Tag: Evangelical Seminary

How Story is Trumping Word: Len Sweet

I got the pleasure of hearing Leonard Sweet in person at Evangelical Seminary yesterday. It was a free event, and that was surprising in itself.

Len talked about some important things. Some of them were already clear in my mind, but for the audience they felt shocking.

I will unwrap a few of his main points and add a few of my own over the next few posts.

He spoke about the power of image and story trumping words and books (which are essentially an anti-social and individualistic experience).

Len showed this video:

 

(It’s for a hotel. Their tag line is THERE’S NO GREATER ACT OF HOSPITALITY THAN TO EMBRACE A STRANGER AS ONE’S OWN.
IT’S IN OUR NATURE.) The (French) language barrier is overcome by using just a soundtrack and story that gets to the heart of something we all want.

“The world is stealing our best lines (as Christians) because we don’t know we have them.” -Len Sweet
(I would add that the Story is gone too–left to marketers and cheapened to sell goods and services, yet failing (of course) to truly deliver on its promise.)

It only takes a generation to lose a Story. Instead of mission statements maybe we need stories, or The Story.

How can we bring it to a new age and generation that has move “from Gutenburg to Google” ?

The arts may have a new renaissance if we properly apprehend the shift.

(Check back soon for the next in this series on “The Tyranny of the Left Brain”. Or get it sent to you directly by signing up in t he sidebar for delivery.)

Goodbye 2012

This is the year-end post. Hey, 2012 see ya…wouldn’t want to be ya!

I’d like to make this final post exciting and sexy and convince you that this blog had an awesome year with so many things that gladdened so many hearts. As far as stats are concerned, yes, it was by far the best year yet. But this doesn’t lighten my heart. Not that much.

I think I’m about ankle deep in a rather unexpected “dark night of the soul” (a topic which I’ve covered here, but won’t touch on now). This makes it hard to amass and list the victories of 2012 or even forecast too much into what 2013 will hold for us here at the blog. I will carry on, and I hope you come with me!

Here are a few highlights of 2012:

January. My video series with some great authors (usually called the NINJA Interviews)

February-March. The Spiritual Guidance for Bloggers Series featured many contributions from authors and bloggers with stories, advice, or encouragement about blogging and the unique spiritual dimensions to that calling and activities. I really appreciated this series and the generosity of the participants.

Spring/Early Summer. My first digital book Soul Care for Creators and Communicators came out. (This is no longer a free PDF document as it was in the beginning, but can still be found at the Kindle Store).

For that, click the Kindle Bookstore image at the top of the page. It’s whispering to you right now, waiting to offer encouragement and water for the thirsty artist’s or communicator’s soul…you.

Autumn. I started as the Director of Communications at Evangelical Seminary. Some of the responsibility includes overseeing all the entries and themes at the Deeper Leader blog. New entries occur 2-3 times per week. Get in some good reading from many notable thinkers, leaders, and authors in the archives. It’s a real treat.

3 other digital books were completed and housed in the Kindle Store too. All are $2.99…cheaper than most anything at Starbucks. Click the Kindle Bookstore image above for the list. It’s high time for a spending spree, right?!

Autumn/Early Winter. Lots of stuff on Advent (especially from my twylah account which includes lots of articles from the interwebs). It’s safe to assume that when Victoria’s Secret puts out an Advent Calendar any shred of  original purpose and meaning of the season has been thoroughly …um…stripped…as it were…from it by a perverse culture that we haven’t properly influenced enough. Am I right?

December….um. we averted a Mayan apocalypse (or any other kind) and yet despite this wonderful news…still I descended into a strange funk that had something to do with the intense brokeness of the world and my acute response to it… :) NICE, right?!

So, it’s a sabbatical time for me and I’m also sitting with my pain. This is something you’re supposed to do to heal and grow and avoid 1. finding ways to go “numb” 2. Finding distractions that hinder growth or 3. Shoving away feelings that should get attention. I’d love to tell you this is a beautiful experience, but no. It may be on the other side of it. I’ll let you know.

