Recently I presented a couple of addresses composed of three pieces. The first was a meditation on the Biblical story of Esther. I based this retelling on John Ortberg's speech called "A Leader's Greatest Fear". Although it's about 45 minutes long, it is well worth a watch or a listen - it is very inciteful. The point that John Ortberg makes well is that of Shadow Mission. A Shadow Mission, he explains, is any mission that distracts us from our true and God-given mission. He illustrates this by taking characters from the book of Esther and showing how they gave in to, or denied their Shadow Mission. King Xerxes, he points out, was consumed by wealth and power; Haman by prestige and praise. Esther, on the other hand, denied her Shadow Mission - her ability to live the good life, a life of security - in favour of taking up her mission to free the Jewish people from the bounty on their collective heads. All this even though, as Mordechai says in Esther 4:14: "if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise form another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"
The second piece that I drew on was based on Peter Block's "The Answer to How is Yes". I spoke about how asking How? prior to Why? can paralyze us into thinking that the answer is somewhere 'out there' and not among us. It is important that we define what we value before we decide how we're going to get there.
Third, I presented a few highlights (and perhaps lowlights) from the Canadian Cardus Study. My point in doing this was to ask the question 'what is it that we value'. Implicit in this question is the belief that the results of the Cardus Study don't show us what the value of the Christian is, they either affirm or negate our value claims about Christian education. If they affirm, fantastic. If they don't, what do we do with the results?
I've shared my presentation below for information purposes. It was a good presentation and though-provoking, both for myself and for those that I serve.
Third, I presented a few highlights (and perhaps lowlights) from the Canadian Cardus Study. My point in doing this was to ask the question 'what is it that we value'. Implicit in this question is the belief that the results of the Cardus Study don't show us what the value of the Christian is, they either affirm or negate our value claims about Christian education. If they affirm, fantastic. If they don't, what do we do with the results?
I've shared my presentation below for information purposes. It was a good presentation and though-provoking, both for myself and for those that I serve.
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