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Navigating the Thinker/Doer Dichotomy
I’ve been a huge fan of Andy Stanley since I first attended Passion’s Thirsty conference as a college leader in 2002. When I hear him preach, it makes me want to preach. When I hear him talk about leadership, I’m excited to go lead. So imagine my disappointment when I was catching up with his leadership podcast yesterday and heard him tell leaders both inside and outside of the church to hire, promote, and invest in “doers” not thinkers. And lest there be any confusion, he goes on to talk about how doers are smart people, so it’s not about smart and dumb. It’s about being a smart doer, not a…
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Observations on ETS 2013
Every year since I decided to pursue academic ministry I’ve attended the ETS national conference. As a theologian, I hope to attend every year no matter what job I have. While it has its flaws, it is one of the best places for evangelical minds to come together and sharpen and encourage one another, and 3 days later I’m still riding the high of stimulating discussion. This year was my 4th ETS, and my first visit to Baltimore. My first year I visited all the papers I could on any topic that sounded interesting. Since then I’ve learned that not all papers are worth hearing (especially if they have provocative…
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Why I Left Seminary
This post has been brewing for a while. More than once I thought I shouldn’t write it at all. But I think the time has come to share what’s been going on in my life lately since it has taken some dramatic turns over the past few months. About this time last year I was sweating through my first semester of doctoral studies, a process that should have occupied me until around 2017. But at the end of the spring semester, I dropped out. That’s right: I, Josh Vajda, am a PhD drop-out. I never announced it because I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it or…
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Praise for CCM
A recent article on some 90’s CCM tracks got me thinking. I suppose you could say I came of age in the mid-90’s, discovering for the first time the great alternative music scene of Smashing Pumpkins, Bush, Oasis, and No Doubt. (Little did I know until much later that they stood on the shoulders of some serious alternative giants.) I rarely bought their music because I was concerned about the lyrics. So when I began searching for Christian musicians, I found myself embracing dc Talk, Jars of Clay, Newsboys, and Audio Adrenaline, among many, many others. In no time I was a CCM fanboy. I couldn’t get enough! And as…
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Thoughts on Jesus Calling
Note: Originally wrote this in an email and decided after all that effort it might as well become a blog post too. 😉 As such it’s not the most accessible post I’ve ever written, but hopefully it will be of some use to someone. Maybe I’ll come back and pretty it up later. Argument assumes a commitment to the truth of Christianity and the inspiration, authority, and inerrancy of Scripture. A friend of mine asked about the hit book Jesus Calling. I had not heard of it, but decided to read the introduction since it was so popular. What I read tells me all I need to know; I would…