2019-05-28T06:53:16-05:00

By Julie Close

I live in Flushing, Michigan
I’m the Director of Finance & Marketing (for a small consumer research/marketing company.)

I haven’t written a book. Yet.
I haven’t recorded an album. Yet. 😉

My journey to seminary began years ago, but happened in a moment.

I’m a learner. I’ve wanted to go to seminary for a long time, but it just didn’t seem possible. I have a job here in Michigan. I’m married to a pastor. We’ve been in ministry together for a lot of years. We’ve raised two daughters and just finished putting both of them through college. I couldn’t just pick up and go to seminary.

Further, I had ZERO interest in doing a typical online program. I’d taken a few “thread-based” courses, but they were neither interesting nor engaging. I love the classroom setting – hearing from the professor, engaging in dialogue with my classmates. But, I can’t move to go to seminary.

I’m an ordained minister/elder in a denomination that, from its inception, ordained women. In May of 2017 in a Facebook group for “ordained women clergy,” one of the group members (Tara Beth Leach) posted that she would be co-hosting in a webinar on “Women Leading in the Church” (https://www.seminary.edu/sheleadswebinar/). This is a topic close to my heart, so I registered.

For more information about studying with us,
reach out to our admissions department
or visit the website anytime
at www.seminary.edu/mant/.

Spots are open, so apply today!

The webinar was great, but what really grabbed me was the promo at the end. Scot McKnight, the co-host and professor at Northern Seminary, mentioned the Masters of Arts in New Testament (MANT) program. Through “Northern Live,” their innovative new live-streaming option, you can “go” to seminary without going anywhere! This is what I’ve been waiting for!

I pondered it …talked to people… sat on it for a couple weeks, (prayed about it… obviously…) but it did not let go of me. It seemed like a big step and an enormous commitment. Will this fit with my life? My job? Am I up to it?

In the summer of 2017, I applied, was accepted and admitted to the 2017 MANT cohort. I was 54 when I began. It was thrilling and terrifying all at the same time. I’ve always been a good student, but I’ve been out of school for a long time.

I’m almost halfway done and the learning has been tremendous. Not only do I have the privilege of sitting under the teaching of world-class theologians, but I’ve built relationships with members of my cohort who’ve become precious friends. My professors are not interested in learning just for the sake of knowledge, but rather, scholarship for the sake of the Church and its mission in the world.

CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING

The MANT program has expanded my understanding of scripture by teaching and underscoring the importance of the context of scripture. Too often, the Church (me included) has taught scripture from a modern, Western mindset: we interpret it through the lens of our culture and our time. But our culture, our thinking, our writing is so vastly different from the ancient cultures of either the Old or the New Testaments. Immersing oneself within these ancient contexts (to the extent that it’s possible) offers a richer, fuller, more authentic interpretation of the story of God. Understanding what was happening in the first-century Church is important to understand why Paul, for example, said what he said. Context is everything.

BOOKS

SO many books! (…and, stacks of books that I want to read when I have time!)

MY THEME SONG

The more I learn, the less I know. (Doodah, doohah…)

The more your horizon expands regarding theology, history, cultures, etc., you begin to get glimpse of all there is to know and understand…and how much there still is to learn. You begin to wonder what’s over the horizon. (But, don’t stare at the horizon too long. You’ll quit.)

VALIDATION

Northern Seminary supports… no, more than supports… Northern advocates for women in ministry and leadership. Northern advocates for minorities and people of color. Northern teaches what scripture teaches: that the gospel is for everyone; that the Church (as God imagined it) is diverse and inclusive and unified; that it’s gender-blind and color-blind. Northern practices what it teaches. I love that.

FAQ

When people find out I’m in a seminary program, the most frequently asked question has been, What will you “do” with it?? (…as in, How will this degree advance you? What’s the point?)

 

Great question. I have no idea.

My undergrad is in Business & Finance. I’m the Director of Finance for a company that conducts consumer research for small to mid-sized brands. I’m privileged to work remotely (aka, I work from home), but this is not where my heart or my passion is. (Shhh!!)

As I mentioned, I’m an ordained minister. God called me to ministry when I was 43. I wasn’t looking for it or hoping for it. Frankly, it seemed unnecessary. I’d already been “in” ministry with my husband for 20+ years. God wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. So, I pursued it; I studied, completed the requirements (it took 9 years), and was ordained.

But, I’m a woman.

My husband is on staff at our church (worship pastor), but there is little space for me to exercise my gifts within my congregation. At best, I’m viewed as an appendage to my husband’s ministry. At worst, I’m either not taken seriously or viewed as a threat. This mystifies me.

So – even in a denomination that has historically ordained women, even within the cultural shift of “women’s empowerment,” my “call” remains unfulfilled. We know God called us both; we believe God can figure out how to use us both. We continue to explore options and opportunities, waiting for whatever is next.

This is where Northern comes in. What am I going to “do” with my MANT??

Who knows. Right now, I’m doing it for me.

I am strengthening myself – building my muscle-memory, expanding my knowledge, increasing my confidence, SO THAT if the time comes… if I have the opportunity… I’ll be ready.

2019-05-28T06:52:54-05:00

The Gift of Renewal: A simple way that Church Leaders can Renew Their Pastor.

By Tommy Phillips

Tommy is a pastor in Tampa FL, well known musician and band leader,

and leader of one creative church.

Pastors spend allot of time reading, and reading widely from many Christian traditions and as well as trying to keep up with the academia. This is necessary because there are theological shifts that take place in Christendom, and these shifts usually start off in academia and make their way down to the pastors of small churches via books, blogs, and the occasional conversation with professors and armchair theologians that attend their churches.

Over time it is easy to become a bit of a theological hoarder as all of these thoughts and ideas can begin to pile up on the metaphorical floors of the theological house of the Pastor, and men and women in Pastoral ministry begin start to lose their bearings, their theological center, if you will .

This was me. After serving in the same church for 16 years, 13 of them as Senior Pastor, I hadn’t spent time in a formal classroom setting in 20 years. My theological house had become overwhelmingly cluttered and confusing. In that amount of time I had seen the rise and fall of both the Emergent, and the New Reformed church. I had also watched the Purpose Driven church, and the Church Growth movement launch, grow, and shrink, and with every movement, dozens more reactionary shifts happened in the church of the postmodern age. I had seen deconstruction, pluralization, I had watched my friends and my own pastor walk away from the faith, and I had doubts, disappointments, and questions. I had so many questions.

