Is It Really Time for School to Start?
Tonight is the Candlelight Devotional — one of my favorite times to speak each year. I can’t believe it’s that time again! We’ve had about five inches of rain the past few days and more is expected today. In all the years I’ve spoken, we’ve never had to move inside. We’ll see . . . .
I’ve been attending classes at ACU for the past week to try to get ready for the mobile learning initiatives. I like the possibilities. The frightening thing is that I’ll be walking into a class with 310 students who are mostly under twenty years old — most of whom are fluent in technology and iStuff. I don’t want to be the fifty-two-year-old prof who’s losing control while asking, “Does anyone know how to turn this thing on?”
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Harding just announced that my friend Monte Cox has been named the new Dean of the College of Bible and Religion. Great appointment!
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I came to the egalitarian position kicking and screaming. My biblical studies took me there. Besides my own message on the topic, several other resources explain how that position rings true to the gospel. You might explore the books by John Stackhouse, Carroll Osborne, Stanley Grenz, N. T. Wright, and Craig Keener that I’ve mentioned a few times before.
Hope you get a break in the weather today Mike. Hard to believe it was cool and wet for the freshman move in.
I’m also glad the three ACU young men that got snowed in in the Colorado mountains were found after going missing for a day.
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2008/aug/18/no-headline—missing_acu_students/
I’m curious what your egalitarian position looks like at Highland. Are we talking a complimentary egalitarianism or an all-the-way egalitarianism?
Ken Shrable gave some lectures years ago at Pepperdine about women in the church that you might find helpful as well.
Roles of men and women in contemporary culture and church
Joe – The latter. I said it’s my view — not necessarily the view of all the leaders here. We’re on a journey, I trust.
Hey, speaking of gender and God and what not, Rob Bell’s latest Nooma video is titled “She,” and deals with our propensity to categorize God in purely masculine terms. If you hurry, you can view the video for free at Facebook. Apparently the video is only up for one day, but I’m not sure when the day began or ends. So watch it now. Here’s the description:
I also want to recommend the book “Men and Women in the Church” by Sara Sumner. It’s pretty much amazing.
Re: technology, I’ve been trying to listen to podcasts of the 2008 Tulsa Workshop and have been incredibly distracted by the clumsy attempts to use powerpoint, video and audio in presentations. It gets tiresome to keep hearing “next slide” (SLIDE?!) every few words or keep drumming fingers while the speaker him-haws waiting for the tech guys to get an mp3 or video to play. I kept wondering if there weren’t some middle-school kids in the audience who could be drafted to run the multimedia part of the presentations.
Use it well or don’t use it at all.
As for the egalitarian vs. complementarian question, I come down more on the latter side but am okay with the former. I just get annoyed when egalitarianism is embraced despite what the Bible says, rather than because of what it says. In other words, I just don’t care for it when people say they know the Bible says something, but that doesn’t matter. If they can make a coherent explanation, no matter whether I agree with it or not, that reflects serious biblical study on the topic, I’m good with it.
Nooma video was so good….as always.
Mike, you’re my hero for your egalitarian position.
I can’t tell you how thankful I am for Monte & Beth Cox. Harding is SO fortunate to have them in its midst.
Cheryl – Great recommendation! Sara Sumner’s book is fantastic. I have recommended it to several people and have loaned my book out several times.
I heard you speak at the candlelight devo when I was an incoming freshman 13 years ago. I still remember what you said. I was over 2,000 miles from home and it was oddly comforting to sit in the dark with a candle in my lap and listen to you speak. Glad to hear you’re still doing it! ;o)
I live in Monte Cox’s old hometown in Georgia. Some of the best memories of many in my congregation are from the days when we were blessed to share in Monte’s Kenya mission experiences. Congratulaltions to Monte on this new appointment.
re: technology
Don’t worry, Mike. You’ve already been that prof. I was there to take care of it.
HU College of Bible & Religion appointments:
Monte Cox – Dean
Dan Stockstill – Assitant Dean
Shawn Daggett – Director of World Missions Center
Good appointments all around. For my alma mater, good job!
- Rex
Yeah for Harding! What fantastic, wonderful, incredible choices! I can only hope my children can make it there during their time in those positions. This is just so encouraging to me.