Friday Summary Report, October 4

Next week I am on fall break from school, which is awesome. The combination of the Hebrew and Greek classes that I am taking this semester is a heavy load (and has led to particularly infrequent posting here). It will be nice to have a week off from intensive study and to “just” focus on full-time ministry.

Here are a few links for your Friday reading:

• This is an outstanding article from a youth minister friend of mine. Faith is more than just following a list of rules, it is placing ourselves within God’s story. And thus, teaching and training others in the faith is more about sharing that story than simply providing a list of Do’s and Don’ts.
• Here is another great blog post that focuses on living in such a way that our future is better than our past. Here’s one brief excerpt: “We must see today as a starting point—a time to make good choices instead of bad ones (that’s part of what repentance is). Once we make the right decisions instead of ones we know to be wrong, we can finish without regret, without nostalgia, and without a desire to go back to now.”
• Earlier in the week, I shared my review of a really good book. You can check that post for some good quotes, or better yet, get the book yourself!

I hope you have a blessed and relaxing weekend. On my end, I will be holding out hope that the Braves and Razorbacks are able to pull off some upsets!

Friday Summary Report, August 9

This week I am working on finishing up research for an exegetical paper on 1 Peter which I will hopefully be able to write next week. It is somewhat important that I finish it up next week, as the following week my fall classes in Greek and Hebrew begin. Yuck.

Here are a few random articles and other items for you to consider:

(1) I enjoyed this blog post which discussed the importance of benevolence ministry in helping those in our world who are in need. As a minister, I can tell you that those whom we help through providing food or clothing will rarely go on to a life of discipleship, but the point of this article is that that doesn’t matter. Here is a takeaway thought that I think is important: “Jesus showed compassion and mercy to people who would never become disciples and so should we.”

(2) Here is a thought-provoking post called, “3 Phrases Christians Should Quit Relying On.” I strongly agree with his distaste for the first two phrases he discusses, although I take issue with the third one.

(3) Earlier in the week my wife and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary. Here is a post I wrote about that.

(4) This is completely random, but I am excited about some things that are happening and are in the works at the Farmington Church of Christ. If you don’t have a church family that you are a part of, come check us out!

Happy Friday!

Friday Summary Report, June 28

My posting has been nonexistent over the past two weeks, which is unfortunate, but also unavoidable:

• I spent last week at Green Valley Bible Camp. This was my 20th consecutive year at Green Valley (8 as a camper, and now 12 as a counselor), and it is always a special place for me and a spiritual highlight of my summer. We had a good week, although my week was unusual as I spent a large portion of it reading and preparing for a grad school class.
• This week I have been in Memphis at HST taking a class on New Testament Exegesis. As always, I have learned a lot and enjoyed my time here, but it has been difficult. My days generally consist of about 8 hours of class time, followed by study (I took a midterm on Tuesday and will take my final exam in the morning) and research (I have a paper to write for the class and have to take advantage of the library while on campus) in the evenings. Doing this after a week of camp (which is physically exhausting) has left me pretty drained. I am looking forward to finishing up tomorrow.

Next week, I will be on vacation in Florida. I am excited about this, and am hoping to have lots of opportunities to (a) Read books of my own choosing, (b) Get back to blogging, and (c) relax. Have an excellent weekend, and hopefully I’ll have something (relatively) significant to say next week.

Friday Summary Report, June 14

It has been a crazy and hectic week, and the upcoming weeks will be similar!

(1) We have had a busy week with Kinsley. Sunday night we had to take her to the ER because she (apparently) has a peanut allergy. It doesn’t seem fair—my little girl has enough to deal with without being deprived of peanut butter as well! In more positive news, we went to Little Rock Tuesday/Wednesday so she could have another EEG. We received a good report, and so she won’t have to continue to take steroids to fight her seizures (which is a significant blessing—the steroids make her cranky and also cause her to gain weight).

(2) I am officiating a wedding tomorrow (for two awesome people), preaching on Sunday, and also preaching next week at camp, so I have had a lot of lesson prep to do. Also, as it happens, we are kicking off new lesson series in the youth group Bible class this week (both this past Wednesday, and this coming Sunday). Lotta work.

(3) I’m going to camp on Sunday. It will be fun (it always is), but I am not prepared for it in any sense.

(4) The week after camp I have class in Memphis. Between now and then I have a lot of reading to do (at camp! How is this going to work?) and assignments as well. It will be a challenge starting a week of class (which is exhausting) immediately after completing a week of camp (which is exhausting).

(5) The week after class we are headed for vacation with Caroline’s family to Rosemary Beach. I am so looking forward to it—I think I’m going to get to read books of my own choosing!

(6) With the busyness upcoming, I’m betting the blogging will be sporadic. Hopefully not too much though—I miss blogging when I am away from it.

Friday Summary Report, February 15

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but I have read some good articles lately that I would like to share with you:

(1) This article, “Top 10 Reasons our Kids Leave Church”, has been talked about a lot over the last few days, but it is an important one. The author makes some outstanding observations. One of his important points is about the church always trying to be “relevant” (notice the quotation marks). The church should always be relevant because the Gospel is relevant, but we have to be careful of trying to be trendy, (which is what churches often try to be instead). Being relevant is crucial; being trendy is lame.

