kar0ling

Let's be realistic about apologetics in the post-modern world. Perhaps back when everyone was modernist in thinking, it was sufficient to simply out-argue the other side (though I doubt that). But certainly now, when "what you believe is good for you, and what I believe is fine for me" is the dominant take on life, it is imperative that we teach apologetics as a way to have conversations, a way to begin dialogue -- friendships, even -- not as a way to beat others over the head with facts until they cry uncle. It is imperative that those who learn apologetics exercise their discipline with grace, love, and a willingness to listen to, and even learn from, the others' perspective. I don't think anyone is going to change his or her mind because a dialogue partner crushed his or her perspective with superior logic. But that doesn't mean apologetics is going out of style, only that the style has changed.

We’ve all heard of “elevator speech” as a term for a sales pitch you can give in a short time. Many MoveIn-ers* mention the elevator as an opportunity to get to know people. In a building that has some 20 floors and but a few slow – and, at times, idiosyncratic – elevators, it’s not a cliché that things can happen on an elevator. Waiting in a lobby that kept filling and emptying of people, after passing up 3 opportunities to ride due to perceived overcrowding, I was rewarded with a near-empty elevator – until a crowd piled in with kids and strollers. Talking gregariously amongst themselves in a Slavic language, they were headed for the upper floors. The rest of us, however, did not live so lofty. Floor 6: “Excuse me!” The lady from the far corner needs to get out. The crowd at the front shifts affably, partly disembarks, the woman steps out, and the rest pile back in, laughing and conversing all the while. Floor 8: Huh? No one moves until a small “excuse me” comes from bel...

I keep hearing about leadership -- in the church, in the workplace, on the shelves in bookstores. And frankly, it depresses me when Christians are a few steps behind the latest trend in wider society. Amid all the resources on leader development amassed in the past decade, what are we still missing? In our journey to become “little Christs,” have we taken our eyes off the perfect example? Did Jesus urge his followers to become better leaders, or better servants? Jesus was undoubtedly grooming his disciples to be leaders – they were the ones who started the church after his death and resurrection. The churches these former Jesus-interns began grew over 2,000 years to comprise the largest religious following in the world. But Jesus’ message to that motley crew was not to build on your strengths, or to read the next management bestseller – advice we hear not only in business circles, but also in the church. Such advice has value, but isn’t what makes Jesus’ example different. The heart of...

I've discovered an ingenious and completely "legal" way for inhibited Mennonites to use their bodies in worship: song interpretation through American Sign Language.