By: Kristy Newport on April 4, 2023
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk is the “go to” book on trauma and interventions in treating those who have suffered from horrible events. I thoroughly enjoyed taking the online course Dr. Van Der Kolk provides and learning the interventions and theories he proposes for a practitioner’s clinical use. Dr. Van…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on April 4, 2023
There are times when my brain is not working at all or in “time-out”. My recall is just not what it used to be. I am easily distracted, and I am forgetful. The embarrassing truth is that I probably spend more time looking for my cell phone than I do actually using it. I am…
By: Alana Hayes on April 4, 2023
It’s not easy to navigate the murky waters of personality because the reality is that people are messy. We are all imperfect humans trying to make sense of a very convoluted world. People also vary greatly in their characteristics, behaviors, and life experiences which allows for actions and reactions to be shown or expressed differently.…
By: Kim Sanford on April 3, 2023
David Rock wins the prize for “Most Immediately Applicable Book We’ve Read.” I read Your Brain at Work [1] last week and sat with it before tackling this blog post (thank you, spring break, for that extra time!). In those few days, I found myself applying Rock’s reflections in a surprising number of ways. 1. When…
By: Travis Vaughn on April 3, 2023
“Your capacity to change yourself, change others, and even change the world, may boil down to how well you know your brain, and your capacity to consciously intervene in otherwise automatic processes.”[1] If having an accurate self-assessment is important for productivity, then David Rock’s Your Brain at Work is an important contribution to the “self-care”…
By: Tim Clark on April 3, 2023
“Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10 It’s an open secret among our church staff that if you’re in the car when I’m driving, you are taking your life into your own hands. My wife tells me it’s not because I’m a bad driver, but because I am a fast driver. My…
By: Roy Gruber on April 3, 2023
David Koyzis is a Political Science Professor and a Global Scholar since 2019. He holds a Ph.D. in Government and International Studies from Notre Dame. His book, Political Visions & Illusions, seeks to help Christians think through and navigate the complexities of faith and political engagement. Since I did not know what being a Global…
By: Jennifer Vernam on April 3, 2023
In week 11 of our blog posts, Kim shared with us a thought “God made the brain so we shouldn’t be surprised that neuroscience and theology can overlap.”[1] The reading from this week in Your Brain at Work[2] offered me another chapter in this area of discovery. David Rock develops an analogy of our minds…
By: John Fehlen on April 3, 2023
This is a recent day in the life of MY Brain… 0615 hours (that’s 6:15 am in military time, which makes this whole post sound way more legit): I woke up, without my alarm, having sensed the Lord’s voice to my heart saying, “Come and be with me.” So I got up, grabbed my Bible…
By: Kally Elliott on April 3, 2023
It’s after 2pm and I’m just sitting down to write this blog post. I know better than to try to write cohesively after 2pm. The afternoon is not a good time for me to try to think creatively or even to try to organize my simple thoughts into a readable blog post. By 2pm I’ve…
By: Laura Fleetwood on April 3, 2023
I saw a meme last week that said, “Don’t work God into your schedule. Work your schedule around God.” That’s a good introductory thought for a review of Vincent Miller’s book, Consuming Religion. This book examines two forces that are at work in the world: religion and consumerism and how they interact with each other.…
By: Alana Hayes on April 2, 2023
When I was a little girl I would create maps of our farmland with old napkins left in the truck and designate places that had an important value to me as a child. Whether it be the best spot to dig for worms, the place that denoted a dreaded snake hole, or even an x…
By: Alana Hayes on April 2, 2023
Gendered stereotypes tend to have an innocent until proven guilty vibe and they make me very tired. Let’s start with the line boys are better than girls at sports. My daughter and I would tell you differently. Although her and I’s chosen sports differ.. here are two examples to debunk that awful line with us…
By: Tonette Kellett on April 2, 2023
Vincent Miller, in his book Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture, talked about the commodification of religion in our modern society. There are many examples that can be given of this, but I think my favorite example is the church’s love for and adoration of Mother Theresa. [1] Modern Christians will…
By: Todd E Henley on April 2, 2023
September 2022, I was not only excited about starting school, but I was pretty sure and excited about my NPO. Even though I knew I would be working on my NPO I was thankful it was pretty much set and had to be tweaked a little. After two months of school, I was getting some…
By: Alana Hayes on April 2, 2023
Have you ever wondered what makes that leader different? Why did they stand out among the world? What risks were they able to take than others around them and why? When reading his book for the second time I couldn’t help but compare everything my husband and I have gone through within starting our own…
By: Caleb Lu on April 2, 2023
I can’t remember the last time I listened to an entire album. I used to love listening to entire CDs. And because I only had a few, I knew everything about the artists. I think partially, I could go deeper and learn more about them because I wasn’t exposed to as many. There weren’t ways…
By: Alana Hayes on April 2, 2023
Peter G. Northouse’s book “Leadership – Theory and Practice” is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive and robust publications on leadership. It presents an overview of many leadership theories, approaches, and views while highlighting the importance of situational context in successful leadership. The book examines power and influence, motivation, communication, decision-making, conflict resolution,…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on April 1, 2023
Many Americans are born into a consumer culture. Our bodies and hearts are hardwired for a consumer system and our brains follow, knowingly or unknowingly. Can we possibly disengage ourselves from this life routine and worldview? Miller and Clark: Christians Entrenched in a Capitalist Landscape Vincent Miller, author of Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice…
By: Chad McSwain on April 1, 2023
Your Easter Shirt Finding the right outfit for Easter can be challenging [1]. You want to look good in the pictures and rightly convey the meaning of the day, but, no worries, I received an email from my favorite t-shirt company with the perfect shirt – marketed in a timely manner, of course. In fact,…
