By: Shawn Cramer on September 16, 2020
The wind was robbed from my sails. This week leaves me feeling like a cautionary example from Steven D’Souza and Diana Renner’s work. A twisted mess of dashed hopes, overconfidence, and an undistinguished identity. A six month journey with positive signs all the way quickly shattered by a single, rote e-mail notification of “another candidate.”…
By: Jer Swigart on September 14, 2020
Pause. Think. Breathe.[1] Three simple, beautiful concepts that could be used to describe a leader. Yet rarely are these practices lifted up as admirable when discussing the characteristics of great leadership. Why not? In the moments following the onset of the Coronavirus Pandemic in the United States, my organization was forced to make some decisions…
By: Darcy Hansen on September 14, 2020
Six weeks ago, I was backpacking through the Sisters Wilderness Area, taking in the sights, breathing in the clean air, and searching for the Holy of God along the way. I feel like I don’t know a whole lot during these pandemic, racial unrest, and economic downturn days. What I do know is hiking those…
By: Chris Pollock on September 14, 2020
Abba ‘Abba, help us along the way, to slow down and stop. Here, may we find home in You as we are reminded of our wandering there, home in You; a light-hearted rest. Home is with us, even in us; Home is along the way and Home is in our destination. In Jesus, Amen.’ Reptilian…
By: Dylan Branson on September 14, 2020
I move toward the window and draw back the curtain, shielding my eyes from the sunlight that pours through the window. As my eyes adjust, I can see people wre flooding the streets and making their way to the various ivory towers scattered throughout town. Each tower marks the residence of another Expert – those…
By: Jer Swigart on September 10, 2020
In the opening chapter of Not Knowing: The Art of Turning Uncertainty into Opportunity, D’Souza and Renner reflect on an ancient doctor in training, Vesalius, who thought it odd that contemporary doctors were utilizing archaic knowledge as the ultimate truth. Despite the obvious upgrades in knowledge, Vesalius found it nearly impossible to contradict the authority…
By: Greg Reich on September 9, 2020
Some things in life are counterintuitive! Simplify put, leaders often lean on their gut and rely on intuition to get things done. When I was a manager in the natural gas pipeline industry overseeing multimillion-dollar projects I was a decision making gun slinger. Give me 50% of the data needed along with the knowledge of…
By: Shawn Cramer on September 9, 2020
Each fall I seek a word, phrase, or verse to act as a north star of sorts for the coming year. I’ve come to call them “advance words.” Years past have included, “Lift your eyes,” “Back to basics,” and “Be strong and courageous.” This year’s word revealed itself very clearly on an early drive –…
By: Chris Pollock on September 9, 2020
There is a leaning with leaders toward power; it seems to be something of value to them, something to compete for and acquire. In their book, ‘Not Doing’, D’Souza and Renner encourage a different approach, an opposite approach to what has become the traditional norm with leaders and their inclination toward competition and achievement. With…
By: Darcy Hansen on September 8, 2020
In “Land Art,” environmental artist, Andy Goldsworthy, partners with Waldemar Januszczak to listen, observe, and “engage with the context”[1] as they walk along the Scottish borders. Their goal is to bring forth something new from that which already exists.[2]Goldsworthy enters the landscape, reflective and fully present, he notices a “huge, heavy sense of death and decay”…
By: Dylan Branson on September 7, 2020
The room is large with high vaulted ceilings and windows that stretch to unimaginable heights. The flames of the torches hanging in their wall sconces bounce off of the walls, casting dancing shadows across the endless shelves of books of and scrolls. Each section is ordered and labeled properly: Preserved scrolls of the great philosophers,…
By: Chris Pollock on September 7, 2020
There was a time in my life when all that had to be said to win my support on a controversial subject was, ‘the Bible says it’s true’. Another way to gain my vote would have been to affirm God’s agreement or disagreement with regards to an issue that was up for debate.…
By: Shawn Cramer on September 3, 2020
Our imagination for engagement with the world stems directly and without exception from our cultural framework. Our actions, furthermore, necessarily emerge from how we imagine the world. This imagination is molded and shaped by the stories that captivate our hearts. “Our hearts traffic in stories,” theologian James K. A. Smith teaches (Imagining the Kingdom, 32…
By: Greg Reich on September 3, 2020
“If you have excess order, you still have order, but if you have excess liberty, you have chaos.” Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History In Taking America Back for God; Christian Nationalism in the United States authors Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry, with the use of “large scale quantitative data”, unfold the many dynamics…
By: Jer Swigart on September 2, 2020
I grew up in a white, conservative, Christian military town among the cornfields and dairy farms of western Wisconsin. We celebrated our veterans, waved American flags whenever we could, preferred white folk over people of color, were pro-life, and spoke frequently about God’s special blessing on the U.S.A. In 1991, I viewed Operation Desert Storm…
By: Darcy Hansen on September 1, 2020
Dying is ugly and hard. It requires a distinct letting go of known and comfortable places of life that steady us along the journey and an entering into the mystery of the unknown. Sadly, in America, within our medical, religious, political, and family systems, few are able to release control and allow new life to…
By: Dylan Branson on September 1, 2020
Identity and narrative are two of the most powerful driving forces in our lives. The questions “Who am I?”, “Where have I been?”, “Where am I now?” and “Where am I going?” influence not just the way that we see ourselves, but the way that we see the world. But what happens when our narratives…
By: Dylan Branson on April 14, 2020
In David Kinnaman’s books Unchristian and You Lost Me, he details the saga of why young adults leave the church. While Unchristian is focused primarily the way those outside of the church see Christianity (i.e., Christians are hypocritical, they care only about people getting saved, their sexual ethic is too prudish/antihomosexual, Christians are sheltered, judgmental,…
By: Darcy Hansen on April 14, 2020
Three years of groundbreaking research by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons through The Barna Group,[1]provided insight into how sixteen to twenty-nine-year olds, who consider themselves “outsiders” of the Christian faith, perceive Christianity. Their study results are consolidated in Unchristian: What a new Generation Really Thinks About Christianity…and Why It Matters. Their findings are grim and…
By: Joe Castillo on April 13, 2020
The question of why youth leaving the Church has long circulated in the minds of youth leaders. In addition to the weakness of our denomination, the Free Methodist with the leadership of women. We have a challenge that lacks young leadership. Why do young people leave the Church? The study was published by St. Mary’s…