In the next post….in 2013, I’ll be sharing some things I harvested from a Henri Nouwen book. It’s about how the 3 desert temptations of Christ give us a model and insights into how we handle ambition, leadership, and success, as well as pitfalls and problems common to the human condition. Quite good stuff. AND…Grad school starts January 8th for me. Gulp! I’ll keep you up to speed. There’ll be much to share.

In 4 weeks, I’ll be ending the call for entry into The Cadre (see tab above). See if this is something that would benefit you in the new year, especially if you’d like to embark on something new creatively. It’s free, and it’s a secret community…so shhh. Contact me with questions, if you have them.

May you have a great time kicking 2012 to the curb, and may the new year bring greater insights and blessing for you.

Love you all!

-Lisa

Snippets from the Dr Miroslav Volf seminar

The air was electric… a cross between a speech and rock concert…a nerdy electricity.

My school (where I now work) is small. Small but strangely mighty. Blessed.

And thankfully it is committed to excellence and honest inquiry. This quality is more rare than you might imagine, in liberal and conservative institutions alike.

Yesterday, Dr. Miroslav Volf was the featured speaker at the annual Ritter-Moyer Lecture. Go ahead, click on his name if you haven’t of him.

I’m still reflecting on his message and a richer response in warranted.

But, I can say this….His message seemed radical…but only because Christians have too often loved so poorly.

They were convicting words, for me, for those who claim to forward the Gospel, and also sadly–for most of humanity. The Gospel it turns out is highly subversive and radical because it turns the all too common bad bits of human nature upside down and refutes them. Love and Grace are downright scandalous. We get Grace wrong. Almost all the time.

But the lecture was far from depressing. It was heavily laced with hope. His topic revolved around honor.

I hope to revisit the themes, but for now here’s an anemic glimpse of the approx 3 hour lecture (yes, there was a 20 min break involved in the middle).

QUOTES:

“We have a religious duty to honor everyone.” (including those who persecute us)

“Misplaced fear is one of the primary reasons we fail to honor. We should replace the fear of each other with the fear of God.”

“The [American] founding is not a pretty story. It’s an ambiguous story. It’s drenched in injustice but also suffused with ideals and institutions that can be affirmed (by Christians). It’s also the story of our own hearts. We have no excuse and we have to own our own divided history.”

‎” [Grace means] I am not the sum of my deeds.”

“Everyone who loves or wants to be loved distinguishes between person and deed. Forgiveness is “unsticking” the deed from the person.”

‎”Fear undermines honor.”

‎”Forgiveness presupposes that sin & sinner are distinctive from each other”

“How do we know that we are speaking the truth in love? We are gentle.”

“We bear false witness (to the Gospel) when our words don’t match our deeds.”

“Peace is not agreement. It is sacrificial love…The means is the end.”

‎”1 Peter: command: “Have tolerance with others when (you are) persecuted.”

“But, more than tolerance, we must honor (and respect) them.”

“Gentleness is a servant of respect.”

(You can find more quotes from Volf on Twitter by searching #Volf, or on the Evangelical Seminary Facebook page)

How do We Consider Legacy?

Just asking the question, “What will be my legacy?” is really helpful. Not because is farsighted, but because it involves evaluating the small decisions at hand. Each one piles up what will be our legacy, whether personal or professional…

It seems too that all we can do won’t necessarily overshadow who we were as we did it.

It’s a question I challenge myself with to keep perspective, and one I’m afraid to encounter if I’ve been failing in my relationships. That’s all the more reason to get used to the question and ask it often. :)

I hope all the little good things will add up to a life well lived and well spent. But most importantly I hope they reflect Goodness and Grace.

 What do you think about it?

Today’s post was inspired by the Deeper Leader blog. If you’d like to share your answer, or read what others are saying, join in.