By: Akwese on February 1, 2024
As I delved into this week’s readings, I couldn’t help but think about the patterns I’d seen among leaders that brought me to this doctoral program. No matter what initial goal or challenge they wanted to work on, at its core was a need to be seen, heard, and accepted. Despite the diversity of individuals…
By: Len Hjalmarson on November 1, 2014
hey all, I see you have been reading McGrath! Fun stuff eh? I’ve tended to see the engagement we have as three way — a trialogue with the gospel, church, and world (culture and our experience in the world). But it seems to me that one of the things we are learning is that we…
By: Cedrick Valrie on July 6, 2014
Introduction History does not happen to God. God is timeless. No matter the century, movement, or memorable decade in world history, God is turning the pages of time at…
By: Mark Steele on June 28, 2014
In my college days, I considered myself a mountaineer. I had ample opportunity to climb mountains like Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker and Mt. Whitney as well as climbing the cliffs of Yosemite Valley. What I liked about climbing is that it enabled me to get above the clouds and see the bigger beautiful picture of…
By: Richard Rhoads on June 28, 2014
It was March 1st, 1997. I had just said, “I do!” to Naomi, who was now my wife. It was an amazing day filled with family, loved ones and great friends. Just as special, was our next day walking to our terminal at the airport. See, being the hopeless romantic I decided to surprise my…
By: Sandy Bils on June 27, 2014
Most storms are not produced by pressure, but more by de-pressure, a vacuum that draws and pumps masses of air. It’s not always the pushing force that produces a shift and motion, but sometimes also the lack or deficit. Some think, we live in times, were religion is more and more marginalized, up to a…
By: Sam Stephens on June 27, 2014
I have been receiving several malicious ‘hate tweets’ over the last few days in response to my last tweet about my time with leaders and church planters in eastern India and the fact that the church is multiplying there. The one received today I thought was interesting. It said that people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and…
By: Fred Fay on June 27, 2014
One of my favorite stories I have shared with children is about Martin the Cobbler. He is the central character in Leo Tolstoy’s classic called “Where Love Is”. Martin, because of some very difficult situations in his life, has denied God. But through a visit of a missionary and a dream he believes God will…
By: David Toth on June 26, 2014
I met a fellow benchrest shooter a few days ago and we took the opportunity to have a conversation. He was quite talkative and needed no prodding to begin a long discourse on his reloading process and benchrest shooting style. For the unbaptized, benchrest shooting is an exacting discipline that requires precise and consistent load…
By: Phil Smart on June 26, 2014
Culture and the Death of God – Eagleton There are billboards on our interstate highway leading to downtown Grand Rapids that say……”you can be good and be atheist.” This is quite the shocker in my very religious Reformed area of the United States (the picture I’ve included is more akin to our area!). Eagleton, in…
By: Chris Ellis on June 26, 2014
Culture and the Death of God by Terry Eagleton is an academic world-wind history of the 300-year funeral for God and the search to replace the idea of God with something else. It’s a project that Eagleton argues has failed and will continue to fail. What’s fascinating to me is that one wouldn’t think of…
By: Garrick Roegner on June 26, 2014
Well, this is the last blog I will write for my George Fox Seminary Doctor of Ministry program, so I thought it could be a bit of a summation of a couple years of study strained through this week’s reading of Terry Eagleton’s (Culture and the Death of God) witty take down of modern Western…
By: Sharenda Roam on June 26, 2014
In “Culture and the Death of God,” Terry Eagleton takes us on a fast interesting train through the variety of philosophies found in the eras of the Enlightenment, Idealism, Romanticism, Modernism, and Post-Modernism. He specifically discusses the topic of the Judeo-Christian God and the atheistic strivings that only helped morph God into other forms and…
By: Cedrick Valrie on June 23, 2014
It has often been advised for leaders to be lifetime learners. This is good wisdom, but does imply that it takes a lifetime to learn new skills? According to the book, The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything… Fast, by Josh Kaufman, many new skills do not take as long to acquire as one…
By: Cedrick Valrie on June 23, 2014
Controversy is inevitable as long as two people are gathered together. One of the major controversies facing the local church is to openly allow gay couples within the local church. Some churches/denominations have split over the controversy. Others have made it clear that all are welcome with open arms. Ultimately, we must answer the…
By: Cedrick Valrie on June 23, 2014
President Abraham Lincoln is by far my favorite US president. No matter the book, article, or social media conversation about him, I get this sense that there is a consistent honesty about his life, legacy, and leadership, even amongst his rivals. Doris Kearns Goodwin highlights several of his leadership characteristics in her book The Team…
By: Mark Steele on June 21, 2014
Hiring is both a science and an art. A few times in my career, I have used tried and tested hiring processes by carefully screening candidates, carefully choosing behavioral questions, using multiple panel interviews, and still hiring the wrong person. Lincoln had a similar experience when he found himself hiring multiple generals until he finally…
By: Richard Rhoads on June 20, 2014
Stories are powerful! Embedded in story is the ability to touch another soul. Story goes beyond communicating facts at a purely intellectual level, rather, story communicates by touching the intellect, emotions and the soul of another. For myself, most of my upbringing was filled with story. My dad, the great fisherman, would at least once…
By: David Toth on June 19, 2014
As a young pastor in my first full time pastoral position, I began facing conflict from one of the families in the church. It was a fairly small church averaging just under 100 in Sunday morning attendance. There were about five families that had been in leadership in the church for over 30 years. The…
By: Sam Stephens on June 19, 2014
One may assume that with the volumes of published material on the life and leadership of Abraham Lincoln, nothing more remains to be written. Doris Kearns Goodwin through her book A Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln proves that assumption wrong. She does provide some fresh insights on the man who from…
