Canoeing the Mountains

When we consider this month’s focus on “Living in an Insane World”, it’s an appropriate time to look at Tod Bolsinger’s Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory.  As Bolsinger puts it, “Seminary didn’t prepare me for this!”

Consider a time when churches functioned primarily as vendors of religious services for a Christian culture.  At the time, the primary leadership toolbox was:

  • Teaching to provide Christian education
  • Liturgics for leading Christian services
  • Pastoral care for offering Christian counsel and support

In this changing world, we need to add a new set of leadership tools. And this applies equally well to Christians serving in leadership beyond the parish.

Using the story of Lewis and Clark’s expedition and applying the best insights from organizational leadership and missional theology, Bolsinger will help us learn together what it means for Christians to lead when the journey goes “off the map.”

Just as Lewis and Clark did, we will learn that if we can adapt and adventure, we can thrive.

Click here for more from Tod Bolsinger’s Canoeing the Mountains

Living in An Insane World

As Pastor Tommy Nelson explains, injustice in our world seems out of control.

Do you ever wonder what kind of God could sit back and watch criminals freed on technicalities and the innocent sentenced to a death penalty?  Do you ever question how the King of the Universe could withhold a baby from a loving Christian couple while hormonally charged teenagers get pregnant after a one-night stand?

But is instant justice the answer?  Do we truly want God to mete out judgment after every moral infraction? After all, what happens when we slip up?

Solomon explains that a life well lived is not on another planet or that our only joy will come in heaven.  He will show us that despite the seeming inequalities all around us, there is a way to live in this insane world.

Click here for more from Pastor Tommy Nelson’s Study of Ecclesiastes