http://www.fteleaders.org/ en Copyright 2012 2012-02-07T19:01:36+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/vocation-exploration-in-seattle/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/vocation-exploration-in-seattle/ This weekend five of us from Hollywood attended a conference in Seattle put on by Volunteers Exploring Vocation. While it a was a short retreat, the time was spent doing some serious reflection and discussion on what vocation means and how to discern vocation. Before the conference, I simply associated the word vocation with a career path. I expected to attend this conference and learn about different ministerial and social justice vocations. Instead, we discussed vocation in a way that I never considered. Vocation is more than just a career; it’s your lifestyle. Throughout the weekend, the definition of vocation revolved around this central theme: where your greatest desire and the world’s great need meet. Voices of Service 2012-02-07T18:01:36+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/lets-play-the-blame-game-a-response-to-why-i-hate-religion-but-love-jesus/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/lets-play-the-blame-game-a-response-to-why-i-hate-religion-but-love-jesus/ Wanna learn how to start a fire in religious circles? Pay attention: Jefferson Bethke is an Eagle Scout.  His most recent video, “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus”, opines over the lack of authenticity in religious leadership, calls into account the dangerous compound of faith and politics, and berates the self-righteous (Amen!). But in making a few good points, Bethke may have thrown the baby out with the bath water. If you’ve ever played the “Blame Game” before (who hasn’t?), then you know how this works. Something goes wrong Someone gets blamed. This literally takes on “biblical” proportions when you... Alumnotes 2012-01-30T14:45:11+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/re-membered-into-the-body-of-christ/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/re-membered-into-the-body-of-christ/ About a year ago, my faith community formally blessed me and the gender transition I was in the midst of undergoing by including a re-naming rite as a part of our regular Sunday liturgy. In addition to being a parishioner at House For All Sinners and Saints in Denver, CO, I also happen to be transgendered. For me this means that at birth I was not declared to be the sex/ gender that I am currently living as. So I grew up as a female named Mary Christine Callahan and then did a legal name change, began hormone therapy with testosterone, went through puberty a second (and infinitely more enjoyable) time, and now live as a guy named Asher Herman O’Callaghan. Like many of my fellow parishioners, I am a religious refugee. Some of us were or are walking wounded from... Calling 2012-01-20T14:07:25+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/preaching-out/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/preaching-out/ A few hours ago I made the long drive back to Cleveland from Louisville where I had attended and preached at the 2012 Festival of Young Preachers hosted by the Academy of Preachers. I would have thought that after three days of hearing God’s word through 30 different denominations, flowing from the mouths of over 120 preachers that my heart would be quiet and my mind still. Instead my mind is racing in a post-celebratory buzz. It seems that although my suitcase that carried my clothes is unpacked, the suitcase of my mind is just starting to reveal the extent the Festival touched my soul... Alumnotes 2012-01-13T15:36:53+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/noting-a-womans-body/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/noting-a-womans-body/ God knows women's bodies always have a way of getting our attention. This is not breaking news. But in the past two weeks two storylines have been breaking out and gaining traction on the female body, and I have been both painfully and gratefully reminded that there are always at least two sides to any story. The headlining of the two stories started back in January of 2011 when Egyptian men and women joined in the collective unrest and civil protests against political and social injustices in North Africa and the Middle East known as Arab Spring. But the story reached a new chapter last week in Tahrir Square in Cario, where the Egyptian military and governing forces offered the world yet another powerfully devastating example of what seems permissible to do to a woman's mind, body and spirit. It is difficult to shake the images from...   Calling 2012-01-05T13:44:03+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/happy-new-year1/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/happy-new-year1/ I hope that you had a wonderful holiday season and that you are preparing for an exciting new year. As people contemplate New Year’s resolutions, many Christians around the world are preparing to celebrate the feast day of Epiphany, which commemorates God’s revelation in Jesus and his appearance to the world as God’s beloved Son. What is God’s revelation in you or your organization? As God’s beloved, how will you appear to the world? On the dawn of a new year, these are two questions I am wrestling with on behalf of The Fund for Theological Education (FTE). FTE "On Call" Blog 2012-01-01T04:01:33+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/midwives-mary-and-a-golden-cord/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/midwives-mary-and-a-golden-cord/ If your church uses Godly Play or Children’s Worship and Wonder, odds are the youngsters in your congregation have heard the story about the Christian year. In this particular story, the storyteller has two objects: a long