Watch D.O.G.S

I spent the entire day at my son’s school as a WatchDOG yesterday. (D.O.G.S., by the way, is “Dads of Great Students”).

Watch D.O.G.S. is an initiative of the National Center for Fathering that gets dads (and step-dads, grandparents, uncles, and other father figures) involved in their kids’ schools. You can find a link for Watch D.O.G.S. here.

I was greatly impressed with the program. And, honestly, I loved my time at the school. After a brief orientation video, WatchDOGS are put to work. At various times throughout the day, like most WatchDOGS, I did all of the following:
- Assisted students arriving at and leaving school by car or bus.
- Patrolled hallways and school grounds.
- Visited several (assigned) classrooms and helped teachers.
- Hung out with kids at recess.
- Ate lunch with my son’s class.

Here are some of my more memorable moments of the day…..

I tutored four 4th grade girls on subtraction problems. I saw the light bulb come on for one girl as she finally “got it” and then I watched as she was able to help another girl get it, too.

I played multiplication bingo (quizmo) with a classroom of 3rd graders. I sat at a desk by four other students and was able to help each of them learn how to use their multiplication charts to find answers. I kept whispering to my group of students that I was going to win one of the games. 2 of the students in my group won, but I never did. They giggled at me. The classroom yelled “bye” and waved at me as I left.

I assisted a class of kindergarteners working on their paintings in art class. Before they got started, the teacher instructed them to walk by me like a robot – with their arms stretched out – so I could put a smock on them. One little boy looked up at me as he walked by. He didn’t say a world, but he was clearly humming the Star Wars / Darth Vader theme music as he walked by. That made me chuckle all day.

Dozens of students shook my hand, gave me a high-five, smiled, and/or said “Hi WatchDOG!!!” in the hallways as we would walk by each other. (As a WatchDOG you wear a WatchDOG t-shirt so everyone knows who you are.)

One little boy ran into a bigger boy at recess and hurt his chin. He wasn’t injured, but the pain was bad enough he was having a tough time not crying in front of the other boys. I walked over and kneeled down to check him out. Since the tears were starting to well up, I kinda hid his head at my side while I told the other boys he was fine and they should go play somewhere. He composed himself, gave me a big “THANKS!” and then ran back off to play again.

5 or 6 girls used my legs as “base” while they played tag. I nearly fell on all of them. Twice.

One little girl grabbed my hand at recess and said, “I wish you were my daddy.” I was a little startled, so I asked her why. She hung her head a little and said, “because my dad never comes my school.” I wanted to pick her up in my arms to give her a great big hug and tell her that her daddy probably can’t get away from work to visit the school but that he loves her very much anyway. I refrained because that just didn’t seem appropriate. And it may or may not have been true. It drove home to me just how much kids want their dads to be involved in their lives.

One kindergarten boy was wound up during my time with him. You would have thought he had straight sugar for lunch and then chased it down with a couple of Mountain Dews. He nearly made me want to call in sick for my next WatchDOG day (in May). Seriously, he was bouncing off the walls. If he wasn’t talking, he was making weird noises with his mouth. If he wasn’t doing karate chops in the air, he was practicing for his career as a contortionist. He could not be still or quiet. And when I told him to settle down or “shhh,” he just looked at me in bewilderment like I was some Martian speaking gibberish. He frustrated me to no end. When I got home, I told my wife about him. Since she has volunteered at the school, she knew who I was talking about. She described how one day he said to her rather matter of factly, “I hate my dad. He’s a drunk.” That was like a punch to the gut for me. I have a whole new perspective on this boy, and I feel badly that I wasn’t more patient with him.

As a whole… it was an incredibly rewarding experience. The administration appreciated another pair of eyes and ears around the building. The teachers appreciated another pair of hands in the classrooms. The students appreciated the extra attention from someone’s dad. My son was proud to have me around.

And I’m hooked.

Home for the Holidays

We all want to be home for the holidays, don’t we?

I know, I know… some of our families are a little weird. (Don’t even get me started on mine.) And I know a few folks actually have pretty lousy families and they may not want to hang out with them now or any other time of the year. But there seems to be a universal desire to be around those we love during Christmas. Spending time with close friends and loved family members just seems right as we celebrate Jesus’ birth. We want to be home for the holidays.

The only problem is that we don’t remember where home is.

In the middle of the book of Hebrews is the “Hall of Faith.” It is a memorial to some of the great men and women of God. And here is a description of them from chapter 11, verses 13-16.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

How often we forget... The place where we were born is not our home. The place we live now is not really our home. The place where our parents live is not really our home, either.

Heaven is home.

And when we celebrate Jesus’ birth and the gift of salvation, we are celebrating the fact that we now have a new home.

Listen, I’m not trying to be a Grinch. Christmas should be fun. We should fully enjoy time with friends and family. But while we are feeling all the warm fuzzies of being home for the holidays, let that fuel our anticipation of our real home someday.

My Christmas Odometer

Our pastor at Conway’s First Baptist reminded us yesterday that there have been approximately 732,555 days since the first Christmas. Well, at least that’s what you get when you multiply 2007 by 365.

732,555

Nothing has been the same since that first Christmas. We even started our calendar over based on that event. I started to visualize a large odometer in my head – clicking off the days since Jesus was born.

732,556

My life is in that odometer. What will I do with each day that clicks off? My life is flying by…. and there are many days that come and go with very little meaningful occurring in them. I get up. I go to work. I come home. I play with and scold my boys. I go to bed.

732,557

I’ve got to do a better job of making each of those clicks meaningful. Somehow, I started to believe that when Jesus said he came to give us a full and abundant life (John 10:10), I just figured that meant that at the end of our life we would somehow look back and say, “yep, as a whole, that was abundant.” But perhaps the truer meaning is that each day is to be full and abundant. Jesus came on that first Christmas day and every day since is to be meaningful and abundant.

732,558

It is a shame when Christmas gifts are wasted. We’ve probably all done that before – and some of us may do it again this Christmas. But it would be tragic if we were to waste the gift we got on Christmas 732,555 days ago. That gift wasn’t just for us to have life on the other side of heaven. It was for life in the here and now, too.

732,559

Lord, forgive me for wasting the days that you intend to be rich and abundant. Help me make the most of each click.

732,560

732,561

732,562

Swamped at CBC

I don't know who this lady is, but I feel like she looks. I'm in up to my neck, grading final exams and papers. I've got a couple of blog posts steeping in my head, but I may not be able to post them until sometime next week.

Until then, more grading...........

Zip It

Senseless.

And kinda funny. My students may not get the references to Charlie or Harpo. But that’s OK.

I’m not sayin. You know….. I’m just sayin.

Money and Spiritual Health

I once had a college professor tell my class that he could tell more about the theology and spiritual health of a church by attending one of its business meetings than by attending a Sunday school class or worship service. He would say, in effect, “If you want to know if a church is healthy or not – find out how it spends money.”

I wonder if he would say the same thing about individuals. That is, if we want to know something about the psychological and spiritual health of a person, should we examine his checkbook or credit card statements?

This has been an interesting thought to me recently, as our Sunday school class has begun a four part series of lessons structured around a book by Randy Alcorn. The focus is on “storing up treasures in heaven.” That will possibly cover a lot of ground, but at least one issue has been how we think about our money and personal possessions – our “treasures on earth.”

