The Wholeness / Wellness Wheel is a gift

A Church article with View Comments posted 21 August 2010.
Tags: , ,

Wholeness Wheel

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. – 3 John 2

Some people call it the “Wellness Wheel.” Some people call it the “Wholeness Wheel.” Whatever you call it, for the last few years in the ELCA it has been the chosen vehicle for describing a multi-faceted approach to health that goes beyond “Not Dead Yet.”

Keep reading…

Wartburg Updates

A Church article with View Comments posted 5 October 2008.
Tags: , , ,

I haven’t written much lately, and hardly anything about Wartburg. So a quick update:

  • I was elected co-president of the “middler” class (second year students) along with my classmate Jealaine Marple. Last year was a pretty good experience, and if I keep moving up like this (last year I was co-vice-president), I expect to be elected Benevolent World Dictator for Life by the year 2047.
  • Remember that proposal I wrote on about church demographics and websites about six weeks ago? It looks like it’s going to turn into a real research project. I’ll be doing that for my independent study project this J-Term. Jennifer’s due January 18, and she told me that if I wanted to go abroad for J-Term this year, I might as well buy a one-way ticket! So I’m Dubuque bound this year, but I’m excited about the project and even more excited about the reason for staying close to home.
  • My Endorsement interview is coming up here at Wartburg on October 15. Pray for me! Two members of the Central States Synod Candidacy Committee are flying up here to interview me and one other student. This is the second step in the four-step process leading to ordination, and it serves as the authorization to go on next year’s year-long internship. You can read more on the process in the ELCA, though the people in that slideshow look waaay holier than I do.

Leadership Styles and Cultural Preferences

A Church article with View Comments posted 25 August 2008.
Tags: , , , ,

I just got back from the Central States Synod candidacy retreat, and it was a very interesting experience. Our retreat was led by the very capable Betty Heier of the Nebraska Synod candidacy committee, and we focused primarily on The Delicate Art of Dancing with Porcupines by Bob Phillips.

Phillips deals with differences in “social styles” in two dimensions: introverted vs. extroverted and people-oriented vs. task-oriented. The retreat focused on identifying which of the four possible combinations is your dominant social style and understanding how to work with people of other social styles. It was pretty interesting, and while I didn’t read the book, I can at least recommend the concepts presented.

One of our small group discussions during this retreat, however, provided important insight into leadership in American culture. For Americans, leaders are people who are what Phillips calls “Drivers,” who are extroverted and task-oriented. Drivers are people who are driven to succeed, to get things done, who plow through task after task. Relationships with people are secondary to accomplishments for Drivers. In our discussion, we realized that American culture prefers Drivers, but other cultures value other leadership styles. In many Asian and African cultures, Amiables – who are thoughtful, consensus-minded, people-oriented introverts – are preferred as leaders.

It’s very tempting for us (as Americans) to get caught up in the idea that the only road to success as a leader of an organization – whether that’s a church congregation, a business, or some other endeavor – is to focus on tasks and accomplishments and to act decisively (and perhaps impulsively) to get things done quickly. But this is a preference of our culture, not a universal dictum.

This retreat helped us understand that no matter which social style we fall into naturally and which our culture prefers, people of all social styles have important gifts to be successful leaders. We don’t all have to be driven, task-oriented extroverts. Thoughtful, analytical introverts – and expressive extroverts like myself – have gifts for leadership and ministry that should not be overlooked.

Got in ** 2

A Church article with View Comments posted 25 April 2007.
Tags: ,

My ELCA Candidacy Interview went well on April 13; I received a “postive entrance decision” which means that I’m in the candidacy process now. I also found out a few days ago that I got into Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, IA. It looks like I’ll be moving around July 15, and Summer Greek will start on July 22. I’m nervous about all of the things that have to happen in the meantime: moving, wrapping up various projects at church, work stuff, etc. etc. ad nauseum, ad infinitum, but I’m excited to take this next step.

That’s two hurdles down, four years worth to go…