Fine little interview here: Q: You identify three big problems that contribute to burnout and low productivity. What are they? A: The first is the volume of work — the workload itself — which I attribute to too few hands to share the load. The volume of work contributes to longer hours that affects home life and family life. The second problem is what I call velocity — the pace of the workplace. Everything has gotten faster, largely because of... Read more
Pastors, I’m Just Saying, by John Frye If I take a dry, yellow sponge and dip it in water tinted with blue food coloring, the sponge will emerge the color of pale green. The sponge is no longer yellow and it is not completely blue. Yet, the sponge has changed. The USAmerican evangelical church has been dipped into and soaking in the tinted waters of commercialism, consumerism, imperial therapeutism (is that a word?), individualism and me-ism. Our culture’s prevailing values... Read more
Kris and I are in Alexandria VA at the first Missio Alliance Conference, a conference this year dedicated to the gospel. This is a gathering of Christian leaders dedicated to participating in the mission of God and at the same time concerned about articulating the gospel in its missional location. Here is an outline of God’s mission, mostly drawn from the Gospel of John and its use of the word “send.” 1.0 Mission Begins IN God. “I and the Father are one”... Read more
From USAToday: SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A half-hour after they got their assignment, several of Katie Gregg’s second-graders still were at their desks, headphones plugged into their iPads, reading along with “The Princess and the Frog” and answering questions about the story on a worksheet. But those who were finished were not waiting for their peers. Sam found a spot against the wall and used his iPad to record himself reading the fairy tale aloud. Brock chose a different story... Read more
We’re excited to present this deal on ministry and theology eBooks from Zondervan! For a limited time, get these great eBooks by Missio Alliance speakers for only $3.99. These are essential reads on gospel, scripture, and the kingdom of God. They will equip you and your ministry to carry out God’s mission in the world. And since you’ll save up to 66% on these reads by Scot McKnight, Roger E. Olson, and others, now is the perfect opportunity to own... Read more
From John Horgan: Even when fortified by the latest findings from neuroscience, genetics, and other fields, social science will never approach the precision and predictive power of the hard sciences. Physics addresses phenomena—electrons, elements, electromagnetism, the nuclear forces, gravity—that are relatively simple, stable and amenable to precise mathematical definition. Gravity works in exactly the same way whether you measure it in 17th-century England or 21st-century America, in Zambia or on Alpha Centauri. Every neutron is identical to every other neutron.... Read more
What about death? The next few chapters of Daniel Harrell’s book, Nature’s Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith, looks at the theological questions raised by the possibility of evolutionary creation. Providence. He considers the question of providence and introduces some categories. There is ordinary providence (the everyday workings of the “natural” world), extraordinary providence (as when God employs the wind or the locusts), and supernatural providence (resurrection being a prime example). The latter is an out-breaking of God’s future in... Read more
If relational ministry is the beat of this generation, and I suspect Andrew Root in Relational Ministry is accurate, everything comes down to understanding what a person is and what relationship is and what relational ministry — person to person — is all about. I cannot imagine any pastors going through seminary today not reading this important book. Andrew Root is calling pastors and ministers back to personal ministry, even more, back to person-to-person relationship as the heart of ministry. So... Read more
From Daily Galaxy: Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope have discovered starburst galaxies earlier in the Universe’s history than they were previously thought to have existed. These newly discovered galaxies represent what today’s most massive galaxies looked like in their energetic, star-forming youth. The research is the most recent example of the discoveries coming from the new international ALMA observatory, which celebrates its inauguration today. The galaxies found in this study have relatives in the local Universe, but the intensity of... Read more
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