Back from Turkey

I'm Back from Turkey now where I wandered Paul's missionary journeys and the sites of the first seven councils of the church with my two sins, Dave and John. Our bags never arrived so we did the trip with our carry-on stuff and no sleeping bags. After 3000 Kilometers on a rental car (with $10 gal gas) we returned to Istanbul and flew home to America labeling this father-sons trip our best ever. (We go every other year on some sort of father-sons trip) .

Right now I'm doing rewrite on the Apostle's Creed book--I'm on draft 7 today and plan to get a few more drafts in before next week when I leave for two weeks in Wyoming's Wind River Mountains with But and Mason Webb. While I'm gone a dozen "manuscript readers" (Lay person, Bible scholars, young person etc) will read draft 10.

When I return form the Wind River mountains we head out the next day for Hawaii and our 30th anniversary celebration.

The first week of August I complete the last 5 drafts of the Creed book and send it in, then head out to Paul Kind and Brook's wedding on our way to the end-of-summer faculty backpacking trip on the Colorado trail then back in time for Faculty retreat.

I'm leaving for Turkey

After attending the Wesleyan conference in Indy this weekend I'll be in Turkey with my two sons for the next 10 days... following the path of St Paul and visiting the sites of the ancient Christian church. We take these father-son trips every other year.

Last time we backpacked in the high Sierras in the snow and made (an unsuccessful) attempt on Mt. Whitney--snows too deep. Before that we went to Scotland and we also went to Austria for some mountainclimbing. The first time we went we canoed the Swaunee river in Georgia-Flordia.

ON all these trips we realized that biggest feature was the drive-time. Dave and Jon are bright guys and the conversations in the car were the best memories..which is good since we're crosscrossing Turkey this time--600 miles from Istanbal to Antioch and then wandering around to the rest of the sites between... Perga, Antioch-Pisidia, Derbe. Lystra, along with the more frequently visited sites like Ephesus and the seven chruches of Asia...

For now I'm putting my Apostle's Creed book to rest... I'll get back to rewrite when I return mid-month.

I love summers!

Changing World Changers

While doing some manual labor all week I’ve been thinking about words and how they are often containers into which we can pour new meaning.

Take “world changers” for instance. Ten years ago or so when Indiana Wesleyan University launched the new World Changer emphasis the meaning of the term was clear. Every faculty and student was expected to read Briner’s book—Roaring Lambs which has terrible ecclesiology but interesting ideas on the role Christians in the world. Briner represented the best of the boomer thinking—Christians didn’t have to be second class at anything but we can be just as successful in business, just as good a coach, just as rich and just as famous as anyone else in the world.

So IWU brought in examples of world-changers to speak in chapel: famous actors who had made it in Hollywood, writers who had made the New York Times bestselling list, rich businessmen, renowned surgeons or prominent politicians. These were “world changer models.” Missionaries, social workers, elementary teachers and nurses were not invited. We even started a hall of fame inducting famous world-changers and placed their bronze head in the library to remind students of what they were to try to become. The message so popular with boomer parents was: Be successful like these people.

We started the UNV 180-world changers course where we tried to convince freshmen students to go for the gold and change the world. While we never said so directly but the implication was clear: make it big time in the world. We were saying you should grab the gold ring of worldly success so some day you too might have a triumphal return to IWU as a true world-changer. For more than ten years this is what “World-changer” has meant.

But words do not have fixed meanings. The people of God have an uncanny way of pouring new meaning into old words. When you alums return to IWU in the future be prepared for this shift in what “world-changer” means. It may not mean what it meant when you were here. We now have a new generation of students and parents (and evangelicals) and this is changing world changers.

So, how is “world-changer” changing? It is coming to mean “making a difference where you live—one by one.” A world changer is coming to mean a person who works as a nurse serving others out of love even if you never get famous for it or write a best-selling book. A world changer is coming to mean a teacher who purposely chooses to go to a third-rate inner city school to make a difference in the lives of poverty stricken students. It is increasingly coming to mean doing something to address AIDS in Africa, stop sexual slavery, starting feeding programs for the poor, and developing the personal discipline of recycling and reducing one’s energy footprint. It has less to do with becoming rich or famous and more to do with serving and loving. You can be a world-changer now by serving as a youth pastor in South Dakota or by running a homeless shelter in Atlanta. The success content of the term is being gradually displaced with a new moral content.

