By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on February 8, 2023
The reading this week was terrific. King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and Steven Pressfield’s War of Art are both full of nuggets for anyone willing to take a rip of faith and grow their potential against all odds. Pressfield, in War of Art, speaks of our two lives and the internal demon…
By: Andy Hale on February 8, 2023
A quick Amazon search for “leadership books” will yield over 50,000 results, so either the market is desperate for more leadership wisdom that many people struggle to lead or something else altogether. I am glad I chose to write a book for clergy and congregational leaders for my doctoral project… Don’t fact-check me on this,…
By: Jenny Dooley on February 7, 2023
When I read the title of the book for this week’s blog post I cringed. I’m not very good with numbers. When I went to my bookshelf to retrieve, How to Read Numbers, by Tom Chivers and David Chivers it was not there. I hadn’t purchased the book! Maybe I was in denial and holding…
By: Jennifer Vernam on February 7, 2023
“He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people…We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel.”[1] In reviewing the dialogue that Jesus’ followers unwittingly had with him after his resurrection, Oswald Chambers writes: “Every fact that…
By: David Beavis on February 7, 2023
Let’s begin with a thought experiment. What is the first image that comes to mind when you hear the word “writer.” If you’re anything like me, you imagine the likes of an Albert Camus with a life of great freedom, creativity, and ease of work. I mean, how hard can putting one’s thoughts on paper…
By: Scott Dickie on February 6, 2023
I know what you are all thinking about my title: “Scott, without giving us your IQ number, we can’t determine how much smarter you have actually become.” Fair point, and one that you might not have identified as deficient quite as quickly if you hadn’t engaged with this intriguing book. Many of us are familiar…
By: Tim Clark on February 6, 2023
When someone quotes a statistic in a conversation with me, I’ve been known to respond: “Did you know that 78% of all statistics are made up on the spot?” What varies is that I make up a different number, every time, on the spot. It’s a slightly sarcastic way to let them know that I’m…
By: John Fehlen on February 6, 2023
I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was about 30 years old, had been a senior pastor for 3 years, and God was doing good things in our ministry. I was asked to preach at what would be the largest gathering of people that I had ever been in front of. It was…
By: Kim Sanford on February 5, 2023
I’ve just turned over the last page of How to Read Numbers; I’m vacillating between writing a cheerful blog post or a doomsday one. On one hand, that was a delightful read. Tom Chivers and David Chivers explain a complicated topic in a very approachable way. The sprinkling of dry humor and clever examples didn’t…
By: Kristy Newport on February 5, 2023
Eat That Frog: 21 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time is a book by Brian Tracy and has become a resource for business managers and academics alike. [1} Doctor Clark mentioned this concept, “Eat the Frog” last semester during a zoom call; this jumped out at me as I have…
By: Travis Vaughn on February 5, 2023
“Your football team is always playing on primetime!” That’s what my Bears-loving friend and fellow ministry leader from Chicago told me last fall. Being a long-time Kansas City Chiefs fan, my response was: “Really? Well, it’s about time!” Of course, his statement didn’t set well with me. I mean, did he really conduct the necessary…
By: Laura Fleetwood on February 5, 2023
In just over a week, on Sunday, February 12, experts predict that more than 100 million people in the U.S. will tune in to watch the Super Bowl. [1] It’s referred to as the biggest pop culture event of the year. And this year, Jesus will show up on the big screen two times. An…
By: Daron George on February 5, 2023
“Evangelicalism in Modern Britain” is a seminal work (Bebbington quadrilateral anyone?) by British historian David Bebbington, which explores the evolution of Evangelicalism as a religious and cultural force in modern Britain. Bebbington argues that Evangelicalism has played a significant role in shaping British society, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, and continues to influence…
By: Russell Chun on February 5, 2023
လူဝင်မှုကြီးကြပ်ရေး စာမေးပွဲ (pronounced ) luuwainmhukyeekyautrayy hcarmayypwal (say that 10 times fast) Means – Immigration Quiz in Myanmar (Burmese) ….and with that BEGIN! Immigration Quiz: (answers at the end of my comments). 1) 1 in 3 businesses in _____are owned by immigrants. Although they make up about 24% of the population, 32.2% of all businesses in the…
By: Noel Liemam on February 5, 2023
Self-Reflection Ups, downs and pushing forward is how I felt I should do in this journey. Since being accepted into this program, I was so thankful with this privilege and cannot wait to start. As I started, I kind of realize that this format is so foreign to me, sometimes I contemplate giving in, and…
By: Audrey Robinson on February 4, 2023
Reading Evangelicalism in Modern Britain raised and answered quite a few questions regarding the overall impact Christianity has had on many global issues. Although Bebbington’s work focused primarily on the effect in Britain, there were references to America, which helped to situate the historical trajectory across the two continents. However, the most troubling question I…
By: Chad McSwain on February 4, 2023
One of the greatest fallacies is to assume that your moment in history is the most important. There is a sheer arrogance that results from disregarding how the past has shaped the cultural and societal complexities that exists today. It is a type of myopic view that even a brief wadding in the streams of…
By: Jana Dluehosh on February 3, 2023
This last Wednesday was Feast of Saint Brigid, both a Celtic pagan festival and a Saints Day for the Irish Catholic Church. “Rites of initiation and installation, then, teach the lesson of the essential oneness of the individual and the group: seasonal festivals open a larger horizon;” [1]. This feast day and festival is for…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on February 3, 2023
Introduction How does culture affect our belief in God and the way we think and live our lives? It’s an interesting question to ponder, so that we can make mindful decisions on the direction in which we want our lives to go or at least understand more clearly where we’ve come from and where we’re…
By: Elmarie Parker on February 3, 2023
In “The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions,”[1] Jeffrey Sachs deftly combines the long arc of history with policy recommendations for the here and now. His book is classified under the rubric of economic and global history, a subsection of the social sciences. Sachs, an expert in the field of sustainable development, teaches in…