golden cord and a circular puzzle full of color. The storyteller begins by picking up the cord and stretching it out in a horizontal line, a golden metaphor for chronos time, linear time, the world’s time, with its beginning, middle, and end. Alumnotes 2011-12-19T14:45:00+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/finding-purpose-in-3d/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/finding-purpose-in-3d/ This Christmas season I received a gift I love so much I can’t help but give it away. I took my 13-year-old daughter, donned the dorky 3-D glasses, and dove into 127 minutes of delight: Martin Scorcese’s new film "Hugo." I rarely see first-run films. At $13.50, it seems absurd not to wait a few weeks until it comes to the dollar theatre. But I raced out to see Hugo after an email from a friend who said the movie reminded him of our work at FTE. Indeed, he was right: the movie hit me where I live, reminding me why I do what I do, love what I love, and care about what I care about. Hugo creates a space to celebrate all the things we embrace in the work of VocationCARE: holy listening, story-telling, community as source of healing -- and perhaps best of all -- unlikely friendships across generations, mysteriously in service to finding (or re-finding) one’s place in the world. Calling 2011-12-13T14:54:11+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/occupy-vocation/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/occupy-vocation/ As protestors camp out in city parks across the nation over the last few months, the word “occupation” has dominated the media. Here in Denver, the Occupy movement is particularly vibrant, with many of the members of the House for All Sinners and Saints community participating, distributing supplies to protestors and homeless persons alike. For these folks, “occupation” is merely an extension of their sense of the prophetic aspects of their “vocation.” What if the church learned from the Occupiers how to re-occupy and re-claim our own space, the space of God? What if, by observing the revolution on the streets, we also learned how to embrace the revolution we already have, the revolution of grace upon the human heart? What if, in renouncing the quick fix, the easy answer, and the jam-packed schedule, we as a church discovered again for the first time the song, the grand vocational fugue, God is singing through us to a tired and over-taxed world? Calling 2011-12-09T13:06:18+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/go-with-all-your-heart/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/go-with-all-your-heart/ I want to add my voice among all of this Black Friday Holiday Gifts In Yo Face Must Have Deals Grouponcopious Ticking Time Bomb You Can’t Afford This Except for Today O M G Why Do We Do This Every Year Extreme Makeover Madness. Gift-giving is great. Giving gifts that are meaningful is also great. But let’s be honest. If I were to tell you that instead of buying you something this year, I donated money to a charitable organization on your behalf, would we still be friends this time next year? Now you’re just envious of some Mongolian family who has a water buffalo that you could’ve used… or re-gifted to a co-worker. So instead of creating a spirit of covetousness, let’s meet in the middle... Voices of Service 2011-12-05T14:26:42+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/radical-trust-our-christian-roots/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/radical-trust-our-christian-roots/ So I went...to an extremely broken place and reality, because my friend had friends he wanted to help. New Orleans’ entire infrastructure was compromised by hurricane and flood damage and our nation struggled to respond adequately with resources and more importantly, a plan for recovery. Enter God. Enter Mercy. James Keenan, SJ, defines mercy as the “willingness to enter into the chaos of others.” I found myself in the chaos of soggy homes, inadequate insurance coverage, limited resources, frightened and overwhelmed leaders, a growing desire for security and stability, and a hunger for what “used to be.” I had no intention to stay in New Orleans much less begin a Christian Community. But things just seemed to make sense. People from all over the world were coming to help... Calling 2011-11-15T13:38:38+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/tips-for-preparing-a-strong-graduate-application/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/tips-for-preparing-a-strong-graduate-application/ This is the first of a series of excerpts from the Nurturing the Next Generation of Scholars workshops at the 2009 Annual Meetings of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). In partnership with the AAR, SBL and its regional organizational affiliates, FTE hosts recruitment workshops and conferences that invite promising students of color to consider the pursuit of the Ph.D. or Th.D. in religious, biblical, and theological studies.  