The Gospel Coalition

Today I’m joined by Winfield Bevins, author of Creed: Connect to the Basic Essentials of Historic Christian Faith, and Derek Vreeland, author of Primal Credo: Your Entrance into the Apostles’ Creed. Both of these books deal with the use of the Apostle’s Creed in spiritual formation. I found these books to be helpful in different ways. Winfield focuses more on discipling a new believer, while Derek’s exposition intends to increase a believer’s knowledge of the basic truths of Christianity. I’ve invited Winfield and Derek to join me for a conversation about the usefulness of the Apostle’s Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer in discipleship.

Trevin Wax: I thought about titling this blog post Why We Love The Creeds… By 3 Guys Who Shouldn’t. After all, we are young-ish and early-on in ministry. Yet all three of us have come to the conclusion that the Apostle’s Creed is a terrific place to begin the discipleship process. Ironically, none of us grew up in churches where creeds were recited or referenced. So I’m curious, how did you guys stumble upon this early confession, and what convinced you of its value to the church today?

Derek Vreeland: I first heard of the Apostles’ Creed while I was in college in the early 1990′s. I had grown up in a non-creedal church that taught us the evils of “secular” music. The alternative to the devil’s music was, of course, heavenly inspired, contemporary Christian music, which included the late, great Rich Mullins. I heard his song “Creed” during the “Christian-music-only” phase of my spiritual journey. Singing about the creed, Mullins says:

“I did not make it;
no it is making me.
It is the very truth of God
not the invention of any man.“

In my second seminary experience, I entered into a time of personal rediscovery of the doctrine of the Trinity. I had spent much of my faith journey drinking from the well of the charismatic renewal, and somehow I had lost sight of the Trinity in the brightness of a robust view of the Holy Spirit. Elevating the role of the Trinity helped me to redefine my faith not as “charismatic” or even “evangelical” (though I embrace both of these traditions) but as Trinitarian. So I was able to answer the question “What kind of Christian are you?” with the single adjective “Trinitarian.”

Trevin Wax: So you came to see the value of the creed through the back door of discovering the importance of Trinitarianism.

Derek Vreeland: Yes. During this Trinitarian transition in my own heart and life, I found myself pastoring a church in rural South Georgia. As a congregation, we were hip, cool, casual, and nondenominational. I enjoyed that kind of vibe in church life and in the setting of Sunday morning worship, but I found that it lacked the depth and richness that come from connecting with Christian origins. We were self-consciously anti-traditional. The dark underbelly of this kind of approach to church life is it can lead to spiritual pride and elitism.

I began thinking: Why would we want to reject the gifts of the historic, traditional church? They gave us the Bible that we are absolutely devoted to. Why not accept the creed too? The beauty of the creed is it allows us to connect with the “faith that was once for all delivered to the saints,” and it gives us the essentials of what it means to be a Christian believer.

Trevin Wax: What about you, Winfield?

Winfield Bevins: I grew up in a nominal Baptist home. Everyone knows that Baptists are not known for being creedal. So needless to say, I never heard of the creeds until I was in seminary. There I discovered that church history was a treasure chest of ancient tools and practices for discipleship. As I studied church history, I was introduced to the Apostles’ Creed and its significance for all believers regardless of their background or denominational affiliation.

I began to think to myself, If the creeds mattered to the majority of Christians throughout the history of the church, shouldn’t they matter to us as well? Slowly I became convinced of the importance of the Apostles’ Creed as a universal affirmation of the basic essentials of the Christian faith and of its doctrinal importance for today.

Another development in my understanding of the creed happened when I began using the Book of Common Prayer for my personal devotional life. The Book of Common Prayer contains the Daily Office, which is based on the ancient practice of prescribed daily times of prayer. These services are accompanied by daily Scripture readings (a reading from the Psalms, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and a Gospel reading). The Apostles’ Creed is included in the Daily Office and is meant to be recited and prayed during morning and evening prayers.

By following the Daily Office, I discovered the devotional nature of the creeds. Doctrine and devotion go hand in hand. Creeds are not just something that we confess as a statement of faith on Sunday but truths that transform us as we seek to live according to the gospel message in the real world. Therefore, I believe the primary value of the Apostles’ Creed for today is in both doctrine and devotion.