This is where seminary came in for me. I needed refresh. I needed to learn from someone other than some author that I had never met and whom I could not volley in questions with. I needed theologians to walk with me for a little while and help me make sense of what I had seen. And most of all, I needed to sit under some scholars who had a very long history of serving the church, and who still believed that, despite its failures and divisions, the church is good, necessary, and capable of changing the world.

These are the things brought me back into academics in general, and Northern Seminary in particular. So, rather briefly, here is what I have gained there:

The very first week of intensives was like breathing fresh mountain air for the first time in years. Pretty quickly I was able to see how all of these bits and pieces of scholarship, theory, theology and philosophy that I had gathered over two decades of reading and preaching fit together. I began to make connections between specific theological movements and the thoughts that they brought to the church’s table. I began to truly understand why different cultures and contexts read the text differently and I began to appreciate the diversity in the universal church and the roles that they play in the extended body of Christ.

For more information about studying with us,
reach out to our admissions department
or visit the website anytime
at www.seminary.edu/mant/.

Spots are open, so apply today!

I could see the veins that ran through the universal church, and through my own diverse community. I began to understand why one person would read a passage and see one thing, and the person next to them would come to a completely different conclusion, and suddenly I knew how to speak to both of them. My trepidations to delve into Black-Liberation, Womanist, and Grassroots Asian theology began to fall away as I started to understand not just what they were doing with the text, but why. Everything that I had read and interacted with now suddenly had a home and place in my work, and I became a better pastor to more people because of it.

Affirmation is not just underrated, it is necessary. Pastors deal with allot of pushback based upon the things that they teach from the pulpit. The very nature of the job demands that Pastors regularly challenge the long-standing traditions of the people in their communities. When they do this work, they may receive criticism ranging from a simple “I disagree,” all the way to “you’re a heretic and I’m leaving.” No matter how many books you have read or how much you understand a topic, after enough criticism and enough painful departures, a man or a woman of God can begin to doubt the very message that God has placed them there to proclaim. With a lack of affirmation, the ability to push the church forward begins to be lost and the pastor may begin to believe that they are in the wrong field; that maybe someone else should take it from here.

The affirmation that I received in my first couple of years quickly erased years of doubt that I had built up, both about myself and about my faith. I started to remember the importance of experimental thought and wrestling, especially in the church. And after sitting under professors from a wide variety of church traditions and viewpoints, I came to see that I was actually pretty normal, that I wasn’t the only one reading the scriptures this way, and that I should indeed keep pushing my people.

Within a couple of months of guided, focused study, I had regained the confidence that had been worn down over many years of teaching and preaching. I could speak with more authority and I was unbothered and unthreatened by the challenges of others, and actually, I became much more patient, graceful, and long-suffering with them.

You see, a Pastor who doubts their own abilities and whose confidence is waning can easily become defensive when they are challenged. Their fight or flight defense is activated and their anxiety begins to spike. Email exchanges can become terse, confrontations start to be evaded. But It doesn’t take much more for a pastor to regain their confidence in their ability to rightly interpret the scriptures than a professor’s affirmation or correction. When an experienced academic elder gives you good marks and simple nod of approval, years of anxiety and doubt can be washed away.

I am more approachable, less afraid of heavy conversation, and I have become perfectly fine with openly discussing even the most touchy and controversial subjects that the church at large is struggling, or even afraid, to address. My wife, my friends, and my community elders have commented on the change in how I carry myself these days, compared to before, and I point straight towards updating my education as the source of my renewed strength.

A solid education under high end scholars results in a leader who flourishes when others are scared, and who can remain a calm non-anxious presence in the midst of even the most chaotic church. I am now a firm believer that every church should do everything in their power to help their pastors continue their education throughout the entirety of their career. The return on investment cannot be overstated. In a modern church that is constantly seeing burnt-out and shipwrecked pastors and churches, this is one crucial way to help ensure the health of your community.

 

2019-05-23T16:55:36-05:00

By Mike Glenn, author of an-about-to-be-released book on his mom: Coffee with Mom: Caring for a Parent with Dementia

After the American Civil War, our country, both North and South, had much to grieve. Because both sides were Americans, more soldiers died in that war than any other American war. There were lots of widows, grieving parents, and children who had lost their fathers. Our country needed a season to grieve and for that reason, Memorial Day was established. It’s the day our nation remembers those men and women who have paid the ultimate price for freedom.

Recently, however, Memorial Day is the official beginning of summer. Everyone takes the day off and heads to the beach or lake, and if they can’t afford that, a local picnic to watch the fireworks. Most of us never give a thought about the original meaning of Memorial Day.

That’s a shame. As Americans, we have a lot to celebrate. I know how politically divided we are, and yes, I understand, on any given day, somebody is protesting somewhere about something. That’s just the point. In this country, we have the right to protest. We have the right to approach our leaders and make our grievances heard and demand accountability from them. We can do this without fear of being arrested, or worse, simply disappearing.

As a pastor, I never take for granted the right to study, preach, and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ without fear. I don’t have to study in a closed off room or teach other Christ-followers afraid that someone will storm in and arrest us. I can buy a Bible without being afraid someone has noticed my purchase. My church can gather and worship without looking for spies who will sell us out to the authorities.

We have the freedom to seek God the way our conscience tells us.

I’m grateful for all the men and women who were in places only history remembers and thought freedom was worth dying for. I pray I would be so brave if I was ever faced with such a decision.

But on this Memorial Day, I’ll remember some other heroes: people who paid a great price and made sacrificial choices, so I could enjoy the opportunities I now find before me.

I’m grateful for my Mom and Dad. Dad used his Air Force training to build a television and appliance store that broke the poverty cycle in my family. My dad worked two jobs all of my life and three jobs for most of it. Because of the sacrifices my mom and dad made, I was able to attend school and not worry about how to pay for it, and yes, I graduated without any school debt. I was free to pursue my life’s work without anything holding me back. Sometimes, I grieve knowing I should have done more with the opportunities they provided me.

I’m grateful for Bill Wilson, the founding pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church. Our church recently celebrated our 50th anniversary. In those 50 years, Brentwood Baptist Church has had 2 pastors – Bill and me. Every day, I build on the missional foundation Bill established in our church. Our passions for church planting, discipleship, evangelism, even racial reconciliation are harvested from seeds he planted during his ministry. Honestly, I’d like to take full credit for what our church is doing, but there are too many people around here who know the truth.

