I own 12 boxes worth of work-related books taking up 40 feet of bookshelves. I know because a few weeks ago I packed up one office and moved the 12 boxes down to my basement. Last week, I moved them out of the basement and into my new office in the department of religion at [...]
Ready. Set. Speak! & Relax
It was late and one chair sat empty when I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Looking at the panelists seated up front, I knew the speaker from the Jewish tradition, the Islamist, and the Buddhist were present. By process of elimination, I figured the other two occupying their chairs were the Hindu and [...]
Acts 8:26-40, Castrating Our Customs
An exegetical essay of mine went up today at ON Scripture, a wonderful project of public theology hosted by Odyssey Networks. The project has a partnership with Huffington Post’s Religion work, so it also appears at that site. I’m going to start regularly posting some essays at my new Huffington Post portal which, honestly, is [...]
Who are we together?
Perhaps what continues to nag at me about the prayer is that in what is disguised as exceedingly simple claims and open-ended questions are really gigantic confessions of faith and questions of call. Hidden in these simple words are the big questions of being, questions about purpose, faithfulness, faith, and community.
Page rage: Kindle vs. iPad vs. dead tree book reading
You may have heard: technology is changing the way we live, even the way we read. I’m no exception. I read a lot so there’s much for me to like about the transition to ebooks, but while I love my kindle and iPad for some types of reading, don’t stop the presses on my account quite yet. The old school paper technology still has a lot going for it in my book.
Thinking out loud on ethics and the news
Sometimes — often, actually — I really miss the opportunity seminary and college classes allowed. No, not the endless reading assignments and papers, but the discussions of ethical issues related to the events of our day. In that spirit, here’s some thoughts on three news stories I’ve been contemplating. They all have beg somewhat complex [...]
Reflections on a wild Presbytery meeting
Recently my presbytery (translation: grouping of 60 or so PC(USA) churches in North Dakota) met for a significant meeting at which we discussed a 15-page Strategic Plan for the next five years of our life together. As they say, hindsight is 20/20, and looking back there were several process and leadership related points that with the [...]
My context, leadership strategy, & recent discoveries
A lot of my work leading The Project F-M has to do with understanding the context of Fargo-Moorhead, the broad context including young adults, older folks, and the established congregations in town. And then there’s the issue of my leadership, my self-awareness and approach to ministry. I’ve recently made some seemingly simple observations about both that have gone a long way in helping The Project F-M move forward.
