By: Adam Harris on April 11, 2024
I’m currently in Washington, DC attending an educational workshop at the Holocaust Museum to foster healthier Christian-Jewish relationships, biblical teaching, and interfaith dialogue. My group has around seventeen members and consists of Jewish rabbis, pastors, priests, seminary students, lay people, and chaplains from around the United States. The first thing we are required to do…
By: Todd E Henley on April 11, 2024
“If the light inside you is not greater than the light upon you, the light upon you will destroy you.” – Scott Dickie’s mentor. The above quote is an excellent summarization of the book, The Scandal of Leadership by JR Woodward. I will soon tell you why the quote resonates with the book, but first,…
By: Kally Elliott on April 11, 2024
The Church has potential to be a breeding ground for domineering leadership. Open up your news app and you’re sure to see yet another story of a church leader’s downfall. But this is not just a current problem. According to J.R. Woodard, in his book, The Scandal of Leadership, it is a historical issue, as…
By: Scott Dickie on April 10, 2024
Christian leaders that consciously or unconsciously follow the leadership patterns of the world (which are animated by the unseen Powers) will inevitably wield power in unhealthy and destructive ways. Christian leaders that model their leadership after Christ will humbly serve and ensure others flourish. That, essentially, is the core message of Jr Woodward’s, The Scandal…
By: Esther Edwards on April 9, 2024
Having grown up in church circles and having been in ministry since my mid-20s, I had never experienced domineering leadership until I viewed a church that a relative attended from a distance. There was high energy and much emphasis on winning the lost. The pastor preached with enthusiasm and passion. However, as time continued, some…
By: Cathy Glei on April 9, 2024
“Will we become a scandal to those who look to us as leaders, or will we choose to imitate the scandalous way of Christ? If Christian leadership is primarily about being Christ-like examples, it is imperative that we understand how the Powers seek to undermine us as leaders, as well as examine the lives and…
By: Jenny Dooley on April 9, 2024
Years ago, as I began preparing to leave Jakarta to move to South Sulawesi, an Indonesia friend and member of our church told me she had been watching me. I panicked a little, wondering what she observed. I secretly prayed it was something good. I was keenly aware that my every move was a curiosity…
By: Pam Lau on April 9, 2024
“It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church: we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares: they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on April 9, 2024
“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” [1] What an interesting time to read a book about the scandal of leadership. I have been thinking a lot about flaws, challenges, and failures of leadership in recent weeks. Admittedly, it has been a tough year for me. Leading an organization in transition for…
By: Russell Chun on April 9, 2024
Pale kaua no ko lākou mau ʻuhane – Armor for their Souls, in Hawaiian Introduction Part 1 – What others are saying Part 2 – What I learned from the U.S. Army and Woodward Epilogue – Armor for the Soul Introduction By unmasking the Powers of domination (Satan and his principalities), J. R. Woodward,…
By: Kim Sanford on April 8, 2024
A quick google search of science and mimicry turns up countless articles on the subject. There are examples of mimicry in nature all around us. In humans, copying facial expressions is even considered a milestone of infant development.[1] Clearly, we are creatures designed to imitate something. Furthermore, we know tacitly that we imitate that which…
By: John Fehlen on April 8, 2024
The legendary Christian Rock band PETRA recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary. They were formed in 1972 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is pretty close to when and where I was formed: 1971 in Osceola, Wisconsin. In 1981, at the age of 10, I was introduced to PETRA, with the vinyl of Never Say Die. NEVER…
By: Tim Clark on April 8, 2024
In November 2012 a new Broadway Musical debuted in the Neil Simon Theater in New York. The production, called “Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson”, lasted for 29 regular performances before it closed that December. It’s not at all surprising that there was a musical written about the vivacious founder of The…
By: Jennifer Vernam on April 8, 2024
In today’s reality, there is an epidemic of church leadership failures-to the point where it has almost become the expectation rather than the exception. In this current climate, J.R. Woodward steps in with his Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church[1] with the intention of compelling church leaders to intentionally adopt…
By: Jana Dluehosh on April 8, 2024
A Good Kill? A Good Death? They are connected and cannot be severed in my mind. A Bad Kill, a good death? A good kill, a bad death? It seems to me that Just war is in the nuance of those connections. For myself sitting in my lovely home, writing a doctoral blog on an…
By: Dinka Utomo on April 5, 2024
“It is only through love that a warfighter can flourish as a warfighter qua just warfighter” -Marc LiVecche- Some Christians have an understanding of original sin, the sin resulting from acts of violation of God’s commands committed by the first human parents, Adam and Eve, as something that has a destructive impact, not only…
By: Todd E Henley on April 4, 2024
Monday, July 12, 2021, my new client showed up to his first session and the first words out of his mouth were, “I heard you can help people heal from the devastating impact of trauma. I am going to tell you things I have never told anyone. After you hear my shitful story, I am…
By: Adam Harris on April 4, 2024
My best friend, who I’ve known since kindergarten, was in the U.S. Marines. If you’ve ever seen the show Reacher, he is a leaner more charismatic version of Alan Ritchson’s character from the show. We attended the same church, went to the same school, and played football together in a “Friday Night Lights” kind of…
By: Mathieu Yuill on April 4, 2024
I found Portland Seminary when a classmate from the masters program I attended posted some really interesting thoughts online about an assignment she was working on. I messaged her to find out what she was doing and she told me about the doctor of semiotics she was perusing. She encouraged me to take the same…
By: Kim Sanford on April 4, 2024
Then he rose, grenade in hand. He was pulling the fuse. He cocked his arm back to throw— and then he saw me looking at him across my rifle barrel. He stopped. He looked right at me. That’s where the image of his eyes was burned into my brain forever, right over the sights of…
