When my father died, I grieved. My father died on a Sunday morning, early. His hospital roommate told us that Dad had spent his last night鈥攖he whole night鈥攑raying softly for his family, person by person, before dying peacefully in the early morning. Even though we鈥檇 known that he would die soon from bone cancer, and knew that he was eager to be home with the Lord, it was still a shock. It was still too soon. Death is like that: it always surprises us and it interrupts our lives. We stop, and we grieve.
A brief look back over the history over the world or turning on the nightly news will reveal the pain of people caused by the actions of others. It can be simply stated: People have caused the impoverished lifestyle experienced by so many in the world through harmful acts. Some cyclical poverty is the result of well-meaning assistance that has perpetuated dependency, unintentionally making things worse. Other people are trapped in communities of poverty through corrupt policies and a lack of rule of law. Worse, history is full of the evil of some to oppress, steal from and enslave people resulting in deadly poverty ...
My students in Exegesis In The Gospels (a second-year Greek course) were delighted to discover that (in the words of one news agency) 鈥淐hristian conspiracy theorists have gathered clues that suggest the end of the world is nigh" ...
About ten years ago, some of my fellow professors and I began to observe a trend among undergraduate Biblical & Theological Studies majors at Biola. We noticed that freshman students arrived on campus eager and ready to learn, but at some point during their sophomore year, these Biblical Studies majors became aware that on average they generally knew more theology than did the average Biola student ...
La compasi贸n debe ser sentimiento esencial de aquellos que se dicen seguidores de Jesucristo. La palabra compasi贸n significa 鈥渟ufrir juntos鈥 y es un sentimiento que se manifiesta al percibir y comprender el sufrimiento de los dem谩s y, por lo tanto, produce el deseo de aliviar, reducir o eliminar este sufrimiento. Al ver las noticias, caminar por las calles o simplemente al conversar con personas a nuestro alrededor es f谩cil darse cuenta que muchas personas est谩n sufriendo por diferentes circunstancias. La tendencia natural y tristemente com煤n incluso en muchos de aquellos que se dicen cristianos es juzgar a los dem谩s y asumir que sus circunstancias negativas son consecuencia de sus malas decisiones. Es f谩cil amar a los que nos aman y preocuparnos por aquellos que son cercanos a nosotros, pero una marca central de Jes煤s y sus seguidores debe ser amar y tener compasi贸n por todos sin importar quienes son o qu茅 han hecho ...
En este a帽o se celebra alrededor del mundo los 500 a帽os del inicio de lo que se conoce como La Reforma protestante. El 31 de octubre de 1517 el monje agustino Mart铆n Lutero clav贸 en la puerta de la Iglesia del Castillo en Wittenberg en Alemania 95 tesis en las que criticaba abiertamente las ventas de indulgencias de la iglesia cat贸lica romana. Lutero escogi贸 ese d铆a deliberadamente ya que era la v铆spera del D铆a de Todos los Santos y tanto la facultad de la universidad como muchos fieles asist铆an a la iglesia. Lutero inicialmente no ten铆a la intenci贸n de romper con la iglesia romana sino enfatizar la supremac铆a del evangelio de Cristo basada en su simplicidad y a la vez en su gran profundidad ...
This summer, as part of my participation in Talbot鈥檚 Kern Foundation reading group, I had the opportunity to travel to Grand Rapids and attend a 4-day think tank called Acton University. This was my first time participating in a think tank (unless you count my years watching MacGyver problem-solve for the Phoenix Foundation), and it was an experience! The annual event brings together around 1000 scholars, students, businesspeople, and leaders from over 75 countries and seeks to provide 鈥渁n opportunity to deepen one鈥檚 knowledge and integrate philosophy, theology, business, development 鈥 with sound, market based, economics鈥 (http://university.acton.org/). The daily program consisted of several parallel presentations (in fact, Talbot鈥檚 own Dr. Scott Rae was a presenter), a fabulous dinner designed to foster new relationships and stimulate conversations, and it closed each night with a plenary talk ...
