In my last post, I described how I ended up prioritizing a doctrinal statement and why I’m beginning with church history rather than Scripture to build one. I want to flesh out these thoughts a bit more. If the Bible is my authority (which it is), then everything I do should be in submission to that book. I believe it is completely true. Why? For the same reason I believe it’s authoritative: I believe God wrote it. No, I don’t mean God’s disembodied hand appeared and took up a pen. I believe He worked through people to produce His words, faithfully. The ancients had a metaphor that I like: it…

I’m good at overcomplicating things, and part of the reason is I like to leverage actions for multiple outcomes. A sort of economy of intellectual motion. This tends to multiply the variables that affect my decisions, and that in turn requires more recalculating along the way. Admitting it is supposed to be the first step. I’ll get back to you about the others. I’ve decided to leave the question about audience for a little while and focus on what’s next for me. I’ll work on myself in public and hope that produces something worth sharing. My first real moment of clarity on this was during the sermon on Sunday morning,…

I’ve been in the church for my whole life, and I’ve been involved in ministry for most of that time. There are many, many questions that interest me, but a few that I keep coming back to time and again. Chief among them are these: What does it mean to live in submission to the Bible, to respect the authority of an ancient text? Why is good Christian leadership so hard to come by, especially in a world saturated with leadership resources? The first question can lead to an endless set of objections about reason, interpretation, realism, tradition, culture, etc., etc. I have looked into all of these, and while…

I’m not above adjusting my plans to fit new data. In fact, it can be a bad thing. I sometimes have a hard time sticking to plans because I am too eager to adapt them. It’s very different when someone else is involved; I feel an enormous sense of responsibility to other people. But when it’s just me keeping a commitment to myself, well, that’s another story. So I’m adjusting a few things behind the scenes. It’s been a few days since I posted, and that’s partly because home and family life needed more attention. Easy choice. I was also trying to make a daily practice of music, partly to…

I know this problem well. It’s one that I often speak against in course designs, meeting agendas, and other organizational contexts. You’re trying to do too many things and so you’re not doing any of them well. The last day of my job was two weeks ago now, and I had high ambitions for what I would produce in the time I freed up. And I have disciplined myself to try and cut things out, to try and focus my attentions so I can produce things worth sharing. But I’m guilty of not heeding my own advice. I still haven’t narrowed the focus enough. Of course, it’s only my advice…