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Richard Hall of ConnexionsI am Methodist minister in the UK, currently serving as the Superintendent of the Swansea & Gower Circuit in South Wales. I am married (20 years this year!), have 2 daughters (4 & 8), 2 dogs, 3 degus and a few stick insects. Our circuit has 11 churches and 6 ministerial staff. As well as my church duties, I am a part-time university chaplain at the University of Wales Swansea. My first degree was in physics (with a minor in the philosophy of science) and I took a post-graduate degree in theology at Birmingham University whilst training for the ministry at The Queen’s College, Birmingham. Before entering the ministry I worked in the workers’ co-operative (or Common Ownership) movement.Why do you blog?I began blogging as an experiment with various forms of “internet conversation”. I barely knew what a blog was when I set up my first effort in 2001. (It was Feb 2002 before I got going properly) I was convinced that the church was not making proper use of the internet and wanted to play my part in making things a bit better. Whether I succeeded or not is open to question.What has been your best blogging experience?Undoubtedly, the friendships that I’ve formed. It’s amazing — there are people around the world who I’ve never met, except in this strange virtual world, but the friendships formed have been very real.What would be your main advice to a novice blogger?Don’t be disappointed if you don’t have an audience of thousands after your first week. Give links to others before you ask for a link from them. And don’t remove it if it isn’t reciprocated! Join a few lists, rings and aggregators but don’t overdo it. Try to be a contributing member of a community. And if you quote another blog, always give a link to the piece you’re quoting. It’s the law!If you only had time to read three blogs a day, what would they be?If I only had time to read 3, I probably wouldn’t read any. It’s no fun if you can’t follow the links and see where they take you! Also, I like to read a variety of perspectives so 3 would be very limiting. And I have more than 3 good blogging friends — I wouldn’t want to offend any of them. So you see, I really don’t want to answer this question! But if you’re pressing me, and I sense you getting irritated with my prevarication, let me give the answer, “It depends!” If I was in the mood for something broadly liturgical, it would be maggi dawn, jonny baker and dissonant bible. If my mood was political, it would be Chuck Currie, Salt and Father Jake. Unless I was after something to inspire me to irritation, then it would be La Shawn Barber. (No one else comes close for her ability to make me irritated!) If I was after keeping in touch with my oldest “blog buddies”, then it should be Ian’s Messy Desk, looking back…looking forward and Randy McRoberts. But the sites I actually visit first each day are invariably Bene Diction, John Heron Project and Dave Warnock.Who are your spiritual heroes?John Wesley, Bert Bissell, my dad, Martin Luther King and Henri Nouwen would be first on that last. Maybe not in that order.What are you reading at the moment?”Mother Tongue” and “The Lost Continent”, both by Bill Bryson”Jesus in the world’s faiths” ed. Gregory A. BarkerWhat is your favorite hymn and why?This a really hard question to answer, partly because it depends on the occasion. “Lord of creation, to you be all praise” is one that I keep coming back to. But if you’re pressing me for an unequivocal answer it would be Charles Wesley’s “Let earth and heaven agree”. I don’t think it is in the UM hymnal, which is a great pity. It’s a terrifically “Wesleyan” hymn, combining personal piety with the universal scope of Christ’s mission. I’ve posted the words on my blog more than once. (Here, for example)Can you name a major moral, political, or intellectual issue on which you’ve ever changed your mind?The question is, since when? When I was 14 I was a staunch creationist, but gave up that point of view long ago. Would that count? Truthfully, the political positions that I came to in my 20’s are still with me, with very slight modifications. It is true that I am politically out-of-step with the the rightward swing that seems to have happened on both sides of the Atlantic. But I believe that people are responsible for one another, and that government is a legitimate mechanism for exercising that care. Disagree with me, by all means. But you’re wrong! ;o)What intellectual thesis do you think is most important to combat?Individualism.If you could affect one major change in the governing of your country, what would it be?I’d want to take an integrated approach to transport. Curb the rise of domestic flights, change the way that fuel is taxed so that “gas-guzzlers” pay more heavily than more economical models, scrap road pricing in favour of a system of personal carbon allowances for transport (no, I don’t know how it would be done, but I can’t believe it is beyond our wit) and a reduction of the speed limit to 55 mph with draconian penalties for infringement. That would improve both fuel consumption and road congestion. Above all, a sense that public transport is a community good rather than merely a profit-making activity.If you could affect one major policy change in the Methodist Church, what would it be?A 5-year Presidency would be a start.What would be your most important piece of advice about life?You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose — but don’t pick your friend’s nose. [ed. -- he's right! I've tried it]What, if anything, do you worry about?I worry constantly about getting things done. Too much to do, not enough time.If you were to relive your life to this point, is there anything that you’d do differently?I wish I’d picked up a tin whistle much earlier in my life. And I wish I hadn’t allowed myself to be intimidated by a music teacher at school. I should have studied harder when I did my physics degree. And I constantly wish I was more disciplined in my prayer life.But spending time with “what if’s” isn’t very helpful. I reckon it is better to get on with things and make the most of now.Where would you most like to live (other than where you do now)?I don’t know how to anwer this question. As an itinerant minister, I have to get used to the prospect of moving house fairly regularly, and my next move is due in 3 years. I’ve thought a bit about where I’d rather be, and the truth is I can’t think of anywhere! For all its faults, this part of Wales has lots of advantages, Gower not least among them. Oddly though, South Yorkshire still feels like home.What do you like doing in your spare time?I blog. Play the tin whistle (badly). I like to read and watch science fiction. Messing about with a digital camera. Sudoku puzzles and cryptic crosswords are a good diversion. Being with my family — a wise colleague once told me that I could be a good father and a bad minister, but I’d never be a good minister if I was a bad father. I’ve tried to listen to that advice.What is your most treasured possession?My wedding ring.What talent would you most like to have?I’d really like to have some artistic ability. I’m more than a little envious of people who can create something with pens, pencils, paints and paper.If you could have any three guests, past or present, to dinner, who would they be?Something tells me I ought to invite John Wesley, but I’m not sure that he’d be a cheery dinner table companion. And I suppose Jesus would be out of the question? Assuming that my wife and children can be there (they don’t usually need an invitation), I’ll ask my mother-in-law, my father and my Grandma Howard. I’d like the girls to have met them.

