By: Rhonda Davis on April 11, 2019
Dare to Lead was my introduction to Brene Brown, and I was excited to dive in having heard great things about her work. I was not disappointed. Brown, a research professor from the University of Houston, challenged me with a new glossary of terms, offering that leaders must be brave enough to be vulnerable as…
By: Sean Dean on April 11, 2019
“Why do you hate me?” My father said abruptly to me. It was late and we were the last people up in the house. I was a bit stunned by the question. My dad would proceed to tell me why Jen and I adopting was spitting in his face. I was shocked and frustrated with…
By: Shermika Harvey on April 11, 2019
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.[1] Dare to lead wide opened! Leading wide open takes courage, wisdom, and heart. Courage to walk into uncharted territories that may not make sense but trusting in the outcome no matter how it unfolds. Wisdom to uncover…
By: Mario Hood on April 11, 2019
Brené Brown is an American research professor in The Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston and continues her excellent work towards improving the lives of people in her work, Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. Grounded in scientific research that surveyed 150 global C-suite executives, Brown’s findings are rich and…
By: Jenn Burnett on April 11, 2019
It’s been almost 9 years since I first clicked on a link that introduced me to Brené Brown, a qualitative researcher who began in the field of social work who also happens to be Episcopalian[1] . In her first viral Ted Talk, she explores shame and resilience. She defines shame as the feeling that “I’m…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on April 10, 2019
Being a conference junkie for more than thirty years, I found myself burned out with the idea of one more registration confirmation in my inbox, just as a friend who works with Patrick Lencioni’s Table Group, began prodding me and our team to come to The Unconference. How could I politely get out of this…
By: Harry Edwards on April 10, 2019
In my line of work I get to spend a lot of time with apologists who travel locally and internationally training men and women to defend the truth claims of Christianity in an increasingly secularized world. I’m in their company quite a bit and so inevitably I get lumped in with them. Each time that…
By: Rev Jacob Bolton on April 9, 2019
I was recently having a discussion with a local interim minister. In the PCUSA, interim ministers are often called to serve a congregation during the “in between” time, the time a church takes after a pastor leaves and before they call a new pastor. These interim ministers are specially trained in systems and family theory,…
By: Wallace Kamau on April 8, 2019
There is more to leadership than the external level or the outward expression as is conventionally know through performance, passion, power, motivation, knowledge, skills and the like. There is something that is more foundational to leadership in ‘the person’ of the leader, leadership is essentially who you are and there is no dichotomy between who…
By: Shermika Harvey on April 8, 2019
By: John Muhanji on April 7, 2019
When we were growing up in our communities, we grew up under instructional guidance of the “do not” and “dos.” Sometimes they would give you explanations and sometimes they would not explain the reason. For example, girls were not allowed to climb trees. It was not morally right for them to climb trees especially when…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on April 7, 2019
The degree of WEIRDness (western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) we are, determines the depth of autonomy, individualization and independence revealed in our perspectives and confirmation biases. This concept described by Jonathan Haidt in The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, seems to read like a diary of his own…
By: Sean Dean on April 5, 2019
Last night I had the opportunity to sit and talk with some future foster parents about their journey so far. It was a fascinating conversation about their first interest in foster care and adoption and how it has grown and how their church community is helping to foster their movement in this direction. One of…
By: Rhonda Davis on April 5, 2019
When I began my career in student development, I was excited by the opportunity to come alongside the university classroom to aid in the holistic development of the student. In my context of the Christian university, we had a lot of freedom at that time to discuss issues of character and justice. We were aware…
By: Rev Jacob Bolton on April 5, 2019
The image above shared with me by Union Theological Seminary Professor Emeriti Larry Rasmussen demonstrates one of the largest hurdles climate scientists face when discussing the issues of climate change. Often when discussing global warming, climate change or the climate crisis, changing our lifestyles, our former beliefs, or dare I say our elephants[i], ends up…
By: Andrea Lathrop on April 4, 2019
I found Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion fascinating. I wish I had more time to explore all his research on moral psychology and the ways we are wired to judge, exclude and include. I do not have to look deep at my own elephant or those close…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on April 4, 2019
I had the blessed opportunity to officiate a funeral for one of my Hospice patients on Monday. Now, I’ve done many funerals because of my chaplaincy role, but this one was different. This is a fractured family situation that I would be speaking to and the most diverse grouping of attendees I had ever met.…
By: Digby Wilkinson on April 4, 2019
I need to say right at the beginning; there is a difference between the American version of Jonathan Haidt’s, The Righteous Mind, and the UK option published by Penguin.[1] The English version has a different cover and it’s special! It makes you wonder what’s inside and precisely who is ‘flipping the bird‘ to whom? Rather…
By: Mario Hood on April 4, 2019
In, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, Jonathan Haidt lays out a case for why moral judgments stem from emotional feelings rather than rational reasoning. In reviewing the book, Margery Lucas, a Professor of Psychology and Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences at Wellesley College, states, “this book remains an ingenious…
By: Jenn Burnett on April 4, 2019
The first week our family was back in Canada after many years abroad, we decided to take a relaxing trip to the movies after months of stress preparing for the move. Given my children’s ages at the time, the cartoon was the obvious choice and it happened to be “Inside Out”[1] ; a humourous tale…
