"Life is precious. Not because it is unchangeable, like a diamond, but
because it is vulnerable, like a little bird. To love life means to
love its vulnerability, asking for care, attention, guidance, and
support. Life and death are connected by vulnerability. The newborn
child and the dying elder both remind us of the preciousness of our
lives. Let's not forget the preciousness and vulnerability of life
during the times we are powerful, successful, and popular."  - Henri Nouwen

For those of you who have an interest in keeping up with what is happening in Kenya, I will occasionally post some e-mails from people I know in Kenya - both medical missionaries and locals.  I think sometimes it is helpful to hear from the people on the ground instead of just the popular news sources. I will leave out or edit some details, when it deals with the potential safety of those sending me the emails. I have permission to share these emails with you on this blog.

Here are a couple emails from my Medical Missionary friends:

12/31/07
While I can’t
prove it beyond doubt, God protected ..... (place where they work) today.  A large mob had
gathered in the square of the small town two kilometers away.  They
decided to attack .....  in some form of retaliation or protest of the
election.  Guns could be heard from here and were coming closer.
Police were using tear gas and weapons.  Families gathered inside their
homes.  The hospital administration gathered the people from the
rival tribe into a safe place as they were being targeted around
Kenya. 

My wife had to decide whether to run home or run to the hospital
as the nursery staff hadn’t shown up.  She chose to run up the hill to the hospital with people shouting, “Wrong way!”
Her husband?  I was deciding with three other surgeons whether to
continue with an emergent operation on a gunshot victim or wait to see what the situation would bring.  We went ahead and hopefully saved that young man’s leg.  Many people were praying
with gunshots in the background.  However you choose to see it, the mob
suddenly decided to change course and attack another location.  I am
personally very grateful to God this evening.  Of course life isn’t all rosy, I still lost my temper somewhat with a busy day
and became short with a few people.  My wife just went back up to the
hospital to work as many staff are afraid to leave their homes to come
to work.  And yes, Mom…I’ll walk her home at ten when she’s done.  Please continue to pray for Kenya and ... (place we work and live).  It is unfortunate so much violence is happening.

1/2/08
Today has been rather quiet here at .... (place they work).  We are grateful.  

However, much violence is still going on.  The local chief’s house was burned down across the river
from us.  All of our local gas stations have been burned.  Locals have
set up roadblocks to get bribes and look for people from other tribes.
We have only had 7 gunshot victims since things began and one arrow
shot victim.  We rarely have gunshots here as so few people have guns.  So most of these guys were shot by police likely doing something they shouldn’t have been.  We haven’t had any injuries from rungus (clubs), pongas (machetes) or knives.  That is our usual trauma mechanism. 

One
clinical officer intern was trying to report for his first day of work
today.  He had just been given a training spot to fill in for someone
else before the holidays.  Apparently he was trying to get here and got stuck about an hour’s drive away.  He called on his mobile to say that he couldn’t make it to his first day of work…he was hiding in a bush due to the violence.  Many staff haven’t
reported for duty so we are struggling some to keep the hospital
running.  Some very local staff have come even off duty to check and
when vacancies have been found, they have filled in.  Most who aren’t here are stuck some distance away having traveled for the holiday.

It
has been hard for our visitors.  We had a great family from the US who
were here for two weeks to give our orthopedist a break for the
holidays.  They were scheduled to leave on Saturday.  With the violence we couldn’t send them by road.  However, our local airstrip has recently become in need of repair such that we can’t
get a plane in.  So this family had to travel with a police escort thru
back roads to get to a large wheat field where a mission plane picked
them up.  They called to say they were airborne en route to Nairobi to
catch their commercial flight home.  I pray their travel in Nairobi is
safe.

I
filled up our Toyota with diesel tonight from the hospital tank.  Ben
was doing the same and it seemed like a good idea to me.  I need to
replace the bushing on the rear strut again but can do that in the
morning so the vehicle will be ready if we need to do something.  For now, I’d rather be here than travel as it’s a bit out of the way.  Stores are being looted so eventually things will need to settle down or we’ll have some trouble there.  Fortunately my wife has a large store of things out back.  I don’t know how long the hospital can last without the roads opening up for supplies.  It is dry season and the river is low.  So we’re having to supplement our hydroelectric plant’s electricity production by using a diesel generator.  Interesting times…

Thanks for all of your prayers.  I’m
certainly more concerned for our staff and neighbors than for us as our
hospital grounds have been without incident.  Some of our staff are
sleeping in bushes as their homes are targets for one reason or
another.  Some are hiding out.  I’ve heard horrible tales of people suffering and I’m concerned for them.  Please continue to pray for the people of Kenya and for peace.