None of us got to where we are by ourselves. Before we were born, there were men and women making courageous and dangerous stands so we could enjoy the opportunities we have. Sometimes these stands were made on battlefields on other continents. Sometimes these stands were made in local communities and neighborhoods. Sometimes, it was Abraham Lincoln and other times, it was a teacher whose name no one will ever know.

Who were those people who made your life possible? Whose sacrifice opened up the opportunities you enjoy? Take a few minutes this Memorial Day and celebrate their lives. Tell their stories and remember what their sacrifice cost them and made possible for you.

Then, pay it forward. You and I were not given these moments to squander in personal luxury. We were given these opportunities so we could meet new challenges and solve new problems. Look around. There’s still a lot of work to do. We all know it.

Live your life so next Memorial Day somebody is celebrating you.

2019-05-20T12:16:21-05:00

Bob Allen

But for the Bible it’s about gifting. Authority is for God and God alone, not for males (or females). The Greek word, translated below by Mohler with the word “authority,” is authentein and that’s at best an iffy translation. It more likely means something like seizing power. (See a brief on this passage in Blue Parakeet.) And, to make matters clearer, the NT does permit women to teach (Priscilla) and it permits women to speak words from God called prophetic language (OT and NT), and that means this word authentein is not all kinds of verbal communication. And … and… and …

So, if Mohler’s SBC is so biblical I want to know if women are speaking words of prophecy? If they are praying in public worship? If they are teaching as did Priscilla? If they have designated apostles like Junia? If women prophets can be chosen over men prophets, like Huldah?

It is nothing but rhetorical presumptuousness for Mohler to say he’s surprised. Really? This issue is nothing new and it’s not going away. I’m not surprised by his response and he should not be responded that others think complementarianism can include female preachers. All he has to do is drive over to Asbury in his own state.

Southern Baptist seminary president Albert Mohler, who once long ago advocated women’s ordination, now says females should not preach from the pulpit on Sunday morning.

“If you look at the denominations where women do the preaching, they are also the denominations where people do the leaving,” the 59-year-old president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, said May 10. [Bad history, which he clearly does not seem to know.] “I think there’s just something about the order of creation that means that God intends for the preaching voice to be a male voice.”

Responding to a question during an “ask anything” podcast, Mohler said he is a bit surprised by recent controversy about whether “complementarianism” – the idea that men and women are created for different and complementary roles – precludes women from teaching or holding authority over men.

“It’s a question of authority,” Mohler said. “I think that’s what makes people nervous, but the apostle Paul makes that argument ‘I forbid a woman to have authority over a man.’ This is where you go back to the original controversy in evangelicalism and in Southern Baptist life. What really was the key issue is biblical authority. Did the Holy Spirit inspire Paul to say that or not?”

“If the Holy Spirit did inspire Paul to say that, then it’s the word of God,” Mohler said. “It’s not just written to one place and one time. The very fact that he’s writing to Timothy in a general epistle means this is clearly for the entire church. And the patterns he gives also in the First Corinthians letter, it appears by any honest interpretation of Scripture to have general applicability.”

Allen finishes his piece by recounting Beth Moore’s recent statements, and what Beth Moore does is teaching, and she’s the most influential teacher in the SBC:

Contention over the issue of women in ministry in Southern Baptist life broke out recently on social media when prominent Bible teacher and author Beth Moore challenged a professor who singled her out for encouraging women to preach.

“I am compelled to my bones by the Holy Spirit – I don’t want to be but I am – to draw attention to the sexism and misogyny that is rampant in segments of the SBC, cloaked by piety and bearing the stench of hypocrisy,” Moore said in a series of tweets May 11.

Moore said she had “the eye opening experience of my life in 2016,” interpreted by many as a reference to strong evangelical support that helped elect President Donald Trump.

“All these years I’d given the benefit of the doubt that these men were the way they were because they were trying to be obedient to Scripture,” she continued. “Then I realized it was not over Scripture at all. It was over sin. It was over power. It was over misogyny. Sexism. It was about arrogance. About protecting systems. It involved covering abuses and misuses of power. Shepherds guarding other shepherds instead of guarding the sheep.”

2019-05-15T09:03:12-05:00

Greetings from Calgary Alberta, where I’ve been spending time with the EvFree leaders.

Beth Allison Barr — well done!

As a historian, I know the Roman view of women (as reflected in 1 Corinthians 14) is just one of many, many examples of patriarchy in the ancient world. Indeed, patriarchy is a constant in world history. From The Ramayana in ancient India to the Epic of Gilgamesh in ancient Sumeria, texts from early civilizations reveal the gender hierarchies that privileged men (especially men of certain classes) and subordinated women. As Gerda Lerner argued in her monumental study, The Creation of Patriarchy, male dominance over women is rooted in the historical development of civilizations. It is a power structure created and maintained by human labor. The Roman system which elevated men and subordinated women fits perfectly in the framework of human history.

Which is what makes the New Testament so revolutionary. While we get echoes of human patriarchy in the New Testament, especially as the early church tries to make sense of its place in a very pagan world, we get a whole lot more of passages subverting traditional gender roles and emphasizing women as leaders. Beth Moore, one of the greatest students of biblical text and teachers of biblical truth in the modern church, made the right point in her twitter response to Owen Strachan:

“What I plead for Is to grapple with the entire text from Mt 1 thru Rev 22 on ever matter concerning women. To grapple with Paul’s words in 1 Tim/! For 14 as authoritative, God-breathed!- alongside other words Paul wrote, equally inspired & make sense of the many women he served alongside. Above all else, we must search the attitudes of Christ Jesus himself toward women.”

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is actually not a difficult passage. It fits in beautifully with human history. The most difficult passage in the New Testament to explain, historically speaking, is the end of Galatians 3:

“For you are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

This is what is radical. This is what makes Christianity so different from the rest of human history. This is what sets both men and women free……

I find it ironic that we spend so much time today fighting to make Christianity look like the things of this world instead of fighting to make it like the world Jesus showed us was possible. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Instead of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 as God’s dream for humanity, doesn’t the world of Galatians 3 seem more like Jesus?

Patriarchy may be a part of Christian history, but that doesn’t make it Christian.