Nowhere is this so clear as in the new book the UNV180 students now read calling for Christian action on behalf of the poor and needy (more on that book in September). I expect sooner or later we will induct someone into the WC hall of fame like this—some non-famous servant who loves and serves quietly.

Of course REL alums all recognize this is all about theology. Not just Briner’s poor ecclesiology, but good solid pneumatology. The church is guided by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is constantly prompting change and correction among the people of God. And, sometimes He does this by prompting us to pour new and better meaning into old words. That’s what seems to be happening right now with the term “World-changer.” My hunch is most of my former students thought this is what it should have meant all along.

Spiritual Formation course for M.Div

I've been thinking this morning of what a spiritual formation course would look like for the new M.Div program IWU is considering offering in the future.

WHAT WOULD SUCH A COURSE LOOK LIE?

The first issue is to face what the SF course is about—become a “better monk” personally by doing more fasting and praying, or is the course going to reflect more recent developments in spiritual formation where the focus is on the spiritual formation of the body of Christ—that is Paul’s original use of the term -- groaning as in childbirth until Christ if formed in you (plural you).

If we personalize spiritual formation it may be more popular to Americans already absorbed with themselves and it becomes like the spiritual gifts tests—another way to think about me and my preferences and my modes of personal spirituality. But if we consider that the pastor’s profession is to form Christ in the community of Christ then we have another matter. Should we do both—yes, but what many pastors lack is the knowledge and skills to form Christ in persons and people.

If a dentist was as random about her work as pastors are their SF work the dentist would give me a sermon on Chemistry when I went to him with a toothache. There are proven methods of spiritual formation of a group (and they are almost always group experiences in the body of Christ, not just privatized "devotions" or fasting or other private disciplines.) This second kind of SF is what pastors need better equipping for. The reason why we have churches full of shallow and immature Christian is the “dentist” does not know how to do the dentistry but knows mostly how to explain chemsitry based on their Bible courses. They need to know the proven means of using the Bible to bring about life change.

Many pastors assume “to know is to do.” So they lead bible studies (or proclaim in preaching) the Bible assuming that once it is clear what god wants the people will live it. They don’t, of course. If we were a Calvinist school ths would work too-for we would teach and proclaim and wait for God to do the transformation of whomever He has pre-slected to enliven. But we are Weslayen. Transformation occasinally happens through understanding but more often through proven methods of Bible study and preaching.

So “curriculum people” like Norm Wilson and me might see a course like this including things like this:

1. History & theology of the Bible as a Spiritual Formation tool. (History of the Bible’s use as a tool for spiritual formation including various methods used in the past; Theological underpinnings using the Bible as a SF tool including the role of the Holy Spirit, the body of Christ along with individual revelation; current approaches to transformation using the Bible text.)

2. How people change. (How do people change in response to the Bible? What are the sociological, spiritual, pedagogical, theological and psychological “change factors” that are ingredients besides the actual text of the Bible that must be considered in using the Bible as a tool for prompting life change? Exploring various theories of how God changes persons [and a people] by meeting them in the Word. Examining my own methods of SF in my leadership of the church and discovering areas where I need to develop.)

3. Bible outcomes. (Discovering the multi-level outcomes in the Bible—primary and secondary, corporate and individual—for describing a godly person and a people for God… cognitively, affectively, behaviorally—what are we trying to “make” when we make disciples? Developing, sorting and prioritizing the Bible’s expected corporate and individual outcomes then mapping outcomes to the generalized needs of today’s church and also the specific needs of my own local church, producing a schedule or curriculum or plan for preaching and teaching—a “curriculum” of sorts for the spiritual formation using the Bible.)

4. Personal spiritual formation. (Rather than addressing this first as if corporate SF springs from personal life [as Americans assume] put it last since personal spiritual formation more often springs from the corporate experience as above; focus on habits and attitudes especially those of a local shepherd.)

..at least those are my [summertime] breakfast thoughts....