Click Here to Watch Video   Nurturing the Next Generation of Scholars 2011-11-09T19:56:07+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/changing-systems-personally/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/changing-systems-personally/ I attended the funeral of Marion Zwicker. She was 80 years old. She and her husband, Otte, and their 55-year-old son, Kurt are special people. At one time, they were my parishioners and model church members in terms of attitude, service, and support. You could also say they were change agents, people who made things happen. With four others, they started up an educational center for developmentally disabled adults. Years later, the founded a jobs center for the same population. They did what needed to be done to make sure their son, Kurt, had the service he needed to have a full life as a disabled adult. Kurt was perhaps the most valuable member of our parish... Voices of Service 2011-10-25T16:41:47+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/ecumenical-bounty-a-new-framework-for-the-lgbtq-conversation/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/ecumenical-bounty-a-new-framework-for-the-lgbtq-conversation/ Fifty years ago, someone would have guessed it was just a fancy sandwich: LGBTQ. Now, it has become a global game of tug-of-war with communion bread, inevitably creating a “winner” and “loser” dichotomy. Churches around the world—and certainly across America—are spinning themselves nauseous over what to do with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people, and I think it is time we reevaluate things mid-spin. The conversation about LGBTQ people and the church needs to happen in a graceful space that is outside of the loom of legislative consequence.  Calling, 2011 Calling Congregations Conference 2011-10-21T14:41:02+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/the-categories-arent-working-anymore/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/the-categories-arent-working-anymore/ As a Lutheran pastor (ELCA) in Wheaton, Illinois, a town often regarded as the intellectual capitol of American evangelicalism, the intricacies of mainline-evangelical relationships are an ever-confounding aspect of daily life. So it was with great interest and a longing for clarity that I hopped on the train into Chicago a few weeks back to attend "Reasons for Hope: A Dialogue on the Christian Future" featuring Barbara Wheeler and Richard J. Mouw. Jointly sponsored by The Christian Century and Christianity Today, the event brought together two respected leaders in theological education, each of whom I knew to be an articulate representative of her or his respective liberal or conservative Protestant camp. I was also aware... Alumnotes 2011-10-18T18:20:00+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/becoming-a-church-of-the-cross/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/becoming-a-church-of-the-cross/ Live Blog from our 2011 Calling Congregations Conference House for All Sinners and Saints is a community of theologians of the cross. Of such theologians, Martin Luther famously argued they were made “by living, nay by dying and by being damned.” It is such a belief that informs HFASS’ ethos of “anti-excellence, pro-participation.” We have become the church we are, not through pursuing programs, but by living, dying, and yes, sometimes being damned, through the messy, unclean, and ecstatically wonderful task of being a church of producers, not consumers; participants, not spectators; failures, not models. Calling, 2011 Calling Congregations Conference 2011-10-06T12:42:42+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/in-the-body-of-faith-and-hope/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/in-the-body-of-faith-and-hope/ In October 2010, I was sent to Atlanta to attend the Calling Congregations Conference with a small team of my colleagues from Life Together, the Episcopal Service Corps young adult intern program in Boston. I experienced VocationCARE as a set of practices that intend to enliven individuals and communities, with the potential to deepen our relationship to God, to ourselves, to each other and our communities. Particularly within the context of the US, with its unique history of white supremacy and the concomitant suppression of peoples’ relationship to their own heritages and creation of a mythical US homogeneity, I am excited and encouraged by FTE’s new commitment to thoroughly welcoming the body and its wisdom and potential for transformation, coupled with a commitment to anti-racist practices and learnings. These commitments have... Calling, 2011 Calling Congregations Conference 2011-10-03T12:58:26+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/the-snowflake-church/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/the-snowflake-church/ Last September, Arrington Chambliss and I attended FTE’s VocationCARE: A Deeper Look retreat in Atlanta, GA. We had been invited to learn about the VocationCARE work for churches and spiritual communities. We were interested because of collaborative work we are doing with young adults and congregations. We were learning the tools of VocationCARE to carry back to our Life Together and Leadership Develop Initiative teams that are working to revitalize church communities through intentional community and team-based missional leadership practices. In one particularly memorable session, we were asked to envision what the church of our dreams and strivings would look like. We were asked to be specific—as if we were walking into this church for the first time. Calling, 2011 Calling Congregations Conference 2011-09-29T12:28:28+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/awakening-courage/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/awakening-courage/ I almost got stuck in a snow storm in Indianapolis back in February. On my last day in town, with my flight home cancelled because of ice, I found myself at an impromptu lunch meeting with Rev. Stephen Lewis. At the time, Rev. Lewis was serving as Vice President of Program for the Fund for Theological Education (FTE), and he began telling us about the exciting work that FTE has done in developing what it calls VocationCARE. As Rev. Lewis described how they developed VocationCARE, incorporating the brilliant leadership insights of Otto Scharmer and the spirituality of education activist Parker Palmer, I was impressed and excited to see how we might be able to incorporate what FTE has created into the overall offering we've been organizing for Hope Partnership for Missional Transformation. That chance meeting with Rev. Lewis led to...  