I saw something amazing this June. Something rare. Something inspiring. It happened behind-the-scenes at Hume Lake Christian Camps and I simply had to move it from backstage and into to the spotlight. Before I showcase this beautiful sight, let me provide a couple paragraphs of context: As part of Talbot鈥檚 Kern Reading group this year, I鈥檝e had the joy of reading (and re-reading) several thought-provoking texts on work, leadership, economics, poverty relief, and the relationship of theology and the church to such matters. On this journey, I happily re-read a chapter from one of my favorite books on organizational leadership, Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges鈥, Lead Like Jesus: Lessons for Everyone from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005) ...
A few years ago I received an email from a former student (now a young pastor) asking some questions about speaking in tongues during corporate worship. Let me excerpt his e-mail and then include my reply (with his permission): Dr. Berding, I am emailing you because I have a question about 鈥榮ervice of worship鈥 for the church. Recently I have taken upon myself to work out some position papers on where I stand on a few ecclesiology topics. I have spent time reading from Horton, Grudem, Bloesch, and some of Clowney's works on ecclesiology. However, recently at our corporate worship one of the elders prayed in tongues and this was followed by what appeared to be an interpretation. As I have been reading through these books and wrestling with scripture, I have come to wonder if tongues plays a role in corporate worship or not ...
I just finished reading Owen Strachan鈥檚 book, Awakening the Evangelical Mind: An Intellectual History of the Neo-Evangelical Movement. He has some good words for how to keep evangelical universities, well 鈥 evangelical. These three paragraphs are worth the three minutes it will take you to read them ...
Summer movies are often the stories of heroes; whether real-life or Marvel庐, both are super. These stories inspire as they entertain us. The problem is, most of the time, we are content with letting someone else be the hero. We are too busy, too passive, too self-absorbed, or too afraid of what would happen if we got involved; and so the people around us stay unknown to us and do not receive the help they need. The result is preconceived biases that isolate us from one another and a lack of care and compassion for those who need a place of refuge and relief ...
All legitimate work in the world has intrinsic value and God calls men and women to be faithful in working in various arenas as their service to Him. Of course, there are some limits to this, since it would difficult to see how God could call someone to produce pornography or engage in the illegal drug trade. But excluding those exceptions, God calls people to work in business, not only because of what it accomplishes, but because it has value in and of itself to God. Business is the work of God in the world in the same way that being a pastor is the work of God in the church and in the same way that missionary service is the work of God on the mission field. All have value to God because of the value of the work done, and that work is an intrinsically good thing that has value as it's done with excellence ...
Cada vez estoy m谩s convencido que ser un 鈥渢rabajador obsesivo鈥 es la adicci贸n m谩s com煤n entre las personas que est谩n en el ministerio cristiano. Evidentemente esta condici贸n se presenta entre todas las personas sin importar su ocupaci贸n o religiosidad. De hecho en ingl茅s el t茅rmino 鈥渨orkaholic鈥 ya forma parte del vocabulario com煤n ya que representa una realidad cada vez m谩s presente en nuestras sociedades. Pero es f谩cil convertirse en un trabajador obsesivo y disfrazar esta situaci贸n con piedad y buenas intenciones. De la misma manera es muy atractivo sumergirse en el trabajo y echarle la culpa a Dios o a la obra de Dios como excusa por esta situaci贸n ...
Job interviews are a nerve-wracking ordeal. The feeling of being out of control regarding one鈥檚 future leads to subservient postures in relationships. This was the situation the Moabite, Ruth, found herself in after returning with her mother in-law to Bethlehem (Ruth 1). However, in this amazing Biblical narrative is a posture of grace-seeking that is reminiscent of our seeking God; it is the God-action of finding favor in others that we should model in our working relationships ...
Many persons in vocational Christian service got their start by working with young people. Youth ministry is great preparation for future service in other capacities. But it is much more than that. Youth pastors have the potential to impact the world for Christ in a powerful way, because young people often make important decisions about their future lives under the influence of church mentors and student ministries workers ...
Where does inspiration come from? Where does the motivation to use one鈥檚 gifts and passions to make a difference begin? Jane Goodall said, 鈥淲hat you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.鈥 Are we the source of action or does that spark come from something else? I would like to propose God is the beginning of movements that bring change; history is the record of mankind鈥檚 response to the divine prompting ...
Kenneth Berding (Professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology) recently wrote and published The Apostolic Fathers: A Narrative Introduction. We wanted to learn more about this book, so we had Ken respond to some questions ...
