By: Daron George on April 28, 2023
Introduction In an age where information is abundant and opinions often need to be corrected for facts, understanding the actual state of the world can be challenging. Hans Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund’s work, “Factfulness,” seeks to shed light on the actual conditions of our global society and combat the misconceptions that often cloud our…
By: Daron George on April 28, 2023
Introduction The relationship between religion, economic systems, and social change has long been a subject of interest and debate among scholars and those that practice religion. Understanding the complex interplay between these forces is crucial for grasping the implications of economic transformations on societies and their core values. In our readings for this week we…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on April 28, 2023
The Journey I’ve been on a journey this week. Leaving Portland last Sunday, I traveled from Oregon through Washington, to Missoula, Montana, where I helped my son, Zeph, pack up his apartment and drive south to California to start a new job and a new life era. Our caravan consisted of one large U-Haul, two…
By: Dinka Utomo on April 27, 2023
“Because small groups engender strong bonds, loose connections provide greater numbers, and a common purpose gives direction.” -Greg Satell- After completing and submitting assignments in two courses, my wife and I went to the cinema to watch Jesus Revolution movie. The movie depicts a spiritual revolution in Costa Mesta, Southern California in early 1970s. The…
By: Adam Harris on April 27, 2023
While in Divinity school after several of us had shared an interest in starting home churches, the professor challenged us when he said, “Just remember, it takes systems to change systems.” That concept has lingered with me ever since, and I believe that is one of the main points Greg Satell is getting at in…
By: Audrey Robinson on April 27, 2023
I don’t describe myself as seeing the world through a full-glass lens, but I’m also not a half-empty-glass person. Even though this is comparing apples to oranges, glass half full notion compared to the ten reasons we’re wrong outlined in Factfulness, it does represent how I tend to generalize things. But then the generalization instinct…
By: Mathieu Yuill on April 26, 2023
My company often describes itself to people as “your marketing department,” because you can’t hire us to create one graphic or one email. Typically we need to be invited into your company or nonprofit so we can learn about the organization, its culture and people. What I’ve learned these last five years since founding Leading…
By: Tim Clark on April 26, 2023
I once heard someone say that joy is one of the most punk rock attributes a person can have. That it rebels against the world’s system. That it is the ultimate alternative to the cynicism we are so easily sucked into. When I was reading Cascades by Greg Satell I couldn’t stop thinking about that…
By: Michael O'Neill on April 26, 2023
Factfulness, by Hans and Anna Rosling Ronnlund, is a book that challenges readers to confront their preconceived notions of the world and its inhabitants. Exploring the facts about global development and poverty reduction shows how even seemingly intractable problems can be addressed in ways that benefit all participants. It also offers insight into decisions based…
By: Daron George on April 26, 2023
Introduction Edwin Friedman’s book, A Failure of Nerve, delves into the complexities of human relationships and the challenges that can arise within them. As I revisit this book for the second time, I’ve decided to focus on a particular paragraph that has captured my attention. In this paragraph, Friedman writes, “Anyone who has ever been…
By: Shonell Dillon on April 26, 2023
The Great Transformation As we sit back and watch the economy change from year to year, one can’t help but wonder what the driving force is. There is constant talk of recession and prices are soaring in every industry. Who or what controls these changes? Some of the answers may become evident in what Polanyi…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on April 26, 2023
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We Are Wrong about the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think is another amazing one of those resources shared on our reading list. Hans is Rosling, a Swedish physician, public speaker, and academician. When asked simple questions about global trends – what percentage of the world’s population lives…
By: Pam Lau on April 25, 2023
In 2001, I met with a small group of women in Newberg, Oregon for the single purpose of connection. Most of us had recently moved from across the country; one woman relocated from Russia. Another had been living in Newberg for more than a decade. Each week, huddled in a circle sipping coffee, one person…
By: Becca Hald on April 25, 2023
“Look Mommy, it’s a Hidden Mickey!” My daughter was no more than eight or nine at the time. She pointed to a knot in the wood on the table at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. I chose not to dash her imagination and tell her that it was not an intentional “Hidden Mickey,” it was just…
By: Shonell Dillon on April 25, 2023
Factfulness Eight out of ten of my clients may be working on changing negative thoughts during my weekly sessions. Their anxious feelings have overwhelmed them and taken over their thinking process. How did this happen? NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) says that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to these feelings of fear, worry,…
By: Chad McSwain on April 25, 2023
I am one of those people who can be inspired merely by the statistics. Which is the point that Hans Rolling is making with his seminal book, Factfulness[1]. It is a book all about challenging how we view the world through faulty perceptions that lead to wrong, pessimistic conclusions about the state we are in…
By: Becca Hald on April 25, 2023
Megachurch Introduces Frequent Tither Rewards Card “NASHVILLE, TN – In a bid to increase giving ahead of the organization’s upcoming $40 million sanctuary expansion, local megachurch LifeJourney Church announced Monday its new frequent tither rewards card, as part of a program designed to incentivize more regular giving to the church.”[1] The title is meant to…
By: Esther Edwards on April 24, 2023
The premise of Greg Satell’s book “Cascades” is clear and simple: “Small groups, loosely connected, but united by a common purpose” can cause a monumental cascade of change.[1] Satell surmises that power is no longer in the hands of the top hierarchies but in the center of networks.[2] Satell parades an array of examples throughout…
By: Becca Hald on April 24, 2023
Vincent J. Miller depicts the commodification of religion in his book Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture. In a blog review of this book, pastor W. David O. Taylor writes, “The short version of his thesis is this: the problem with a so-called consumer culture does not, ultimately, lie at the…
By: Alana Hayes on April 24, 2023
Karl Polanyi’s 1944 book “The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time” is considered a classic work of economic history… Polanyi argues in this book that the rise of the market economy in nineteenth-century Europe was a deeply political and social process that required significant state intervention, and that the market-led transformation…