Is our spiritual health related to how we think about money and possessions?

In Luke 3:1-15, we read a story of John the Baptist (the forerunner to Jesus’ ministry). At one point, he says to the people around him, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” My paraphrase – “Live a life outwardly that is an accurate reflection of what is happening inwardly.” JTB (as I like to call him) is then asked a very important question in response to this command: “What should we do?” Three different groups of people ask him this same question. Each group gets an answer related to their money and possessions.

Each group hears, “Produce fruit that reflects your repentance.”
Each group responds, “OK. Please tell us what that means. What do we do?”
Each group is told, “Handle your money and possessions well.”

More specifically, the respective groups are told to (1) be generous in sharing their money and possessions, (2) be honest in earning money and gaining possessions, and (3) be content with their money and possessions.

It seems that there is in fact a profound connection between our spiritual health and our money/possessions.

I’m looking forward to the next three lessons.

More on Huckabee and Copeland

From yesterday’s post: “For now, I would love to hear your thoughts on Huckabee and Copeland.” And the silence was deafening. But will that keep me from posting on the same subject again? Nope.

Back in September, Mike Huckabee was lacking the public support from many prominent evangelical Christians. Here’s an excerpt from a September 16, 2007 interview with Huckabee addressing this very issue. (The full article can be read here.)

Q: Why do you think religious conservatives haven't rallied around you stronger than they have, given that you share so much of what they believe?
A: I think that in some ways the Christian conservative movement has maybe gotten off the track. I think that some of them, frankly, are more intoxicated with power than principle, and I know that's a pretty outrageous if not rather bold statement to make, but I think it's the truth. Some have become so acquainted now with power and have been so close to it that they forget that the purpose for which they got involved in politics was not to be close to power; it was to speak the truth to power. It was to hold those in power, to hold their feet to the fire over issues they said got them involved and motivated. Now I hear some of the so-called Christian leaders say, "Well, we love Huckabee. He really agrees with us, and he's one of us in terms of views. But, you know, we're looking for somebody that we're confident is going to win." Well, two things. First, a lot of these people if they would get behind me I'd be winning right now, and I think I will ultimately without them. But secondly, if they really are principled, it's not about who might win, it's about who stands with us. And, frankly, it's a little disturbing, if not frightening, that some have forgotten the essence of what Jesus taught, and that is if you gain the whole world but lose your soul what does it profit you? And, frankly, some who would say, "Well, the presidency is so important." You know, well, so what? The presidency is not as important as are your values and as are your deep principles from the heart. And I worry about people who have come to this sort of "it's about winning." No. It's about standing for your convictions. And if it's not about that, then I'm afraid that many people got involved for all the wrong reasons.

That’s GREAT stuff.

But I’ve still got a problem. There are two possibilities here – at least as I see it. Possibility #1 – Huckabee knows Copeland is a theological lunatic and has decided to affiliate with him anyway. In this case, he seems to be violating the very principle he blasts Christian leaders for violating – It should be about principle, not power and winning. In this case, Huckabee would be demonstrating hypocrisy. Possibility #2 – Huckabee doesn’t know or believe Copeland is a theological lunatic. In this case, Huckabee would be demonstrating ignorance. And I’m uneasy about a presidential candidate carrying such a recent track record of either hypocrisy or ignorance.

Now for 2 disclaimers:
(1) The situation regarding conservative religious leaders supporting Huckabee has changed a bit. A good number have signed on for his Faith and Family Values Coalition (you can read a news release here).
(2) I am now running the risk of appearing to dogpile on Huckabee. This will be my last post on him – for now, anyway. I really do like him. And I’m glad he has taken the Republican lead in Iowa. While he has some weakness and has made some mistakes, I would consider him to be a good presidential candidate. Perhaps this is really just a case of picking on people I like. Professors are known for doing that.

Huckabee and Copeland: Guilt by Association?

I posted earlier that I was profoundly disappointed when Mike Huckabee decided to publicly associate with Kenneth Copeland as a part of his presidential campaign. And I’ve taken some heat for it – mostly from my own family and friends, but also from others on a couple of different blogs I read. Their basic argument to me goes something like this:

Huckabee isn’t just trying to get Southern Baptist support – he’s trying to get support from a wide audience. And Copeland has a wide audience, many of whom will appreciate Huckabee’s conservatism. Besides, we shouldn’t foster a “guilt by association” kind of thinking. Just because Huckabee is on Copeland’s show doesn’t mean he believes everything Copeland says.

Let me respond like this:

(1) Before readers assume I am throwing Huckabee under the bus, let me clearly state that I like him. He is a good man and a good politician. I am disappointed in his association with Copeland, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t make a great President. (Or vice-President – that was for you, Craig.) And whatever mistake Huckabee has or is making here, I recognize I am capable of far worse mistakes. I hope I’m not trying to pick at a speck without acknowledging my own planks.

(2) I think the term “guilt by association” is too vague – at least in this situation. There is more going on here than just Huckabee doing some spots on Copeland’s show. He isn’t just hanging out, having a cup of coffee with Copeland. Rather, he seems to be affiliating and/or aligning himself with Copleand. Huckabee is on record as calling Copeland a "dear friend" and receiving spiritual advice from him. He seems to admire and appreciate Copeland. This would be something more than mere “association.” Huckabee appears to have decided to be a bedfellow with Copeland rather than a critic of his theology. I question the wisdom of that decision and wonder in what other situations he may execute poor judgment.

(3) I think the principle of “guilt by association” needs examining, too. Clearly, there are some people with whom we can and should be friends - even when they do not believe exactly as we do. But befriending someone for the sake of a relationship and publicly affiliating with someone for the sake of gaining votes are two different matters. I have some friends who are not Christians and I would hope that others wouldn’t judge my theology or beliefs based on my friendship with them. But I am not publicly using those friendships for the sake of political gain, as it appears Huckabee is doing.

(4) Finally, I think the recipient of “guilt by association” needs examining. It would be one thing to associate with Mother Theresa (despite some of her shaky theology) because you share a heart for helping the down and outcast. It would be quite another to associate with Adolf Hitler because you share a passion for your country. To say we should never fault someone for the company they keep is to neglect the reality that some people are never worth associating with. In this situation, there are those that see Copeland more like Mother Theresa – a good person with some quirky theology. I’m not calling Copeland another Hitler, but his theology is more than just different or quirky. It is downright dangerous and I don’t know if the words heretic or charlatan are too strong to apply to him.

Maybe I’ll post sometime soon why I consider Copleand so dangerous. But this post has already grown too long. For now, I would love to hear your thoughts on Huckabee and Copeland.

Announcement / Riddle

5/4/08

Random Observations from Thanksgiving

The end of the semester is here, and my blogging may slow down just a little bit. The final 3 weeks are always quite busy for me.

And even though today will be busy enough, I can’t help but post some random observations and thoughts from my Thanksgiving Break.


