By: Dylan Branson on October 4, 2019
Reading can be a daunting challenge. As someone who loves to read, there have been many books that I have come across where I can feel my eyes glazing over as I try to decipher the meaning of the text. I vividly remember this occurring for the first time when I was in high school…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on September 22, 2019
Distractions are inevitable! T.S. Elliot explained, “Distracted from distraction by distraction creates distraction.” That clears up the dilemma! (lol) Webster defines distraction as a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else. Newport explores how distraction can be detrimental to us in both our personal and business worlds. The author’s goal is…
By: Wallace Kamau on September 21, 2019
Jesus is teaching on the shores of lake Gennesaret where Simon peter and his friends have toiled the whole night trying to catch fish with no success. He asks to use their boat to preach to the crowd, and then asks Peter to cast his net deeper but Peter is hesitant trying to argue that…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on September 21, 2019
This reader engaged Deep Work during a critical time of reflecting on my potential next assignments and found useful guidelines for reorienting back to a healthy rhythm. Georgetown University computer science professor, Cal Newport, has written extensively on how technology and our distracted, multi-tasking society is affecting break through thinking and overall happiness in our…
By: Harry Fritzenschaft on September 21, 2019
Previously I read the assigned Newport’s Digital Minimalism with surprise and fascination. I was surprised by Newport’s emphasis on reduction of tech distractions for both himself and his audience. Newport’s focus helped me to reduce the distraction of checking my phone for messages or updates (even in the presence of others). One would think I…
By: Karen Rouggly on September 19, 2019
It’s rare that an academic year goes by without some upheaval and change. In fact, the years I didn’t expect change, it came dramatically and with full force. In my role as Director, I’ve learned to not just expect change, but I need to be actively and regularly planning for it. So when an employee…
By: Sean Dean on September 19, 2019
This past spring a documentary was released in conjunction with the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. This film was mostly made up of found footage from NASA of the crew and support staff during the mission. It was an amazing film. I brought my boys to see it in…
By: Harry Edwards on September 19, 2019
Political theologian William Cavanaugh asks a provocative question: “How does a provincial farm boy become persuaded that he must travel as a soldier to another part of the world and kill people he knows nothing about?”1 That is a stunning way to start a book. Cavanaugh is asking what in human nature compels us to…
By: Andrea Lathrop on September 19, 2019
Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people or gifted people but for deep people.[1] This is one of my favorite all-time quotes. I read this from Richard Foster at just the right…
By: Digby Wilkinson on September 19, 2019
Cal Newports, Deep Work (1) , reminded me that being comfortable in my own ministry skin is a pleasant place to be after years of self observation through eyes of everyone else. It means I read leadership books or theology material with a degree of detachment because I’m not looking for the idea, concept or…
By: Jenn Burnett on September 19, 2019
A deep yearning for depth is arising. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga gifted us the haunting tale of the exhaustion of living in the shallow places. Busyness has replaced meaning. Constant access to increasingly alarming headlines (hello click bait) are nurturing societal anxiety while entertainment addiction leaves us decreasingly socially active. Cal Newport draws out…
By: Mario Hood on September 19, 2019
In Deep Work, Cal Newport, associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University, lays out his argument for focused work or what he calls deep work. The guiding principle Newport lays out is one that encourages the reader to engage in work that demands your full focus. By engaging in this type of work, one…
By: Rhonda Davis on September 19, 2019
Cal Newport, Computer Science professor at Georgetown, is perhaps more widely known for the imprint of his writing on the world of productivity. I enjoyed his book, Digital Minimalism, and am fascinated by his disciplined work and full life. Though there is much to digest in Deep Work, I gleaned two particular things from the…
By: Nancy Blackman on September 18, 2019
My goodness! This book offered many answers to my professional, academic, ministry, and personal life. PROFESSIONAL: As a co-owner of a business, many light bulbs went on! This helps me understand and have grace, a bit better, for people who communicate, decide, trust, and disagree differently than myself. On the flip side, I…
By: Rev Jacob Bolton on September 18, 2019
Cal Newport is an Ivy League trained, associate professor at Georgetown University. In America, this usually means you are a pretty big deal, and Cal Newport certainly is. Not because of his computer science research, which is the field he teaches at Georgetown, but because of his incredibly popular, mass media, self-help books. His collected…
By: Greg Reich on September 18, 2019
In the animated fictitious movie “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” the tiny Island of Swallow Falls’ entire culture and economy is based on sardines. The son of the local bait shop Flint Lockwood a wanna be inventor wanting to give the community more of a variety of food, so he designs a machine that…
By: Chris Pollock on September 18, 2019
Opening to the world, the beauty and artistry and history in all of its cultural diversity, continues to be a process for me. Unfathomable to recall that there was a time that I believed everyone thinks the same way and sees the world just like me, despite going to an international school growing up and…
By: Darcy Hansen on September 17, 2019
Muzungu. This is one of the first words I heard come out of the mouths of children running down dusty, bumpy roads as I traveled to home visits for my sponsored children when visiting Rwanda the first time. Extracting exactly what it meant depended on whom I spoke with. Some mentioned it meant a person…
By: Steve Wingate on September 16, 2019
I am an advocate for not going alone. Entrepreneurs that I have met, typically, hold their paths to success close to the vest. It’s a shame because the output from two kindred entrepreneurial spirits working together can be incredible. That goes for entrepreneurial-minded congregational leaders. Trust is an experience that creates powerful momentum compounding other…
By: Jer Swigart on September 16, 2019
A woman shaped by intentional decisions for international displacement, Erin Meyer not only allowed herself to become a culturally savvy leader, she narrated the dynamics of leadership that span cultural boundaries and borders in The Culture Map: Decoding How People Think Lead, and Get Things Done Across Cultures. From the onset of the book, Meyer…