Probably won’t be as grand as the Grand Challenge, and it doesn’t look like they’re offering a cool €1,664,474 in prize money like DARPA is, but Germany’s Ministry of Defence is planning a trial of its own for unmanned ground vehicles in May of next year called the European Land-Robot Trial. [Via The Raw Feed, which, by the way, has a new URL and a new look] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments© 2005 Weblogs, Inc. Ads by Google

A student posed an interesting question this week during the course of my lecture on the Christian imagination. I’d just finished making the point that, as important as evangelism and apologetics are, it is not necessary to pass off every form of cultural work (novels, films, music and so on) as a veiled form of one or the other. God has gifted us richly, and by doing our task — whatever it is — to the best of our ability, we bring honor and glory to him. I said a few words about Adam’s role in the garden, about the relationship between culture and cultivation, and the cultural mandate derived from Genesis 1:28 and 2:15, affirmed in Genesis 9:1. Somewhere around there, the hand went up, accompanied by a troubled expression.”What good would writing a novel be,” the student asked, “if nobody got saved from reading it?” He went on to do a little arithmetic. Let’s say two books are published. One of them only finds ten readers, but all ten of those readers get saved as a result of reading. The other book is read by thousands, even millions, but nobody gets saved. Which one is the better book? I’ll be honest. For a moment I was stumped. I wasn’t speechless, of course. I had plenty of answers to give to the question, mainly in the form of other questions: if two men live average lives, but ten people are saved after talking to one of them while no one is saved by talking to the other, which is the better man? If I give an hour-long lecture and nobody gets saved at the end, what was the point of speaking in the first place? But I didn’t ask these questions because it’s hard to answer a question with a question without coming off as patronizing, and the last thing I wanted to do was patronize a sincere question. Instead, I repeated my original point, that a cultural work — like any other work — derives its value from having been done well, not from the end it achieves. When I tell people that a novel doesn’t have to be — in fact, shouldn’t be — a form of crypto-evangelism, that sounds to some like an attack on evangelism itself. I don’t see it that way. In my mind, words have only so much elasticity. Stretch them too far to cover too many instances, and before long they don’t seem to mean anything in particular. The day when everything can pass as a form of evangelism, I suspect there won’t be much actual evangelism going on. I’m motivated here by the same concern for precision that makes me reluctant to use the language of ministry to describe a writer’s vocation. Although I acknowledge that there’s a sense in which it is accurate, I worry (rightly or wrongly) that when everything has become a form of ministry, there won’t be as much regard for the actual ministry of word and sacrament. Some would argue that is already the case, of course.So to my mind, by insisting that novels not be understood in evangelistic terms, we stick up not only for the novel, but for evangelism, too. One of my colleagues suggested that the tendency to link the value of art to its effectiveness at winning souls points to the underlying utilitarianism of the American church. Perhaps it does, but I can sympathize with the spirit of the question. If you have a choice between writing a book that fulfills the Great Commission or one that doesn’t, why choose the latter? Wouldn’t it be better on both the spiritual and practical levels to kill two birds with one stone? Maybe so.Another story I heard recently was about a couple who both came to Christ separately by reading Left Behind. They had both “prayed the prayer” after reading the afterword, and now, years later, were very much engaged in Christian ministry. A success story of evangelistic fiction, one of many that I’ve heard. Some of us smile wryly and remark how mysterious are the ways of God, and what curious means he uses to draw people to himself. But I’ve never been one to nitpick over means. I know plenty of people whose conversion stories are at odds with their theology of such things, and I’m not going to theorize on the “right” or “wrong” ways of coming to Christ. But I will say this: the label of ministry is often used as an excuse for shortcomings. “It’s not perfect, but it’s for ministry” — words often spoken over church vans, but applicable enough to many Christian cultural products. To me, this is like putting a Jesus fish on your car and then cutting people off in traffic. The label doesn’t sanctify the behavior, which has to stand or fall on its own.Later in the week, another student approached me with a comment on the same lecture — in fact, on the same section of the same lecture. I admit I was a little anxious. As it turned out, I had no reason to be. She told me she appreciated my having made the point about Christian art being valuable in its own right, without having to do double-duty as evangelism or apologetics to justify its existence. She had a big camera around her neck, and was always being told that to please God, her photos should be of religious subjects. She had always thought this was wrong, but had never heard anyone say so out loud, articulating the theology behind such a view. So for her, at least, my lecture had proven helpful.The interesting thing about spending my summers as an itinerant teacher is that the same questions are raised in different ways by different people, and I have plenty of time while immersed in unfamiliar surroundings, out of my usual routine, to re-think my working assumptions. Half of my task, I suppose, is to encourage others to re-think theirs, too. The other half is to help them find the right answers. What answers would you give, if you were in my shoes?– JMBRead more at JMarkBertrand.com and Notes on Craft.