For years, psychologists have differentiated between a person’s chronological age (how old you really are) and mental age (at what average age you are mentally functioning). In fact, that’s part of the basic formula for figuring IQ scores. I think there needs to be a third category of age: "fossil fuel age." I can’t for the life of me figure out why people get consumed with the cost of gas as they get older. If it weren’t for the deep respect I have for people that are older than me, I might have tried to intervene like this in several conversations I overheard – “You know what? Gas is expensive. But nobody is going to get rich or go broke based on whether you save 3 cents a gallon. If you fill up with 15 gallons, you'll save a whopping 45 cents. If you do this once a week for a whole year, you'll save about 23 bucks. You all can stress over gas prices every day if it suits you. I’ll skip a meal at Chili’s once a year and call it even.”


I asked my 5 year old son what he was Thankful for this year. He gave a pretty typical list:
- my brother
- my mommy and daddy
- grandma and grandpa
- my clothes
- food
- candy
- paper
- God
- heaven
- everybody
- everything

I do like the last two additions. I guess Parker wanted to cover all his bases.

Then I asked my 2 year old. Here’s his list:
- God
- daddy
- my arms
- pencils
- holes
- eyeballs and eyes
- daddy’s watch
- heaven
- books
- lamps
- toys
- mommy

He cracks me up.

Funny comments of the week include:

“Man, I wish we could say ‘dang’ in my family!” by Parker to his cousin, frustrated by a video game.

“And, you know, I really like that Mozart!” by my grandma seeing some connection between Meerkat Manor (a show with a meerkat of that name) and Man vs. Wild (the show the rest of us were discussing).


I love my family. I love Shanda’s family, too. Can’t wait to see them all again at Christmas.

Thanksgiving Psalm

I love my pastor at Conway’s First Baptist Church. He used Psalm 68:19-35 as the primary text for his Thanksgiving sermon this past Sunday. Here are a couple of excerpts.

Verses 19-20:
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens.

Our God is a God who saves;
from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.

These words are nice aren’t they? Just perfect for this Thanksgiving season. God bears our burdens. He provides. He saves us. You get a nice warm feeling inside, don’t you?

Here come verses 21-23.
Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crowns of those who go on in their sins.

The Lord says, "I will bring them from Bashan;
I will bring them from the depths of the sea,
that you may plunge your feet in the blood of your foes,
while the tongues of your dogs have their share."

Whoa. God is in the business of crushing heads?? He wants to destroy our enemies so we can slosh around in their blood?? Man, that’s dark.

But our God is not just sweet – He is also fierce. And He wants to deliver us and show His strength through us. Another wonderful reason to be thankful, don’t you think?

Have a great Thanksgiving week!! (Just keep an eye on your dogs.)

WWKCD?

Mike Huckabee has disappointed me beyond words.

Read this:
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/National/207980/print/

Kenneth Copeland? You’ve GOT to be kidding me.


And even though I wrote “What Would Chuck Norris Do?” earlier, this video below does little to make me feel better.

The Professionalizing of Christian Ministry, II

Do you get what you pay for? It seems so - at least for many things. But what about ministers and Christian counselors? Are the best ones paid the most?

Reinhold Niebuhr was a pastor of a church in Detroit and later a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He wasn’t a conservative evangelical theologian, but he wrote these words in 1924 that are worth considering (from his memoirs Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic). I thought they related well to my previous post about the professionalizing of Christian ministry. Obviously, the hyperlinks to the Greek dudes are mine.

Had a letter today informing me that the First ----- church in ----- has called a new pastor. After trying futilely to find the right man, who was to have as much scholarship as his predecessor and more “punch,” they decided to raise the salary to $15,000. I don’t know whether that was the factor which finally solved their problem, but at any rate they have the man they want. I suppose it is not easy to get a combination of Aristotle and Demosthenes, and on the current market, that ought to be worth $15,000. Nevertheless there must be some limit to this matter of oversized salaries.

There ought to be some questioning, too, about the growing tendency of churches to build their congregations around pulpit eloquence. What kind of fundamental ethical question can a man be eloquent about when he draws that much cash, particularly since a Croesus or two usually has to supply an undue proportion of it? I don’t know anything about the prophet of the Lord who accepted this call, but I venture to prophesy that no sinner in that pagan city will quake in his boots in anticipation of his coming.

The idea of a professional good man is difficult enough for all of us who are professionally engaged as teachers of the moral ideal. Of course, “a man must live,” and it is promised that if we seek first the kingdom and its righteousness “all these things shall be added unto us.” But I doubt whether Jesus had a $15,000 salary in mind. If the things that are added become too numerous they distract your attention terribly. To try and keep your eye on the main purpose may only result in making you squint-eyed. I hope the new prophet won’t begin his pastorate with a sermon on the text, “I count all things but loss.”

If you want to know what a $15,000 salary in 1924 is worth today, click here.

And you can read more about Niebuhr here, here, and here.

The Professionalizing of Christian Ministry

Those who have read my blog in the past know I’ve taken issue with a couple of things that John Piper teaches. He’s great – I’m just not his biggest fan. But this quote is brilliant:

“We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness; there is no professional tenderheartedness; there is no professional panting after God. But our first business is to weep over our sins. Is there professional weeping?”

I ripped off the quote from another website that has a corresponding blog post. I’d encourage you to read it when you have time.

My intention isn’t to post this as a criticism of pastors from the sidelines. I think that the quote could just as easily be about the “professionalism of Christian counseling” (my own field). I may tackle that particular idea more fully later. For now, let’s consider both pastoral ministry and counseling under the umbrella of Christian ministry. What are your thoughts and observations about the professionalizing of Christian ministry?

Great Commission Strategy

I don’t really know what to make of this clip, but it’s interesting and thought-provoking.

On a related note, CBC has a new Missions professor and a new Missions degree program. I am really excited about that.

Rules of Engagement

College campuses are great places to find debates – some of them important and productive, many of them silly and distracting.

The Minister’s Association on campus here has decided to host a series of coffee-house style discussions over various issues. I’m glad for that – as long as the students play nice. If discussions like these are full of grace and mercy, if they allow people to grow and mature, if they allow people to make mistakes, if they encourage people to speak the truth in love, then they are GREAT. If discussions like these devolve into attempts to demonstrate who knows more than whom, if they become divisive by pitting some students against others, if anger and frustration abound, then they are TERRIBLE. If students go with a willingness to listen, learn, and change their own position when necessary, that’s one thing. If students go only with the intention of persuading others, then that’s quite another.

I’ve been reading a fascinating book by Roger Olson lately. If I mentioned the name of the book here, the whole point of this post might be lost. So I’ll tell you about the book another day.

But he provides some “rules of engagement” for Christians who disagree. He is primarily addressing Christians who have significant theological differences, but I think these rules may also apply to a wider range of situations. Christians disagree a lot: over new church policies and procedures, over styles of worship services, over methods and philosophies of communicating the gospel in relevant ways, over the best way to do missions, over church building programs, and over theological viewpoints. And if those things aren’t enough for us to worry about, we’ll make something else up to argue about.

I found these rules of engagement worthy of paraphrasing and posting here for all of us who find ourselves in disagreement with other Christians.

(1) Before speaking about a viewpoint different from our own, we must be sure we are able to describe it as its own best representatives describe it. Before saying “I disagree” we must first be able to truly say “I understand.”

(2) When speaking about a viewpoint different from our own, we must be sure we are not attacking a straw man. Setting up a straw man usually involves misrepresenting a position by deliberating overstating it in a way that is easy to refute.

