Living cross-culturally presents a constant string of opportunities to embarrass yourself.  Living in a place where you don't understand the language or the customs or systems is a humbling experience. I was in Zagreb for 60 days last fall, and for most of it, I had people watching over me.  I was a guest, they were … Continue reading Being “Poor in Spirit”

Here is the Institute's latest brochure, filled with stories of the incredible things God is doing through our incredible graduates. This brochure was finalized before I was officially named the next Director, so I'm not mentioned in it.  Also, there's no mention of our successful pursuit of accreditation with the European Evangelical Accrediting Association, the … Continue reading Biblijski institut’s Latest Brochure

In my opinion, ministry education is a mess.  It's particularly problematic in the United States, but there appear to be some of the same problems everywhere, regardless of location. My qualifications for making this statement: I grew up in a pastor's home, and I've spent the past thirty years in full-time ministry in churches and … Continue reading Ministry Education: The Current State

I fell in love with Dallas in the summer of 1982, when I spent a week on the campus of Dallas Christian College, the school that would be my alma mater, and later employer. I'd been here for a week the previous summer, but in 1982 I brought my car. And THAT made such a … Continue reading Our Last Night …

One of the popular progressive responses to the election of Donald Trump has been #TheResistance, a hashtag that allows Trump-opposers to identify themselves, a rallying cry of sorts. The hashtag brings to mind the French Resistance during WWII, which fought a guerrilla campaign against the German invaders in France. The French Resistance’s ultimate goal was … Continue reading Questions for “#TheResistance”

So how did I end up at the Biblijski institut?  Some people's lives stretch out before them in a clear, well-planned pattern.  Then there's my life, which has been more like the path of a three-year-old returning a toy from the living room to his toy box--it wanders all over the place. To bring us … Continue reading The Road to Zagreb

Last fall, I spent 15 October - 14 December in Zagreb, Croatia, working with Biblijski Institut (the Biblical Institute.) BI trains ministers & church workers for the evangelical churches of Croatia and Central Europe.  On January 1st, I was named president & director of the Institute. Over the next couple of months, I will be … Continue reading New Job …

I posted a series of tweets this morning about the current political climate. 1. Regardless of which side of the political divide you're on, realize that there's a spiritual side to this anger, fear, resentment, hate. 2. Whatever you believe about God: according to the Bible, this is how the Adversary attacks. "Our struggle is … Continue reading The Current Political Climate

SPOILERS BELOW I just watched an AMAZING movie, Martin Scorsese's SILENCE. It was a deeply & profoundly religious movie.  I'll have more thoughts later, probably. But here are my initial theological impressions.  Edit: I should note that I'm as much exegeting Scorsese here. In other words, I think this is what Scorsese (or Endo, the … Continue reading Disorganized Theological Thoughts about SILENCE