Fides Quaerens Intellectum

One of IMPACT 360′s regular guest professors, Dr. Anthony Bradley, who is currently professor of Theology and Ethics at The King’s College in NYC, has a great post on an aspect of leadership that is almost never discussed–the temptation to turn our supposedly missional, Kingdom-minded organizations into idols.

This week Trent Wilbanks and I are team teaching our final module for the academic year.  Cultural transformation is the topic, and Andy Crouch’s book Culture Making is the backbone text.  Concept of the week?  Power.  Crouch says that cultural power is “the ability to successfully propose a new cultural good.”  As it turns out, [...]

John 10:7-10 7So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in [...]

Last evening a tornado ripped through the campus of Union University (www.uu.edu), IMPACT 360′s (www.impact360.net) academic partner. Having talked with one of our alums who is now taking his degree at Union, they are estimating the damage to the campus physical plant to be in the tens of millions. The good news is that no [...]

C.S. Lewis once wrote “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” An encounter I had recently while staying in Pennsylvania reminded me how true this really is. I had been doing dissertation research in PA earlier this [...]

Something new that I’ve been learning ever since I came on board with IMPACT 360 in January ’06 as a consultant (then in May ’06 full-time) is the notion of a high performance team in the workplace.  Among other characteristics, a high performance team is one whose synergy with all members produces an exponentially greater output [...]

 The students and staff of IMPACT 360 (www.impact360.net) had the privilege of hosting Os Guinness for three days.  His topics were numerous–everything from The Call (the book our students read in preparation for his time with us) to globalization to leadership.  He was one of the most gracious guests we’ve had on our campus, and [...]

In the course of my dissertation research, I recently picked up a book by John R. Mott, leader of the Student Volunteer Movement of the early 20th century.  Mott was one of the first heroes of orthodox Christian faith whose passion for spreading the gospel led him to inspire thousands of college and university students [...]

Last week at IMPACT 360 (www.impact360.net) we had the privilege of hosting our first guest professor for the year, Dr. JP Moreland (http://www.talbot.edu/faculty/faculty_profiles/profile.cfm?n=jp_moreland).  A Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Talbot School of Theology (Biola University, CA;), Moreland taught and mentored none other than yours truly during the years 1997-1999.  Those two years were a critically formative time [...]

Over the years I have consistently been amazed at a particular organizational dynamic that emerges within nonprofits, and how that dynamic drives–and in some cases determines–hiring decisions.  That dynamic is urgency.  “Let’s get someone to fill the position asap!”  Just get a body in there.  Interestingly, urgency in these situations often breeds passivity.  Far too [...]