By: Michael Simmons on September 1, 2021
My relationship with reading began in Mrs. Owen’s second grade class at Russellville Elementary School in East Tennessee. When the reading period came around a few classmates and I filed ourselves outside and into portable classrooms. While the rest of our class tapped into the magical land of books I played remedial “video games” meant…
By: Chris Pollock on May 2, 2021
The experience of progressive thinking, considering philosophy, even, contemplative theology is new for me. For less than two decades, I have been on an adventure exploring truth (in all its wonderful variety). With the curiosity to learn, panic has arisen at times for there is just not enough time to passably explore-to-know the island I…
By: Dylan Branson on April 26, 2021
The key to understanding any social movement is to understand the language used to spread its narrative. In his book, Explaining Postmodernism, Stephen R.C. Hicks argues that postmodernism has become the language of the political Left. He writes, “Many deconstruct reason, truth, and reality because they believe that in the name of reason, truth, and…
By: John McLarty on April 26, 2021
“Explaining Postmodernism” is written by a professor of philosophy and seeks to make sense of why today’s society finds it difficult, if not impossible, to handle complex questions and function in ambiguity using methods like logic, reason, and rules for debate instead of resorting to extremist activism and identity politics. Stephen Hicks argues that the…
By: Jer Swigart on April 26, 2021
In the opening pages of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault, philosopher Stephen Hicks seeks to articulate his interpretation of what postmodernism is, what its philosophical roots are, and what, if anything, it seeks to achieve. Modernist philosophy, which emerged within the Enlightenment Period (Descartes, Newton, etc.), argued that the objective world…
By: Chris Pollock on April 26, 2021
https://prezi.com/view/lm2lpzHnrj5cOVMBzlCS/
By: Darcy Hansen on April 26, 2021
In the fall of 2019, I needed some space to breathe and be, so I went to the Portland Art Museum. The instillation, “All Things Being Equal,” by Hank Willis Thomas was on display. As I walked past Thomas’ photographs, prints, videos, quilts, and mixed-media two-dimensional (often) interactive works, I felt disoriented, forced to see…
By: Shawn Cramer on April 25, 2021
For the past two academic years, I have placed the concept of innovation like a jewel on a cloth and inspected it from many angles, applied differing light, and wore several lenses from differing world-views, traditions, and opinions. All this in hopes of helping see others taste of what Isaiah gives witness to: “See, I…
By: Greg Reich on April 25, 2021
“You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”[1] Is it too late to take the red pill? As I was reading through Stephen…
By: Chris Pollock on April 21, 2021
The world could be a better place to be. We have heard the cries of people passing through this place of time, journeying between the gardens, desperate for consolation. Some are gifted to endear their lives to pursuing it while so many others are consumed, wandering in dark places or numb, empty spaces within empty…
By: Darcy Hansen on April 20, 2021
Death is an inevitable reality. It comes to individuals, ecosystems, and entire civilizations, as all things have a beginning and end. Sometimes death comes quickly; other times it comes slowly. Our current cultural reality finds us in an extended season of death. We are situated in a global pandemic that has disrupted political, economic, social,…
By: Greg Reich on April 20, 2021
Every church needs an EGR family. A family where extra grace is required. When I was a young unpaid pastor, I had one in my church. Gene and Rita were odd; they were kind and gentle, but awkward. They had custody of their grandchild who were young terrors in the church, constantly in trouble, bullying…
By: Greg Reich on April 20, 2021
Leadership is influence. Real long lasting influence takes time, it’s a plant of slow growth. It often comes through pain and discomforts as we walk through life serving others. Here is the link to my leadership presentation. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1z9aMNOgtKwha3V4jI4l7nSVlBJY7gYyO/edit#slide=id.p1
By: Jer Swigart on April 19, 2021
Simon Walker, in his Undefended Leader Trilogy, argues that being an undefended leader is about leading out of the freedom of having nothing to lose. Ed Friedman, in A Failure of Nerve, defines the well-differentiated leader as the one who is so clear on her sense of self and goals as well as on her…
By: Dylan Branson on April 19, 2021
Within Christian theology, the concept of kenosis refers to Jesus’s self-emptying of His divine nature and His own will to be fully receptive to the will of God. It is a choice; it is not that His nature or will was forcibly stripped away, but rather He willingly gave of Himself so that the will…
By: John McLarty on April 19, 2021
I am what you might call a recovering “controlaholic.” I have spent my career in ministry either in church planting or “strategic turnaround” settings (churches with high potential that have either underperformed or have become stuck.) These assignments have been exciting for me personally, as I like to diagnose problems, explore solutions, and work toward…
By: Shawn Cramer on April 19, 2021
Here it is y’all.
By: Shawn Cramer on April 19, 2021
As I interact with ministries and faith leaders, I often hear the word “stuck” or a synonym. As these leaders tease out their discontent for the status quo and dream aloud a bit about their hopes for the future, they inevitably express a desire for something “new” or “fresh.” In his leadership reflections, Simon Walker…
By: Chris Pollock on April 16, 2021
A leader who has surrendered their dependence to God is one who is released (untethered), lives undefended and free. Affliction can change and break this enlightened orientation. God, help those who love You and have set their hearts on You. Of this kind of leadership, that is one that has ‘let-go’ and fallen for higher…
By: John McLarty on April 13, 2021
The eighth and final strategy of leadership Simon Walker examines in “The Undefended Leader” is called “Self-Emptying.” He lifts up Jesus Christ as the model example of this style. A self-emptying strategy is back stage and attentive, one in which a person is willing to give up power as a deliberate act, trusting that the…