(2) This post is now a month old, but is hilarious: it stereotypes youth ministers based on the type of facial hair they sport (or don’t).

(3) Here is an excellent post and video for parents on how to teach priorities to your children using a family calendar. Don’t be alarmed by the attention-grabbing title of the post—this is an excellent and practical idea for Christian families. Listen to the video all the way through, as some of the best stuff is his discussion on priorities leading to identity and the realization that sometimes living according to our values will come with consequences.

(4) This post I wrote on Hashtag Media has gotten some attention. If you haven’t yet gone to check out the good work these guys are doing, please do so.

Friday Summary Report, November 2

Today’s installment will be brief, as I am in the midst of a particularly busy day:

(1) Yesterday, Harding University (my alma mater) announced that Bruce McLarty has been selected as the next President of the school. It has been interesting to me to read the array of responses from various parties about the announcements. I think Bruce firmly grasps Harding’s identity in the context of Churches of Christ, Christian colleges, and education in general, and it is my belief that he will continue to steer Harding on the unique course which it has chosen. In general, my feeling is this: if you love what Harding is, then I think Bruce is a great choice; if you are critical of Harding, then probably he is not your ideal candidate. Personally, I am excited.

(2) Here is an outstanding post from Scott Bond on “Why Little Girls Need Their Dad.” As a fairly recent father of a little girl, the post was especially meaningful for me, but I think it’s a good read for any Christian father.

(3) Last month set an all-time record in traffic here at The Doc File. This was a pleasant surprise, as my school workload really slowed down my posting after the first few days of the month. Thanks to all who continue to read!

(4) This post on Hashtag Media has gotten some attention. If you haven’t read it yet, check out the good things that these guys are doing.

Friday Summary Report, October 19

It’s been a slow week on the blog, mainly because I have been in Memphis all week at Harding School of Theology for a Global Evangelism class. The class has been really good, but it has been an exhausting week. Here’s a peek into my week:

• Class meets every day from 8:15-5:00, with a two-hour break for chapel and lunch. That’s a long time to be in class each day.
• Chapel is every day at 11:00 AM, and is a nice way to break up the day with worship and remind us all of why we are here. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak today.
• Every morning we have quizzes over some of our reading for class, so at night after class, I generally have to do some reading and studying to prepare for them. In addition to that, I’ve had Greek homework to do as well as some other research, and altogether that means I’ve been spending a lot of my time after 5:00 PM working in the library. It makes for really long days.
• I have stayed with Kevin and Linnea Burr this week, and they have been marvelous hosts all week. It’s always tough being away from my girls for a week, but the Burrs have done a ton to make me feel at home, including cooking for me each night and buying Coke in glass bottles for me (they know what I like!). Hospitality is a Christian virtue that we often neglect, and I have been humbled by how I have been treated all week.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world…actually, I don’t really know what’s going on in the rest of the world because I’ve been super busy all week! Here’s hoping that I’ll be back to more regular blogging next week, but with a Greek quiz, a Global Evangelism final, and a sermon to prepare for, who knows?

Friday Summary Report, September 28

It has been a while since the last Summary Report, but things continue to be busy.

One of the grad school classes I’m taking this semester, Greek Readings, is taking a ton of my time. I’m doing well in the class (we have weekly quizzes), but between the translation assignments, the memorization of paradigms and principal parts, listening to the class lectures, and learning new vocabulary, it is just a lot of work. It’s just the end of September, and I know I’ve still got a lot of the class left, but I am looking forward to December.

I’ll be going to Memphis in a couple weeks for Global Evangelism, which is the second class I’m taking this semester. I have been so busy with the weekly work for Greek that Global Evangelism has taken a backseat, which means that I have a plethora of reading to do over the next two weeks. I honestly don’t know how I’ll be able to get it all done.

In addition to my classes, I have all of my regular ministry responsibilities, so it’s a full plate. My blogging will likely take somewhat of a hit for a few weeks.

Some random tidbits:

• This weekend is Bikes, Blues & BBQ in Fayetteville; I will be doing my best to completely avoid it.
• The Arkansas Razorback football team continues its complete nose dive. We are currently at 1-3, and are facing an unlikely opportunity for a road victory at Texas A&M this weekend. And we thought we had a shot at contending for the SEC title?!

And finally, a few articles from around the net worth reading:

• As Chipper Jones nears retirement, here’s a great article from ESPN on the significance of his career. A first-ballot Hall of Famer, no question. Seriously, indisputable.
• Matt Marino writes a really good blog post entitled “What’s so uncool about cool churches?” in which he critiques the craving for trendy, relevant churches and/or youth ministries. He makes a lot of good points, and some of his thoughts closely mirror some of my own reflections on current problems with youth ministry.
• Here’s another great ministry article (this one more directly related to youth ministry) entitled, “The Myth That Can Kill Your Ministry.” It’s a really good read for anyone who works in youth ministry, or anyone that ever talks to someone who does.