Zafrir Rinat, on the birds of Israel:

A working visit to Israel by German journalist and photographer Thomas Krumenacker 11 years ago changed his life. After witnessing the seasonal migration of birds here, he made his hobby something much more serious. The result: his book “Birds in the Holy Land,” which has just come out in German and English.

The work was published with the help of the Hoopoe Bird Foundation, founded by Rachel and Moshe Yanai and administered by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. Krumenacker lives in Berlin but visits Israel often. He follows the birds from the heights of Mount Hermon to the Gulf of Eilat.

The book’s photos and accompanying text show why birds’ migration along the length of the country has been termed “the eighth wonder of the world.” In a short period, more than 500 bird species pass overhead, and almost every year a new species not seen before in Israel is observed.

Most of these birds leave Europe in the autumn on their way to Africa, making the long journey back in the spring. Some species arrive during the winter. Experts estimate that during the migration season some 500 million birds pass through Israel.

For some species, almost the entire global population moves through the region. For example, nearly all the world’s Levant sparrowhawks fly over the Holy Land during their migration.

Especially prominent overhead are white storks; half a million stop in Israel for food or rest, nearly all the ones from Europe and Asia. Another important visitor is the lesser spotted eagle, described by Krumenacker as one of the most enigmatic birds to nest in Europe. This is due to its penchant for remote forests.

At Walking with a Limp, Joe sets the record straight — plain, simple, clear:

It is widely known that the SBC holds a complementarian viewpoint regarding women in ministry; that is, women are restricted from serving as a pastor and elder, and generally are not allowed to preach a Sunday sermon and teach doctrine to men. So when popular speaker, teacher, and lifelong SBC member Beth Moore let it slip a few weeks ago on Twitter that she was going to be preaching at an SBC church on Mother’s Day of this year, blue-check SBC Twitter heavyweights and their blue-check hopeful friends ignited this tired debate once again with a question.

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Owen Strachan planted his flag on social media regarding the issue by calling the act “functional egalitarianism”, and refused to capitulate. … Strachan also excoriated SBC president J.D. Greear for bending a little on the issue and cracking the door open, ever so slightly, for a woman to say something during the vaunted Sunday sermon. [then someone else who uses buzzwords]

Oh, there we go with those door-slammer buzzwords like “clear” and “black and white”. I’ll buy into this “clear, black-and-white” hermeneutic when I see:

  • all women wear head coverings (1 Cor. 11:5-6),
  • women pray and prophecy (1 Cor. 11:5),
  • but somehow women prophecy out loud and yet remain in total silence in church (1 Cor. 14:34-35),
  • women with no braided hair, no jewelry, no fancy clothes (1 Peter 3:3)…
  • sorry, no pearls either (1 Tim. 2:9),
  • 1 Tim. 2:8, men everywhere praying with holy hands lifted up (not just sometimes and only in certain denominations)…
  • “without anger or disputing”. (Uh oh. Gotta scrub a few social media posts out),
  • and for a stomach illness, cut back on water and instead have a little wine (1 Tim. 5:23).

Obviously I’m being playful in a couple of places here, but can we please get over the delusion that having a high view of scripture means that we can export our favorite prooftexts straight into the by-laws of the church, all the while dictating that other inconvenient “clear” passages are only for the ancient culture? It is as if we want to say that 1 Tim. 2:12, as translated and understood in our modern context, was addressed directly to us, but we can relax the prohibition against braided hair a few verses prior because that is some kind of a cultural reference, and there is a higher principle for us to find there, yada yada yada.

Razib Khan, at National Review:

As an evolutionary geneticist and a conservative, I take some interest in critiques of Darwinism. I have come to expect that every few years a new book by Michael Behe, a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University, will trigger commentary relaying his skepticism of evolutionary theory to the interested public. And this will result in vociferous rejoinders from evolutionary biologists.

But evolutionary biology is nothing for conservatives to fear, because it is one of the crowning achievements of modern Western civilization. It should be viewed not as an acid gnawing at the bones of civilization, but as a jewel. The science built upon the rock of Charles Darwin’s ideas is a reflection of Western modernity’s commitment to truth as a fundamental value. And many Christians well-versed in evolutionary science find it entirely compatible with their religious beliefs.

Further, while evolutionary biology does not tell us what is good, the truth of the world around us can inform our efforts to seek the good — and in this sense, the political implications of evolutionary biology do not favor the Left. Today many on the Left reject the very idea of human nature, to the point of effectively being evolution deniers themselves. They assert that society and values can be restructured at will. That male and female are categories of the mind, rather than of nature. In rejecting evolution, a conservative gives up the most powerful rejoinder to these claims.

Why tomatoes taste like nothing but maters:

Have you ever eaten a perfectly ripe tomato and wondered why you even bother? Tomatoes are a staple in sandwiches and salads, and you can throw them into just about any dish and come up with something edible. Tomato flavor, however, has apparently been going downhill for a while now, and scientists think they know why.

In a new study published in Nature Genetics, researchers including those from the Agricultural Research Service and the Boyce Thompson Institute have mapped the genome of the modern cultivated tomato as well as tomatoes that still grow in the wild. The team marked thousands of genes that were previously unknown, comparing the genomes of cultivated tomatoes with their wild relatives, and made more than a few interesting discoveries.

In comparing the cultivated tomatoes to their wild counterparts the researchers noted literally thousands of genes which were missing from the produce we typically find in our supermarkets. In the never-ending quest to develop plants that produce bigger tomatoes at a faster rate, growers seem to have inadvertently favored plants that also produce inferior-tasting fruit.

“One of the most important discoveries from constructing this pan-genome is a rare form of a gene labeled TomLoxC, which mostly differs in the version of its DNA gene promoter,” James Giovannoni, co-author of the paper, said in a statement. “The gene influences fruit flavor by catalyzing the biosynthesis of a number of lipid (fat)-involved volatiles – compounds that evaporate easily and contribute to aroma.”

Based on their own testing, the researchers believe that the flavor-enhancing gene is only present in around two percent of modern store-bought tomatoes, but was found in over 90 percent of wild tomatoes.

2019-05-16T17:16:46-05:00

By Mike Glenn

Every industry is being disrupted by the future. Manufacturing jobs are being impacted by robots. Retail is being changed by the internet, and everyone is being impacted by artificial intelligence. Malls are closing because people can shop on their phones or tablets.

