Monthly Archives: January 2011

Let’s not panic about the “spiritual but not religious”

I just read this great article in which Larry Peers urges us to resist the urge to hit the  panic button everytime someone tells us that they are “spiritual, but not religious.” These are the people who tell us that … Continue reading

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Future Helps the Church

Patrick Dixon is a world-class futurist — one of the top 20 most influential business thinkers in the world. What he has to say about the future in this video should excite the church about our opportunities to impact the … Continue reading

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New resources for today’s struggles

Yesterday I had an inspiring visit with a new pastor friend about hope. We were both wondering if the Biblical sense of “hope” was not just assurance of heaven, but conviction about God’s activity on our behalf today. My Bible … Continue reading

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How far must love go?

In my devotions this morning, I read Ephesians 1:15: “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints” (NIV). I was startled by the way “love” was qualified. … Continue reading

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Teaching, Dancing, & Problem-Solving

Books I’m reading today:  The Online Teaching Guide by Ken W. White and Bob H. Weight, The People are Dancing Again: The History of the Siletz Tribe of Western Oregon by Charles Wilkinson, and Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton. The … Continue reading

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Why Did Paul Write Romans?

For years, scholars have taught that Paul wrote Romans as his last and greatest theological exposition. In other words, the purpose was theological. “Wait a minute” asks David A. DeSilva in An Introduction to the New Testament. Maybe Paul wrote … Continue reading

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Digital College

I’m in the second of eight weeks of training to be an online college instructor. Barclay College is starting an online bachelor’s program in Bible. Once I’m through with this training, I’ll be teaching classes online. The first thing that … Continue reading

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Change while you can

The first part of Temporary Shepherds describes a prevalent problem for which Intentional Interim Ministry is a wonderful solution. The problem: churches are slow to change, and slower to admit what change they undergo. This results in churches that are … Continue reading

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Shepherds & Pirates

I started re-reading Temporary Shepherds by Roger S Nicholson today. From my quick survey, this book seems to be the pre-eminent text on Intentional Interim Ministry (if you know of a similar or better one, please let me know!). I’m … Continue reading

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New Job!

I have a new part-time job. I’ve been hired as a consultant by the Pacific Conference of the Evangelical Church http://www.pacificecna.org/. They want me to develop a conference-wide Intentional Interim Ministry program for their conference of 50 churches. This is … Continue reading

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