(3) We should be openly acknowledge the weakness of our own positions and viewpoints and not pretend that the other side alone contains tensions, apparent inconsistencies, or mysteries. This is a matter of avoiding double standards. If we point out apparent inconsistencies in someone else’s perspective, we should not pretend our own is free of such flaws.

(4) We should strictly avoid attributing beliefs to adherents of the other side that those adherents explicitly reject. We may believe that a certain position will lead to a certain logical conclusion. But we must not claim opponents believe these “logical conclusions” if they explicitly reject them. We should learn to say, “This is the logical consequence of their belief,” and follow up with, “but they don’t follow the logic there.”

I’m interested in your thoughts. Is there anything else you’d add to the list to promote fair and productive dialogue in the midst of disagreement?

I'm Failing All Calvinist Students

At least that appears to be the rumor lately.

Good grief. Either the grapevine has grown and wildly distorted a class discussion the other day, or some of my students weren’t paying a lick of attention to what I was really saying. Let’s set the record straight. Here’s a short summary of what I said in class…

When dealing with hurting people, counselors and ministers have to confront the issue of personal choices. There is an issue of volition (free will and choosing) that must be addressed. There are two positions that some Christian people-helpers take that are not particularly helpful.

Position #1 – All personal problems are the result of personal choice. People choose their problems. They need to choose differently. They need to stop what they are doing and choose to be obedient to God.

This approach overemphasizes the role of volition. Telling a depressed person to just choose different behaviors isn’t particularly helpful. Nor is telling the woman struggling with anorexia to “just eat something.” Nor is telling the man addicted to pornography to “just stop it.” We have to do more than that.

Position #2 – Choice is an illusion. People do not really make choices. God is sovereign and ordains (causes) everything that happens.

This approach rejects the role of volition. But neither will this approach suffice. It will not do to blame God for our bad decisions. This is a brand of hyper-Calvinism that may work for some in their academic offices, but is not effective in helping people overcome their problems.

To clarify the problem with this position, it was at this point I suggested that any student who holds this position (that choice is an illusion) could come by my office after class. I would immediately give them an “F” for the course. I went on to explain that I was sure they would feel unfairly treated and would quickly go to the Vice President to register a complaint. But here’s the problem…the person who holds this position has no right to complain about my “choice” as a professor. If they are unhappy with the “F” that seems arbitrary, their position insists that they actually see it as God-ordained and they should take up the issue with Him, not me.

Obviously I’m not really going to fail anyone just for being a Calvinist. Or an Arminian.

A dispensationalist? Maybe.

Accountability and Applications

Accountability is one of the least understood and used gifts God has given us. All too often we try to live our lives on our own, under our own willpower. Maybe in our better moments, we’ll recognize that God actually has to help us out. But we maintain the “it’s just me and God” thing. “I don’t need anyone else. Together, God and I can handle anything.”

We forget that God often works THROUGH other people in our lives. God often wants to grow me and hold me accountable THROUGH a relationship with someone else. Having an “accountability partner” can make all the difference in various areas of our lives – like our spiritual walk, dieting, or.... exercise. Our partners are lifelines for us. They help us grow into the people God wants us to be. Success or utter and miserable failure hangs in the balance.


And MY exercise partner didn’t show up for the FIRST day of our workouts this morning.


So I think I’m taking applications for a new exercise partner. If you are interested, answer these questions in triplicate and have them notarized.

(1) Will you bail out on our workout the very first day?

(2) Are you willing to lift lower weights than me to help boost my esteem?

(3) If I go into cardiac arrest, which of the following are you most likely to do?
(a) Stare in disbelief
(b) Take me to the nearest hospital
(c) Take the opportunity to pound me in the chest
(d) Walk away in embarrassment

(4) If I stop breathing, will you provide mouth to mouth resuscitation? Please explain your answer in a 1 page essay.

(5) When I am too sore to lift my arms after hitting the weights, will you drive me home and to work?

(6) Are you willing to lie to others (especially my wife) about how great I’m doing?

(7) Which of the following best describes your own philosophy of exercise?
(a) I workout to get huge and ripped
(b) I workout to improve my cardiovascular health
(c) I workout to lose weight
(d) I workout to torture myself and others
(e) I have no idea why I’m working out.

(8) Please provide three letters of reference and submit a $25 nonrefundable application fee.

Meet Henry Smiley

Meet Henry Smiley. He is the Chair of the Literature and Langage Arts Department at CBC. He has great taste in movies and TV shows, but his musical tastes are a bit disappointing. He is smart and funny and he has a goatee that his wife has made him promise to never shave.

(1) What part of your job is most rewarding? What part is most frustrating?

The most rewarding thing about my job is getting to interact with an amazing variety of people. I am constantly learning from the people around me, and I am getting paid to do so. How cool is that?

The most frustrating part of my job are the day-to-day responsibilities (some of which are self-inflicted) that keep me chained to my desk and sap my energy. I find as I get older that I have more difficulty maintaining an extroverted personality when some many people and tasks compete for my attention.

(2) What is something else (not related to your job) that you are passionate about?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am passionately interested in movies and music (sorry, Aaron, but John Denver does fit in that category). I’m also passionate about literature, which is why I do what I do. The Divorce Care program that my wife and I co-facilitate is a ministry I feel uniquely gifted and qualified to serve in.

(3) What is one good book you’ve read lately and what made it so?

“Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller and “An Arrow Pointing to Heaven” by Brennan Manning. I liked “Blue Like Jazz” for its decidedly non-doctrinaire insights on being a follower of Christ; I liked “Arrow” because it addressed the life of one of my favorite Christian artists, Rich Mullins, and his lifelong struggle to reconcile his Christianity with his broken, fallen humanity, a struggle that resonates deeply with me.

(4) What is something you know now that you wish you would have known when you were younger?

That other people cannot make you happy, and that ultimately, only God can change another person’s heart.

(5) Describe someone you know personally that most admire, and why?

My wife, Donna. I don’t know anyone with a bigger heart or a stronger work ethic. On top of that, she’s brilliant at what she does without being self-righteous or pretentious. She’s learned from the adversities in her life without falling into the trap of self-pity. I think she is an extraordinary person, and I’m blessed to be her husband.

(6) Describe something that has surprised you lately.

Other than the Rockies making it to the World Series? Seriously, I’m constantly surprised by my little boy, Cade—his intelligence, his fascination with things I take for granted, his endless questions about spiritual matters, his delight in playing “Chutes and Ladders” and “Candy Land” for HOURS. He is the surest antidote I’ve found to complacency and cynicism.

(7) Life is full of mysteries. Some of them are deep and profound; some of them are rather trivial. Name one or two questions you are curious to have answered once you arrive in heaven.

Trivial question: What is the purpose of mosquitoes? (I am from rice country in southeastern Arkansas.)

Profound question: Should I have done more to address the prevalence of human suffering in the world?

(8) If you could share any one “life lesson” with a college student today, what would it be?

Life goes by astonishingly quickly. I shouldn’t be in my mid-40’s yet, but I am. Learn to differentiate between what is cool and what is really important and between what is good and what is the best. Remember to love people and use things. Remember that you will leave a legacy—what kind depends on the choices and decisions you make.

Al Mohler on Reading Books

Books??? What are these “book” things you speak of?

Seems only a handful of folks were interested in the couple of posts on books this week. So after this post, I’ll move on to other topics.