P.S.

Oh yeah, on the light side…My wife scared herself severely today.
She calls to tell me she saw a large truck pull up outside of her
window in the nursery this morning and all of these military guys
jumped out with AK47s.  She was working alone due to staffing and was nervous. She
was also in the middle of changing the light bulbs on an incubator
(source of heat for the babes).  Not paying attention to the bulbs any longer to see what the men with guns were up to, one of them rolled off the table and fell to the floor.  The subsequent “Pop!” was of course recognized as a gunshot…”I’ve been hit!  It won’t be long now. Tell my husband I love him”  she thought to herself…  Finally she calmed enough to realize what happened…  We’re still laughing now as we listen to some jazz at our place….

While I have been in NYC it has been a little difficult keeping up with the news, as the apartment that I am staying in does not have a television.  But I have received calls and e-mails from a number of people about the crises in Kenya.  I have gotten emails and calls from people in the U.S., emails from Kenya and have had a chance to talk with Kenyans here in the U.S. to try and get a sense of what is happening.

Ever since Kenya's independence, while being a democracy, it has still retained a strong sense of tribalism.  There are over 70 tribal groups, and about 40 primary tribes in Kenya.  The largest tribe  is the (Kikuyu) tribe, and they have dominated during elections, because people basically vote among tribal lines. 

So what is different about this past election on December 27th?  It seems that Mr. Odinga of the Luo tribe (the second largest tribe) was able to get some other tribes to vote for him, and thus was looking forward to a victory over Mr. Kibaki, of the Kikuyu tribe.  It looked as if Mr. Odinga had the victory, but then a more than usual amount of votes came from a number of regions.  Mr. Odinga as well as the International community has cried foul when this happened, all the while Mr. Kibaki swears in again, very quickly, for a second term as President. 

Many believe there is strong evidence of a rigging of the vote, and it seems as if the European Union, Britain and the U.S. have not considered Mr. Kibaki's victory legitimate.  But one of my Kenyan friends said, "It doesn't matter what the International Community says, Kibaki will probably remain the President because this is a Kenya election, and it is something Kenya must decide."  He said this not because he agrees with the results of the election, but because this isn't the first time something like this has happened.

One of the reasons for all the unrest in Kenya is there form of government is different than that of the United States.  In the United States the President has more limited power.  In Kenya there is a strong President and a weak Parliament.  He can basically over-rule whatever the parliament says.   

All this to say that since the election, there have been over 300 deaths related to this election.  Kenya bloggers are pleading for peace as they provide eyewitness accounts of violence.  British tourists tell of what they experienced.

I will share with you later some emails I received from some Kenyan's as well as some medical missionaries serving as surgeons in Kenya.  I just wanted to ask you to pray for Kenya.  While some are pronouncing Kenya as an unstable country because of the current violence, my Kenyan friend reminds me that the same thing happened in 1992, but this doesn't make Kenya an unstable country. He says this after having talked with his family and friends living in Nairobi.   

With a lot of tension in the air about Emerging Churches and Emergent in particular, I think if you want to get a sense of this movement, Gibbs and Bolger give us a lot of help in their book Emerging Churches. Whatever you think about Emerging churches, (I have given some of my thoughts here a while ago) one cannot avoid the brutal truth that the church needs to take Newbigin's advice and embody herself in our new context.  To get a better sense of the Emerging Church, a must read is Scot McKnight's - Five Streams of the Emerging Church - an article in Christianity Today.

LITERARY REVIEW
I basically start with my sense of the author's thesis, followed by a
general overview of the book, and then I focus on themes that are
pertinent to my research. With that said, here is my review.

THESIS
 Gibbs and Bolger are convinced that the church in the West is a modern institution in a postmodern world and that she will continue to dwindle in numbers if she doesn’t embody the gospel within this postmodern context. 