Derek Vreeland: Winfield, we also are beginning to use the Book of Common Prayer in the devotional life of our church. We pray the collect for the week in our services, and I am beginning to incorporate this into my own devotional life. You make a good point. The creed is both devotional and dialectical. There is a liturgical rhythm to the creed that gives it a sense of devotional beauty that works well in private devotions and corporate worship.

Trevin Wax: It’s interesting you bring up the Book of Common Prayer. During my last year in Romania, I became very dissatisfied with my own lack of passion in prayer. A friend gave me the Book of Common Prayer as a help and guide. The idea of praying a written prayer was foreign to me, but I found that the collects and the rhythm and structure reinvigorated my prayer life. My spontaneous prayers were then shaped and formed by this time-tested guide to prayer.

The way I look at it is like a child trying on his dad’s shoes. As a kid, you think, Will my feet ever fit into these shoes? That’s the way I felt when praying the words of Augustine, Cranmer, etc. These are spiritual giants whose footsteps I walk in. My heart isn’t where it needs to be, but as I pray written prayers, as I pray the psalms and the Lord’s Prayer, I sense that God is slowly shaping my heart so that I start wanting the things I’m praying for.

It sounds like for you guys there is a devotional aspect of this that is distinct from the discipleship process. Let’s talk about that for a moment. How has the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer affected you devotionally?

Derek Vreeland: The devotional life is a part of discipleship in my view. As a follower of Jesus, we need to practice certain disciplines so we can put ourselves in places where we can be changed and transformed by the Spirit. I have made the Lord’s Prayer the very basis of my own prayer life.

I believe evangelicals have made the mistake of assuming Jesus never intended us to recite the prayer He gave. Jesus gave us both a pattern to pray and a prayer to pray when He said, “When you pray, say…” (Luke 11:2). I tried to pray on my own for years, praying spontaneous prayers, which for the most part were shallow and weak. I do pray spontaneous prayers, but my personal prayer life is built around the prayer Jesus gave us.

Praying the Lord’s Prayer keeps me focused on God and His kingdom, which makes the Lord’s Prayer a perfect companion to the Apostles’ Creed. One of the weaknesses of the creed is there is no reference to the kingdom of God, no reference to anything Jesus actually taught. The creed goes from the incarnation of Christ (conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary) to the passion of Christ (suffered under Pontius Pilate). So it is difficult to say that the creed contains all of the essentials of the faith without including the kingdom of God, which is central to all Jesus taught. Praying the Lord’s Prayer on a regular basis complements the creed with a regular request for God’s kingdom to come.

Winfield Bevins: I am not surprised that guys like us are beginning to discover and use the Book of Common Prayer. It offers a refreshing alternative to our ahistorical, postmodern, contemporary version of Christianity. It is not a substitute for personal or private prayer; rather, it is an aide that can help enhance and deepen our personal prayer life.

The Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer help us rediscover the devotional aspect of discipleship. While discipleship is very personal and private, it is also communal. It is my belief that disciples are made in community, not isolation. Perhaps the reason why many churches struggle with making disciples is that they do not know how to live in community.

Like Derek’s church, we also pray the collect each Sunday. In addition, we also say the Lord’s Prayer together during the service. By doing this we are reminded of the corporate nature of our discipleship. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Our Father,” “Give us,” “Forgive us,” and “Lead us.” We pray it personally, but we also pray it corporately together. It reminds us that we are not alone, that we are a part of a larger Christian family of men and women who have gone before us in the faith as well as with millions of believers living today.

Likewise, whenever we say the Apostles’ Creed, we are also uniting with Christians everywhere who are affirming the same essentials of the faith. It wasn’t invented yesterday, and there is something comforting and devotional about that, kind of like a warm cup of coffee in the morning. The Apostles’ Creed is a great gift to the church and belongs to all Christians everywhere.

