Flying at 3500 feet

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Dean G. Blevins

2013-02-20_09-22-18_423I am sitting in four days of board meetings for the International Board of Education and the Global Committee for Global Education and Clergy Development.

2013-02-21_10-07-46_367At the same time Kansas City is quickly being buried under around a foot of snow that has already closed the airport.

However, there seems to be a lot of “flying” going on in the meeting. What I mean is that often we are reporting and deliberating on efforts around the 2013-02-21_08-53-28_298globe with a vantage point that seems, at times, like we are cruising at 35000 feet trying to listen intently to efforts around our church to educate and shape particularly ministers within our denomination.

To give you some idea, 2013-02-20_09-17-40_97Education Commissioner, Dr. Dan Copp, reported that the Church of the Nazarene has 53 seminaries, colleges, universities that serve 117 world regions across 6 continents with 52, 439 students. You might call that the “satellite” view of global education.

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Wesley’s Tuesday Evening Prayer for Families

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Dean G. Blevins

Wesley’s written prayer for families for Tuesday Evening. John wrote morning and evening prayers for families, I am offering paraphrases to my Family Ministry class

Everlasting Father of all strength, exclusive Lord of all creatures in heaven and earth, we acknowledge that our total existence and everything that brings comfort depends on You, the source of all goodness. We possess nothing that does not come from your free and overflowing love, our blessed Creator, and from the richness of Your grace, our blessed Redeemer. So we give You the honor and praise alongside all creatures where you have revealed how great and good You are. We also give You all our love and obedience as long as we exist, just as the ancient prayers have taught us that “it is good, right, and dutiful that we should always and everywhere give you thanks, our Lord” (BCP). We earnestly give both soul and body to You, so You can completely govern and oversee our lives according to your holy will.

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Posted in Family, Practical Theology, Spiritual Formation, Wesley | 1 Comment

Entrepreneurial Principles

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Dean G. Blevins

I attended MidAmerican Nazarene University’s Tuesday’s program for alumni and local business leaders. I was interested in the program, organized by Graydon Dawson and the MNU Fastrac for Entrepreneurial Leadership

Unfortunately the program ran long (odd for business people but not for university promotions… I know the culture too well : 0-) so I had to leave early. However, there were some interesting insights from the first two presenters that may translate into principles within ministry or other forms of Christian vocation. Some key principles I heard:

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Posted in Discipleship, Economics, Leadership, Practical Theology | 1 Comment

Just in Time

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Dean G. Blevins

2013-02-17_11-00-37_685Worshiped at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene this morning. Incredible worship and sermon by Rick Harvey on the parable of the talents (Matt 25) and our preoccupation with “stuff,” and an investment of resources for the kingdom. Rick apologized to the congregation since he feels like he is “yelling” at times, but not to me. What I “heard”  is as passion and an enthusiasm for what God is doing and and can do through this community’s stewardship. Rick provided a great connection between everyday financial wisdom and whole life stewardship. Great job Rick.

2013-02-17_11-04-33_136Yet what caught my attention was the gathering for worship. We arrived early to second service, preferred by college students. While sitting in the sanctuary 10 minutes before worship the church sanctuary seemed almost empty. Five minutes later people were just arriving and talking in the sanctuary but still a modest crowd considering the size of the sanctuary. Meanwhile while I was musing on Facebook with my cell phone (yes, boys with their toys) about our proclivity to sit in the same place in a sanctuary regardless of church. (Yes, on Facebook)

2013-02-17_11-18-50_984and then suddenly I noticed
there was a countdown on the worship screen.

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John Wesley’s Prayer for Tuesday Morning

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Dean G. Blevins

Wesley’s written prayer for families for Tuesday Morning. John wrote morning and evening prayers for families, I am offering paraphrases to my Family Ministry class.

Good morning our great and mighty King, the owner of heaven and earth. All the angels bless and praise you, the Father of all spirits. You have created all things and wisely made everything while spreading love over all of your creation. We yearn to thankfully acknowledge your gifts to us… alongside all your creatures… and particularly recognize your grace and approval, demonstrated to us in Jesus Christ, our merciful redeemer. Give us a deep sense of the same love which moved Jesus to die for us so He might become the Author of eternal life for everyone who obeys Him.

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John Wesley’s Monday Evening Prayer For Families

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Dean G. Blevins

This past week I began my Family ministry class. One of my personal projects for this semester is to write a paraphrase of John Wesley’s written prayers for families. John actually wrote fourteen prayers for each morning and each evening for families to pray together. I use to read them walking to and from doctoral study classes. Finally I decided to try a paraphrase to update the 18th century English in them. I started with Monday evening since that is when the class met. Each week I will follow with a fresh paraphrase. It should be interesting.

Monday Evening

Father of all strength and mercy, in you we live, we move, we owe our very existence. It is because of your tender compassion that you kept us safe this day, gave us comfort and hope for the future you provide. We give you praise Lord; we bow before you and admit we actually own nothing that did not come from you. But what we have received in this life we give you thanks to you God, who daily pours out your gifts upon us.

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Posted in Children, Discipleship, Family, Pedagogy, Religious Education, Spiritual Formation, Wesley | Leave a comment

Economic Wisdom and Human Flourishing

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Dean G. Blevins

2013-01-24_17-18-26_247I just got back from the retreat sponsored by the Oikonomia network. In addition to my earlier post, I joined a number of school faculty in a marvelous discussion on faith and economics.

We heard a solid overview around the role of money and economics by Victor Claar that proved helpful as a sound introduction to economics and monetary theory (both insightful but also disturbing).

Dallas WillardIn addition we heard two presentations by Dallas Willard, well known for his work on spiritual formation. Willard pushed the themes of theology and economics, providing I think a key framework based in large part on a theologically shaped virtue ethics (at least that is how I understood the backdrop).

Trying to summarize his complete presentation is not easy; however, Dr. Willard did provide talking points that should provoke considerable reflection and discussion. (I did include some additional info in parenthetical statements where Willard elaborated on his perspectives). Dallas Willard’s humility is lost when these are presented in stated form, but we need to recognize that his conviction is also shaped by his willingness to see each point a beginning point for ongoing conversation and nuance. I loved it. Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Economics, Leadership, Vocation | Tagged | 2 Comments