We schedule our entertainment with downloads and digital recordings. You don’t have to be home to see your favorite television show. You can record it, download it, or watch an entire year of shows at one time.

Meanwhile, banks and financial institutions are trying to figure out bitcoin.

Colleges and universities are adapting to open enrollment courses, taught by top professors, to people all over the world who are joining the class by video conferencing. Everybody is scrambling to prepare for a future no one saw coming.

And it’s coming faster than anyone anticipated. Think about it. Sears is going out of business. Sears. Sears, whose famous catalogue was Amazon before Amazon was born, didn’t recognize what they had in their mail order business and let it go.

Who would have ever thought that? We live in a time where we’re doing a lot of things no one ever thought about before.

And doing church is no different. Today, churches in North America are facing some unprecedented challenges. There are several streams coming together which, in their coming together, form a Class 5 rapids the church will have to navigate.

What are some of those streams?

First, there’s a generational shift being completed which will affect the local churches in every facet of their ministry.

The Builders, the generation that came home after World War II, has been called the greatest generation by some. They have an impressive resume to earn that title. These are the men and women who came home and started the businesses that became the great companies of America. They made a lot of money, and they gave a lot of money. The Builders are one of the most generous generations in history. They endowed colleges, churches and foundations that fund much of our non-profit work.

As the Builders were moving off the stage of history, the Boomers, of which I’m one, came on to the scene. We didn’t establish the great companies, but we got good jobs. We learned to finance our lifestyles – even our generosity. We changed our capital campaigns to three-year commitments. We couldn’t give a lot of money at one time, but over time, we could give a significant amount. Churches have been built all over America using this plan.

Now, Boomers are retiring, and Millennials, Gen X, and Gen Alpha are coming onto the stage and stepping into leadership. These younger generations have a very different understanding of how generosity should work.

A lot of people have written that Millennials don’t give. That’s not true. Millennials can be very generous and even sacrificial in their giving. They give differently – very differently – from previous generations.

For Millennials and the generations behind them, they have to be able to tie life impact to the ministry project they’re being asked to support. Our church has a Tuesday night worship experience called “Kairos.” Several months ago, a friend shared with Kairos the need to build a well and water purifying system in order to respond to the current drought affecting the townships in Cape Town. In one night, a room full of Millennials gave $50,000! What makes this gift even more impressive was no one knew an offering for South Africa would be taken. The moment and the giving were spontaneous.

Why was it successful? Because they could make an immediate connection between changed lives and the money they were giving.

They won’t give to support building projects that aren’t used all week long. All of the buildings have to be multi-purpose and designed to serve the surrounding community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

They won’t give to large institutions or “big bucket” giving strategies that support bureaucracies and high overhead.

As you can imagine, this is going to have major impact on the funding of local church, national and international ministries.

Communities are no longer supportive of large mega-church facilities. The future church will not be able to afford them, but cities and towns are not going to be as generous in their support. Partly because of the negative reaction to Christianity, but mostly because of their impact on city infrastructures like roads and traffic. Churches aren’t seen as providing a community as good as they have been in days past.

So, how will we respond to these coming challenges? First, we’re going to relax and remember we’ve been here before. We’ve been limited on resources, without facilities to support our work and openly opposed by our cultural settings. The church did fine. In fact, we thrived.

The cultural changes will force us to get back to basics. Bible studies in homes, focusing on neighborhood missions and local pastors training the next generation of church leaders. Churches will meet in homes and store fronts, in empty warehouses and wide-open fields. Our pastors will be bi-vocational, making tents with one hand and preaching the gospel with the other.

We’ll find areas of our communities that are neglected and overlooked. We’ll reach out to those who can’t get the healthcare they need. We’ll start schools in the neighborhoods where schools are failing our children.

And we’ll do it all in the name of the Risen Christ.

Personally, I’m excited. We did well before, and in the grace of God, we’ll do well again. I can’t wait. It’s going to be a great ride!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2019-05-10T16:59:24-05:00

We’re back from a mini sabbatical in Greece, and a truly restorative and productive time it was!

Barbara Bush’s final letter to her children:

HOUSTON – Barbara Pierce Bush knew she was entering the final days of her long and eventful life.

She was 92 years old. She had taken a fall, breaking her back and sending her to Houston Methodist Hospital. She was losing her battle with congestive heart failure, among other ailments. Soon her doctor would come into her hospital room to have a poignant conversation. The former first lady would be going home again, the doctor told her, but this time to hospice care.

Once again, Barbara Bush turned to her diary. She had kept a journal, sometimes intermittently and in various formats, since soon after she and her husband and their toddler, Georgie, had moved from the familiar comforts of New England to the booming Oil Patch in Texas. Seven decades later, she made the penultimate entry. Her children, as always, were on her mind. She wrote “Things I am grateful for” across the top, then began to draft a final letter to them.

Dearest Children,” she typed into her laptop. “I have thought of writing this for a while.”

The letter was never finished. It stops mid-sentence, perhaps interrupted when a visitor walked into her hospital room, and it was never sent….

I was apparently the first person to read the letter. Her son Neil told me her children weren’t aware that the letter existed until I raised it with them. A few weeks before she started to draft it, she unexpectedly gave me access to her diaries for the biography of her that I was working on, “The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty.” She had donated them to the George Bush Presidential Library with the provision that they not be available to anyone until 35 years after her death – as it turned out, until 2053. Decades of diaries, not yet reviewed or organized even by the library’s archivists, were stacked in document boxes and kept under lock and key…

In the final letter intended for her children, she praised them and the next generation for all they had achieved, for not relying only on the considerable advantages of their birth. “I am so grateful that our children and grand children all finished school and promptly went to work,” she wrote. “They did not feel entitled. They and their children support themselves and are now doing good works along with working in some cases.”

Then she thanked her friends. “The Saintly Stitchers who meet on Mondays at Saint Martins [Episcopal] Church. They treat me as a normal person although they do spoil me. We stitch kneelers for the church, I did two and then my eyes got bad and now I work on Santas and Clowns that either sit on a shelf.”

The least feminist nation? Thoughts?

It is one of the best places in the world to be a woman, with a narrow gender pay gap, equal employment rights, universal nursery care, and some of the happiest female retirees on the planet.

