say

By: on April 1, 2020

I learned as a parent that things are more often caught than taught. As a child, when I asked my Dad “why?”, his response was usually “because I said so!” Though this was never a satisfactory answer I did understand it was his way of saying he was the boss. Every parent learns there is…

10 responses

The De Facto R&D Branch of Christianity

By: on March 31, 2020

There is something almost magical about the ages of 18 to 24. So many of life’s biggest decisions are made during that time. How people are impacted during that season will affect them for the rest of their lives. I’ve given my adult life thus far to this age group, and I love the potential…

6 responses

Life is Like a Clock

By: on March 31, 2020

Life is like a clock It has an exterior seen by people And an interior filled with gears.   The clock has a function. How well it functions depends on the gears contained within and how well they work together.   Faith is one of those gears. So is God and Jesus and Spirit and…

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Finding Our Foundation

By: on March 30, 2020

The issue of morality is one that each of us wrestles with throughout our lives.  Where does morality come from?  Why was it wrong for Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit?  Why was it considered evil for Cain to murder Abel?  Why is it wrong to steal the Hershey’s bar from the gas…

12 responses

Youth and politic a challenge

By: on March 30, 2020

It’s very interesting how politics are still something young people show little interest in. In his last chapter 5, Smith eludes this vital topic of “Civic and political disengagement”. It is nothing new to know that the percentage of young people who are involved in decisions regarding government policies is very small. Few have been the times…

6 responses