Derek Vreeland: The devotional life is a part of discipleship, but it is only one part. I agree that discipleship is communal and that the Lord’s Prayer, with all of its third-person pronouns, helps to underscore the communal nature of following Christ. This is another reason why the Lord’s Prayer is the perfect companion to the Apostles’ Creed. The creed is all in the first person – “I believe…” The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that there is a “we” behind the “I.”

I also see the ecumenical value of the creed. We can become stunted in our spiritual growth if we only read and fellowship with Christians within our own tradition. Connecting with Christians of different traditions through conversation or through their writings stretches us and allows us to see our blind spots. We may not always agree, but what binds us together is our common confession of faith through the creed.

Trevin Wax: Thanks for this conversation, guys! May the prayer given to us by our Lord and the creed given to us by the early church aid our spiritual growth as the Spirit fashions us into the image of Christ.

The Gospel – Not News or Story but News Story:

I would like instead to offer a metaphor (call it my angle) that I hope will be clarifying for all parties: the gospel is like a news story. It’s news, and it’s news shaped around a story. Or as McKnight helpfully puts it, it’s an announcement that depends on a story.

To Live Or Die “On the Floor”:

The reason abortion proponents don’t want women to see what their babies look like in the womb is because, for too many of them, abortion has become a sacrament. They embrace a right to kill while simultaneously denying the right to life. Showing a pregnant woman a picture of her baby in the womb, heart beating, can only enhance the possibility that the child will be given the opportunity to live.

Legislators who vote for these pro-life measures will put themselves on the side of freedom of information and force the abortion proponents to admit they favor a single choice: abortion.

Craig Blomberg on the most important statistic never kept in church:

How many people died as believers in your church last year? Many churches scrupulously keep track of weekly attendance, the number of people who trust in Christ, get baptized, or become church members.  But who keeps track of how many people leave their church each year, how many stop going to church altogether or how many repudiate their faith?

Renting vs. buying a home:

For years my colleague David Leonhardt has been helping people calculate whether it makes more sense to rent or buy a home, based on the relative costs of each decision. This week, the economists at Capital Economics noticed an interesting phenomenon related to this tradeoff. For the first time in three decades, the median monthly mortgage payment is about the same as the median rental payment:

Michael Kelley, from his forthcoming book, Wednesdays were Pretty Normal: A Boy, Cancer, And God:

The Bible reminds us that we are going to experience trouble of all kinds here on earth, and yet that our ultimate treasure and citizenship is in heaven. But until we cross the Jordan and spend eternity with Jesus, we are to live here. Here where our bodies decay. Where suffering is a reality. Where little children have to take pills everyday. It’s like we have one foot in heaven, and yet one foot firmly planted on the earth, and we live our lives between those two worlds. Between joy and pain. Between glory and dejection. Between elation and depression…

But the great news of the gospel is that the power to sustain us comes from Jesus, who knows even better than we do what it is like to have one foot in heaven and one foot on earth. Sustaining grace for life between comes from One who knows both the glory and the pain. It comes from One who knows the fullness of God and the fullness of man. It comes from One who was raised up on two crossbeams to where He was physically positioned not quite in the air and yet not quite on the earth either. It comes from One who knows what life is like in the “between.” For when we look into the face of our Jesus, we rejoice, too, even in our thorns, because when we are weak, we are strong.

Andrew Walker reviews The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age for The Weekly Standard:

Secularism, for Stephens and Giberson, is not a devaluing of the sacred but the informed opinion of scholarly consensus, and The Anointed raises questions about the extent to which secularism and evangelicalism can align with one another when competing truth claims conflict.

Wisdom from C.S. Lewis - What to Remember When Fighting Temptation:

I think one may be quite rid of the old haunting suspicion–it raises its head in every temptation–that there is something else than God–some other country into which He forbids us to trespass–some kind of delight which He ‘doesn’t appreciate’ or just chooses to forbid, but which would be real delight if only we were allowed to get it. The thing just isn’t there. Whatever we desire is either what God is trying to give us as quickly as He can, or else a false picture of what He is trying to give us–a false picture which would not attract us for a moment if we saw the real thing.

