By: Dinka Utomo on December 2, 2024
When I was a teenager, I used to think that people outside of Christianity saw Christianity with only one face, namely, as a religion full of goodness. In the mind of a teenager like me at that time, I felt great pride because I believed that many people must think that Christianity is noble. After…
By: Jeff Styer on December 2, 2024
“Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”[1] This is the definition that Peter Northouse gives after discussing the previous 120 years of defining leadership and concluding that leadership scholars really cannot “come up with a common definition for leadership.”[2] Northouse said his definition consists of…
By: Jenny Dooley on December 2, 2024
Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, by Tom Holland, is a fitting book to end our extensive reading list. Holland writes a compelling and insightful history of how Christianity has influenced the world. He asserts that even those who reject the faith live out the unmistakable principles of Christianity. Conversely, he exposes the…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on December 2, 2024
Pierce and Abbey Lane How do you capture a portion of a book that tells such a comprehensive story? Well, you write about the subject that you are most interested in, drawn to. For me, it was a choice between two, The Apocalypse and Love. I know that sounds strange, well maybe not so strange…
By: Pam Lau on December 2, 2024
“When contemplating how the Wisdom of God had entered the womb of a woman, and been born a baby, and cried for milk, the paradox of it all was too much for even him,”[1] Abraham Kuyper was born in 1837 in the Dutch town of Maasluis and served as a minister in the Dutch National…
By: Debbie Owen on December 2, 2024
Two men attended an outdoor event where they heard a powerful speaker. Thousands of people from all over the region were at the event. They were all entranced by the eccentric man who held them spell-bound. The two men listened to the speaker for days, following what he said, learning from him, and being challenged…
By: Kim Sanford on December 2, 2024
Here goes, the last blog post of our LGP journey (calamari!) Knowing that Tom Holland’s Dominion was waiting for us at the end of this semester, I’ve noticed his name popping up seemingly everywhere I look for the past couple of months. First, I saw his book on a friend’s bookshelf. Then he was discussed…
By: Adam Cheney on December 2, 2024
What is a leader? Am I a leader? If I am a leader, what kind of leader am I? Am I a servant-leader like Jesus? Am I a coercive-dominating leader like the President-elect? In his very well laid out book on different styles and definitions of leadership, Peter Northouse exposits on a variety of leadership…
By: John Fehlen on December 2, 2024
A couple weeks ago I stood in the pulpit and made a confession: I absolutely hate playing board games. I’d rather have my teeth cleaned and drilled into, which I should know because I just had that done recently, for two hours straight, all because I hadn’t been to the dentist in over 4 years!…
By: Jennifer Vernam on December 2, 2024
The stories societies tell reflect their cultural values and expectations. If I were living in Greece or Rome at the time of Christ’s birth, here are some of the stories of gods who might have been retold in my local temple: Prometheus[1], a god of fire, who, dared to defy the gods and share fire…
By: Esther Edwards on December 2, 2024
Tonight we honored friends of ours as they celebrated the anniversary of the church they planted twenty years ago. Today it is a thriving congregation that has planted a host of churches and continues to reach out locally and globally. We have been in the trenches as friends throughout these many years weathering highs and…
By: Jana Dluehosh on December 2, 2024
Ten years ago, at my church on the north side of Portland, we had a “mission” moment. This moment of mission was not what I had expected. It was not missionaries from some foreign country or inner-city project; it was different than I had ever heard. Three young women got up from their pew and…
By: Cathy Glei on December 2, 2024
“Inevitably, to attempt the tracing of Christianity’s impact on the world is to cover the rise and fall of empires, the actions of Bishops and kings, the arguments of theologians, the course of revolutions, the planting of crosses around the world. It is, in particular, to focus on the doings of men, yet that hardly…
By: Glyn Barrett on December 2, 2024
I was first introduced to Peter Northouse’s book Leadership: Theory and Practice[1] during my Master of Leadership Course. Since then, it has become a staple go-to for me in anything leadership-based. Since its publication in 1997, it has become a cornerstone text in the field of Leadership and has undergone multiple revisions, with the most…
By: Travis Vaughn on December 2, 2024
A “theory of everything”[1] behind how we think. A “freakonomics”[2] for the Western world. These were phrases that came to mind as I read Tom Holland’s 2019 book Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade The World. To locate what’s underneath our culture’s values and moral framework, Holland asks, “How was it that a cult inspired…
By: Noel Liemam on November 24, 2024
Introduction “The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex and Creativity – and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race, “by Daniel Z. Liberman, MD and Michel E. Long is a very good book that has good foundation which were based on the studies and experiment on how…
By: Mathieu Yuill on November 23, 2024
When was the last time your plans went exactly as expected? If you’re anything like me, the answer is probably never. The world doesn’t work that way. It’s messy, unpredictable, and full of surprises—the good, the bad, and the bewildering. And yet, so much of our leadership training, our organizational structures, even how we run…
By: Joel Zantingh on November 22, 2024
I’ve lost track of how many ads I see a day. Even though I make a point to not click on them, and have shut off nearly all of my notifications, the habitual desire to pick up my phone and check in on all my texting and social platforms is strong, and so, even the…
By: Glyn Barrett on November 22, 2024
Why are we never satisfied? This blog will read more like a preach than previous efforts. I am, after all, a preacher, and the truth contained in this week’s blog is too good to miss. The pursuit of “more” is global and timeless. King Solomon, arguably and historically one of the wisest men to ever…
By: Daren Jaime on November 22, 2024
Every week Salome is greeted by the members before church with a question. “Hey Salome, are you singing this week?” Salome is the lead vocalist of his local church choir. A great young man, tall, former college athlete, graduating amongst the highest in his class. His hybrid voice resonating so emphatically across generational lines singing…
