Where's Nelly?

Presenting, Fuller's 2007 School of Intercultural Studies. A special haiku award goes to ye who finds me the fastest, and scribes it upon the comments. I will write a haiku in honor of you and post it for all of blogdom. (Hint: I am partially hidden behind one very tall human.)

As a way of introducing my current state of studying, I thought I'd point out the professors whose classes I'm taking. Incidentally, I think it's very cute that they all decided to sit together.

Key:

K = Dr. Chuck Kraft, the soft-spoken, but highly (spiritually) authoritative prof. of my Deep Level Healing class. In the second week of class he prayed for a girl's migraine to be healed, and it left her immediately. This class is phenomenal. Yes. God's Spirit is still on the move.

M = Dr. Mark Hopkins, the always smiling master of the MAGL program. I'm working on very large papers for his Implications for Global Ministry class.

S = Dr. Shelley Trebesch, the lovely lady who flew all the way from the far-east in order to teach us how to O.D. on Organizational Dynamics. She is the one responsible for making me read corporate books that I'd never read otherwise, as well as encouraging my my percolating dreams, and my wanting-to-start-a-company pontificating. (More on that soon.)

Mathspeak for Christians: Bounded-sets

[I'm going to start posting bits of what I've been learning in my classes, in case you're interested. If my language starts sounding pretentious and annoyingly academic, please stop me.]

Here is something I'm chewing on from a book by Paul Hiebert:


What are the consequences of defining Christianity as a bounded-set?

In the West, we tend to define our realities in terms of boundaries, in terms of either/or, rather than the both/and of fuzzy-sets. Bounded-sets is a view of reality based on the Greek worldview that we have inherited.

Hiebert warns that when Christianity takes on the form of bounded-sets, we first begin classifying people as Christians “on the basis of what she or he is,” according to our own tests of orthodoxy and orthopraxy (Hiebert 1994: 115). Secondly, bounded-set Christianity sharply delineates between those who are “in” as Christians, and those who are “out,” and that, as consequence, we tend to work hard to maintain this delineation. Thirdly, this sort of Christianity views all believers as essentially the same, discrediting any sense of spiritual maturity or immaturity, and the need to learn from one another. Fourth, a heavy emphasis is placed on conversion as the defining “boundary line,” while sanctification has no place in the set. Lastly, there is an over-emphasis on the ontological reality of righteousness: the intrinsic nature of the person is of the highest importance.

(Maths photo by Akirsa)

Kiss My Brain

My brain needs a smooch. Or a synapse-massage, perhaps. I'm still in Pasadena finishing up the last three days of a two week intensive at Fuller. And I'm knee-deep in excellent books for the two courses I'm working on this quarter: Ministering to Street Kids and Contemporary Culture in Missiological Perspective (a.k.a. "Our culture is steeped in uglies from both modernity and post-modernity, so whatcha gonna do about it, young?"). Today in my Street Children class we pretended we were in Bucharest and devised practical strategies for setting up a ministry to care for those Children Underground. We argued a lot, but ended up with a ministry that looked a lot like Young Life for children of the street: Go to where they are, love them, and help them get integrated into a space that cheers for their freedom.

I'm up late desperately trying to translate articles about the street children of Naples, Italy. My Italian is still pretty rough, but not as rough as the streets of Naples. Some of my great-grandparents were born there. When I was in Naples this summer some Italians told me I have a distinctly Neopolitan face. One day I think this face would like to care for street kids in that city. Big dreams. Lots more to learn.

Learning makes me happy. But it's tiring, too.

(Thank you if that was you who prayed for my health last week. I started feeling significantly better just 24 hours after I asked oh Ye of the blogosphere to talk to Jesus for me.)

Full at Fuller

I am sitting on a comfy leather chair in Fuller's Kreyssler's Hall. K. Hall is Fuller's Student Center where folk come to chat/study/nap. It reminds me of the colonial houses in Charles County, where I grew up. Inside there's loads of these comfy leather chairs and free internet. Outside there is a vicious game of badminton going on between a handful of hipster boys. In the back is a nice green garden-like area with more study space. Inside, the natural light is plentiful, there are bay-windows all around.

I am drinking a nice strawberry mocha in my new insulated ceramic mug. I think all hot beverages should be enjoyed in ceramic mugs. None of this (kill-the-earth) paper nonsense. It's just terrible for the lips, I say. I'm getting sick again, so I'm drinking my sneezes away with sweet caffeinated goodness in a mug.

I should be studying about Children at Risk for my class in three hours, but instead I'm totally eavesdropping on a conversation these two guys are having underneath the big bay window. They're talking about their church where there is no main pastor. They gather together for the Lord's Table for one whole hour, and then they prophesy to one another for the next hour. On other occasions someone in the group will be assigned to teach on the Scriptures, and they focus on singing about Jesus' death and resurrection. (Stick me in those pews, baby!)

The guy talking is bi-lingual, as he keeps greeting people in both Spanish and English. I heard him say that he's also done missions in Taiwan.

I really love Fuller. Everywhere I go there are both internationals and forward-thinking people. I'm constantly eavesdropping on juicy conversations about living missionally, growing prophetically, and advocating for the poor throughout the nations. Since my degree program is mostly done in an online cohort, it's not often that I get to enjoy campus life.

If you want to know a secret, here it is. I've started talking to Jesus about me moving out to California for my last quarter or two of seminary. I'd really like to be a part of this community of great conversation while I study. I feel very full listening in on so many conversations. It'd be nice to jump in on some, but not have to leave on a plane a few days later.

(Thanks to Grandinroad
for the comfy chair pic.)

10 Books for 2007

I'm little disappointed with myself that I still haven't finished part deux of that Militancy of Worship post. But in the meantime, I'd like to celebrate two things with you.

One. Twenty-four days into 2007, and I've still consumed zero drops of high-test coffee! I think my body is less mad at me now. In 2006 the caffeine tanks in my inner being were really beginning to freak out. Honestly, the fact that I blogged about going decaf made me feel even more accountable to really following through. So, thank you! Lurkers and non, one and all!

Dos. Onething that I took away from "Onething" in Kansas City is this: I need a personal strategy to know God's words. To really know them, in context, and in depth. So, I've taken Mike Bickle's advice (Dr. Bobby Clinton's, too), and I've picked 10 books that I want to focus on studying this year. I'll fetch 2 commentaries to read alongside the books. I'm usually very anti-systematic when it comes to reading the Scriptures. But I'm celebrating this new plan, because I think it'll help me stay focused on the things I really want to study in 2007: Jesus, David, and the (intense) End-Times Visions.

Here are my 10.

Now that I know that blogging works as decent accountability, I'll try to check in from time to time with what I'm learning. I've divided the books up into months, so that I know when I'll study what. I'm starting out in Zechariah. The commentaries I'm using for ol' Z. (Thomas Constable, Merrill Unger) really are quite helpful.

Inquiring (Nelly) minds want to know:
(1) If you read the Bible, what are you reading lately?
(2) Have you ever used/developed a personal study plan that's been helpful?