Jackrabbits, Ping Pong, and the Inescapable Role of Theology in Spirituality:

Billy Sunday understood theology and evangelism to be separate and non-intersecting pursuits. Evangelists evangelize; theologians theologize. Is such a distinction possible, though? Can such a tension of polarities sustain itself? Some might disagree with me, but I’m skeptical on this point. Why? Because I tend to think that, contrary to common wisdom, all Christian activity is theological. We may consciously operate from such a conviction. With Sunday, we might disavow the role of theology in our lives, pointing out that we’re a doer, not a thinker.

Tim Challies asks Matt Schmucker some questions about the upcoming T4G Conference:

Next April will bring the 2012 Together for the Gospel Conference—the 4th of these bi-annual conferences. What began in 2006 as a meeting between friends has expanded into a very large event with thousands attending. With a new, bigger venue, next year’s event promises to be bigger than ever. With the early bird registration period ending in just a few days (October 31), I was asked to mention T4G on this blog. I took the opportunity to speak to Matt Schmucker, who helps direct the event, to ask him a few questions that I’ve been thinking about as I consider attending.

Just once, I’d like to see a TV interview go more like this:

Host: You are a Christian pastor, and you say you believe the Bible, which means you are supposed to love all people.

Pastor: That’s right.

Host: But it appears to me that you and your church take a rather unloving position when it comes to gay people. Are homosexuals welcome to come to your church?

Pastor: Of course. We believe that the gospel is a message relevant for every person on the planet, and we want everyone to hear the gospel and find salvation in Jesus Christ. So at our church, our arms are outstretched to people from every background, every race, every ethnicity and culture. We’re a place for all kinds of sinners and people with all kinds of problems.

Host: But you said there, “We’re a place for sinners.” So you do believe that homosexuality is sinful, right?

Pastor: Yes, I do.

Host: So how do you reconcile the command to love all people with a position on homosexuality that some would say is radically intolerant?

Pastor: (smiling) If you think my position on homosexuality is radical, just wait until you hear what else I believe! I believe that a teenage guy and girl who have sex in the backseat of a pick-up are sinning. The unmarried heterosexual couple living down the street from me is sinning. In fact, any sexual activity that takes place outside of the marriage covenant between a husband and wife is sinful. What’s more, Jesus takes this sexual ethic a step further and goes to the heart of the matter. That means that any time I even lust after someone else, I am sinning. Jesus’ radical view of sexuality shows all of us up as sexual sinners, and that’s why He came to die. Jesus died to save lustful, homo- and heterosexual sinners and transform our hearts and minds and behavior. Because He died for me, I owe Him my all. And as a follower of Jesus, I’m bound to what He says about sex and morality.

Host: But Jesus didn’t condemn homosexuality outright, did He?

Pastor: He didn’t have to. He went to the heart issue and intensified the commands against immoral behavior in the Old Testament. So Jesus doesn’t just condemn adultery, for example, as does one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus condemns even the lust that leads to adultery, all with the purpose of offering us transformed hearts that begin beating in step with His radical demands.

Host: You say he condemned adultery, but he chose not to condemn the woman caught in adultery.

Pastor: That’s right, but He did tell her to “go and sin no more.”

Host: But who are you to condemn someone who doesn’t line up with your personal beliefs about sexuality?

Pastor: Who am I? No one. It’s not all that important what I think about these things. This conversation about homosexuality isn’t really about my personal beliefs. They’re about Jesus and what He says. I have no right to condemn or judge the world. That right belongs to Jesus. My hope is to follow Him faithfully. That means that whatever He says in regard to sexual practices is what I believe to be true, loving, and ultimately best for human flourishing – even when it seems out of step with the whims of contemporary culture.

Host: But you are judging. You are telling all the gay people watching this broadcast that they are sinners.

Pastor: I’m not singling out gay people. I’m pointing to Jesus as the answer to all sexual sinfulness.

Host: But you are referring to gay people. Why are you so focused on homosexuality?

Pastor: (smiling) With all due respect, you are the one who brought up this subject.

Host: Are you saying that you can’t be gay and Christian?