Al Mohler is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He is an author, speaker, and host of his own radio show. Like all of us, he has his own flaws, but by most accounts he is a brilliant man. In an article last year, he described his reading habits, which are impressive. Then he offered some suggestions for improving reading habits. I appreciated them and thought they were worthy of posting here:

1. Maintain regular reading projects. I strategize my reading in six main categories: Theology, Biblical Studies, Church Life, History, Cultural Studies, and Literature. I have some project from each of these categories going at all times. I collect and gather books for each project, and read them over a determined period of time. This helps to discipline my reading, and also keeps me working across several disciplines.

2. Work through major sections of Scripture. I am just completing an expository series, preaching verse by verse through the book of Romans. I have preached and taught several books of the Bible in recent years, and I plan my reading to stay ahead. I am turning next to Matthew, so I am gathering and reading ahead -- not yet planning specific messages, but reading to gain as much as possible from worthy works on the first gospel. I am constantly reading works in biblical theology as well as exegetical studies.

3. Read all the titles written by some authors. Choose carefully here, but identify some authors whose books demand your attention. Read all they have written and watch their minds at work and their thought in development. No author can complete his thoughts in one book, no matter how large.

4. Get some big sets and read them through. Yes, invest in the works of Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, and others. Set a project for yourself to read through the entire set, and give yourself time. You will be surprised how far you will get in less time than you think.

5. Allow yourself some fun reading, and learn how to enjoy reading by reading enjoyable books. I like books across the fields of literature, but I really love to read historical biographies and historical works in general. In addition, I really enjoy quality fiction and worthy works of literature. As a boy, I probably discovered my love for reading in these categories of books. I allow some time each day, when possible, to such reading. It doesn't have to be much. Stay in touch with the thrill.

6. Write in your books; mark them up and make them yours. Books are to be read and used, not collected and coddled. [Make an exception here for those rare antiquarian books that are treasured for their antiquity. Mark not thy pen on the ancient page, and highlight not upon the manuscript.] Invent your own system or borrow from another, but learn to have a conversation with the book, pen in hand.

I would write more for this post, but I must go read. More later. For now: Tolle! Lege

Happy Halloween Reformation Day

Some of you may have visited a few of the "Blogs I Read" (links at the right). I can't always recommend Wade Burleson's blog. Despite what I am willing to assume are Wade's best efforts to be gracious while still challenging and confronting serious issues in the SBC, the comment streams after his posts are not always as gracious. In fact, they sometimes derail into mean-spirited, abrasive, and divisive conversations.

But I thought I would point you all in his direction today. I'm all about my kids having fun dressing up as Buzz Lightyear or dancing skeletons. I should be even more about reforming my life.

Books that Challenge

I appreciated Rachel’s thoughts on The Golden Compass yesterday. One thought in particular especially caught my attention. She said, “I hesitate to say that they shouldn't be read by anyone because I think reading things that challenge our beliefs can sometimes be a good thing….”

And my wheels started turning. There have been a handful of books I have read in my life that were completely contrary to my own beliefs and values in various ways. Others were controversial for different reasons (sensitive topics, explicit language, etc). And yet I am still a better person for having read them. They DID challenge me. I had to think. I had to look for underlying assumptions and philosophies. I had to work out practical implications of various ideas and concepts. It was tough to do at times, but it was all good for me.

I’m sure I could think of more, but a few books come to mind immediately:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Walden Two by B.F. Skinner
Beyond Freedom and Dignity by B.F. Skinner
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

I wonder if any of you all have books like this. What books have you read that were difficult and/or contrary to your beliefs and values – and yet were good for you? Better yet, if possible, I’d love to hear what those books were about and why they were significant to you. If the topic takes off, I’ll come back and provide those descriptions for books on my list, too.

The Golden Compass

(Step 1) Go to Google and search for a movie being released in December this year – “The Golden Compass.” Or click here for a short cut.

(Step 2) Read a few of the reviews and watch some trailers -- like this one or this one. They seem nice. Nicole Kidman is big. The movie may do very well in theaters.

(Step 3) Notice the movie is the first of a trilogy from the books of Philip Pullman. He has been called the male version of J.K. Rowling and has been compared with C.S. Lewis (think Chronicles of Narnia) and J.R.R. Tolkein (think Lord of the Rings). The trilogy has sold over 15 million copies.

(Step 4) Then read this quote from Pullman: “I've been surprised by how little criticism I've got. Harry Potter's been taking all the flak.... Meanwhile, I've been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said. My books are about killing God.”

(Step 5) Be careful what you let your kids see this winter.

I don’t know just how big of a deal all of this will be – I haven’t read the book or seen the movie. It only seems right to reserve some judgment until I have more information. But Pullman is an avowed atheist and many are saying his books are a clear attempt to teach anti-Christian beliefs to children. Some are suggesting the movie has purposefully watered down the atheist stuff in order to (1) make money, and (2) encourage the sales of the books, which ARE anti-Christian.

For more information, you might want to check out a few other links:
Snopes
Christianity Today
New York Magazine
Syndey Morning Herald

WWCND?

I have several friends and acquaintances who either hold a political office, will be running for a political office, or have worked for others in political offices. With my sincerest apologies to all of them, I must say that I generally avoid politics like the plague. I vote because I want to be a good citizen. But even that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t like politics and I tend to just ignore 99% of what’s going on in Washington.

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.” –Ernest Benn

But I’m beginning to take interest in the current Presidential campaigns. And that is thanks to none other than…..

..…Chuck Norris!

He weighs in on Mike Huckabee for President. And I ask you – who wants to ignore Chuck?

It also seems that many other conservative Christian leaders are instead leaning toward supporting Mitt Romney – a Mormon. That’s interesting. And a little weird. An interesting blog thread on that issue can be found here.

That’s it. No point to my post today. Just observations. (And I wonder… Who Steven Segal is endorsing?)

Eager

In one of my classes, we’ve been discussing the “right” way(s) to do “Christian counseling.” It can be incredibly difficult to sort through the various ways in which Christianity and psychology are related as well as the ways in which they ought to be related. If you read my posts last week, you may have gotten a taste of what some of those discussions have been like.

There seems to be an underlying assumption that there is only one right way to do Christian counseling. I may have even promoted this idea, albeit unintentionally. But my sense is that we sometimes worry too much about doing it the “right” way. It is almost as if we think, “If I don’t use the Bible in the right way,… or if I don’t use prayer in the right way, then my client and I aren’t going to find God in counseling. He won’t be able to help us understand and/or solve this problem.”

Yesterday, I came across this description of the prodigal son and his father (Luke 15:11-32). After the son wishes his father dead, takes his father’s money, and wastes a part of his own life, he returns home. “Verse 20 mentions that the father ran to meet his son. In our day, we might not think too much of that. But in ancient cultures, fathers were figures of dignified authority. Fathers waited for their sons to approach them. Fathers rarely walked out to meet their sons, not to mention doing something so undignified as running out to see them. In this story, the father's eagerness to see his son reveals his strong love for his son.”

The thought occurred to me that God might still find us in counseling, even if we aren’t doing it the “right way” and it appears undignified for Him do to so. I am still a proponent of doing good theology and of thinking clearly about the best ways to do Christian counseling. That is incredibly important work. But it is helpful for me to remember that the criterion for finding God isn’t that we are integrating psychology and Christianity correctly. (Check out Deuteronomy 4:29.) And it is helpful to remember that God is eager to meet us.

