*Re-publishing this on the one-year anniversary of his passing. His thought still shapes my own, and the few times we met still leave a lasting impression.
If you’ve had a heart for missionary work overseas you may or may not have heard of the name “Ralph Winter”. Hands down, his was THE MOST influential voice in global mission in the past 50 years. While not the hagiographical superstar, his thought has subtly, yet profoundly influenced – no – charted the course of global Christianity and steered it toward new dimensions. Pop ideas like the 10 / 40 window would not be were it not for him, and those themes only scratch the surface of his ideas. Sadly, Ralph Winter passed away yesterday (5/20/09) at his home in Pasadena, after a long and courageous battle with Multiple Myeloma. He was well into his eighties. Read more…
Call me old-fashioned but I am just not sold on the idea of internet church.
Now, it’s not my intention to rant and get polemical on folks, but I am just wondering if this is any way to do church. I’m mildly irked by invitations to attend Easter services online or on TV and it causes me to reflect on the nature of communion – can it indeed happen in such a venue? Yes, Word is communicated, but sacrament? Is not worship about coming out of place into another Place? Conversely, I’m not anti-social media / tech as the recent article in Regent World suggests: Babel and Pentecost, but I do agree with one thing – over reliance on social media and technology as a means to market yourself is a way to sell your soul. Don’t get me wrong; there is a place for it, and to shy away from technology is like saying the Gutenberg press should’ve never happened. (Dare we ignore the fact that it was technology that launched Luther’s Theses all over Europe?) I think the internet is having a similar impact. But still. Somebody tell me why I get itchy and scratchy all over when I get twitter invitations to attend online church?
Continuing previous thoughts about pastors and depression. I’d like to introduce another important and related dimension; Sabbath. What do u guys think? Is Sabbath related to keeping depression @ bay? My talk last Sunday on the subject resonated w/folks but I find myself still wrestling: Is Sabbath really about a 24-hr period per se? What day should it be then? And is not Sabbath (in a sense) re-defined, maybe even re-voked in the NT??? At any rate, Read more…
Darrell Johnson gave a stirring talk on depression among the clergy today – and personally I think he should blog. So I transcribed some notes and reflections – from my own experience mingled with some of the theologies he presents concerning this “shame-based killer”. I’ve come to see depression among the clergy as a form of self-martyrdom – an unholy dying (in some cases, not all) – because it is often at our own hands, and before the idols of our own hero-worship (ourselves). More thoughts here. Read more…
Discovering how healing it is to be @ Regent – to talk about life, vocation, spirituality with other ministers-to-be. There is healing happening here in the context of community. But as I look back in my life I have not always had such support; where the resources of community have been made available to bring restorative listening and “life coaching”. I think of my recent foray into church planting, which has potential to be one of the loneliest periods in a pastors life. So I wonder if there is a way to strategically subvert the alone-ness inherent in planting a church. I’ve already concluded after the failure of missio that if I were ever crazy enough to attempt planting again I would… Read more…
Man it feels good to be back in Canada.
The above title was the convo @ the church planters gathering in Bellingham (Hothouse). Some of the attention was turned on me as those gathered knew about my recent heartache of closing down a church. And so I was queried about how I felt and if it was a loss or waste. It was therapeutic to be a bit narcissistic and talk about my angst but at the end the question was on the table and still stands: Read more…
like ours, Western Washington University still feel the impact of this weeks’ events. At least we do. Tech was Ash’s home for 4 years from ’94 – ’98. Moving to Bellingham was all too similar to living in Blacksburg. For these reasons and still some indescribable ones, we’ve been profoundly affected, even tho we are 3K miles away. Just can’t shake this feeling of sadness and everything seems grey this whole week. We’re gonna have a little mini-vigil of our own with Catalyst. That’s the best we can do.
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Edit:
Even closer to home now as we discover the killer’s identity to be Korean-American. Safe to say it is disturbing enough as it is. We will need to talk about this.
At Catalyst this week I think I’m going to need to talk about this and we are planning on having a small vigil.
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