Featured Content

Bill Westfall on Faith and the Pursuit of Truth

What is the role of faith in the pursuit of truth? This is the question LGP1 cohort member Bill Westfall finds himself asking after the cohort’s recent conversation with Dr. Peter Boghossian

Bloemker's Faith Based Airplane

Andrew Bloemker explores the everyday way people utilize 'faith’ in their decision making. Is faith in God different?

Andy Campbell on Atheism and Evidence

Reflecting on the cohort’s conversation with Dr. Peter Boghossian, LGP1 student Andy Campbell presses for a definition of 'evidence.’

Andy on Christianity and Collapse

LGP1 student Andy Campbell overlays Diamond’s five-fold assessment of societal collapse onto the state of Western evangelical Christianity. What can be learned from environmental changes?

Joy Mindo Reflects on Collapse and Rwanda

LGP2 student Joy Mindo reflects on the collapse endured in Rwanda and wonders if her native Kenya might be next.

Bill Westfall Explores Construction and Collapse

Might individualism and consumerism be used to thwart the impending collapse in Diamond’s book? LGP1 student Bill Westfall thinks that the lynchpin may be today’s college students.

Andrew Bloemker on End Times and Collapse

LGP1 student Andrew Bloemker is reminded of the penultimate collapse foreshadowed in Revelation as he reads Diamond’s assessment of societal collapse. He ends asking the reader two questions about the end times and reading “Collapse” with a Christian worldview.

See Andrew's full post here

Tim Buechsel: China, the Environment, and Collapse

LGP1 student Tim Buechsel finds Diamond’s work on China in “Collapse” particularly intriguing. He lives and works in Hong Kong and sees some Christian leaders working to lead their companies into more sustainable environmental practices. But is it too little, too late?

Find out here

Rodger McEachern on the Choice to Collapse?

LGP1 student Rodger McEachern wonders if Diamond’s subtle to his book “Collapse” is appropriate. He pushes back against the notion that societies have a choice in their success or failure, past a certain point.

See his post here

Mike Ratliff Frames the Climate Change Conversation

Drawing from Maslin’s four perceptions of climate change and worldview, LGP1 student Mike Ratliff discusses how an understanding of others perceptions might frame dialogue between groups. Where does he find himself? Where are you?

See Mike's full post

Mapping Responses to Climate Change

LGP1 student Rodger McEachern focuses in on Maslin’s mapping of four different responses that people often have to climate change. Propensity to one response or the other is largely based upon one’s perception of the world and which scenario they see as most likely to unfold.

See the four types here

Kids and Climate Change

LGP1 cohort member Chris Marshall wonders how to have a faithful conversation with his kids about climate change. When science and faith seem to conflict, what is the responsibility of the parents to their children?

See Chris's thoughts here

Andrew Bloemker on Global Poverty and Global Warming

Picking up on an important theme in Maslin’s “Global Warming,” LGP1 student Andrew Bloemker reflects on his work in developing countries and the link between global poverty and global warming. He concludes, “many of the solutions that have come about because of the issues that the [global warming] debate has brought up can be used as tools to alleviate poverty while opening doors to places where the message of Christ has not yet been preached.”

See Andrew's full post here

Creation Care: Adaptation, Mitigation, or Something Else?

In his interaction with Maslin’s “Global Warming,” LGP student Tim Buechsel invites the reader to consider possible responses to the climate change crisis. As stewards of creation, how ought Christians respond to global warming?

See Tim's full post here

Van Gogh, Don McLean, and David Brooks

LGP1 cohort member Russ Pierson looks at fine art, pop culture, and sociology in his review of David Brooks’ “The Social Animal.” In the end, he asks (echoing Tina Turner), “What’s love got to do with it?” Read his post to find out…

See Russ's post here

Andy Campbell Explores Administrative Violence and The Hunger Games

Weaving together pop culture, current political issues, and the cohort reading of “The Muslim World” journal, LGP1 student Andy Campbell explores the hidden effects of administrative violence in culture.

Read the full post here

Michael Hearn on New Media's Formative Effects

Michael Hearn, LGP1 student, writes about the ways media in general, and new media in particular, shape their message recipients. He concludes by asking, “Are you a product of media? Or is media a product of you?”

See the full post here

Buechsel's Summary of Isolation

LGP1 cohort member Tim Buechsel sketches an outline of the four stages of Trebesch’s “Isolation.” He calls the book “a fantastic guide for helping a ministry leaders process times of isolation in a more fruitful way.”

Weigh in on Tim's post here

Russ Pierson and a Love-Hate View of Isolation

Wrestling with Trebesch’s applicability outside of direct ministry contexts, Russ Pierson struggles to make the principles “Isolation” work. In the end he concludes, “When one finds oneself in a period of isolation, you need support and you need guidance to come to your own understandings, your own answers to those age-old questions: Where is God? Why me? Why now?”

Interact with Russ here

Andy Campbell on New Media and Innovation

LGP1 cohort member Andy Campbell looks at past emergence of “new” media and wonders why the church is often 'late to the game’ in adopting/appropriating new forms of media. Further, he asks whether the church can take on the role of innovator with media.

Comment on Andy's post here

Mike Ratliff and Distraction

LGP1 cohort member Mike Ratliff wrestles with the implication of Forrester’s “Consider” as he reflects on distractions in his workday. An avid multi-tasker, Mike is forced to reckon with the possibility that dividing his attention among multiple endeavors may actually result in a net loss to his productivity.

See Mike's full post

Tim Buechsel on Stopping and Thinking

Interacting with Daniel Forrester’s “Consider,” LGP1 cohort member Tim Buechsel writes about the benefits gained when organizations institute sabbatical time. In the end he asks whether your organization has the courage to carve out time for sabbatical.

See Tim's full post here

Russ Pierson on T.B.T.F

Interacting with Forrester’s “Consider,” Russ Pierson, a member of the LGP1 cohort, wonders about the reach of “too big to fail” corporations. Are they limited to institutions in the financial sector, or are other sectors exposing themselves to similar risks?

See Russ's post here

Michael Hearn on how Everything Means Something

Reviewing Brooks’ “The Social Animal,” LGP1 cohort member Michael Hearn writes about the relationship between IQ and EQ, concluding, “The truth of the matter is there are all sorts of things that impact us in ways we are not aware. Everything means something.”

See Michael's post here

Mike Ratliff on Clouds and Clocks

Mike Ratliff discusses the merits of clouds and clocks and asks, “Is the church more like a clock or a cloud?” Brooks uses those images to describe Level 1 and Level 2 cognition. In a culture which bends toward Level 2 cognition, might the church need to look to Level 1 (cloud) cognition more?