Okay, just how serious can we be about the relationship between theology and economics, discipleship and work? I have already noted in a couple of previous posts this theme and some of the efforts we have attempted at NTS. Now I am sitting at a retreat with around 30 theologians and administrators from over a dozen seminaries and universities exploring the theme. 
I left Kansas City and subfreezing temperatures for La Mirada’s 70 degree weather… but also rain, welcome to Southern California winter (just a note for my colleagues who think I am slacking :0-)
Greg Forster opened the conference last night with a thought provoking observation. He understands that both extremes of the national economic debate, the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, revolve around a continuing concern. Each group asks the question: “if I work hard and play by the rules, will it mean something?” That type of economic anxiety, that desire for human flourishing through meaningful work, under gird the goals of the Kern foundation and might serve as a backdrop for the discussion this week.
The issue began simply enough in a discussion over “service” at my local church in Nashville. While most people in the small group checked off their level of “church” service, one lady (who was active in the local congregation) listened pensively and finally lamented “I just wish someone would tell me that my work as an elementary school teacher was Christian service as well.”
It was bound to happen, the increase in Twitter feeds has sparked a number of blog sites on twitter etiquette… er, is that Twittiquette? Brittany Fitzgerald’s recent article on the Huffington Post is just the most recent example, titled 
So will Twitter just another self indulgent slight of hand? For some perhaps, but I think there are other uses… at least I hope so since I manage several Twitter feeds :0-) First, Twitter may be the fastest way to crowd source a number of exceptional articles online and curate them into regular feeds on a website. I have used Twitter feed widgets on this blog just to manage varying resources on family spirituality, media, neuroeducation and higher education. Now that many quality news sources post leads on stories through twitter you can catch “headlines” even more quickly than before. Of course there is the occasional, “I just got out of bed this morning tweet,” but that only rivals the message board of Facebook on any given day. What you have is a cross between the old telephone “party line” of listening into people’s lives with the more helpful electronic version of the Associated Press or United Press International Wire Services, but with much more focused topics.
The second honor came as I was wrapping up my year as president of the Religious Education Association. Jack Seymour, editor for the journal, invited me to serve on the editorial board of that association, titled 
Discipleship Commons 