By: Scott Dickie on April 19, 2023
While a Lead Pastor does a bunch of other work outside of the pulpit, they can’t escape the fact that they speak for a living (unless they have a preaching pastor on their team). Most of us as Lead Pastors can struggle to be organized or do mediocre HR and still be in the congregation’s…
By: Russell Chun on April 19, 2023
Namatay si Alexa noong isang araw (Filipino) Alexa died the other day. My thoughts: Alexa died (intro) Impact on NPO 2023 – Facing the day. (Self Care) Treasure: Three outcomes, Rock – All the world is a stage, Ted talks, Book Reviews and Voice training. Alexa died the other day. When it snows in Colorado…
By: Kim Sanford on April 19, 2023
In my former life I can say with confidence that I’ve spent a significant part of my life reflecting on speaking and listening. In my former life as an ESL teacher, these were two skills that I taught regularly. And yet, they are challenging skills for an ESL student to improve. It’s less about memorizing…
By: Tim Clark on April 18, 2023
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak…” James 1:19 A big part of what I do every week is prepare for and deliver sermons and other public talks. So, all semester I was looking forward to reading Julian Treasure’s book How to be Heard: Secrets for Powerful Speaking and Listening[1] to pick up…
By: Pam Lau on April 18, 2023
“Our job, all of us, every single one of us is to make sure that the people around us, whoever they are, know what’s going on in the things that we love the most.”[1] Benjamin Zander, conductor of The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, spoke these words to Julian Treasure during an interview for his book, How…
By: Becca Hald on April 17, 2023
In his bestselling book The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, the author discusses the impact of trauma on the body. His groundbreaking research details the impact of trauma on the body. He writes, Trauma results in a fundamental reorganization of the way mind and brain manage perceptions.…
By: Kally Elliott on April 17, 2023
Noise vs. Sound In the middle of the night I picked up my phone swiped to Amazon and bought Decibel Defense Personal Safety Earmuffs. With an advertised “37dB NRR – The HIGHEST Rated & MOST COMFORTABLE Ear Protection for Shooting & Industrial Use – THE BEST HEARING PROTECTION…GUARANTEED”[1] I hoped this purchase would be the…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on April 17, 2023
Traumatic Experiences Leave Traces Psychiatrist, Bessel van Der Kolk, in his book, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, writes that in order to successfully treat psychological trauma, clinicians must consider the bodily symptoms experienced by the traumatized person.[1] Van der Kolk notes that though human beings are…
By: Greg McMullen on April 17, 2023
Being a pastor can be difficult at times, especially leading a multicultural church. It seems I am always offending a different culture and beliefs each month. Mentioning such words as Easter Egg Hunt, WHO, Economics, Enneagram, Vaccine, a person or culture gets offended and leaves. In all of this, I feel as if I have…
By: David Beavis on April 17, 2023
In a comedic, yet troubling scene in Pixar’s Inside Out the main character, Joy, who is named for the emotion she represents in the psyche of her human, Riley, knocks over several boxes while riding a train. Some of the boxes were labeled “facts” and the others were labeled “opinions.” After knocking over the boxes,…
By: Jennifer Vernam on April 17, 2023
“Remember me” On several occasions, I have had the privilege of working in Guatemala in villages of people who have been historically marginalized. Due to generations of political manipulations and societal injustice these groups of indigenous people have been relegated to the most barren and remote parts of the mountainous regions and are living without…
By: Sara Taylor Lattimore on April 16, 2023
Abandoned at a hospital as a newborn baby, by a 25 year old mother who had a 5 year old son already and could not bear to keep another child, then placed into foster care until a plan could be made… This is how the story of my life began. Nameless, I spent time with…
By: Sara Taylor Lattimore on April 16, 2023
The year 2020 changed so much about our current world and the way we see the world and even exist in the world. The toilet paper shortage of the lockdown is one that many of us will remember for a lifetime and in years from not will still be the memes the bring both laughter…
By: Chad McSwain on April 16, 2023
What can truly make us happy or what is the connection between personality and happiness? These were some of the thoughts as I read, Personality: What Make You the Way You Are by Daniel Nettle. Interestedly, Nettle had the same idea, as he also wrote a book on happiness[1], concluding that happiness is the evolutionary…
By: Eric Basye on April 14, 2023
William Bridges, author of Managing Transitions, was an expert on change who helped thousands of leaders and organizations understand and thrive in seasons of transition. Susan Bridges co-authored the book, a consultant with the William Bridges Associates, who later became his wife. Managing Transitions provides practical guidance and strategies that benefit organizations and individuals experiencing…
By: Eric Basye on April 14, 2023
Steven Koonin is a theoretical physicist with a PhD from MIT and has served in a range of roles, such as the Director for the Center for Urban Science and Progress at New York University, the Chief Scientist for BP oil industry, as well as for the Department of Energy under the Secretary of Science…
By: Troy Rappold on April 13, 2023
William Bridges’ Transitions has continued to be an important and relevant book since its original printing over forty years ago. The book is relatable by every individual because everyone goes through multiple transitions during their lifetime. There is wisdom to be found on every page of Bridges’ bestseller. The book is neatly divided into two…
By: Roy Gruber on April 13, 2023
As we approach the end of our GFU journey, it seemed fitting that our last assigned book related to the topic of transition. Many of the books about change I have read focus on the external aspects, namely, the circumstances of transitioning. William Bridges’ self-management book Transitions, in this second edition, includes his wife, Susan,…
By: Caleb Lu on April 12, 2023
In Daniel Nettle’s Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are, he posits that there are five main measurable factors that determine who we are [1]: extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness. Nettle ensures that personality, as measured by these five factors, are relatively stable through time.[2] In the second chapter, Nettle continues by delving…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on April 11, 2023
Introduction: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma[1] by Bessel van der Kolk is another book full of great insights. My takeaways from the book include the major role of the human brain in the way we function. I somehow used to see the heart as the engine…