Pastor: No. I’m saying that you can’t be a genuine Christian without repentance. Everyone – including me – is guilty of sin, but Christianity hinges on repentance. We agree with God about our sin, and we turn from it and turn toward Jesus. When it comes to Christianity, this debate is not about homosexuality versus other sins. It’s about whether or not repentance is integral to the Christian life.

Host: But do you see why a homosexual watching this might think you are attacking them personally? You’re saying that something is wrong with them.

Pastor: I think Jesus’ teaching on sexuality shows us that there is something wrong with all of us – something that can only be fixed by what Jesus did for us on the cross and in His resurrection. That said, I understand why people might think I am attacking them personally. Most people with same-sex desires believe they were born with these tendencies. That’s why they often see their attraction as going to the very core of who they are, and so they identify themselves with the “gay” label. So whenever someone questions their behavior or desires, they take it as an attack on the very core of their being. That’s usually not the intent of the person who disagrees with homosexual behavior. But that’s the way it is perceived. I understand that.

Host: If it’s true that a person is born with one sexual orientation or another, then how can it possibly be loving to condemn one person’s orientation?

Pastor: Well, we really don’t know for certain about sexual attraction being innate and set from birth. All we have is the testimony of people who say that they’ve experienced same-sex desires since childhood. Christianity teaches that all people are born with a bent toward sin. It’s possible that some people will have a propensity toward alcohol abuse or angry outbursts, while others may have a propensity toward other sins. Regardless, Christians believe people are more than their sexual urges. We believe that human dignity is diminished whenever we define ourselves by sexual urges and behaviors. Consider this: married men are sometimes attracted to multiple women who are not their wives. Does this mean they should self-identify as polygamists? Not at all. And surely you wouldn’t consider it hateful for Christians to encourage married men not to act on their desires in an effort to remain faithful to their spouses. It is the Christian way, after all.

Host: No, but it still seems like you are telling people not to be true to who they are.

Pastor: It only seems that way because you believe sexual desire reflects the core of one’s identity. It would help if you and others who agree with you would understand that in your putting pressure on me to accept homosexual behavior as normal and virtuous, you are going to the very core of my identity as a follower of Jesus. The label most important to me is “Christian.” My identity – in Christ – is central to who I am. So I could say the same thing and call you intolerant, bigoted, and hateful for trying to change a conviction that goes to the core of who I am as a Christian. I don’t say that because I don’t believe that’s your intention. But neither should you think it’s my intention to attack a homosexual person or cause them harm merely because I disagree.

Host: But the problem is, your position fosters hate and encourages bullying.

Pastor: I recognize that some people have mistreated homosexuals in the past. It’s a shame that anyone anywhere would mock, taunt, or bully another human being made in God’s image. That said, I think we need to make one thing clear in regard to civil discourse: To differ is not to hate. I hope we can still have a real conversation in this country about different points of view without casting one another in the worst possible light. The idea that disagreeing with homosexual behavior necessarily results in harm to gay people is designed to shut down conversation and immediately rule one point of view (in this case, the Christian one) out of bounds. As a Christian, I am to love my neighbor and seek his good, even when I don’t see eye to eye with my neighbor. Furthermore, the picture of Christ on the cross dying for His enemies necessarily affects the way I think about this and other issues.

Mission as Hospitality:

Meals bring mission into the ordinary. But that’s where most people are—living in the ordinary. That’s where we need to go to reach them. We too readily think of mission as extraordinary. Perhaps that’s because we find it awkward to talk about Jesus outside a church gathering. Perhaps it’s because we think God moves through the spectacular rather than the witness of people like us. Perhaps it’s because we want to outsource mission to the profes- sionals, so we invite people to guest services where an “expert” can do mission for us. But most people live in the ordinary, and most people will be reached by ordinary people. Even those who attend a special event will, for the most part, have first been befriended by a Christian. “For those looking to connect with people in the local community it isn’t that hard if you really want to. Just invite people round, let them know they can go home if they need to and then enjoy a meal together. You’re going to eat anyway, so why not do it with others!”

Ed Stetzer reflects on Lausanne 2010 and cautions us to not be naive about social justice:

Today, my exhortation revolves around social justice. I am a few weeks away from releasing new research on shifting views of social justice among evangelical pastors. And, it is probably not a great secret that social justice is growing as an emphasis. I have seen that statistically and have observed it anecdotally. It is good, it is right, and it is important– and we evangelicals need more, not less, social engagement.