Book & Bulbs

This week I’ve been doing two things:

1. WRITING ON THE CREED BOOK. I am taking a break right now half way through the next to last chapters---after today I should only have one more chapter to finish my first draft. I send these drafts to Chris Bounds so he can set me straight where I’ve missed something or gotten my doctrine wrong. Chris specialized in orthodoxy—so I should be safe in what I’m saying. (However, the book will spark controversy nonetheless since many “Sunday school Christians” depart from orthodoxy at points like the full divinity and humanity of Jesus, the equality of Jesus with the Father and Holy Spirit, and the resurrection of the body. I am writing on the resurrection and ascension of Christ today—half done now at 2PM.

2. I’VE BEEN REPLACING INCANDESCENT BULBS IN MY HOUSE thanks to Adam Thada’s “witnessing” to me. We actually did this in the early 1990s—maybe about 12 years ago but over time we switched out those bulbs for incandescent bulbs for various reasons. They didn’t fit in lamps under the hoops, they were too large to put in enclosed globes in this older house (we bought them for a new house in Indy), and they were so dull we could not read by them. However the newer bulbs are great. They are small enough to fit almost anywhere. They are brighter—even some the equivalent of 100 or 150 watt incandescent bulbs—yet using far fewer watts. And the best news is they are cheaper. The dull-big-bulbs we bought in the early 1990s cost us about $20 per bulb (they all still work) but these newer bulbs cost only a few bucks each—and given their almost-eternal life the cost per year is actually lower. I am only part way finished, having to replace the rheostat switches with flip switches here and there, but I’m happy. IN some cases we have MORE light for LESS wattage. Thanks Adam for the witness.

Knobstone hike

I just finished my "Graduation afterglow hiking" on Indiana’s Knobstone Trail—a carefully designed trail that figures to offer the maximum amount of knee pain for the maximum amount of effort.

We started at Deam lake (South end) Monday afternoon and walked about 5 miles in blazing sun (the oak trees were just coming out so the sun came thru strongly giving us both a pink tint now). We did slow walking @ 1MPH, but that looked good to others since we forgot the walking sticks and had stopped at a CVS and bought Sharon a cane--thus other hikers would see this old couple—“One even was walking with a cane!” making 1mph look pretty good. (Alas, we only we only saw two other sets of hikers--and one of them passed us while seated so the effect was lost on 50% of the hikers ...and it turned out we already knew the other set). My foot muscle (I call it a heal spur but I don't think it really is) and Sharon’s catching up for the last 10 years of administration are the causes of the reduced pace). We camped about five miles into the trail in a never-before-used stealth campsite

On Tuesday we walked again all day in the sun. On this evening we passed Southbound Hikers Adam & Becky Thada, just graduated from IWU who were headed south. We had hidden a key to our car behind one of our tires and they agreed to take our car back to the north end of the trail and drop it off where they had left their car --meaning neither of us had to hitch-hike back to our cars. Nice break, though we will miss riding with the toothless chewin' locals now. We made about ten miles in nine hours this day—nothing to brag about to fastpackers, but "hey, we're out here!."

On Wednesday the sun disappeared and we trudged all day under cloudy skies--up and down and up and down the irritating and terribly-built Knobstone trail (Indiana does not deserve to have a hiking trail!) Sharon loved her cane and decided to never use walking sticks again. We negotiated the infamous Knobstone "steps" built by trail-design-challenged Indiana DNR people. At 4:30 the huge front came through with banging thunder and huge raindrops and we pitched our Henry Shires Tarptent just as the thunder bursts broke loose. Alas, in the rush we pitched the TarpTent on a major runoff drainage and the water flowed right under our tent--about an inch deep. You could pat the floor of the tent and there was a nice cushion of water there. You could also pat the INSIDE of the tarp tent and get wet too—having failed to maintain the “interior bathtub” carefully in the rush. We got a bit wet but not seriously so, bailing out the water like a cnoe, and re-establishing the “bathtub” correctly so the water stayed OUTSIDE the tub, the rest of the night was sorta dry. We lay in the tent the rest of the evening and watched "24" in our imaginations (we just started on “24” and are up to 4AM on day one of the California primary now) but the mental reruns got boring soon. The tremendous rainstorm continued all night. After a restless night with 2" puddles surrounding the tent, and a 1” runoff running underneath us all night, we awoke to a fine drizzle the next morning and packed up our damp everythings and walked in the drizzle.