GENERAL OVERVIEW
Gibbs and Bolger begin with giving eleven reasons why we must study and engage our current culture. They follow this with defining the emerging church, and distinguishing it from other forms of church.  In the heart of the book they identify three core practices of emerging churches and the six practices that unfold from these.  While the first three are imperative for any church they considered “emerging,” not all nine were.  The book closes with 50 stories of emerging church leaders.

THEMES TO RE-VISIT
Gibbs and Bolger give us  eleven compelling reasons to study and engage our current culture:

1. Because of the Incarnation



2. Because Cultural Understanding Has Always Been Essential to Good Mission Practice



3. Because Christendom and Modernity Are in Rapid Decline



4. Because the West is in the Midst of Huge Cultural Shifts



5. Because the Church is in Decline



6. Because the Majority of Current Church Practices Are Cultural Accomodations to a Society The No Longer Exists



7. Because the Primary Mode and Style of Communication in Western Culture Have Changed



8. Because a New Culture Means That New Organizational Structures Are Required



9. Because Boomers Are the Last Generation That is Happy with Modern Churches



10. Because of the Increasing Appeal of Spirituality Derived from Other Religions



11. Because Many Christians No Longer Follow the Religion of Their Parents 16-23)

The three core practices are explained in chapters 3, 4 and 5.  They are:

    1. Identifying with the life of Jesus
    2. Transforming secular space
    3. Living as community

The six that flow from those three are described in chapters 6-11.  They are:

    1. Welcoming the stranger
    2. Serving with generosity
    3. Participating as producers
    4. Creating as created beings
    5. Leading as a body
    6. Merging ancient and contemporary spirituality.

While these nine practices were the focus of the book the other vital element that they mentioned, but didn’t go in-depth with, is the various theologians that have helped to shape the emerging movement.  They mentioned a number of people, including – N.T. Wright, Leslie Newbigin, Dallas Willard, David Bosch and John Howard Yoder.

The subheadings within each chapter make it easy to navigate and get further descriptions of each of the nine practices quickly, and hearing how people are practicing these nine essentials from the mouths of the practioners makes this book worth reading and studying again.

A friend of mine Ephany from Kenya and I went to NYC from my parents house in Ohio.  Ephany wanted to see NYC before heading back to his country, so I took him.  We met other friends of ours yesterday and traveled to some common sites in the city. 

We are staying with Jon Tyson a friend of mine who is a church planter in Manhattan.  The church he serves is called Origins and really seems to be connecting with the city.  Jon is a passionate man, with a huge heart for this city.  He has been incredibly hospitable to us.

We spent New Year's Eve roaming around the city meeting people from all over the world.  For Christmas I got a Cannon HV20 and was able to get some video footage that I hope to post after I get home.  I probably won't have time before that to edit and post it.  I haven't really worked with video much, but that is one thing that I hope to do more of this coming year.  I would love to have more video posts on this blog.  We'll see.

At around 11 p.m. last night, we went to a New Year's Eve party on 51st street.  It was a party that was raising money for a safe house in NYC for victims of human trafficking.  Jon invited us and we met a number of people.

After the party, I went around the streets talking with people getting some video footage of what New York is like on New Year's Eve after the ball has dropped.  There is high energy and many friendly people here.  I had a great time. 

I want to wish you a Happy New Year this coming year and encourage you to take a moment to reflect on this past year.  I plan to take some time in the next couple of days to examine the past year of my life.  I want to look and see what things were life-giving and what was life-draining.  I want to look over the year and remember the times I walked with the Lord and the times I didn't.  I want to take some time to ask God to forgive me for the times I didn't walk with Him and to help me to walk closer with Him in the coming year.  I will take some time to review each of my roles in life and consider how God would have me focus for the coming year. I hope that you might do something similar. 

May this coming year be a rich and rewarding year for you!

The following that I am going to review was a rich and insightful read.  I was both challenged and encouraged by the illustrative examples and mind blowing thoughts.  The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom is a great book to read to understand the power of decentralization.

LITERARY REVIEW
I basically start with my sense of the author's thesis, followed by a
general overview of the book, and then I focus on themes that are
pertinent to my research. With that said, here is my review.

THESIS
Brafman and Beckstrom make the claim that organizations fall into two basic categories: tradition top-down organizations (spiders) and leaderless organizations that rely on peer relationships (starfish), and believe that every organization ought to consider the power of the starfish (decentralization).