So it comes as a surprise to find, in a global survey of attitudes towards gender, equal rights and the #MeToo movement, that Denmark is one of the least feminist countries in the developed world.

The poll, conducted by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project of more than 25,000 people in 23 major countries, found that just one in six Danes consider themselves a feminist, a third said that wolf whistling at women in the street was acceptable, and two in five had an unfavourable view of the #MeToo movement.

Arthur Boers, and pastors with (no) friends:

Since my theology minimizes clergy-lay distinctions, I didn’t expect pastoring to make me thin on friends. But I began asking other pastors: “Are you lonely?” “Do you have friends?” “What do you do for personal support?” All indicated they had problems.

  • Upon leaving a seven-year pastorate, one pastor said he felt free to have friendships for the first time in years.
  • A nationally known pastor lamented, “I have friends across the country and indeed around the world, but none in my own community. I can’t afford to.”
  • A part-time pastor of a new church spoke of his happy involvement with a local theater group. But church members resented this, believing all his energy should go into the congregation.
  • Still another pastor wrote me: “In the ministry you’re everyone’s friend–sort of–but no one’s friend really. It seems that pastors either forgo friendships or seek them outside the parish (in so far as time permits).”

I have yet to meet a pastor who isn’t lonely.

Popular names for babies:

Mom365 Newborn Photography has the honor of photographing many of America’s most brand-new babies every year, and our photographers always delight in hearing the names that adoring parents have given their newborns. Over at headquarters, we have fun watching name trends as the data comes in from our partner hospitals, and making lists of the top names.

It’s always exciting when we can declare the most popular baby names of the year, so without further adieu, here they are.

The most popular baby names overall in 2018 were:

  1. Emma
  2. Liam
  3. Noah
  4. Olivia
  5. Ava

The most popular baby girl names in 2018 were:

  1. Emma
  2. Olivia
  3. Ava
  4. Isabella
  5. Sophia

The most popular baby boy names in 2018 were:

  1. Liam
  2. Noah
  3. Elijah
  4. Logan
  5. Mason

The BC Tree:

A TREE DATING BACK TO before the birth of Christ has been discovered in southeastern North Carolina.

Scientists discovered the cypress tree, whose internal annual growth rings show it to be at least 2,624 years old, along the Black River in the southeastern part of the state. Given it’s old age, the tree dates back to before Confucius and the English language.

The discovery makes the tree, and some others in the area that are more than 2,000 years old, the oldest living trees in eastern North America. It confirms that the species of tree, the bald cypress, is the oldest-known wetland tree species and the fifth-oldest tree species on Earth, according to research published Thursday in the journal Environmental Research Communications.

Scientists had previously discovered a 2,088-year-old cypress tree in the swamp and several more trees along the Black River are more than 1,000 years old. The oldest along the Black River are mostly located in a section of the swamp known as the Three Sisters Cove.

Move it back, spread it out:

It might be slightly more difficult to make 3-pointers next season.

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee has proposed moving the 3-point line back to the international basketball distance, more than one foot farther than the current line.

The international 3-point line is 22 feet, 1¾ inches, while the current 3-point line is 20 feet, 9 inches. It was moved from 19 feet, 9 inches prior to the 2008-09 season.

The proposal must next be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel on June 5. If passed, it would go into effect next season in Division I and, because of potential financial impact, the 2020-21 season for Divisions II and III.

“After gathering information over the last two seasons, we feel it’s time to make the change,” said Colorado coach Tad Boyle, the committee chair. “Freedom of movement in the game remains important, and we feel this will open up the game. We believe this will remove some of the congestion on the way to the basket.”

2019-05-04T22:48:42-05:00

 By Becky Castle Miller

When I started reading Rachel Held Evans’ blog years ago, I disagreed with her on most things. Today, as I try to comprehend the news of her death, I realize I agree with her on most things. It was the combination of her kindness and her questions that made the difference.

Rachel was one of the first Christian feminists I encountered, and, more broadly, one of the first Christian progressives. I grew up very conservative, just like she did, and we’re the same age—both 37 this year. But she started asking questions before I did, so that by the time I was facing the deconstruction of my faith in my late 20s, she was ready to be a guide to me.

She was relentlessly kind and thoughtful. She loved God and loved people. She engaged the Bible with respect, curiosity, and enthusiasm. The good fruit of her life gave the lie to the false stereotypes I had been taught about liberals. Though her beliefs on many theological subjects were different than mine, I couldn’t deny that she loved and followed Jesus. This was weird for me. I thought people who weren’t “likeminded” or didn’t have the same “worldview” as the fundamentalist evangelical subculture I was a part of weren’t good Christians…or maybe weren’t even Christians at all.

Rachel’s questions about American Christian beliefs helped me question things I had never even considered before, like what kind of person was I to be okay with believing in God-ordained genocide of Canaanite women and children? She broadened and deepened my view of the church. Followers of Jesus can be quite different from each other, unified only in him, and diverse in other perspectives. Followers of Jesus could believe in evolution or even—gasp—be Democrats!

My work today in an international church, with the greatest diversity I’ve ever encountered in one fellowship, is partly possible because of the ways Rachel opened my eyes. The diversity of the people she connected with and cared for has been evident over the past couple weeks as she has been in a medically induced coma. Since Easter, the least-similar group of people I’ve encountered on the internet has come together to pray for her, using the hashtag #prayforRHE to share their memories and prayers—atheists and Christians, exvangelicals and conservative evangelicals, rich/famous and poor/unknown, gay and straight and bi, black and white and brown—all connected over Rachel, because all had felt loved and touched by her. People wrote that though they hadn’t prayed in a long time, they were praying for her. Others wrote that though they no longer believed in miracles, they were hoping for a miracle for her. Others, still strong in faith due to Rachel’s influence, prayed liturgical prayers, charismatic prayers, fumbling and halting prayers. Others didn’t pray at all but joined in the outpouring of love.

The same astounding breadth of humanity has flooded my Twitter timeline today as we come together again, this time to grieve her death. People are thanking her for saving their faith, and others for literally saving their lives. Tyler Huckabee tweeted, “The sheer number of people on here crediting RHE with keeping their faith alive is just staggering. What a gift.” Nate Pyle replied, “For all the accusations, the fruit is making the case of her faithfulness.” Others who have lost faith or never had faith are speaking with great honor and respect of her caring example. Susan Harrison tweeted that Rachel “was a pastor to a gigantic, building-less church of struggling, sometimes cynical, but ultimately hopeful believers.” She touched so many with her kindness and her questions.

