Author: Jon
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Plant sequoias
I found this on a classmate’s blog and just thought it was a cool metaphor (he got it from Wendell Berry’s Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front). It’s an image worth sharing here … … I did not grasp the fullness of what it meant to “plant sequoias” until I visited Sequoia National Park on…
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Book Review: Transforming the Powers (Fortress Press, 2006)
The Authors Transforming the Powers was edited by Ray Gingerich and Ted Grimsrud. Contributors to the book were Gingerich and Grimsrud, as well as Walter Wink, Nancey Murphy, Daniel Liechty, Willard M. Swartley and Glen Stassen. The contributors are all professors of topics including theology, social work, Christian ethics and philosophy at universities and seminaries…
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What is Biblical community?
When churches talk about small groups, teams, cell groups or anything like that, how would you define it? What’s the goal in simple, easy to understand terms? I think a lot of people are intimidated or overwhelmed by the idea of meeting together in small groups. For some, it feels programmatic. We’ll read a book,…
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Thursday reflections for week two
We are talking about a lot of important, foundational ideas in class right now. Although it’s great stuff, I’m ready to dive into more of the application of the theories and ideas. Part of it may be because of my sociology major in college, the theoretical stuff isn’t as new as it may be for…
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Tuesday reflections for week two
Kingdom influence Today, after reviewing some of the history of the study of culture, we spent a portion of class time discussing some of the more recent contributors to the theoretical understanding and study of culture. One of the influential men we ended with was Stuart Hall, who started working for the Centre for Contemporary…
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If I could play, I’d want to sound like this
Today I discovered a great musician through a (humorous) story on Bob Hyatt’s site. Trace Bundy plays the acoustic guitar and has an amazing sound. Plus, no lyrics make it great study music (good for me, maybe not for you). Check him out. You can listen to his most recent album on his site.
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Driven to do something
While we’re on the subject of book reviews, I posted review for a class I’m in here. I think The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne is a must read for anyone trying to figure out what it means to live like a true Christ-follower. He’s a guy who has lived out his faith, and it’s…
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Chase a lion
I just finished reading the first chapter of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, and I’m already inspired to go take a few risks and grow in how I live out the “God-chasing” life. Mark Batterson, pastor at National Community Church in Washington D.C., is a great storyteller with an innovative…
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Book Review: The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne (Zondervan, 2006)
The Author Shane Claiborne is one of the founding members of The Simple Way, a community of faith in Philadelphia, PA. The stories that fill the pages of The Irresistible Revolution flow out of Claiborne’s life journey that led him from living with the homeless during his time at Eastern College to flying to Iraq…
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Rain
It rained today in Pasadena. It’s the first time I’ve seen rain since we moved to California from Texas at the end of July. It lasted just a few minutes and then was gone …
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Change – from the inside out
“Conservatives stand up and thank God that they are not like the homosexuals, the Muslims, the liberals. Liberals stand up and thank God that they are not like the war makers, the yuppies, the conservatives. It is a similar self-righteousness, just with different definitions of evildoing. It can paralyze us in judgment and guilt and…
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Thursday reflections for week one
Defining Culture In class Thursday, we began to wrestle with the idea of culture. What defines it? The class threw out a number of ideas and definitions of culture. Most centered around the idea that culture was the shared expectations, traditions, beliefs and values that hold a group of people together. (Ok, so that was…
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Speaking of blogs …
I now have another one. We’re required to publish our assignments to a blog for my class on Transforming Contemporary Culture at Fuller Seminary. I didn’t want to bog this space down with class reflections and book reviews, but if you’d like to join in that discussion, feel free to check out my other blog…
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Tuesday reflection for week one
In class today, Ryan Bolger introduced himself and gave a background to the course. The root of this discussion really began with Lesslie Newbigin, who served in India as a missionary from the 1930s to the 1970s. When he came back to the UK, he experienced a bit of a culture shock. He found that…
Jon Sampson 