GENERAL OVERVIEW
The authors discuss how fragile and inefficient centralized organizations can be, and how decentralized organizations – which seem disorganized – are often more adaptable and durable.  They provide many examples to support the power of decentralization like the Apache’s, AA, Al Qaeda, Burning Man, the brain as well as the open source revolution (Napster, Skype, Craigslist, Wikipedia, the blogosphere, the Internet). The metaphor is this: though a starfish and spider appear to be structured similarly, when you cut off the head of a spider, it dies.  But when you cut a starfish in half, you get two starfish.  They explain how a decentralized organization is built on five legs and how difficult it is to “take on” a decentralized organization.  The primary weakness of a starfish organization appears to be when resources come into the picture.  “The moment you introduce property rights into the equation, everything changes, the starfish organization turns into a spider” (154).  They mention some of the strengths of centralization.  And then they close by introducing the hybrid organization and how to find the sweet spot between centralization and decentralization.

THEMES TO RE-VISIT
Understanding the five legs of the decentralized organization can be helpful for the church.  They are (1) Circles, (2) The Catalyst, (3) Ideology, (4) The Preexisting Network and (5) The Champion. “Because circles don’t have hierarchy and structure, it’s hard to maintain rules within them; no one really has the power to enforce them… instead of rules, they depend on norms” (90)  AA has norms – the twelve steps and mutual care, Wikipedia has norms – ways for editing entries, burning man has norms – it operates as a gift community.  Norms are the backbone of circles.  Rules are someone else’s idea of what you should do, norms are doing what you have signed up to do.

The Catalyst is someone who forms a circle then quietly fades into the background.  Catalysts let go of leadership and transfer leadership to the circle. The authors say that the catalysts have many characteristics, including: a genuine interest in others, loose connections, mapping, a desire to help, passion, the ability to meet people where they are, emotional intelligence, trust, inspiration, tolerance for ambiguity and a hands off approach. (120-128) “The catalyst is like the architect of a house: he’s essential to the long-term structural integrity, but he doesn’t move in.” (94)

Ideology is about being motivated about the same mission, and this mission connects with other preexisting networks, and the champions take things to the next level.  Champions are promoters, salesmen, friendly, hyperactive and work well in nonhierarchical environments.

Chapter 7 on hybrid organizations (Amazon, eBay, Intuit, Sun, IMB, Oprah, Google, Toyota) is a needed read for church leaders today, as is chapter 8 on finding the sweet spot.  If we want to do ministry in the context that we find ourselves in, and if we want to survive, there is much we need to learn from The Starfish and the Spider.   

This review is of a Ph.d. thesis by Kurt Fredrickson.  I got a lot out of this paper, so I hope my review reflects that.  The full title of the thesis is: An Ecclesiology for Late Modernity: The Missio-Ecclesiology of Deitrich Bonhoeffer.

LITERARY REVIEW
I basically start with my sense of the author's thesis, followed by a
general overview of the book, and then I focus on themes that are
pertinent to my research. With that said, here is my review.

THESIS
In light of a world in rapid and discontinuous change, Fredrickson claims that the church must develop new ways to “redemptively engage multicultural postmodern North America”(i) and that Deitrich Bonhoeffer’s missio-ecclesiology paves the way for us.

GENERAL OVERVIEW
Fredrickson looks to the writings of Bonhoeffer as well as those who have studied his writings to consider how to reshape the church so that she can “once again be a transforming agent for good” in the world.  Fredrickson first looks at Bonhoeffer’s Missio-Ecclesia Vision and describes how his vision is grounded theologically in his Christology, Anthropology, and Ecclesiology.  He then uses Bonhoeffer’s vision to critique North American religion as well as assess the church in the United States, before paving the way forward.  In describing where the church should go, Fredrickson says that Bonhoeffer’s thought is that a new structure begins with metanoia (repentance) and then he takes Bonhoeffer’s thoughts and develops a list of characteristics that describe what the Emerging Missional Church should look like.