Milestones

Parker lost his first tooth this weekend. You should have seen my family. We cheered, gave high fives and hugs, and acted like Parker won the lottery. My sister called it a rite of passage. I think Grandma might have cried because her grandson was growing up. Looking back, it was a little surreal. It doesn’t seem like such a big deal now as I write about it. But yesterday, it was a big deal. It was a milestone.

I never used to think much about milestones. I don’t think many people do until they become parents. It is a scientific fact -- your brain gets weird when you become a parent. Consider the evidence. Before you have children, you think about normal things: sports, the weather, how you can save money for buying books and CDs without your spouse finding it and spending it on Sonic drinks. You know, regular stuff.

Then one day you have a baby and you think differently. You forget about sports and the weather and you start keeping track of odd things related to your children: their first poop, their first set of clothes, their first sneeze, their first real foods, their first steps, their first words, their first day of school, their first loose tooth,…. you get the picture. Milestones help us keep track of development.

I got to wondering about spiritual development. Most theologians agree there is a progression of faith. It is not just that we become closer to Jesus. Our faith actually changes as it grows. It looks different over the years. And I got to wondering about milestones in spiritual development. What are the markers that our faith is changing and growing? Here are few items to ponder…

- Your first prayer (other than for salvation)
- Your first answered prayer (I remember mine)
- The first time you read the Bible on your own and God spoke to you through it.
- Learning to tithe.
- The day you realize life--including your own salvation--is not about you.
- The first person you lead to Jesus.

I’m interested in your thoughts. What are the significant milestones to the Christian life? I would love to hear from everyone, but especially from those who in their spiritual journeys have put a few miles on the tires.

Psychology and the Sufficiency of Scripture, part 2

In yesterday’s post, we summarized and discussed 2 of the 3 main positions when trying to address the issue of the sufficiency of Scripture in counseling. You’ll remember that Crabb finds weaknesses in the first 2 positions. Here is the third (and the one Crabb promotes).

Is the Bible a textbook for counseling?

Yes. Every question a counselor needs to ask is answered by both the content of Scripture and its implications.

For Crabb, the ultimate purpose of counseling is to improve relationships (both with God and with others). And he says ‘yes’ the Bible is a textbook for relational living. But he works out the issue of sufficiency carefully.

In a sentence, here is Crabb’s view: Biblical data support doctrinal categories which have implications that comprehensively deal with every relational issue of life. Let’s break that down…

(A) We start with exegesis of the Word. We study it deeply and carefully. But while exegesis is the starting point, it can never be the end in itself.

(B) We take the teachings of these various texts we study and organize them into broad statements of truth. These are doctrinal statements or categories. For example, if you open any textbook on systematic theology, you will find in the table of contents an organization of some doctrinal truths.

(C) Now when we encounter data from nonbiblical sources and when we encounter real-life problems from real people, we view (and explain) them in light of the biblical text and the categories and principles of theology.

(D) Finally, we must work hard to communicate God’s truth to people in ways they can hear and understand it. Crabb suggests that our own lives as counselors and pastors are the best examples or demonstrations of God’s power. We must enter into the life of another person, engage them in deep, profound, and intimate ways. We pour our life into them. And they see God’s truth lived out in us.

“Good exegesis and careful theology enable us to recite God’s truth to others accurately. Insightful reflection about the implications of those truths to real-life questions makes it possible to present truth with relevance. But only living the truth with growing consistency equips us to communicate with power.”

Now we have all three positions. What thoughts/observation/questions do you have?

Psychology and the Sufficiency of Scripture, part 1

A recent class period generated particularly good discussion and several students mentioned afterward how much they enjoyed it. I’ve decided to post a summary of that discussion here for a wider audience. I’m going to encourage my students to come and participate in further dialogue, but would appreciate anyone else’s input as well.

In one of our texts, Larry Crabb addresses the issue of Biblical sufficiency in counseling. At the heart of the debate among Christians is this question: Is the Bible sufficient to tell us everything we need to know about understanding and solving the problems people face in their lives?

Rephrased for counselors, the question might go something like this: Is the Bible a textbook for counseling? Crabb outlines three positions on this question.

(1) No, God never intended to write a comprehensive guide for counseling. Under this position, “Content other than biblical data is permitted to serve as the beginning and end points for thinking through the issues of counseling.” Counselors legitimately can use any data in understanding and solving personal problems as long as they don’t contradict direct teachings of Scripture. One major problem with this position is that the Bible often fails to serve as a foundation for our counseling. Our theories and techniques must only avoid conflict with the Bible. They do not necessarily emerge from the Bible.

Sometimes our churches operate under this position even though they would verbalize something different. Churches that verbally commit to the Bible being sufficient for everything needed in understanding and solving personal problems often openly neglect addressing personal problems. Crabb puts it this way, “The message [in many churches] is clear: The community of God’s people is no place to deal with the real concerns eating away at your lives; we exist to maintain orthodox belief and to promote conforming behavior. Helping you with your personal problems is not the business of the church.”

(2) Yes. It is comprehensively relevant to every legitimate question that life presents. Under this position, if the Bible does not answer a question about life, then the question should not need to be asked. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 seems pretty clear, doesn’t it? Crabb agrees with much of this position, but in the end says, “The problem with this reasoning… is that it is so close to being right.” He offers two reservations about this position.

Reservation #1: If we are looking for direct answers, we might give to the literal meaning of the text a comprehensive relevance that it simply does not have. Imagine we are called to counsel a man struggling with intense urges to cross dress. Since the Bible directly address this issue (in Dueteronomy 22:5) we might assume that this teaching is comprehensively relevant. Nothing else is needed. We would counsel the man, “Don’t do that.” If he asks why he struggles with such urges when most other men don’t, or if he asks what causes such urges, we would advise him that those questions are illegitimate. They aren’t answered in the Bible, so those questions must not matter. Crabb explains, “Under the banner of biblical sufficiency, Christian counselors may ignore crucially important questions by responding only to questions that they can easily answer.”

Reservation #2: When the range of permissible questions is narrowed, our understanding of complicated problems is too simplistic. Imagine this time we are counseling a woman struggling with anorexia. Since the Bible doesn’t directly answer this issue, we turn to issues the Bible does answer. We know that the Bible describes our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Anorexia may then just be seen as rebellion against her responsibility to care properly for the temple. Again, “why” questions go unanswered and we give shallow answers to complicated problems. “When we limit the questions we are allowed to ask to those the Bible specifically answers, the result will often be a nonthinking and simplistic understanding of life and its problems that fails to drive us to increased dependency in the Lord.”

For Crabb, there must be a third alternative. We’ll be discussing that in class today and I’ll be posting a summary of it here tomorrow.

Meet Craig Smith

Craig is a buddy of mine from OBU – that’s Oklahoma Baptist University for all you Ouachita fans out there. He is the Minister of Youth and Young Singles at First Baptist Church in Hot Springs, AR. They have tolerated his antics there for 7 years and he has a girl in OKC that likely thinks too highly of him. You can check out his blog at Frankie Say Relax.