鈥淭煤 nunca me dices que me amas,鈥 una esposa triste se quejaba con su esposo; a lo que 茅ste respondi贸: 鈥測o te dije que te amaba el d铆a en que nos casamos y no he cambiado de opini贸n, as铆 que, no veo la raz贸n de estarlo repitiendo." Nos podemos sonre铆r con la historia anterior. Sin embargo, estoy convencido de que muchos esposos no comprenden lo importante que es amar a sus esposas y c贸mo demostrarles ese amor. El romanticismo no es solamente un asunto de mujeres sino que deber铆a ser la prioridad de los maridos ...
Is the church here to help me to grow in Christ as an individual? Or has God put me here to help the church grow both qualitatively and quantitatively? The easy answer is 鈥淏oth!鈥 And that鈥檚 not completely wrong. But the early Christians clearly prioritized the health and growth of God鈥檚 community over the goals and desires of individual believers. This group-first mentality is not only characterized the early church, it characterized family life throughout the ancient Mediterranean world. This is why families arranged marriages. The goal of marriage in the ancient world was the not relational satisfaction of the individuals involved. It was the honor and ongoing viability of the two families who brokered the marriage. The group 鈥 in this case the family 鈥 came first ...
My friend and colleague, Mick Boersma, and I have been working together on a book, Supervising and Supporting Ministry Staff: A Guide to Thriving Together (forthcoming, Rowman & Littlefield). The book is based on research with associate staff members, and exemplary ministry supervisors, about what supervisors can do to help their ministry staff thriving in their ministry roles. It employs a 鈥渂ifocal lens鈥 model, looking simultaneously at issues of supervision (seeing that the ministry is done well) and support (encouraging the wellbeing of those doing the ministry). Along with the research results, which we share throughout the book, we also put together five biblical foundations for ministry together that I want to share in this blog. I encourage you to read these and reflect on the degree to which they guide your ministry with other staff members, and what other biblical foundations are important to you as you approach your ministry on a staff team ...
The recent welcome of Evangelical radio apologist, 鈥淭he Bible Answer Man鈥 鈥擧ank Hanegraaff, into the Greek Orthodox Church has understandably raised more than eyebrows. Questions about the differences between Protestants and Orthodox have been coming my way in the aftermath, so I want to offer to Good Book Blog readers an essay I wrote for Talbot鈥檚 Sundoulos magazine back in 2008. In it you鈥檒l find some general characteristics of the Orthodox denomination as well as key points of difference with Protestants鈥攕ome of which converts such as Hank Hanegraaff would typically need to renounce as they formally enter Orthodoxy ...
As the second part in this post on four protections to create a safe relational space for small groups, here I focus on the fourth condition. This fourth condition has four pieces to it for limiting communication that tends to shut people down. The goal is to be able to accept others as they are, with their true sharing of their real mess in daily life as a Christian. Often we can get in our own way and so fail to love them in this way because we are so busy with the speck of sawdust in their eye. In a sentence, this four-part fourth condition is the log in our eyes that prevents meeting with others.
There are many helpful resources for those who want to engage the Bible on a deeper level. The big question is how to know which resources might be the most helpful. Periodically, I encounter resources that I think distinguish themselves from the myriad of available options. It is a safe bet that a resource book on Bible charts, maps, and timelines will not hit the bestseller list. However, Jack Beck鈥檚 The Baker Book of Bible Charts, Maps, and Timelines has recently been published, and I think it will benefit Christians, pastors, and scholars, who want to engage the Bible more deeply. I have reached out to Jack and asked him to answer a few questions that might help you in understanding the purposes behind this new book ...
Small talk. Bible study talk. Prayer requests. Sports, kids, and work talk. When and how do we get to meaningful fellowship of sharing with other Christians what God is doing in our lives? Are there conditions in small groups that help people to share their lives with others? Are there conditions that cause people to clam up and stick to the safe details of a public persona? ...
Don鈥檛 you just hate it/love it when a book takes a long-standing ministry practice or cultural disposition you鈥檝e unwittingly nurtured and totally applies the ol鈥 command-option-esc (or control-alt-delete to be P.C.) to completely reset things? A text I鈥檝e been reading for the Kern Reading group at Talbot School of Theology--namely, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert鈥檚, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2012)--just pulled this on me. Let me explain ...
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