THEMES TO RE-VISIT
A key element that Fredrickson picks up on in Bonhoeffer’s writing, which is a significant point for the church today to grasp, is how the church exists for the sake of the world.  This theme is throughout his work.  He says, “The church can never be isolated from the world as God is not isolated from the world. Bonhoeffer notes:  ‘God is the beyond in the midst of our life.  The church stands, not at the boundaries where human powers give out, but it the middle of the village.’” (3)  In another place he states,
“For Bonhoeffer, faith meant engagement. The Christian and the church is never isolated or withdrawn from the world.  Faith is “participation in this being of Jesus (incarnation, cross, and resurrection….) Our relationship to God is a new life of ‘existence for others’, through participation in the being of Jesus.  It is living completely in this world” (12).

With this needed reminder that the church exists for the sake world – he also reminds us that she also needs to remember the posture that she should have as she lives out this vocation.   As Fredrickson notes, “Bonhoeffer was also aware that the church’s stance in society must not be one of triumph and security.  The utter failure of this mode was clearly seen in the German church. [During the rise of Hitler]  The new stance of the church must be one of weakness and suffering. The new stance of the church in waning Christendom will be in exile, in diaspora. It is this weak and hidden church that will become a force for good and blessing in the world” (11).

One of the most instructive, concise, and thoughtful parts of this work was when Frederickson said, “While Bonhoeffer’s missiology is not explicit, it is quite apparent in his writing and actions, demanding a radical new understanding of the gospel and a restructuring of the church.  Bliese summarizes this missional emphasis from five different vantage points in Bonhoeffer thought.”  The following is a summary:

    1.  There is mission with the view from inside: renewal        
         The church to ongoing reform and obedience to Christ alone

    2.  There is mission with the view from below: suffering
         We must see history from the perspective of the powerless and oppressed

    3.  There is mission with the view from outside: embrace
         How can Christ be Lord of the religionless?

    4.  There is mission with the view from the world: solidarity
         Christ is present in the world and for the world

    5.  There is mission with the view from the cruciform center: the cross
         The faith that will make a mark in the world is carries a cross (15-17)

Fredrickson’s look at contemporary Missio-Ecclesial Expressions in pages 72-85 is worth reviewing, as well as his conclusions.

 

Having many personal friends who are Kenyans, my heart continues to go out to those who have had family members killed (death toll is over 600 now) to the over 180,000 people who have been displaced, to the many who are experiencing hunger.

Here is part of an email I received on Sunday from my friend Bishop Kaaleng, who chairs a board that helps to serve over a hundred churches all around Kenya.  Here is what he wrote (keep in mind that Swahili and Turkana are his first two languages):

"What happened after election in Kenya,... in moi's bridge houses were burnt, in Eldoret the church was burnt and
people dead, in kisumu supermarket were burnt 40 people were dead, in
Soi pastor  house was destroyed, 28 children and his family run to
Eldoret army camp these were oprphans children.

In Lodwar were doing
fine with my family and the church. We need your prayers because many
people now need relief food, cloths and medicine. The red cross was
asking the Government if they can assist with the relief but the
opposition rejected. No food transported to our place. most people of kenya are affected now.There was no communication from December up to now, so pray for us. waiting to hear from you."

Bishop kaaleng and family

There is some good news coming from Kenya.  BBC reports that the opposition has canceled the protests that were to take place today in hopes that international mediation might help to solve the crises.  In the meantime, though, Kenya is facing both a health crises, as well as a hunger crises.

One way you can help is to pray for the people in Kenya at this time.  And if you want to help these groups of churches that I am connected with in Kenya, you can send a check to help out. (I give you more detailed information below)  I will personally be wiring some money to the board of these churches in Kenya at some point in the near future.  Last month we wired some money from the Solis Foundation to give micro grants to start ten new businesses, and Kairos also sent some money to help with the orphanages in the Turkana region of Kenya.  It is a ministry called, The Unembraced - picture is on the left, you can click it to enlargen it. 

The gift that you send would go to the board who will then distribute it to the different regions to meet the needs from the damage done due to the chaos that has been happening in Kenya.  If you desire to support the Kenyans in this way, please make the check out to "Kairos Los Angeles", and in the memo please put "Kenya Crises".  One hundred percent of the proceeds will be going to help this current crises.  You can mail you check to:

Kairos Los Angeles
Attn:  JR Woodward
5217 Hollywood Blvd  Studio 520
Los Angeles, CA 90027 

Please continue to pray for these people, and if you have a desire, send a check to help them out as well.  While some parts of Kenya are still facing difficulties, there does seem to be some relief in other areas.  So I leave you with an email that I received from some medical missionaries just twelve hours ago, that shares at least some good news.