His bio on the FBC webpage reads as follows:

Craig was unable to be reached for comment on his bio. We were able to reach his grade school principal Mrs. McCormick happily living out her remaining years at The Sunnyside Retirement Center in North Enid, Oklahoma.
"Craig was always such a sweet boy. He was squad leader one year on the school crossing guard, responsible for making sure hot tamales and ginger ale were available. He was always thinking of others that way. He enjoyed watching and playing sports, rooting on his Denver Broncos and OU Sooners, although if you ask me, his fascination with OU is unhealthy. "He went on to Oklahoma Baptist University and gave up a promising career as a lifelong crossing guard for youth ministry. He loves his music too, all types too! From The Ink Spots to Louis Prima, from Tennesee Ernie Ford to Paul McCartney, from the Boomtown Rats to Rich Mullins, from the Kingston Trio to Ray Charles. And he loves him some Jesus, too. He is always telling me to read John 7:37-38 and Genesis 27:11. And he loves working with teenagers. He says that is the greatest joy of his life. See? Such a sweet boy."


(1) What part of your job is most rewarding? What part is most frustrating?

Working with the students here at the church is the most rewarding part. Makes sense, right? I feel like so many of them don’t have anyone in their corner, don’t have an advocate. So I like to stand in that gap. I have also noticed that the longer I stay here, the deeper and richer the friendships become. Most frustrating? The people. If it weren’t for people, ministry would be easy. Sometimes the people you work with on staff can really drag the job down. The parents can be so maddeningly frustrating. And then the typical church junk of people doing or saying things that really cast such a poor light on the Gospel…

(2) What is something else (not related to your job) that you are passionate about?

On a more noble note, I am deeply bothered with poverty and social justice issues. I see it as a huge short-coming and character flaw of the Church that she remains so silent on so many things. So I do my best as a sponsor for multiple children through compassion international and also through Operation Christmas Child and Heifer International.

And from the guilty pleasures file…music and TV. I enjoy all types of music, really an eclectic range (of everything except modern music – it has been corrupted by people who are creating music based on the desires of 13 year old girls…just sickening). Right now I especially love The Beatles, Paul McCartney, jazz, blues, rockabilly, 40’s and 50’s pop and doo wop…at one time I had over 10,000 songs on my ipod. And then I started dating someone. And TV – well I have a few obsessions: 24 (seriously, how could they kill Tony Almeida AND Curtis Manning???) is crazy good. I also LOVE Heroes (how do you kill DL? And they need more Peter and Hiro and less Parkman and Claire). I also own each season of The West Wing, Everybody Loves Raymond, and The Office (both US and UK versions). But I don’t have much time for TV anymore. I also love the OU Sooners and used to love the Denver Broncos until they stank up Conseco Field at Mile High this season against the Chargers.

(3) What is one good book you’ve read lately and what made it so?

Hmmm…as part of the job I feel obligated to read the God stuff and then I enjoy biographies and some fiction. One good book lately? Well, I am not sure how good it was but other than the immense Beatles biog penned by Bob Spitz (a close second) I read through The Qur’an. It was interesting to read in modern English. In parts, especially in the opening prologue, it sounds alarmingly similar to the Bible. But I found it to be really inaccessible and hard to navigate. Plus it really is thick with violent messages about God’s judgment. That book really had me thinking about my holy book, The Bible.

(4) What is something you know now that you wish you would have known when you were younger?

God can still be honored and first in my life even though I listen to the Beatles and read Harry Potter. For a while I was one of those “get rid of all the fun stuff” Christians. I wish I could talk to the 18 year old me. I would say, “Listen, as you get older, the less you realize you know. So, stop being so full of yourself and enjoy being young for a while.”

(5) Describe someone you know personally that most admire, and why?

My late grandfather. He just passed in July. He was pretty straight with people but very kind to his family. He absolutely saved the best of him for us. And he spent all he had on the love of his life, my grandma. A life that spends the very best very richly on your family is the best lived life. He did that. And he was extremely generous to boot.

(6) Describe something that has surprised you lately.

Lately, more and more, I feel the urge to cuss a lot. I am reading my Bible every day and praying more than ever. I am worried about that verse in Matthew 12:34 that says your words are just the overflow of the heart. Although that bit of good news is delivered by Jesus to a brood of vipers called the Pharisees. I do see a lot of Pharisee in me, though. Especially in how I view other believers. I can be overly critical. Basically, it is okay for me to cuss because I know how much I love Jesus. You can’t because I am not so sure where YOU stand with him. I am working on that. So far, nobody has heard one of these excited utterances. And they usually come in fits of frustration. I am getting cranky.

(7) Name one or two questions you are most eager to have answered once you arrive in heaven.

Why couldn’t I come here sooner?
Is Judas here?

I always wondered about these type of questions. By the time you get your answer, the question doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

(8) If you could share any one “life lesson” with a college student today, what would it be?

Spend your life. Pour yourself out. What are you holding anything in reserve for? Use yourself up for the cause of Christ.

The Upper Room

Kinda funny.

Women... part 3

No comments on my last post may mean no interest in the topic. But for the sake of closure, let me offer this last post on gender roles and women in ministry. Here are just a few random and rambling thoughts.

There are a disproportionate number of women in the Psychology and Social Services program at CBC. I am in great need of more men in my classes. Just to illustrate - it’s not uncommon for some of my classes to have 20 women and 3 men in them.

We need solid Christian men to enter this field. We need men who can counsel. We need men who can work in mental health clinics, residential centers, homeless shelters, crisis pregnancy centers, domestic violence programs, adoption agencies, mentoring programs, etc. We need men who can serve as role models for young boys in trouble or in need.

I suspect this isn’t a problem isolated to CBC, however. I suspect that many Christian colleges/universities are similar. Men wanting to serve, minister to, and lead others gravitate towards Bible and ministry degrees. Women wanting to serve, minister to, and lead others feel pressured to avoid Bible and ministry degrees (or at least are not encouraged to pursue them). So they gravitate towards fields that are more open to women like psychology and counseling.

I’m overgeneralizing, but I sense something is amiss.

Far too often, pastors (who are men) find themselves ill-equipped to deal with many problems that people face.

Christian psychologist Larry Crabb offers a more stinging criticism. Here are several quotes from Understanding People.

"[Many] preachers remain safely distant from troubling realities of their people’s lives, shielded by their commitment to exegesis."

"Rather than running to the Scripture with urgent questions raised by real life, perhaps they retreat from people and their questions behind the acceptable barrier of scholarship. The tools of exegesis and the principles of hermeneutics can then become the means of denying the reality of unsolved problems. Real-life remains unexamined and real-life questions remain unanswered while preachers proclaim a lifeless version of the living Word."

"The theological library becomes for many a hideout from life rather than a study from which we emerge equipped with God’s living truth prepared to move into the deep parts of people’s lives."

But many counselors (a growing number of which are women) are not in any better of a situation. They are not encouraged to pursue serious Biblical studies as a foundation for their work. They are not encouraged or trained to teach and counsel authoritatively from Scripture.

So (in a grossly overgeneralized summary)…

We have men ministers who are trained in the Word but don’t know how to effectively address the difficult problems real people are facing in the real world. And we have women counselors who know how to address the difficult problems real people are facing in the real world, but aren't trained in the Word.