What has stood out most to me is the avalanche of women writing that Rachel was instrumental in their understanding and accepting their call to ministry and seminary. Caris Adel tweeted, “A generation of evangelical women owe their freedom to her.” Pastor Abby Norman tweeted, “I followed her voice right into my calling.”

I am one of those women. Back when I thought “feminist” was a dirty word, Rachel’s advocating for women’s equal place in the church and in marriage intrigued me. After frustrations with the limits placed on me in the church because of my femaleness piled up to a breaking point, I was ready to reexamine what the Bible said about women. Rachel’s book A Year of Biblical Womanhood was the first egalitarian book I read. A moment frozen in memory is the sunny day I sat on the edge of my bed reading her work on Proverbs 31 and crying with relief to know it’s not an impossible standard or an endless to-do list. It’s a poetic celebration of a woman of valor. Thousands of women learned the Hebrew phrase “eshet chayil” – woman of valor – from Rachel, and we’re applying it to her today to honor her courage. I wrote about the impact of Rachel’s words on my egalitarian journey on The Junia Project, a website I first heard about through Rachel’s blog.

I also owe Rachel for helping me get to know Scot McKnight’s work. I was vaguely aware of him because I had seen The Blue Parakeet recommended so many places, and just after I ordered it, Rachel did a Q&A with Scot on her blog. I started reading his blog, where I later learned about Northern Seminary’s MANT degree. Rachel’s and Scot’s books and blog posts helped me see that women could be pastors, which is when my long-time sense of passion for ministry work finally made sense, and I realized God was calling me to pastor. That led me to pursue seminary, which is how I’ve ended up studying with Scot. Rachel was a key part of that whole journey—I wouldn’t be where I am today without her words. As I was searching Rachel’s blog today, I came across this beautiful letter she wrote to Scot, which is emblematic of her generous and encouraging spirit.

Today I was laying on the couch, hot tears pouring across my face and pooling in my ear, attempting to take in this loss and reading the reflections of her friends and family. I am grateful for Rachel’s impact on my life. I am also sad, and I am angry, and I have so many questions for God. I don’t know why God didn’t miraculously heal her. How wonderful it would be, I thought over the past weeks as we prayed, for God to heal her completely, amazing her doctors and all of us! How much that would bolster the faith of those who prayed so haltingly. And God didn’t, and that’s confusing and hard, and I want to know why. So I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come, and I’m also upset with God. As I was trying to find words for these thoughts, I found something Rachel wrote on grief in 2012, and I’ll let her have the final word: “So let’s grieve together. And let’s give one another the space to be shocked, to be pissed, to appeal to God, to be angry with God, to find peace in God, to question God, to want to take action, to want to wait, to blame, to pray, to be afraid, to be speechless, to vent, to lament, to speak up, to be silent, to pull our families close to us, to need some time alone.”

Becky Castle Miller is on the pastoral staff at Damascus Road International Church in Maastricht, Netherlands, as Discipleship Director. She is the co-author, with Scot McKnight, of the discipleship curriculum Following King Jesus. She conveys her five kids around town on bikes and studies New Testament in the middle of the night via Northern Live. Connect with her on Twitter and Instagram @bcastlemiller.

 

2019-05-28T09:33:06-05:00

From CBE

On April 25, 2019

I grew up in a small, middle-class, mostly mono-cultural community of white Mennonites. In school, I almost always found it easy to achieve success. I generally had access to good schools and attentive teachers, and my parents spent quite a bit of time educating me informally at home.

I set high standards for myself and had high expectations of others. I truly believed that others could do better if they applied themselves. When they failed, I blamed them for not trying harder or using the resources available to them. I didn’t understand how being a white person from a middle-class community and supportive family contributed to my educational success or how structural inequality and unjust social conditions made it harder for certain people and groups to succeed. I didn’t realize that I was buying into deficit ideology.

What’s Deficit Ideology?

Deficit ideology blames a marginalized, oppressed, or disenfranchised group for the problems they face while ignoring any wider systemic factors impacting the situation. Essentially, it says that the deficit belongs with the individual rather than in the system or culture.

I blamed those who struggled and failed in school for not trying harder, but there were actually additional social factors at play. Many of those who struggled in school came from less privileged backgrounds than I did. For example, the schools they attended were known to be of poorer quality; girls were often stopped from continuing past grade eight (after all, they wouldn’t need it for running a home and raising kids); and moving frequently meant they lost a lot of time in school. So why was I blaming them for something beyond their control?

Another popular example of deficit ideology is when women are told to wear different clothing or take self-defense classes to prevent themselves from being attacked by men. This assumes that sexual harassment and assault are women’s problems, when in fact most of the time it’s men who are the perpetrators and therefore the ones responsible for solving the problem. Instead of focusing on the perpetrators and how our society enables their bad behavior, we blame the victims.

Though we don’t name it or recognize how it functions, we’re immersed in deficit ideology. We may even believe it’s a good thing, particularly when it absolves us of any responsibility for systemic inequality. In actuality, it works against us, distracting us from the real issues and breeding inequity and injustice.

Deficit Ideology in the Church

Looking at the church, we may think deficit ideology happens predominantly in complementarian churches. Yet, it can happen in egalitarian churches too, particularly if the theological change freeing women to participate equally in ministry has just happened.

Theologically, a given church has agreed that women are permitted to preach, lead, and teach, but ideologically there are still barriers. For example, a pastor, deacon, or elder position opens, and no women apply or seem eligible. People may blame women—saying they’re not interested in the roles or aren’t qualified for the roles—instead of seeing that women have historically been excluded and not able to train for the roles in question. In other words, it’s a social deficit (a systemic inequality), not a deficit in women, that led to the shortage of women applicants.

In addition, most churches are still led by men and employ traditionally masculine leadership models and styles, meaning that women don’t see people like them in those positions and therefore dismiss themselves as candidates for the position. It’s also crucial to note that church leadership tends to be white and conforms to white cultural and leadership practices, making it even harder for women of color to rise to leadership positions.

What We Can Do

So, what can we do to help prevent deficit ideology from inhabiting in and ruling over our churches? I propose a deep and wide approach.