"Great news for the peace of Kenya…the rallies scheduled for tomorrow have been cancelled.  I’m not sure if that’s a reflection of talks between the parties, but it’s really good news for getting things back to normal.

We
are starting to see more staff coming back to the hospital.  More
patients are coming day by day.  Surgical clinic could be
interesting tomorrow…we haven’t had one with all of this in about three weeks.  Dr. White had to treat two patients Friday
night (gunshot to the chest and abdomen/arrow shot to the chest) who
had been shot on Monday.  It took them all that time to make it to
the hospital.  Amazing they survived as both had significant lung injuries.  The young man I had to help with last night is doing well.  He had an arrow lodged in the largest vein in his abdomen and coming out of his pancreas.  Tight spot to have an arrow…but we seem to have gotten him through it.  Thank God.

The
person helping me operate this morning is also a pastor.  His name
is Daniel.  He had between 500 and 600 people at his church
yesterday praying for the peace
and safety of Kenya and our area.  Apparently it was an experience
to be there.  Unfortunately one of those families came home to
nothing but the rubble of a house burned to the ground.  It is
unclear how it happened (violence or mishap).  However, today we are seeing a more peaceful scene.

Several
people were able to leave the hospital grounds today and make business
runs into Bomet.  Daniel was one of those as he desperately needed
chicken feed for the 400 that he raises for eggs or meat.  The
concern was that tomorrow’s
scheduled rallies would close the roads down again and halt business
yet again.  Not having food or available transport is certainly
impacting what we see in the hospital these days.  So it is great news that we will have another peaceful day tomorrow."

"A cheerful heart is good medicine."  Proverbs 17:22 NLT

Now that the holidays have come and gone I am looking to continue some of the series that I began before the Holidays.  One of them was on mentoring.  The next number of post in this area, will be some of the things I gleaned from Robert Clinton's writings. 

Clinton describes 8 specific ways that mentors can help develop leaders, which his definition of mentoring flows from, as you will see at the end of the post.

1. They give encouraging and timely advice.



2. They risked their own reputation in order to back the younger leader.



3. They acted as a bridge to bring resources to the younger leader.



4. They modeled various aspects of ideal leadership functions with an expectation that challenged they younger leader to rise to that level of expectation.



5. They gave literary information, which broadened the perspective of the younger leader.



6. They gave financially to demonstrate their concern for and to aid in further training of the younger leader.



7. They ministered together with the younger leader, giving on-the-job training as well as a greater sense of confidence and credibility.



8. They gave freedom to the emerging leader - releasing them into ministry and helping them reach their full potential.

Here is Clinton's definition of Mentoring:  A relational process in which someone who knows something (the mentor) passes on something (wisdom, advice, information, emotional support, protection, linking to resources) to someone who needs it (the mentoree) at a sensitive time so that it impacts the person’s development. 

How would you define mentoring?

I think it is important for us to take times periodically to review specific ways in which mentors can develop leaders, for it is important for the health and the future of the church.  What would you add to this list?

My friend Chris Garner from Australia sent me a passage from what is known as The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus, which probably dates back to the second century, that I found encouraging to think about. 

Robert M. Grant describes The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus (The Anchor Bible Dictionary, v. 2, p. 201):  A late 2d century apology addressed to a certain
Diognetus who is otherwise unknown.  Diognetus was a
tutor of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, who admired him
for his freedom from superstition and sound
educational advice (Meditations 1.6), but he is not
likely to be the recipient, or even the assumed
recipient, of this apology from around A.D. 200.  The
work itself survived (with other writings ascribed to
Justin) only in a 13th century manuscript, formerly at
Strasbourg but burned during the invasion of 1870.

It is widely believed that the last two chapters were added at a later
time. There are two schools as to its dating, one which favors a date
approximately 130 CE and the other which favors a date approximately
200 CE or even later in the third century. I am not sure if there is
evidence to resolve the question.

