By: John Woodward on June 14, 2015
Before leaving for South Africa last fall, I sought out several novels by local authors. The first I landed on was by Nobel Prize winning novelist Nadine Gordimer. In her haunting novel, July’s People, set in the time of black uprisings across South Africa in the 1980s, we witness the unsettled reality of South Africa…
By: Nick Martineau on June 12, 2015
I purchased my plane tickets for Hong Kong last week. I’ll be heading out a few days early and visiting my Uncle in Nanning. When I sent him my itinerary he sent a quick email back saying, “I keep thinking about things I think you would find interesting…I would like you to see old…
By: Michael Badriaki on June 11, 2015
Kam Louie’s book, “Hong Kong Culture: Word and Image” is timely since it will not be long before I will be boarding an air buses to Hong Kong. In many ways, Louie’s work seems like a reputation course since I have close friends who currently live in Hong Kong and have given me many crash…
By: Mary Pandiani on June 10, 2015
Reminiscent of last week’s conversation about liminal space, Hong Kong appears to be a threshold for the whole world to see as it seeks a new-old identity. The crossroad of Chinese-ness and Western-ness meets on this little island mixed with a bit of China mainland. From 1997 when the British handed her over to Chinese sovereignty,…
By: Telile Fikru Badecha on June 6, 2015
“Courage is the ability to cultivate a relationship with the unknown; to create a form of friendship with what lies around the corner over the horizon–with those things that have not yet fully come into being.” –Davide Whyte Every church I had a chance to visit or work…
By: Mitch Arbelaez on June 6, 2015
This Friday I addressed church leaders and pastors at the Logos University International Graduation and conference. Leaders attended from nations around the world, Germany, South Africa, England, Kenya, Jamaica, Latin America, and the USA. Having read the readings for this week I so desired to transmit that information to these Christian world leaders, but alas,…
By: rhbaker275 on June 6, 2015
In a recent advertisement produced by a major drug company, the narrative depicts a rodeo scene with a bull-rider aboard what, at first, appears to be a typical furious, incensed bull determined to unseat the rider and cause considerable harm. A wider view of the situation reveals the energetic, arms waving rider is aboard a…
By: Phillip Struckmeyer on June 4, 2015
Strategy for Lunch While Sipping on Style! At the church I planted 12 years ago, I was the primary communicator when we first launched. I would like to think I was a good communicator casting vision, teaching God’s word, and inspiring all hearers to have a greater hunger and thirst for God and his ways…
By: Bill Dobrenen on June 4, 2015
I often wonder why people are drawn into positions of leadership. I have experienced working with some good leaders, but I have had more experiences working with less-than-competent leaders. How did they get there? Who put them there? This week’s reading was rich, deep, and fulfilling. It gave me hope. It made me smile. So…
By: Liz Linssen on June 4, 2015
“The crisis is thus an opportunity to rediscover the vocation of the church as an authentic community, a living priesthood, a missional people in a foreign land. We have the opportunity to move from leadership cults, to leadership cultures; instead of lone rangers, we need meaning makers…” [1] As the pastor of a one-year-old church…
By: Nick Martineau on June 4, 2015
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this week’s articles mostly because they beautifully articulated, “an itch I’ve been wanting to scratch.” I’m guessing this week’s readings would resonate with any one who finds themselves in leadership. The longing question Len asks, “How do we walk with God into a new future – an unknown place?[1]” is…
By: Jon Spellman on June 4, 2015
“Liquid Modernity,” “Chaordic Age,” “Post-post—Modernity,” “Post-Christian,” “Post-Church,” uuuuggghhhhh! It’s exhausting! We are forced more and more to navigate nuances, to make values-based decisions while constantly adjusting our vision to ever-morphing shades of grey. That’s what it means to be a church leader today. If I’m being honest, sometimes I just want things to be…
By: Mary Pandiani on June 3, 2015
“Go With The Slow” – Costco’s caption of their most recent The Costco Connection – intrigues me. Yes, many ads of products fill the inside, but the main focus in their Health section concerns subjects such as de-stressing, wellness, spiritual focus, being present, and mindful eating. These articles contradict what would be expected for a…
By: Carol McLaughlin on June 3, 2015
Sometimes I simply marvel at the convergence of concepts and ideas. One feeds the other, provides understanding and forges new connections. This has been true of our reading this week. As I write this I am in Tigard, Oregon, a short distance from the Seminary. I’ve been here since Monday for a face-to-face for Pastoral…
By: Ashley Goad on June 3, 2015
Currently, I am sitting in the Moscow airport. There are two children watching a movie with the sound turned to the highest decibel level possible, and a man has been systematically hammering at the tile floor for close to two hours. This all comes after a 12-hour transatlantic flight. I am tired. My words do…
By: Julie Dodge on June 3, 2015
“What churches need are not more entrepreneurial leaders with wonderful plans for their congregation’s life, but poets with the imagination and gifting to cultivate environments within which people might again understand how their traditional narratives apply to them today.”[1] I have written before about the beauty and challenges of my home church. Our church of…
By: Travis Biglow on June 3, 2015
Uncertainty and Chaos the brothers of change! June 3, 15 This reading was one that I will cherish a lot. I felt like God was talking to me and letting me know that chaos has purpose and its ok. I always feel like chaos is not bad because things that are business as usual get…
By: Deve Persad on June 3, 2015
I’ve never been a fan of the Oreo cookie. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the whole thing that I don’t like…I’m not that crazy. The cream part in the middle, that’s where you’ll find me. In fact when I was younger (hmmm, including yesterday) I used to remove the top cookie, eat the middle…
By: Brian Yost on June 3, 2015
“Churches are entering a nowhere land that has come into being in the turbulent waters of societal shift. We have become travelers with maps that are outdated and that no longer describe the landscape.”[1] This quote by Len Hjalmarson captures a key issue in church leadership. There are models of leadership and “doing church”…
By: Dave Young on June 2, 2015
The church I pastor, Alliance Bible Church, is in a place of uncertainty, or as Len Hjalmarson writes “a place of liminality… of a space in-between, a transition point, where old and new collide.” “Limina” is old Latin for threshold.[i] In some ways we wear our “liminality” as a badge – we’re a home of…
