josh vajda

A few months back I wrote a blog about why I left seminary. I had recently dropped out of the PhD program at DTS and wanted to begin talking about that. It probably didn’t include as much detail as people wanted, but the thing weighing on my heart at the time was that I had needed the break for spiritual reasons and didn’t realize it until later. I was surprised to hear from a number of people that they were dissatisfied with their seminary experience, and they resonated with some of the things I’d said. But I wanted to be clear then—and even more so now—that I loved my time in…

Many years ago I found myself visiting a friend’s church in rural Michigan. It was a modest church in my denomination and the people were welcoming. There during the Sunday School hour I was bewildered to hear for the first time God’s people talking about God’s love with great fear. It was like God’s love was a trap, a mirage. The speaker was clearly angry, talking about people who want to preach God’s love. “Of course,” he said dismissively, “but we have to preach the Law first!” Heads nodded in agreement. The message was clear: God’s love is not an appropriate topic for unbelievers. They need to hear about His…

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…

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…