Here is the piece Chris sent me:

"For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor
language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of
their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked
out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been
devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like
some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But,
inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of
them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to
clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their
wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own
countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with
others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to
them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of
strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not
destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They
are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on
earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at
the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are
persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and
restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all
things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very
dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they
are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour;
they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if
quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are
persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any
reason for their hatred."

You can read the rest of the epistle here.  So what do you think about this passage? 

"A cheerful heart is good medicine."  Proverbs 17:22 NLT

  Sunset in LA 
  Originally uploaded by dream awakener

"Shenk picks up on Bosch's eloquent plea for the entire academic discipline of theology to recover its missionary focus.  Theology for too long has been the study of God sitting still.  We need a dynamic, missiological theology, the study of God on the move.  Shenk spells out a framework for such a theology, which starts not with the doctrine of God but with the doctrine of the reign of God, that is, God on a mission.  'The missio Dei is essential to the integrity of theology'" - Stanley Nussbaum

Yesterday around 50,000 people and 1,000 reports and bloggers descended upon the Moscone Center in San Francisco to take part in MacWorld Conference and Expo 2008 (January edition).  This morning Steve Jobs will be giving his keynote address.  You can get the real time blogging from Engadget at these times:

07:00AM - Hawaii
09:00AM - Pacific
10:00AM - Mountain
11:00AM - Central
12:00PM - Eastern
05:00PM - GMT / London
06:00PM - Paris
08:00PM - Moscow
02:00AM - Tokyo (January 16th)

The Apple Gazette along with a host of other mac sites will also be tracking the keynote moment by moment, with the page refreshing every 60 seconds.   Everybody's made their predictions, now lets see what Job's announces.

First I wanted to give you a reminder of the different kinds of mentoring, according to Robert Clinton's categories and my redeveloped definitions, and then share with you the five dynamics of mentoring.

THE 9 TYPES OF MENTORS
Intensive
1.  Discipler – someone who helps another person gain the ABCs of the faith.
2.  Spiritual Director – someone who helps another pay attention to God in their life, so that they might be more connected to God, become abnormally loving, peaceful and joyful as they grow in understanding their identity and faithfully live out their calling in life.
3.  Counselor – someone who helps another work through past hurts and move toward a sense of wholeness, as well as give timely advice at critical moments in the life of the mentoree. 

Occasional
4.  Sponsor – someone who opens doors for a person in an organization so that they might use their full giftedness to help things more forward.  They link the mentoree to the resources and relationships necessary to find their niche in the group for the benefit of the whole. 
5. Coach – someone who helps another learn skills and attitudes needed for ministry, vocation and life. 
6.  Teacher – someone who passes on or links people to knowledge of all kinds that fit current needs.

Passive
7. Contemporary Model – someone who embodies the kind of life, which inspires imitation.
8. Historical Model – someone who has passed on, but who also embodies the kind of life, which inspires imitation.
9. Divine Contact - a God-given timely intervention, often involving guidance and perspective, that spurs a person toward their God-given destiny.

It is important to remember and understand the five dynamics of mentoring, and how they vary with the different types of mentors.

With that reminder, here are Clinton's five dynamics of mentoring to keep in mind.  It is helpful to realize that each of these dynamics vary with the different types of mentors.

THE FIVE DYNAMICS OF MENTORING
Attraction – mentoring relationships tend to develop because a mentoree desires to emulate something in a mentor, or a mentor sees potential they want to develop in a mentoree.  Attraction is vital in the area of mentoring.

Relationship – it is important to develop trust and intimacy.  Relationships are key to strong mentoring.  It is important to cultivate spaces for the mentoree to be open and share their heart.

Responsiveness - it is important that the mentoree has a learning posture, is teachable and responsive to the Holy Spirit and the mentor. 

Accountability – the mentor should do all that is possible to help the mentoree move toward the established goals.  Continual assessment and evaluation is often needed.  Often people do what is inspected, not just what is expected.

Empowerment – is when the mentor has helped the mentoree experience the transformation in attitude, abilities, walk with God, capacity to minister and live out their calling in life.  Empowerment is the goal of the mentoring relationship.

When it comes to intensive mentoring relationship, generally all five of these dynamics are present.  When moving to the occasional mentoring, the relationship or accountability may not be present.  And when it comes to the passive mentoring the relationship, responsiveness and accountability may be missing.