Category Archives: Leadership

May 21, 2020 · 3:50 pm

Hybrids

A “hybrid” is defined as “a thing made by combining two different elements, a mixture”.  Hybrids exist in nature – the offspring of two plants or animals of different species.  For example, a mule is a hybrid of a horse and donkey; a tangelo is a hybrid of a mandarin orange and tangerine.  Apparently, strawberries are hybrids – I didn’t know that, did you?

I used to own a hybrid bicycle – it was a cross between a road bike and mountain bike. And there are many varieties of hybrid cars on the road today – in this case it’s the engine that offers the hybrid quality of gasoline and electric. 

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Filed under #change, Christian Faith, COVID-19, Leadership, Ministry, Pastors

April 24, 2020 · 9:56 am

Why the current Diaspora is not a Displacement

The term “diaspora” is both a historic and religious term used to describe “a large group of people with a similar heritage or homeland who have since moved out to places all over the world.” (source: vocabulary.com) The Old Testament diaspora describes the exilic period when the Jewish people were deported and scattered from Judea to Assyria, Persia and Babylon over several generations.

A similar diaspora of the followers of Jesus took place after Pentecost, as the Christian movement went from Jerusalem into Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). The word has subsequently been used to describe the scattering and migration of refugee populations across the globe. As these phenomena occur, language and culture are also dispersed with the people.

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April 16, 2020 · 2:37 pm

Producing the fruit of Perseverance

We discussed the topic of “perseverance” in a weekly Zoom Bible study yesterday, and it’s a topic I keep thinking about. Specifically, I’m pondering the extent to which perseverance is a human effort or a spiritual gift. What do you think?

While I do not find the word listed in any of the typical spiritual gift passages (I Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4), Paul does write about perseverance in Romans 5. There perseverance seems to have a quality of a spiritual fruit, if not gift. Paul writes, “we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope.” v.4

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April 9, 2020 · 2:13 pm

The Juxtapositions of Spring, COVID-19 and Holy Week

We are having a beautiful Spring in south-central Indiana. Vibrant green grass, trees in full bloom, flowers replacing one another in a sequence of staging: crocus to daffodils to tulips. Add brilliant sunshine and warming temperatures and it has been a prescription for lawn work, walks, bike rides, and sitting on the patio or porch.

Yet as creation shows off its multicolored palate, there is the reality of an invisible virus stalking humankind. In it’s wake the coronavirus is leaving behind dis-ease and death. I continue to marvel at this juxtaposition of the two – Spring and COVID-19.

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April 2, 2020 · 12:15 pm

Where Behavior Change Might Lead

Of all the psychology therapies the one that has most often made sense to me is “behavioral therapy”. What appeals to me about behavior therapy or counseling is the belief that “we often live, or act, our way into new ways of thinking”. So, if I am turned inward in my thoughts to the point of overwhelming anxiety or depression; taking the action of doing something for someone else (a different behavior) has potential to change my mindset. I begin thinking more about others than my own situation.

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