• Archive of "MAGL" Category

    Malone Thanksgiving 2007

    November 24, 2007 // 5 Comments »

    If you don’t count the sporadic delicious links that get automatically thrown up from time to time, it’s been a week and a half since I posted anything and it’s certainly not for lack of desire or content – just way busy.

    I am putting in 25ish hours at Starbucks every week and another 30-40 at the Salvation Army as I oversee a few of their holiday programs.

    My good friend Ryan moved in with me just a few weeks ago and I love having him around.

    I have been making good progress on my house (destroyed by renters). Some major painting is getting done, a bought some flooring, and I’ll be getting some carpet here in the next few weeks as well.

    Ryan and I had some other friends over the other night to sort of (re)christen the house as it gets back into shape.

    Last Saturday was the annual Malone Thanksgiving. We weren’t sure that we were going to be able to, but we gathered, perhaps for the last time, at the Hurst’s. It wasn’t quite the same without folks like Sean and Julie, Josh and Rachel, Levi, Joel and Sarah, Branden, Tammy, Suzi, Abby, and others who are usually there, but nevertheless, we enjoyed an amazing game of football, a sweet meal, and, as always, the time of thanksgiving for all that God has been up to in our lives.

    My brother made it home from NYC for the weekend, so I enjoyed some great time with him, my mom, and my 2 grandma’s. Mom hosted a kick-butt meal, and the following day we went to see American Gangster. Just a bit ago, my brother took my mom, grandma, his friend Michelle, and me out to eat at Papa Joe’s for the single greatest meal in recent memory. I had the Pumpkin Sage Gnocchi and it was out of this world.

    I think that’s about it. I do however, want to offer a shout-out to my many friends back in Pasadena – from my house church community (Thias, Damaris, Mick, Tre, Kyle, Andrea, Jorge…) to my MAGL com padres (Chris, Dave, Mark, Deb, Brenda, Barbara, Mike, Ron, Joan, James, Wilmer, and others) to plenty of others – Wess and Emily, Matt K., Sam, Ryan, Autumn, Laura, and on and on. For all those of you that will see this – I love and miss you guys. All the best ;)

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    Posted in Fuller Seminary, MAGL, friends, malone

    Bonhoeffer: Life Together

    August 19, 2007 // 2 Comments »

    A new friend shared this quote with me the other day from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s work, Life Together.

    He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.

    As I was thinking about this, I lamented my tendency to critique church communities based on their failure to embody God’s dream for his people and I quickly began to swing the pendulum the other way, believing that I ought to resign myself to the reality which is the church and push off God’s vision for community to that which will be realized in the fullness of the Kingdom.

    Enter Mark…

    Mark is one of the directors of the MAGL, a good friend, and someone whose life and ministry I’d be thrilled to approximate. As I unpacked the quote and my response Mark was quick to point out that the key to the whole thing is love. It’s not that we should abandon God’s dream and vision for his people, just that we need to love what is more then what should/will be.

    Imagine if God loved us only insofar as we reflected his dream for us? I, for one, am thrilled that God’s love in the here and now gives me strength and hope to step into his vision for me, rather than being contingent on my doing it.

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    Posted in God, MAGL, church, community, love, quotes

    Author’s Perspective

    June 4, 2007 // 8 Comments »

    Ok, so I said that this post was a prelude to something else I wanted to write. Here it is, well, in a round-about way.

    One of the core assignments in just about every Fuller course, for sure in MAGL courses, is book reviews. Students are asked to dive into pertinent subject matter through the writing of others – such is the nature of a word-centered educational experience. When we ask students to do book reviews, one of the questions we ask them is to try and discern the author’s perspective, that is, where is the author coming from?, what cultural or contextual vantage point are they writing from and to?, what experiences or circumstances have shaped or are shaping the author’s writing? These are great questions, they give the reader the freedom to think through what’s behind the words in front of them.

    But here’s the rub. How much can you really know about an author from the dust cover or what you scrounge up online? No matter how much you read, it’s always information from a distance and therefore lacks a vital relational dimension. I suppose all I am saying is that while books are great, there really is no adequate substitute for learning in and through relationships and having ideas and theories modeled in lives lived in the world. It’s that whole “follow me as I follow Christ” thing that I am after.

    Here’s the real connection…

    I have had a number of people tell me that sooner or later I need to pursue a PhD. These have been people who weren’t just being nice, they were actually being intentional about speaking into my life based on their observations and inclinations. I have told everyone that I have 3 criteria for doing a PhD.

    1) It needs to not put me any more in debt.
    2) It needs to have a practical foundation and aim.
    3) It needs to be offered in such a way that I am meant to be more like Christ for having done it.

    A friend who has done a PhD laughed when I told him my criteria – commenting that I’d be hard pressed to find a PhD that met any, let alone all three of those criteria.

    Nevertheless, I remain committed to these criteria if I am to pursue a doctoral degree. I have these criteria because I have serious reservations concerning the dominant form of theological education. Mainly my problem is that it ultimately has nothing to do with character, giftedness, or calling – three of the things which seem to dominate Scripture’s understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus or godly leader.

    So, I am at something of a loss. I love school and I have a high value for education, but I am seeking something that just doesn’t seem to be out there. The trickiest part of it is that without a PhD, I probably won’t have the sorts of opportunities that I’d like to have. The best idea I have had to date is to research what sorts of doctoral degrees are offered in the realm of spiritual formation or the formation of Christian community. I am assuming out of hand that degrees in this vein would intrinsically feature at least the 2nd and 3rd of my criteria. As for the first – I am always accepting donations ;)

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    Posted in Fuller Seminary, Jesus, MAGL, community, leadership, preaching/teaching, spiritual formation, theology