Calling, 2011 Calling Congregations Conference 2011-09-26T12:44:09+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/the-church-accountable-2/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/the-church-accountable-2/ The Church, the Gospel and Transformation How striking and tragic is the contrast that the church often presents to 12-step and other communities that hold themselves accountable for transformation. I believe this is to the great detriment of its vocation as Gospel-bearer. For what makes a more total, more dramatic and clear call to transformation than the Gospel, with its summons to metanoia—the about-face of one’s priorities, actions, of one’s very heart and being? And who presents a clearer model of the transformed human being than Jesus himself? Yet, in spite of their claims to “ultimate importance,” how often do we even hear our churches promising anything like transformation (the kind demonstrated within the Gospel stories themselves), with the courage and clarity of Alcoholics Anonymous?   Calling, 2011 Calling Congregations Conference 2011-09-22T13:32:50+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/the-church-accountable-1/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/the-church-accountable-1/ A Lesson from AA In his forthcoming book, Breathing Under Water, the Franciscan theologian and spiritual writer Richard Rohr deems Alcoholics Anonymous, “America’s most significant and authentic contribution to the history of spirituality.” Rohr’s assessment offers confirmation from a far more experienced observer of something that has been gnawing at me, especially of late: the church has something essential, even vitally necessary, to learn from AA. Looking at AA, and a number of other twelve-step or focused self-help programs, what strikes me is how clearly and unambiguously they make a promise of transformation... Calling, 2011 Calling Congregations Conference 2011-09-19T13:55:09+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/becoming-playfully-orthodox-to-speak-christian-as-a-second-language/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/becoming-playfully-orthodox-to-speak-christian-as-a-second-language/ Tom Beaudoin was right in his recent blog. There is something about Christian language in the air! The “age of the rage for literacy” has arrived at all levels of the Christian conversation. There is also a rush to “describe and denounce religious illiteracy,” but neither advocating for Christian literacy nor decrying illiteracy is very helpful if you can’t describe the next step, so that is what I intend to add to the conversation. Calling, 2011 Calling Congregations Conference 2011-09-13T18:25:20+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/finding-purpose-in-the-field/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/finding-purpose-in-the-field/ Around the age of ten years old I remember adults beginning to ask me an odd question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” As a child living in poverty, to me the answer was a no brainer. “I want to be rich” was always my answer; most of time it was received with laughter. Sadly I think too many young people start out life thinking about what they want to become in life based on what they want have in life. Rarely do we say that we want a life and a career that will allow us to have joy, peace, fulfillment, and balance. We typically think about a career that will allow us to buy things that we hope will give us joy, peace, and fulfillment, and then we later learn these items can’t be purchased. Over the years I’ve learned that...   Calling, 2011 Calling Congregations Conference 2011-09-02T13:04:10+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/if-the-gospel-gathers/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/if-the-gospel-gathers/ It has been almost two weeks since I along with 9 other young preachers participated in the FTE and The Academy of Preachers produced preaching camp, yet I still feel the residue of this experience upon me. We stayed up all night writing and sharing sermon ideas, I will never forget the time dedicated to helping shape our preaching skills, from the suggestions of peers and that of our mentors. I enjoyed all the many times of assisting and encouraging us in the art and presentation of preaching. In the midst of all the tips and lessons on strengthening our preaching, I learned a powerful lesson about the Gospel in which we preach. It was in community with 9 other fellow preachers from various faith traditions, socioeconomic status, race, gender, sexuality, and not to mention theological viewpoints, yet we gathered in love without any strife and we proclaimed the Gospel. I must admit as one who considers himself quite liberal, I often find myself avoiding conservatives because of our differences... Alumnotes 2011-08-23T15:33:50+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/beyond-religious-illiteracy/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/beyond-religious-illiteracy/ In pastoral research, we are firmly in the age of the rage for literacy. The consensus is striking, the baton relayed from one domain of ecclesial expertise to another: from pastoral workers, to seminary and graduate theological school faculty, to some of the most influential sociologists of religion and practical theologians, and finally to young adults and teenagers themselves, the urge to describe and denounce religious illiteracy has become both diatribe and truism in almost any discussion of the practice of faith today in Christian circles. A whole vocabulary of spiritual insouciance is marshaled to frame common practice and to symbolize the tendency of the larger secularizing American society: teenagers and young adults are said to be “uncatechized,” “poorly discipled,” they constitute a “domestic mission field,” they suffer from any number of deformations of faith-imagination. Calling, 2011 Calling Congregations Conference 2011-08-16T17:54:31+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/we-are-not-walking-alone/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/we-are-not-walking-alone/ One of the very first lessons I learned working with churches is how lonely a road ministry can be. Being set apart by God to serve His people is an inspiring but scary responsibility. To meet young people who understand that, share those sentiments and agree to join you in the growing process has been invaluable. Dr. Dwight Moody and Wyndee Holbrook of the Academy of Young Preachers, and the FTE staff did a great job of creating a space where learning and development could take place both as preachers and as the people who have been called to preach. Now, the shock is gone. The late nights and early mornings have passed as we now head back to our colleges, seminaries, grad programs, jobs, and churches. As one of the preachers D. Darnell Fennell preached, our job is now to move “Beyond an 8 Minute Sermon”. To take such an amazing experience and build on it. Stay friends, preaching partners, and young people committed to serving Christ and His Church. What we have been given is a gift from God. Alumnotes 2011-08-12T12:49:09+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/the-tension-of-gods-dance-floor/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/the-tension-of-gods-dance-floor/ This week, thanks to the unimaginable generosity of the Fund for Theological Education, I am in Atlanta, GA, at a preaching camp hosted by the Academy of Preachers. I am two days into a five-day camp, and my mind has been kneaded and sculpted so much in these short hours that I feel my brain must resemble a beloved can of Play-dough. The kneading is a result of love and affection, and it is with the endless possibility of my new intellectual “toys” that I have begun to discover something I can hardly believe I didn’t notice before. There is no escaping tension. Entering a group of ecumenical preachers for the second time in a few short months, I thought for sure that I would be struck by the boundaries that separate one Christian denomination from another... Alumnotes 2011-08-03T19:39:16+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/women-clergy-need-girlfriends/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/women-clergy-need-girlfriends/ After completing the Lilly Residency Program at the First Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, MI I took a call as an Associate Pastor in a small city in Michigan. Knowing that the adjustment would not be an easy one, and reflecting on what I had learned from my time in the Lily program, I decided that the first thing I needed was colleagues who could also be friends. So, I went in search of colleagues in the hopes of also finding friends. Knowing I would have a colleague in my Head of Staff, in other clergy in town, and in my governing body, I wanted to seek out colleagues who were in a similar place in ministry—so I sought out young women clergy. In my first few months in my new call I compiled a list of the young women clergy in my denomination in my area, there were about a dozen of us in our first call within a 2 hour drive of each other. At our first meeting we gathered for lunch at a one woman’s home, eight of us arrived... Alumnotes 2011-07-18T13:32:48+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/a-taste-for-what-we-are-missing/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/a-taste-for-what-we-are-missing/ The Fund for Theological Education held their conference in New Orleans this year. Two uncertainties already in my mind: what is a ministry conference like and how does New Orleans look after two Gulf Coast disasters? The shuttle from the airport to Dillard University was cold and full of chattering voices. I observed how we instinctually categorized each other: What kind of Fellow? What denomination? What seminary? The words felt empty when I said them. They did not actually say much about who I was. It was like placing everyone on a map and we’d only just met ten minutes ago. My own response to people’s answers was mixed. Some traditions conjured vivid images while other denominations were relatively unknown to me. It seemed hopeless. A real live person standing in front of me, and I was asking them assist my assignment of the most convenient preconceived notion I had for easy future reference.   Alumnotes 2011-06-29T14:10:22+00:00 http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/hanging-out-in-new-orleans-with-a-bunch-of-aspiring-pastors.-.-/ http://www.fteleaders.org/blog/entry/hanging-out-in-new-orleans-with-a-bunch-of-aspiring-pastors.-.-/ From our 2011 Leaders in Ministry Conference in New Orleans, LA As we left the airport and boarded the bus to go from the airport to Dillard University where the conference is being hosted, I was assaulted with the heat and humidity of the Southern summer. Riding through the traffic on the freeway, I looked out the window wondering if I would catch glimpses of the damage and recovery from Hurricane Katrina. We exited the freeway and were stopped at a red light and I saw a person on the side of the road “panhandling.” He had written some illegible words on a sign he was holding that I couldn't read. But I caught a glimpse of the back of the sign which used to hang at an apartment complex and read “The American Dream, for rent now!” I was struck by the completely contradictory message, this guy was definitely not experiencing the American Dream standing on that corner in the oppressive heat and humidity.   Alumnotes 2011-06-27T17:31:37+00:00