Deep Approach

Get to the root of the issue at hand by continuing to ask “why.” If no women are applying or seeming eligible for a new leadership position, ask questions. Why are no women applying? None are eligible. Why? They don’t have sufficient training, and many feel they don’t fit the position description. Why? They’ve been excluded from training programs and the position has been geared toward men. Why? Only men have been permitted to fill these positions and only men have been defining what makes a good leader.

What can we do now? Create more inclusive leadership definitions and models so that we reflect and welcome a diverse pool of leaders. Promote programs and other opportunities for women to be trained and equipped for leadership positions.

Wide Approach

Broadening the scope, a wide view pushes us to view the issue in context. We must ask who and what impacts the scenario. This is not just individuals or groups, but systemic or institutional issues. Here are some questions that can help widen your approach:

  • What or who has contributed to the situation or problem we have now?
  • How and by whom has leadership, success, or spirituality been defined here? Are there other ways of looking at it?
  • How might our cultural context be impacting our theology surrounding the issue?
  • Who is being included in our evaluation and conclusions? Who is represented here? Is there space and safety to challenge each other and the status quo?

The deep and wide approach is not a cure-all for deficit ideology, but it can go a long way to opening our eyes to the real issues at hand and creating greater possibilities for our churches to be equitable for women. So, when we make decisions, when we hold meetings, when we explain problems or results, and when we apply solutions, let’s take the deep and wide approach.

For more on deficit ideology, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PukJq0xApQ8&feature=youtu.be

2019-04-28T22:38:45-05:00

Julie Close

I live in Flushing, Michigan

I’m the Director of Finance & Marketing (for a small consumer research/marketing company.)
I haven’t written a book. Yet.
I haven’t recorded an album. Yet. 😉

My journey to seminary began years ago, but happened in a moment.

I’m a learner. I’ve wanted to go to seminary for a long time, but it just didn’t seem possible. I have a job here in Michigan. I’m married to a pastor. We’ve been in ministry together for a lot of years. We’ve raised two daughters and just finished putting both of them through college. I couldn’t just pick up and go to seminary.

Further, I had ZERO interest in doing a typical online program. I’d taken a few “thread-based” courses, but they were neither interesting nor engaging. I love the classroom setting – hearing from the professor, engaging in dialogue with my classmates. But, I can’t move to go to seminary.

I’m an ordained minister/elder in a denomination that, from its inception, ordained women. In May of 2017 in a Facebook group for “ordained women clergy,” one of the group members (Tara Beth Leach) posted that she would be co-hosting in a webinar on “Women Leading in the Church” (https://www.seminary.edu/sheleadswebinar/). This is a topic close to my heart, so I registered.

The webinar was great, but what really grabbed me was the promo at the end. Scot McKnight, the co-host and professor at Northern Seminary, mentioned the Masters of Arts in New Testament (MANT) program. Through “Northern Live,” their innovative new live-streaming option, you can “go” to seminary without going anywhere! This is what I’ve been waiting for!

I pondered it …talked to people… sat on it for a couple weeks, (prayed about it… obviously…) but it did not let go of me. It seemed like a big step and an enormous commitment. Will this fit with my life? My job? Am I up to it?

In the summer of 2017, I applied, was accepted and admitted to the 2017 MANT cohort. I was 54 when I began. It was thrilling and terrifying all at the same time. I’ve always been a good student, but I’ve been out of school for a long time.

I’m almost halfway done and the learning has been tremendous. Not only do I have the privilege of sitting under the teaching of world-class theologians, but I’ve built relationships with members of my cohort who’ve become precious friends. My professors are not interested in learning just for the sake of knowledge, but rather, scholarship for the sake of the Church and its mission in the world.

CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING

The MANT program has expanded my understanding of scripture by teaching and underscoring the importance of the context of scripture. Too often, the Church (me included) has taught scripture from a modern, Western mindset: we interpret it through the lens of our culture and our time. But our culture, our thinking, our writing is so vastly different from the ancient cultures of either the Old or the New Testaments. Immersing oneself within these ancient contexts (to the extent that it’s possible) offers a richer, fuller, more authentic interpretation of the story of God. Understanding what was happening in the first-century Church is important to understand why Paul, for example, said what he said. Context is everything.

BOOKS

SO many books! (…and, stacks of books that I want to read when I have time!)

MY THEME SONG

The more I learn, the less I know. (Doodah, doohah…)

The more your horizon expands regarding theology, history, cultures, etc., you begin to get glimpse of all there is to know and understand…and how much there still is to learn. You begin to wonder what’s over the horizon. (But, don’t stare at the horizon too long. You’ll quit.)

VALIDATION

Northern Seminary supports… no, more than supports… Northern advocates for women in ministry and leadership. Northern advocates for minorities and people of color. Northern teaches what scripture teaches: that the gospel is for everyone; that the Church (as God imagined it) is diverse and inclusive and unified; that it’s gender-blind and color-blind. Northern practices what it teaches. I love that.

FAQ

When people find out I’m in a seminary program, the most frequently asked question has been, What will you “do” with it?? (…as in, How will this degree advance you? What’s the point?)

 

Great question. I have no idea.

My undergrad is in Business & Finance. I’m the Director of Finance for a company that conducts consumer research for small to mid-sized brands. I’m privileged to work remotely (aka, I work from home), but this is not where my heart or my passion is. (Shhh!!)

As I mentioned, I’m an ordained minister. God called me to ministry when I was 43. I wasn’t looking for it or hoping for it. Frankly, it seemed unnecessary. I’d already been “in” ministry with my husband for 20+ years. God wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. So, I pursued it; I studied, completed the requirements (it took 9 years), and was ordained.

But, I’m a woman.

My husband is on staff at our church (worship pastor), but there is little space for me to exercise my gifts within my congregation. At best, I’m viewed as an appendage to my husband’s ministry. At worst, I’m either not taken seriously or viewed as a threat. This mystifies me.

So – even in a denomination that has historically ordained women, even within the cultural shift of “women’s empowerment,” my “call” remains unfulfilled. We know God called us both; we believe God can figure out how to use us both. We continue to explore options and opportunities, waiting for whatever is next.

This is where Northern comes in. What am I going to “do” with my MANT??

Who knows. Right now, I’m doing it for me.

I am strengthening myself – building my muscle-memory, expanding my knowledge, increasing my confidence, SO THAT if the time comes… if I have the opportunity… I’ll be ready.

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