By: Joe Castillo on April 13, 2020
To develop strong and effective leadership in these challenging times, it is essential to recover the issue of the negative image that the world has of Christians. Possibly 90 percent of the world’s population believes that there is a Supreme Being who created all things and rules the universe. Even atheists or primitive people in…
By: Chris Pollock 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…
By: Jer Swigart 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…
By: Chris Pollock 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…
By: Greg Reich 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…
By: Shawn Cramer 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…
By: Darcy Hansen 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…
By: Dylan Branson 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…
By: Joe Castillo 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…
By: Steve Wingate on March 27, 2020
OH NO! A Ramone’s song just came back to me! “I don’t wanna grow up…”[1] A brief note about our social science authors from their bio’s: Christian Smith is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame.…
By: Steve Wingate on March 19, 2020
Reflecting on these two texts, I am focused upon the term ‘Ezer Kenegdo.’[1] The word Ezer Kenegdo is an old Hebrew term, but the purpose of discussion essentially means a strong warrior, a complimentary partner with the other half of the adam. I love the word complementary. Complementary is what one is and doing if they…
By: John McLarty on March 18, 2020
What do we do when the historic interpretation of a passage (or two) of Scripture does harm? Certainly a multitude of faithful Christ-followers in every expression of Christianity, and as well as those who never really gave Jesus a chance, have been bruised, broken, and bloodied by the teachings of the Church. The Bible has…
By: Greg Reich on March 18, 2020
The date was around 1990. The place Lake Tapps Christian Church. My position was an unpaid Associate Pastor in a small growing church plant. The issue being discussed in our meeting was installing elders for the first time and whether we should consider a woman who was active in the church desiring to be an…
By: Dylan Branson on March 17, 2020
Within theology, “egalitarianism” is defined as “a movement based on the theological view that not only are all people equal before God in their personhood, but there are no gender-based limitations of what functions or roles each can fulfill in the home, the church, and society.”[1] It’s counterpart, “complementarianism” is defined as “the theological view…
By: Shawn Cramer on March 17, 2020
Paradox An innovation theory meta-paradox currently reigns: while innovation theory proclaims creativity is often developed on the fringes, innovation theory is still dominated by white men both through its praised exemplars (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg) and theorists (Buchanan, Brown, Kelley, Rogers and other names unique to that circle). I want to be sure…
By: Joe Castillo on March 17, 2020
One of the five freedoms of the Free Methodist Church denomination is to ordain women into ministry. Historically it has been a value of the FMC theology statement and rooted in the teachings of John Wesley and later carried on to the FMC by its funder B.T Roberts. Since its birth, women, called into ministry…
By: Darcy Hansen on March 16, 2020
The COVID-19 virus is spreading over the globe. It began in China and has migrated and infected people in numerous countries. “There have already been 174,000 cases and 6,700 deaths worldwide.”[1] Fear and panic has also infected communities through digital media outlets highlighting stock market corrections, health-care system overloads, and supply chain challenges. People are…
By: Jer Swigart on March 16, 2020
I had just arrived at the dinner table this evening, having finished up my reading of Katia Adams’ Equal and Lucy Peppiatt’s Rediscovering Scripture’s Vision for Women. Both are remarkable works that, through careful exegesis, conclude that women and men are uniquely suited for equal roles of leadership and authority in the life of the…
By: Chris Pollock on March 11, 2020
First Pain Summer Camp was a wonderland for me as a kid; it holds some of my first and fondest memories. The early 80s, I was free to fly. I wasn’t held back from any place, unless it was after bedtime and I ran like the wind everywhere I went. To the field to play…
By: Joe Castillo on March 11, 2020
The issue of power and leadership has always attracted my attention since 27 years in ministry; in fact, I have been in many leadership positions and seen firsthand how power unfolds through manipulation, the privilege, the rich, in the secular and religious environment. One of the most attractive concepts in the field of social sciences…