Thursday we walked in muck--the several-inch rain had turned the trail into a mudpie. The creeks were 6-10' wide or mroe and we gave up jumping them all and simply splashed through them We made our self-assigned 10 miles in the dripping rain by suppertime to "the Favorite IWU campsite" at mile 36--the one by the creek. As I was about to get the tarptent out, Sharon suggested 'Let's keep walking--after all, all we can do is sit here in the tent bored" (I'm not very interesting, actually, and we had re-watched all the 24 episodes) so we walked on and did another 3-4 miles, camping in a pine tree forest at mile 40--the one where Woodbury-Kind & Schmerse-to-be camped last.

Awaking at first light this morning Sharon led us in drizzle to the end on that final easy leg of the Knobber arriving at the car (nicely placed there by Adam and Becky) by 11AM this morning. We tossed our wet stuff into he trunk, cranked up the heater full speed and drove home with all our windows open. Arriving in Marion by 2PM, we unloaded the car into the washer and/or drier and are now headed for a delightful evening watching the next few hours of "24".

I almost always need to get away right after graduation—to not think about school for a while and this worked. This time I was able to do the runaway trip with Sharon which was a real treat. This hike was also a test hike of sorts--to see how we'll fare on the Colo. Trail with the faculty hiking club this coming August. The Knobber maxim "ten will get you 15" (10 miles on the Knobber will get you 15 out West) means we will be able to survive the Colo Trail—at least in the “stay-back group” on that hike. We’ll let the Marathon runners and youngsters go ahead and we'll bring up the rear an go for 75 instead of 100 miles. That will work since Jeanie Argot plans to take that hike on her worn out knees--she needs knee replacements but plans to wear out her birth-knees on that hike. She can do 15 on broken knees she thinks. We also decided to "do more cooking" on that hike, nudging the hike more toward "camping along the Colorado Trail" than just "long distance fast packing."

Also, this hike once again reminded of Sharon's indomitable spirit—she is not a natural hiker and never hiked oververnight when she married me. But when you toss at her a thousand stairs and several days of rain and she just sticks with it and gets stronger every day. I remembered this week why we stuck it out and finished that thousand mile AT hike back in ‘72--you "just do it." (then you take a shower and watch a few more hours of "24.")

Mark & Jess & Paul—we knocked over a tree each for you and remembered the “Platypus prank” and the Maundy Thursday and Easter services at the appropriate places. Remembered places where Burt, & Kerry & Phil and others did this or that--many memories tied to places on that trail.

WELCOME TO NEXT FALL'S COURSES!

I doubt anyone is really interested much in this--but I just sent an email to all the students in NEXT FALL's classes welcoming them to the course... The trhee main courses I wrote to so far have
...Local Church Education-- 27 students
...Church Leadership-- 27 students
...Teaching the Bible to Adults--8 students

More will sign up later but here is what I said to those already registered:

WELCOME to next Fall's Teaching the Bible to Adults class!!! You'll love this class...

It is a comfy group who DOES Bible study each week as well as learns HOW to do Bible studies for all adults--from college age through older adults.

I have a major passion for this class so you'’ll get "Drury at his best" I hope. The class includes both ministry majors and others--people who want to learn how to teach people for life change. The course is not really named right--we don't actually teach the Bible -- we teach PEOPLE... using the Bible in a way that inspires people to become Christ-like. It will be a wonderful Thursday evening and you'll look forward to it every week I bet.

We will first explore the stages of adult life and the characteristics of college students through older folk, then most of our time will focus on teaching methods...the ways people interact with the Bible that produces spiritual growth. We'll "learn by doing" often--actually having a Bible study as a way of learning how to lead one. If the course works well we will all come away having grown ourselves by our own study. The course assumes the Bible is not just a book that should be studied like one sticks a corpse on the table to do a post-mortem, but is a powerful living word of God that (if approached right) changes people. We'll learn how this process works and "how people change."

