Adam McHugh provides a very reflective and open-minded resource in his Introverts in the Church: Finding our Place in an Extroverted Culture (Intervarsity Press, 2009). As I began to digest it, I soon thought of two books published in the past few years—one, Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking (Penguin, 2012) and second, more tangentially related, Angela Duckworth’s Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (Scribner, 2016). As it turns out upon my investigation, Adam McHugh has been a contributor to the Quiet Revolution blog (www.quietrev.com), an online resource led by author Susan Cain. While McHugh has also published more recently with IVP (The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction, 2015), his title that has been out for nearly a decade now contains some personal account of his own struggle during the time of his preparation for pastoral ministry, struggle which nearly prompted him to take the step of resignation from the ordination process following seminary study, and potentially shutting the door on a future in ministry. He relays the connection he experienced early on with the persevering, studious characteristics needed in the academic aspect of graduate school; and yet, while enjoying close relationship with others, he struggled to maintain the pace of public interpersonal interaction that is often called for in the work of ministry. [Read more…] about Book Review: Introverts in the Church
church leaders
Kingdom Calling in the New Year
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? –Â Micah 6:8
When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness. – Proverbs 11:10
When behind me arose such a clatter, I turned to see what was the matter. And what did I find? A little one eager to add Amy Sherman‘s Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good (InterVarsity Press. 2011) to “Daddy’s library.”Â
Like me, you most probably received a lot of books for Christmas. Among all the materials coming in envelopes, Amazon boxes, and wrapping paper, why did I choose Kingdom Calling as the one from which I snuck bites during a full holiday schedule?
Amy Sherman, as director of the Center on Faith in Communities at the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research, articulates an inspirational and well grounded vision of “training and consulting to churches and nonprofits seeking to transform their communities for the common good.” She truly is ‘a minister to ministries’ which all too often lack the desire, tools, and/or foundation for Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good. Note: Among various other roles, Sherman also serves as a Senior Fellow at the International Justice Mission’s IJM Institute.
In kicking off a new year, let’s prayerfully consider, discuss, work toward, learn to embrace (and even be embraced by)Â Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good:
Congregants in our pews need to know that they should — and can — connect their workday world and their faith. So often they feel that God is just a Sunday God. Sometimes we as church leaders exhort our people to “live for Christ’s kingdom” but fail to explain adequately what that means for their lives Monday through Friday, nine to five. We must do a better job of inspiring our members about the role they can play in the mission of God and equipping them to live missionally through their vocation. [Read more…] about Kingdom Calling in the New Year
Week in Review: Weird Personality Types Edition
What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.
1. Continuing conflict over Creation: At the recent Ligonier Ministries national conference, Tough Questions Christians Face,Southen Baptist Seminary president Albert Mohler addressed the question, “Why does the Earth look so old?” (video) He challenged the position of Francis Collins, Karl Giberson, and the BioLogos Foundation that the Earth is billions of years old, which generated a series of responses from BioLogos, Glberson, and Peter Enns.
2. Looking for advise regarding the year after you’ve wrapped up your dissertation? Here’s some tips/reflections on My First Year (Stephanie M. Foote. Inside Higher Ed. 7/2/2010). Foote is now the director of the Academic Success Center and First-Year Experience at the University of South Carolina at Aiken.
3. Undergraduates are WEIRD: Are we getting closer to our understanding of human nature or further away from it when behavioral-science research focus upon undergraduates? That is the topic of Chronicle of Higher Education Perculator piece Why We’re All WEIRD ( 7/2/2010). Anyone willing to make an assertion?
4. In his personal blog Corner Interactions, physics professor W. Brian Lane asks a good question: what should a church leader believe about your discipline? What are the applications of those beliefs, and what should remain open issues?
5. PhDs and Myers-Briggs: Tim Keel shares a great quote from NT Wright about the effect of your Myer-Briggs type on the ease/difficulty of getting a PhD:
In Myers-Briggs terms, it’s much, much easier to get a PhD in biblical studies if you’re a ISTJ. You’ll never do it if you’re an ENFP because you’ll never finish it. You’ll be having too much fun. But we need, we need, we need “N”s in this business as well as “S”s because we need big-picture hypotheses. It’s very difficult to do that at PhD level because your supervisors and examiners will want you to nail down all the details (and you have to do that) but we need these big hypotheses.
It’s a very interesting post, so be sure to read the whole thing.