Yet, we would be naive at best, and reckless at worst, to not consider that social justice has been “discovered” by Christians before– not once, but twice in the last century. Both times it ended badly according to most observers, inside and outside of evangelicalism.

War of 1812 Anniversary Poses Dilemma:

It is sad that Americans are so forgetful, for this conflict, which lasted roughly two and a half years, gave the United States its national anthem and its national identity, cemented in large measure the nation’s cultural and geographical boundaries, ushered in 200 years of peace with Britain and Canada, made the White House white and provided durable heroes such as Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Oliver Hazard Perry and Tecumseh.

The South Carolina Episcopal Church May Break from National Body:

The South Carolina Episcopal Church may break from the National Episcopal Church because of its acceptance of homosexuality, among other things, according to a statement from the diocese. The possible split comes amidst charges being brought against Bishop of South Carolina Mark J. Lawrence by the National Episcopal Church, which is claiming that the clergyman is abandoning the church by refusing to subscribe to conventional beliefs held by the Episcopal denomination.

Notes on two books I’ve read recently:

 Destiny of the Republic:
A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
Candice Millard
Doubleday, 2011
My Rating: *****

Remember our 20th president – James A. Garfield? Chances are, you probably don’t, which is why the new history Destiny of the Republic is so informative (and fascinating!). Garfield rose above the circumstances of his birth and family pedigree to become a scholar, hero of the Civil War, and popular congressman. In 1880, as the United States was still grappling with the divisions left in the wake of the Civil War, Garfield was nominated for president against his will. Four months after he won the election, a deranged man stalked Garfield for weeks and then shot him in the back.

Amazingly enough, the shot didn’t kill Garfield. In fact, had the president been treated the way many Civil War soldiers had been treated, Garfield would probably have survived and made a full recovery. Instead, a group of physicians (including Lincoln’s doctor from the night he died) botched Garfield’s treatment by dismissing powerful new evidence regarding the need for sterilization before surgery. A lunatic shot Garfield. But medical lunacy killed him. For more than two months, Garfield’s health deteriorated until he finally succumbed to massive infection.

Candice Millard’s historical account of this turbulent time in American history is one of the best popular history books I’ve ever read. Not only did I finish it feeling like I knew James Garfield, I also enjoyed the thrilling pace of the plot development. We follow assassin Charles Guiteau as he stalks the president. We watch Alexander Graham Bell, who had recently invented the telephone, work feverishly day and night on his metal-detecting invention. We see the White House staff invent the first air conditioner in order to keep the president cool during his convalescence in the White House. We are privy to letters and historical documents that reveal the doctors’ medical debates regarding Garfield’s care. And we watch a still-fractured country unite around their wounded commander-in-chief.

(Interesting tidbit: In the train station with Garfield when he was shot was Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s oldest son. Twenty years later, he was in Buffalo, NY when William McKinley was assassinated.)

 Curation Nation:
How to Win in a World Where Consumers Are Creators
Steven Rosenbaum
McGraw Hill, 2011
My Rating: ***

Anyone can start a blog or Web site today. But finding good blogs and important information can be difficult. Like looking for a needle in a haystack, Internet users are beginning to share their findings with others through blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. In the words of author Steven Rosenbaum:

“We’re becoming a Curation Nation, a place where abundance is assumed in the world of content. There’s no shortage of content makers of all shapes and sizes. But the avalanche of content makes finding the content you’re looking for significantly harder. Accidental curation is passive, anonymous endorsement. It’s curation for the crowds.”

What’s the difference between content creation and content curation? “Curation is about selection, organization, presentation, and evolution. While computers can aggregate content, information, or any shape or size of data, aggregation without curation is just a big pile of stuff that seems related but lacks a qualitative organization.” That’s why we need the human element. Rosenbaum believes that the “tsunami of data” makes human curation more important than computerized curation.