Usually we'll meet around one table (in the religion division conference room) but sometimes we'll move to a "home setting" to experience Bible study like small groups do in homes or residence halls. I have not finalized the syllabus yet but I'm thinking it would be cool if we could all lead several Bible studies ourselves--some in class and some in the residence halls or at church to practice our skills.

The group itself will become a Bible study group--of loving, caring people committed to our own growth--sort of a mentoring group under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. While we will care about the content of the Bible our primary focus is on how the Holy Spirit uses the Bible in a group to change people--to help us (and others) grow and develop. It will be exciting!

TO DO OVER SUMMER: Nothing particularly you need to do to prepare other than think of where you might hold several Bible studies yourself next year…in a church or on campus. Otherwise just get the texts before the first night of class.

SEE YOU ALL THURSDAY EVENINGS NEXT FALL! cool!
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WELCOME to the Fall semester’s Church Leadership class! This is a “senior course” (though occasionally a junior takes it) You must be accepted into the major to take it—so if you aren’t accepted by Sept 1 you’ll be kicked out of the course by Bonita the first week of school—so apply before you leave for summer if you’re not accepted yet!

Be prepared for:
1. Small group work—you pick two others to make a group of three and this group will be vital to your success in the course—in many ways your grade will depend on who you get with—you get to arrange your own group. Many assignments are group-created—you work together and can borrow each other’s work. If you see names above of people you want to be with—go ahead and arrange it before hand if you want to.
2. Problem based learning. Some of the work in the course is just like “real life” -- you only get a problem that you have to go and dig out the solution for. For instance sometimes we simply assign the group to make a plan for planting a church in Marion—and you have to figure out what kind of church, where to meet, how to budget for it, and even go check what renting places to meet cost. One of the groups this semester planned a church and it looks like one of our seniors will actually stay in Marion next year and plant the church they dreamed up. Another PBL assignment just gives you a bunch of terms written down in a church finances meeting for you to figure out what they mean. This PBL approach is “Like life” in that you have to find out where the answers are and how to check them to see if they are reliable.
3. Practicum learning. You’ll need a local church where you can interview a pastor, meet with the Treasurer, sit in on a board meeting, and other exposure to the administration of a church. Most churches won’t let you “lead” the church so this experience is more about the administration of a church than leading it.
4. Uncle Keith stuff. This is the course where I “tell it like it really is” the most. Most students like the stories as much as the hard content of this course. Here is where you get “the real truth” about what happens in the very-human organism of the church.
5. Units of study Here is what we usually deal with: (may change based on this semester’s final input—I’ve not opened that yet)
-People—how to recruit, motivate, inspire, remove people.
-Leadership theory—a unit on formal leadership theory and the “Strategetics” wisdom of leading and working with people.
-Conflict—managing it and resolving it—between others and yourself and the church or other ministers.
-Church finances—budgeting and church finances terms
-Leading meetings—the course is sometimes nicknamed CLPL—meaning Church Leadership and “Parliamentary Law” --we have a short unit on deliberative meetings.
(The following is the closing personal leadership unit)
-Personal finances—personal budgeting and ministers’ income taxes and housing.
-Integrity matters—avoiding sexual sin, financial ethics, honesty and ethics in the ministry.

See you next Fall!!!!

coach d
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WELCOME to the Fall semester’s Local Church Education class! This is an awesome course—probably the best course I teach—so we’ll have a great time!

Be prepared for:
1. Lots of writing—a chapter a week for your “book.”
2. Small group work—you pick two others to make a group of three and this group will be vital to your success in the course—the better the group the better your paper and grade. If you see some names above you want t like up with now go ahead and set it up—you get to arrange your own group.
3. Student teaching. The practicum requires you to do “student teaching” in Sunday school—any age group, so be planning to attend Sunday school next semester and working with a “master teacher” who will let you teach twice and meet with you after to help you improve your teaching.

I think you’ll love this course. It is a major milestone for CM-YM students (along with Rec Management majors who have an alternative option). The group you establish often becomes so bonded that you will forget the rest of those in class—so pick your group carefully.
See you next Fall!!!!

coach d
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I'll also be teaching the related practicums for these courses plus one breakout section of UNV180--we're trying a new thing this semester--a breakout section of all the Religion division students togeter with a REL prof as their breakout leader--I'm doing one of those sections on Friday afternoons... total load for the semester for me will be about 15 hours, better than this year!