I openly acknowledge there are plenty of exceptions to this description. I am speaking of general trends, (not just of CBC, but of the Christian world at large). And I could in fact just be plain wrong in my perceptions.

This has been one of my more scattered posts. But if you can make some sense of my ramblings, I would love to hear your thoughts and observations.

Women... part 2

In a post last week, I stated for the record that I am complementarian in my beliefs about gender roles, not egalitarian. I provided a link for a summary of those issues, but it was a rather lengthy one. Just in case you got tired-head trying to sort it out – here’s the issue in a nutshell (at least as I see it).

Complementarians believe that men and women have different roles to fulfill in the family and in the life of the church. These roles are not inferior to each other; they are complements to each other.

Egalitarians believe that men and women are created equally and have equal rights and responsibilities in the family and the church.

I also mentioned in the post that I have a set of unresolved questions regarding my own position. Rather than listing them for you, I submit a portion of an opinion piece written by an egalitarian in the Associated Baptist Press. (The full article can be found here.) While he and I end up on different sides of this debate, David Gushee clearly articulates several of the issues I struggle with. He respectfully submits the following questions and comments to his complementarian brothers and sisters in Christ:

1. Are you successfully communicating to young men the conviction that a complementarian perspective must elevate rather than diminish the dignity of women, and therefore inculcating a moral commitment on their part to act accordingly?

It has been my experience that a context of male leadership, and steady teaching that reinforces it, can sometimes lead young men to a rather boorish attitude toward the women in their midst. While perhaps church leaders are teaching a highly nuanced complementarian view stripped of classic male chauvinism, this is not always successfully transmitted to the next generation. Many young Christian women, and even some sensitive young men, come to associate the complementarian position with outright sexism and male chauvinism, and therefore reject it. How can you prevent this outcome?

2. Are you absolutely clear on which positions of Christian service (you believe) are barred to women?

Complementarians often seem to lack either consensus or precision related to this question. Is it only the senior pastor position that is banned for women? What about co-pastor or pastoral team arrangements? Is it all ordained positions? All positions in which adult men are taught? All ministerial positions? All paid positions? What about seminary or Christian college professors? In what fields?

Doctrinal precision requires clarity on your part about which positions are barred to women, with clear biblical warrants offered. Otherwise, what often remains is a kind of blanket discouragement for women to think of themselves as ministers, or to pursue ministry positions in the church. What can also occur is a wide variety of approaches, even within the same church, about what the Bible actually teaches concerning the role of women in the church.

3. Once you have determined what positions of Christian service are barred to women, you have therefore also determined which positions are permitted. Are you active in encouraging women to pursue the positions that are permitted?

It is possible to take very different approaches related to encouraging the use of women’s gifts from within versions of the complementarian position. For example, in Catholicism women are barred from the priesthood, but in daily and weekly Catholic life they are otherwise highly visible—in teaching, worship, committee work and local service.

Yet some complementarian settings seem to go out of their way to present an entirely male face to the world, all the way down to the ushers handing out the programs and the men taking up the offering. Is there really biblical warrant for excluding women from these and other roles? Are you aggressively looking for ways to affirm and make use of the gifts of women in all roles not barred by your understanding of Scripture?

4. When women occupy positions of church leadership that parallel those of men, are their positions named equally and are the individuals involved treated equally?

Many larger churches have internships for promising young men and sometimes also promising young women. Consider a church that has a female youth ministry intern and a male one. Are they paid the same? Is one called “youth ministry intern” and the other called “youth assistant”? Are they both actively apprenticed by older leaders? Are they given a similar mix of “ministry-type” and "non-ministry type” duties? Are they treated with similar respect for their contributions? In my experience, this is often not the case, with women interns treated more as office assistants than as ministry peers.

I appreciated the spirit in which Gushee wrote these words. If only we could all be so civil to each other in our discussions.

I’m challenged by these questions. And since I still have a few random thoughts rolling around in my head about this issue and how it relates to Christian higher education, I may have one more post coming.

Meet Terry Kimbrow

Here is the first installment of introductions I’ll be posting periodically. I hesitate to call them interviews – that seems too formal. I simply enjoy getting to know people better and I’d like to share that experience with ya’ll. My only instructions to guests go something like this: “Feel free to answer the questions in any way you see fit. Your answers can be as short or as long as you’d like and you can be as serious or as light-hearted as you’d like.”

Terry Kimbrow is the President of Central Baptist College. Certainly there are others that know him better than I, but my admiration of him has quickly grown in my short time at CBC. He leads CBC with a passion and vision. He has a heart for the students here and goes out of his way to be accessible to faculty, staff, and students alike. It is readily apparent that he loves CBC, loves people, and loves his Lord and the Word.

I haven’t asked him, but I’m guessing he would be willing to answer a few questions if you have any.


(1) What part of your job is most rewarding?

Interaction with the students is highly rewarding though most of my job I find to be fulfilling. I also really enjoy seeing a well thought out plan come together and it is a joy to have some great employees in every area who let me share in that process.

(1b) What part is most frustrating?

Being misunderstood! Like all individuals in positions of leadership, I frequently make decisions and often the details will forever remain unknown and are often confidential. Plus, I deal with an abundance of tasks on a daily basis that no one knows about. Also, the demands of too many people wanting a block of my time can be draining.

(2) What is something else (not related to your job) that you are passionate about?

Teaching the Bible. For the past seven years, I have taught a Bible Study class of mostly young couples at my church, Antioch Baptist. For the past ten year, I have been actively engaged in teacher training and small group ministry equipping for churches, mostly on Saturdays.

On a lighter note, hunting and fishing. This is how I relieve stress. Depending on the season, I will either be on the lake or in the woods during my free time.

(3) What is one good book you’ve read lately and what made it so?

I am reading it now--John Maxwell’s newest book, “Talent is Never Enough.” I was privileged to hear Maxwell speak recently at New Life Church and he made the statement, “If I was a college or university president, I would require every incoming freshman to read my new book.” I thought that sounded like a sales pitch but it worked; I bought the book and have been amazed by the truths in it. The basic premise of the book is that we all know highly intelligent and talented individuals who are not successful. We also know normal, ordinary people with little or no talent who are highly successful. What is the difference? He calls it “Talent plus.” It reminds me of one of the quotes from a hero of mine, the late Dr. Adrian Rogers. He once said, and I will never forget, that “God takes ordinary people and does extraordinary things, through ordinary people, and gets the glory back to Himself.” That quote has echoed in my mind SO many times when I have been tempted to say to myself, “Who are you? You can’t do this!” Great book!

(4) What is something you know now that you wish you would have known when you were younger?

Compound interest.

(5) Describe someone you know personally that most admire, and why?

Former Arkansas Governor and now candidate for US President Mike Huckabee. Why? He stands on his convictions even when it is not popular or politically correct to do so. He knows what he believes and will not back down. I know him to be a man of ethics and a man of God.

(6) Describe something that has surprised you lately.

My impatience and intolerance with people. I am working on it with God’s help.

(7) Name one or two questions you are most eager to have answered once you arrive in heaven.

I don’t think I will have any questions in heaven.

(8) If you could share any one “life lesson” with a college student today, what would it be?

What is it that you love to do? Do it. Don’t be drawn by the world into making and spending money and thereby become a slave to a job that you hate or even just tolerate. Do what you love to do! Follow your passion!