Curation is nothing new. Reader’s Digest perfected the magazine version decades ago. The Huffington Post and Time magazine are also good examples of curation. So how should businesses respond to the rise of a “curation nation”? Rosenbaum encourages people to embrace the new order:

“The idea that you can go back to a pre-Internet world where you can create walled gardens around content, and charge for admission, is simply futile. Those who try that are going to fail.”

Curation Nation is an intriguing book about the need for editors. Rosenbaum sees a need for people who can organize material into a coherent way of seeing the world. Of special interest to me was Rosenbaum’s emphasis on curiosity, something I have written about recently.

“What are the key traits that can make you successful in the new world that’s emerging? Scott Kurnit, who founded About.com, says it’s about curiosity. He says when he hires people he asks: ‘How do I figure out whether this person is curious or not? ‘Cause if they’re curious they’ll look around the corners, and then the trick is to make sure that they … that they either don’t look too far around that corner or that they don’t stick their head out … I think about when I stick my head out on Lexington Avenue, where this car is gonna whiz by … so, you know I guess it’s curiosity with careful, carefultude.’ Careful curiosity—is that you?”

7 Random Pieces of Advice for the Younger Leader:

I love working with younger leaders. It keeps me young and it helps to know I’m investing in something and someone who will likely last beyond my lifetime. I want to share some things I’ve learned from experience. Here’s a random list of practical advice for young leaders. If you can learn and practice these early in your career it will help you avoid having to learn them by experience…

Obama is Not the Pharaoh:

I don’t agree with some of what he has done, but he is not responsible for all our sorrows. One reason I am a conservative is that I don’t think the state has that much power . . . even when it tries to get it. A few on my team seem to think that a nation that survived Harding cannot survive Obama.

I don’t agree.

Why You Can’t Express the Most Important Things:

When a talk or a sermon strikes us deeply it lands in the limbic parts of the brain, which has no power to speak. That’s why we fall back on simple, demonstrative words or facial expressions. Rather than demonstrating that we weren’t very good listeners, our inability to articulate what the talk was about actually might indicate how fully we actually listened.

Are Evangelicals Dangerous?

Here we go again.

Every four years, with every new presidential election cycle, public voices sound the alarm that the evangelicals are back. What is so scary about America’s evangelical Christians?

If God Himself be for me, I may a host defy,
For when I pray, before me my foes confounded fly.
If Christ, the Head, befriend me, if God be my support,
The mischief they intend me shall quickly come to naught.

I build on this foundation, that Jesus and His blood
Alone are my salvation, the true eternal good;
Without Him, all that pleases is valueless on earth:
The gifts I owe to Jesus alone my love are worth.

His Holy Spirit dwelleth within my willing heart,
Tames it when it rebelleth, and soothes the keenest smart.
He crowns His work with blessing, and helpeth me to cry
“My Father!” without ceasing to Him Who reigns on high.

To mine His Spirit speaketh sweet words of soothing power,
How God to Him that seeketh for rest, hath rest in store;
How God Himself prepareth my heritage and lot,
And though my body weareth, my Heav’n shall fail me not.

- Paul Gerhardt, 1656

“The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually – their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on – and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same – like old Mr. Bilbo. But those aren’t always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?”

“I wonder,” said Frodo. “But I don’t know. And that’s the way of a real tale. Take any one that you’re fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is, happy-ending or sad-ending, but the people in it don’t know. And you don’t want them to.” …

“I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We’re in one, of course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: ‘Let’s hear about Frodo and the Ring!’ And they’ll say: ‘Yes, that’s one of my favorite stories. Frodo was very brave, wasn’t he, dad?’ ‘Yes, my boy, the famousest of the hobbits, and that’s saying a lot.’” …

“Why, Sam,” Frodo said, “to hear you somehow makes me as merry as if the story was already written. But you’ve left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the stouthearted. ‘I want to hear more about Sam, dad. Why didn’t they put in more of his talk, dad? That’s what I like, it makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn’t have got far without Sam, would he, dad?’”

“Now, Mr. Frodo,” said Sam, “you shouldn’t make fun. I was serious.”

“So was I,” said Frodo, “and so I am.”

- The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary, One Vol. Edition