I'm getting a raise!

Our President held a meeting Friday and announced all the faculty at IWU were getting raises. Not cost-of-living raises (we already got that) but an actual bump in salary on top of that. In fact we're getting a bump for each of the next three years in a row beyond COLAs. We are all quite happy here of course. The biggest raises will go to full professors with earned Doctorates of course, and the rest will get smaller raises but that is consistent with the current effort to push all faculty to finish their "terminal degrees."

IWU is already a great place to teach but this will make it even nicer--especially for the younger profs with kids-who-need-sneakers. It is not just nice for those already teaching but it will make us vastly more attractive to professors from other schools to come here. Not that they'd come for the money--but a bigger salary will make it easier to move for sure.

Oh yeah--Jim Lo is returning too--he'll be the professor of Spiritual Formation--not because of the salary, he just loves us all!

When all this is finished a full professor might still be able to earn more money at a few CCCU schools--like schools in California where housing costs a tad more than Marion. In this town a family of four can still buy a four bedroom house for $80,000... merely a down payment in some of the towns where CCU Universities have higher salaries.

And to boot the new Pres has figured out how to do this without adding it on to tuition. So, the faculty is in a big KUDOs mood right now, and might remain there for the next three years. Best of all I bet more will jump in and finish their PhDs.

It comes at a nice time for us all. Faculty get crabby at the end of the year. We get tired of the grind, tired of other faculty, tired of meetings and even tired of [some] students. This is a nice boost--like a Christmas present in summer!

As for me I think I will wait until I retire to do my PhD. I've always admired George Failing who started a PhD in his late 60's..or was it 70s? When people were astonished and asked why, he replied "I want to learn." Interesting notion!

I like Rick Warren but this bugs me

I like Rick Warren a lot--he is one of my favorites. But one thing bugs me about Rick. He keeps sending me emails as if he is writing just to me when I know he has sent the email to the whole list.

Here is what I got this morning:
Just wanted you to know that the Holy Spirit led me to pray for you and your Easter services several times this past weekend. I also gathered a group of local pastors on Good Friday morning to pray for all the pastors we know and their services. I’d love you hear how your Easter went if you have time to write.
We’re in this together friend.
Rick Warren

This sort of mailing is too fake-ish for me. I'd rather Rick send something to his entire list saying something like "I have been thinking of the 10,000 pastors on my mailing list this morning and I picked several to pray for by name." Or some other way of admitting he was not writing a personal letter to me but this was a mass mailing to his whole list masking as a burden for me.

Oh well, I still like Rick Warren. I just wish he'd be more authentic in his mailings. Maybe I've hung around with young people too much.

Grading papers

OK my first papers (AKA "books") are turned in and I'm in grading mode now.

This is one of the most happy times of a professor's career. I hate grading yet at the same time I love seeing the work students do. I have the "Church Leadership" books now and am grading them. It was a course that I was not satisfied with this semester. It never seemed to take off. Last semester it was my best course. This semester it just didn't seem to get traction. BUT now that I am looking at "papers" I'm feeling much better. It is something like preaching--you leave the pulpit whipped thinking you blew it, then somebody tells you God really spoke through the sermon you thought you flubbed. That's how these books are--when I see them (well, most of them) I feel like I did in fact earn my keep this semester. Even when I know that some (many?) think it was "just an assignment" I know that they have gathered stuff that is vital to their future ministry and I'm delighted. The remainder of the semester in CLPL we're doing "the personal life of the minister" and that comes in a separate paper--a smaller one: finances, taxes, advice from grads about the first year in the church, and ethics and morals for ministers. It is an easy section for me and provides a "soft landing" in the course. Today I taught 5 students--all the rest were Wesleyen students off touring the Headquarters today. They missed the "Minister's taxes" lecture... poor students--I always put some tough questions on that on the final exam ;-)

The rest of my courses... maybe I will say asomething about them later. My fav this semester is LCE--it is an incredible collection of 38 people! Whew! Tell you later more.