In January 2018, my wife and I purchased a four story townhome on the Northwest corner of downtown Fort Worth, Texas. Our new home came with unobstructed views of downtown that we assumed would be temporary. The block immediately to our south and the majority of the next block were listed for sale as a parcel ideal for redevelopment. Plan A: Luxury Residential Tower It didn't take long for a developer to propose building a luxury residential high rise on the block immediately adjacent Read More …
development
Leadership Development (#1759)
Leadership Network recently surveyed their readers about areas in which pastors wished they were better equipped. The question invited respondents to choose three areas of ministry. The top answer overall was leadership development. Since congregations of varying sizes have different challenges, the report also showed the top several responses within each church size with average worship attendance of 0-499, 500-999, 1000-1999, 2000-2999, 3000-4999, and 5000-9999. Read More …
Child Sponsorship Works (#1112)
Bruce Wydick, professor of economics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, recently published study findings that show that child sponsorship works. The academic paper appears in the current edition of the Journal of Political Economy. Wydick provided an overview of the material for a lay audience in the June 2013 edition of Christianity Today (p.20-25). Based on research done using a grant from USAID to analyze the impact of child sponsorship Read More …
The Adolescent Brain (#0866)
The video below is a must watch TED Talk for anyone who cares about, works/serves with, and/or is raising adolescents. TED offers the following introduction: Why do teenagers seem so much more impulsive, so much less self-aware than grown-ups? Cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore compares the prefrontal cortex in adolescents to that of adults, to show us how typically "teenage" behavior is caused by the growing and developing brain. So What? Blakemore provides many Read More …
Teaching = Learning? (#0852)
Roger Olson is an evangelical scholar who serves as Professor of Theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University. Recently he blogged about several unhelpful continuing education experiences in his thirty-one years teaching in higher education. One workshop, focused on communication and teaching, unsettled Olson: . . . the over riding message left me dazed and confused: “If they have not learned, you have not taught.” Huh? No amount of Read More …