Friday Summary Report, September 7

I don’t have anything too exciting to report on this Friday morning, but here are some interesting/good/important links from around the worldwide web:

(1) First, a story from Louisiana, where, in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac, a father and son teamed up to rescue 120 people over a 12-hour period with boats. Jesse Shaffer, the father, insisted that he and his son are not heroes, but their neighbors would disagree. A great story, and a glimpse of what Jesus meant by “Love thy neighbor.”

(2) Here’s a cool story (with picture) about Clemson wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins getting baptized   after football practice.

(3) The last couple of weeks have been dominated by politics, with both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions taking place. I am not a fan of politics, in large part because it takes place in some weird twilight zone where the truth neither matters nor is really expected. I heard a ton of people raving about President Clinton’s speech, but was it accurate? Similar articles could probably be (and probably have been) written about every other speech that was given at either convention.

(4) Matt Dabbs wrote a really good blog post on the heinousness of abortion. The fact that abortion has been relegated to the political arena and has been turned into a mere talking point by both parties shows how warped and skewed our society has become. I mentioned this in the comments section of the blog I linked to above, but I’ll repeat it here: I am convinced that the legalized genocide against our own unborn is the greatest evil of our society. It is all too often discounted as ‘just another political issue’, but it far transcends politics. I sometimes wonder how long a nation that shows such little value for life will be allowed to continue.

(5) For those who are involved in youth ministry, here is a great post with some very practical suggestions for ways to get your students involved as leaders within your youth group. As Joseph points out, student leadership doesn’t have to be part of some big, elaborate, complicated program.

Friday Summary Report, August 24

(1) After having a couple of weeks of relative calm as summer wrapped up, things have started to get busy again as my grad school classes for the fall semester have started up. My struggles studies in Greek continue, as this semester I take a course with a heavy emphasis on translating readings from the New Testament, and I’m also in a Global Evangelism class.

(2) Things have also been busy at work, as, in addition to regular duties and the start of my classes, I preached last week, am preaching again this week, and have also had various tasks to do to help with preparations for our upcoming year of Thursday Bible School.

(3) Here is an interesting report on the demographics of social network users. Did you know that the average age of Facebook users is over 40 (and getting older!)? Meanwhile, the average age of Twitter users is 37, and is getting increasingly younger. A lot of other interesting information is in the linked article.

(4) I’ve thought for some time that natural evidences for the existence of God don’t do much to convince people who aren’t already believers. Basically, if you already have your mind made up that God doesn’t exist, then you can look at countless examples from nature that scream Intelligent Design to the rest of us (believers) and find some other ways to explain it. But, if you, like me, find that “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19.1), then you’ll enjoy this article on Why Giraffes Don’t Have Brain Damage. The complexity and wonder of God’s creation never ceases to amaze me!

(5) The big news from the world of sports is that Lance Armstrong has decided to quit fighting the doping allegations that have been made against him for years (while maintaining his innocence), and that he will likely have his 7 Tour de France titles stripped from him as a result. I don’t know whether Lance is guilty or not, but I do know that he has been tested constantly for years without ever failing a test, and that there are a lot of people who have been working obsessively to try and tear down his legacy. He might be as guilty as he can be, but there are a lot of elements to the saga that resemble a witch hunt.

Friday Summary Report, August 10

I’ve read several blogs where, at the end of the week, the author will post an assortment of links and/or random thoughts that didn’t really merit their own individual post. After resisting the impulse to do something similar for quite a while, I finally decided to just go ahead and do it.

During a given week, I do a lot of reading (both on the Web and in books), and come upon several things that I would like to share, but I hate to write posts that are just 8 words long. So primarily, these end-of-week summaries will consist of links and quotations that I thought were interesting, but will also include random items that didn’t fit elsewhere. I’m not promising to do this every Friday, but I bet it will happen frequently.

(1) Although this article has been out for a while, I just came across it this week. Basically, a couple of ethicists (apparently it doesn’t take much to be an ethicist these days) have proposed that after-birth abortions (i.e. infanticide) should be permitted on newborns, because a newborn is not a person in the sense of being a “subject of a moral right to life.” This is obviously repulsive, but not surprising, and is really just an extension of the arguments that are already made to justify pre-birth infanticide. At least these people are honest enough to admit that no great change happens in the state of the infant at birth.

(2) Here is a somewhat scary article about a tech guru who had his online identity mercilessly hacked and had his iPhone and laptop wiped clean as a result (losing all the pictures of his infant daughter in the process!). I recommend reading the entire article, but a couple of takeaways: (1) Be very careful about linking online accounts together (using same usernames and/or passwords); (2) Back up all of your computer data on an external hard drive; (3) hackers are jerks.

(3) This week, I successfully finished translating 1 John from Greek (the word successfully is used somewhat loosely here). I do feel some minor sense of accomplishment in doing this, but mostly, I feel a great debt to those who have gone on long ago and translated Scripture from original texts into the vernacular.

(4) As this post remains one of my most-read, most-commented on, and most-disputed from this year, I updated it at the end, to make my intentions in writing it as clear as possible.

(5) Over the last two weeks, I’ve been watching as much of the Olympics as I possibly can. Perhaps I will have a post related to that next week.