How can church leaders determine if an activity or event is worth the effort & resources it takes? How do you choose what to repeat & what to discard? Is there a tool that can guide you as you try to improve programming? One word: assessment. A group of ministers are sitting around a table at Applebee’s, … Continue reading Is Your Church Successful?

The assignments for this course are: Participation (10% of final grade): every week, students will collaborate on preparing questions for ministry practitioners.  These will be discussed during the first and subsequent class sessions.  Students who are taking the class asynchronously will email questions to Dr Stepp (pstepp@dallas.edu) each week in time for the class to … Continue reading WOMEN IN MINISTRY SYLLABUS, PT 2: Assignments

Several recent deaths in and around my circle; I always remember John Donne's famous poem at times like this. I LOVE how Donne depicts death's temporariness against the vastness of eternity, the childhood bully aspect of death's power and terror, someday to be outgrown when even death shall die. Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud Death, … Continue reading Death, Be Not Proud

What follows is part of the syllabus for the class I'm teaching in Dallas Christian College's FLEXCampus™ starting this week. Catalog description of the class: A study of women’s roles in Christian leadership from a theological, historical, and practical perspective. Student Learning Outcomes: This class focuses on a single complex question, “What limitations (if any) … Continue reading WOMEN IN MINISTRY SYLLABUS, PT 1: Student Learning Outcomes

In Theology for Normal People, I wrote four new posts this week about reading the Bible theologically; the first is at https://theophiluspunk.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/1-07-how-i-approach-theology/ I won't be making any new Theology for Normal People posts next week. I'm writing a new class on Women in Ministry, and need to get it ready for Thursday night, 24 September. I will … Continue reading Weekly Recap

As I said: My main approach to theology is biblical theology. In other words: I start with passages from the Christian Bible and move from those texts into descriptions of the things I’m studying, the things I see there. When I approach the Bible, Old or New Testament, I try to read it two ways. … Continue reading 1.10. How I Approach the Bible, pt 2

As I said: My main approach to theology is biblical theology. In other words: I start with passages from the Christian Bible and move from those texts into descriptions of the things I’m studying, the things I see there. When I approach the Bible, Old or New Testament, I try to read it two ways. … Continue reading 1.09. How I Approach the Bible, pt 1

As I said: My main approach to theology is biblical theology. In other words: I start with passages from the Christian Bible and move from those texts into descriptions of the things I’m studying, the things I see there. My graduate degrees (MA, PhD) are in New Testament Studies. That means that I’ve spent a … Continue reading 1.08.  Me and the Bible

My main approach to theology is biblical theology. In other words: I start with passages from the Christian Bible and move from those texts into descriptions of the things I’m studying, the things I see there. About the Bible, in case you don’t know: the Christian Bible is usually divided up into two parts, the … Continue reading 1.07. How I Approach Theology