By: Joel Zantingh on November 7, 2025
Jeff Myers’ Chapter 11 in Understanding the Culture affirms that creation matters because God called in good. [1] The call to be good stewards is neither passive preservation, nor exploitation, but active cultivation. Myers points out two important dynamics about the current state of the planet. One is that the consequences of poor stewardship are all…
By: Christy on November 7, 2025
At various times in the Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives program, we’ve discussed postmodernism. While I found it fascinating, I mostly thought of it as an issue for pastors to consider, much more than my role in ministry operations and donor development. Somehow, this week’s reading hit me differently, and I was able to…
By: Jennifer Eckert on November 7, 2025
Shalom Behind Bars Inside the Joseph Harp Correctional Center, I sat in the chapel alongside the residents who were dressed in bright orange prison clothes. Many of these men were serving life sentences. No matter – we were all busy singing hymns about the hope and forgiveness of Jesus. It was an unmistakable holy moment.…
By: Noel Liemam on November 6, 2025
Introduction These two books, ‘Understanding the Times’ and ‘Understanding the Cultures,’ by Myers, gives us a lens to see and to understand how ideas and beliefs affect both leadership and the community. Both emphasize the need to understand the truth, the people and how to live our lives wisely as we engage and relate to…
By: Daren Jaime on November 6, 2025
Ethics and leadership have always shared a complicated relationship. History is replete with numerous charismatic leaders who achieved major outcomes but left moral devastation in their wake. From corporate boardrooms to classrooms to pulpits, leadership often walks a slippery tightrope between influence and integrity. Joanne Ciulla in her book Ethics, the Heart of Leadership reminds…
By: Chad Warren on November 6, 2025
Our cultural moment has turned sexuality into the defining marker of selfhood. The modern person no longer asks, “Who made me?” but “Who do I want to be?” Beneath this lies a more profound anthropological crisis. One that reveals how far we have drifted from understanding what it means to be human. In my recent…
By: Elysse Burns on November 6, 2025
As a Christian leader, I long to see cultures flourish in relationship with their Creator—to witness beauty and justice emerge as people respond to God’s transforming love. Jeff Myers, in Understanding the Culture, reminds readers that Christians are not called to withdraw from culture but to engage it redemptively—demonstrating how biblical truth restores what is…
By: Graham English on November 6, 2025
Introduction From my inspectional reading of Understanding the Times and Understanding the Culture, the topic of sexuality resonates with me as a Christian leader. It is a theological and pastoral issue that I must navigate regularly with leaders, people, and in my relational circle. In a culture saturated with confusion, shame, and polarization, sexuality has…
By: Kari on November 6, 2025
The doorbell rang incessantly. I rushed out, calling to Cheick, the neighborhood trash collector, to stop leaning on the bell. I don’t know where Cheick lives—likely in a small shack without running water, maybe a wire of electricity jerry-rigged from a nearby pole. He comes faithfully, often asking us for an advance on his monthly…
By: Debbie Owen on November 4, 2025
“Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18) The Age of Scarcity and the Call to Abundance Our culture is dominated by fear—fear of scarcity, loss, and exclusion. Despite unprecedented advances in technology and global wealth (for some), many people believe opportunity is a zero-sum game. It’s why fear drives most of our decisions and…
By: Adam Cheney on November 4, 2025
I love diving into worldviews and how they shape the way we live our lives and engage in culture. My academic journey has led me to spend a significant amount of time reflecting on how a Christian is to engage culture, and I’ve often done so through the lens of comparing different worldview “maps.” For…
By: Jeff Styer on November 3, 2025
As leaders, we have learned the importance of staying in the room, hearing all sides of an issue. We have also learned the importance of knowing and understanding the culture that surrounds us. In this post I am going to discuss sexuality and how I present the various voices and aspects of sexuality to my…
By: Glyn Barrett on November 3, 2025
If human value is based in any way on degree, then there is no solid basis for all people having equal worth. This statement captures the cultural and philosophical fault line of our age. In 2025, debates on abortion, bioethics, and human dignity reflect far more than political polarisation; they reveal competing worldviews regarding…
By: Jennifer Eckert on November 1, 2025
We may not all be called to lead in the same way or at the same level, but I believe many women are meant to have a greater voice and influence than they are presently given, especially in ministry. Author Anna Morgan is ordained through the Assemblies of God, a denomination that invites women to…
By: Daren Jaime on October 31, 2025
As I have shared a few times, I began my faith journey in the Roman Catholic Church, where the first women I saw in leadership were the Sisters. Though their influence was profound, their roles were often positioned within the margins of ecclesial authority, while priests and brothers occupied the visible and celebrated centers of…
By: Noel Liemam on October 30, 2025
Introduction In other parts of the world where they are so deep into their traditional way of living, the distinction between the role of a man versus the role of the women is so visible. In Micronesia, the role of the women as individual, as wife or mother, and within the community though different from…
By: Chad Warren on October 30, 2025
When Ted Lasso walks into a London football club as an American football coach, the room goes silent. He doesn’t speak the language of their game, doesn’t know the rules, and certainly doesn’t fit the mold. Yet what disarms everyone isn’t his expertise, it’s his curiosity. “Be curious, not judgmental,” he says, quoting Walt Whitman,…
By: Kari on October 30, 2025
“The pastor is not going to support you. He doesn’t believe in single women going overseas. You should give up the thought that this will be your sending church.” I was told this by many in my congregation as I felt God calling me to serve Him full-time overseas. I was young and confident in…
By: Elysse Burns on October 30, 2025
The topic of women in leadership within the Church remains deeply personal to me. I write from within an ongoing process of healing, shaped by past experiences related to this subject, aware that certain memories can still resurface and momentarily unsettle my spirit. While the purpose of Anna R. Morgan’s Growing Women in Ministry is…
By: Graham English on October 30, 2025
Twenty-five years ago, our denomination voted in favour of giving each local church the autonomy to decide on whether it would function as an egalitarian or complementarian congregation. Since the decision, numerous churches have embraced the opportunity to vote and transition to an egalitarian model, where men and women share equal roles in leadership and…