A few days ago Adrian Warnock e-mailed me asking if I would like to engage in a little friendly debate regarding my prior posts on finding the will of God. I said sure - love to. Adrian said that this is probably one of the few areas that he and I disagree on. Well, judging from this post on is blog, where he engaged the debate, we’re not that far apart. I have a few quibbles with some of the things he says, but all in all I can agree with almost all of it. I guess if we are going to have a real honest to goodness debate we’re going to have to find something else to debate on. Nevertheless, let me share a few of my thoughts and quibbles. First of all, Adrian says: Begin with clearly considering all the relevant teaching of the bible on the subject. Is their direct biblical teaching that tells me what I should do? Which of the options before me are most consistent with biblical understanding? Prayer and seeking God to ask him to reveal the truth of his word and its application to your life is important even at this stage. A biblical understanding should always trump all the other concerns.I couldn’t agree more. In that same paragraph he even gives a good insight that I had not noticed on how Paul let a prior Scriptural commitment override a subjective impression of the leading of the Spirit. I also agree with points three and four of his comments: 3. A thorough consideration of the circumstances in which we find ourselves can also often give an indication of God’s leading. 4. Discussion with godly men and women who will be able to confirm the leadings we are feeling.My quibbles are with his second point, which deals more with the subjective experience of discerning the leading of the spirit. I say these are quibbles because he has already acknowledged that the Word of God trumps subjective experiences and he is also not making the subjective experience determinative. The subjective sense of God’s leading is one among several methods of determining God’s will in a particular situation. But now, on to the quibbling. Adrian offered John 5:19, Ephesians 2:10 and Acts 13:2 in defense of his position that:their is a place for seeking God, and listening to the impressions he places on our hearts. Rusty Lopez offered a comment on Adrian’s blog about John 5:19 that I agree with - I don’t see it as dealing with the process of decision making. I also think Ephesians 2:10 states a general principle, not a specific means of finding guidance. I think his most helpful citations is Acts 13:2 where it says: While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” However, the difficulty I have with that passage is that, though it is clear that the Holy Spirit spoke to them, it doesn’t tell us the mechanism by which he spoke. I don’t think we can use that as a normative passage in discerning the will of God. I think there are two issues that come to the forefront here. The first is the issue of what are we to do in matters where God’s word does not give us clear guidance. The second issue is what are we to make of the subjective in the Christian life? It is in the realm of those matters where God’s word doesn’t give us clear guidance that the issue of the subjective experience comes into play. Believers know that they shouldn’t marry unbelievers, but how is Billy Sue to decide between Jim Bob and Joe Bob, who are both fine Christian men who want to marry her? This is where the debate is engaged. I would say that she prays for guidance, and searches the word to see if there is anything that would cause her to violate God’s word in marrying one or the other, or neither. She should seek wise counsel, check her own life to insure that she is walking in obedience, then she is free to make the decision without waiting for a sign from God. If all things are equal she is free to pick the one she likes better and she doesn’t have to go through life wondering if she missed God’s will. I do believe there is a subjective element to the Christian life. Even us stodgy old traditional Westminsterites have a doctrine of providence that allows for the subjective: Shorter Catechism question #11 says this: What are God’ s works of providence? God’ s works of providence are, his most holy, (Ps. 145:17) wise, (Ps. 104:24, Isa. 28:29) and powerful preserving, (Heb. 1:3) and governing all his creatures, and all their actions. (Ps. 103:19, Matt. 10:29–31) The Westminster shorter catechism : With Scripture proofs. 1996 (3rd edition.) (Question 11). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.I don’t doubt that, as a part of His work of governing His creatures, that God can do so through subjective impressions. I have a kid in my church whose dad was driving down the road one day and suddenly had a strong impression that he should pull off the road as he was approaching a curve. As he did another car or truck came by in his lane - had he been there he most certainly would have hit the guy head on. This isn’t a guy out selling books and starting a ministry over the whole incident, so I have every reason to believe him and to see this as a merciful intervention from God. The trouble comes when we make such things normative and come to expect such “leadings” whenever we face a decision. If I may share a bit of my own tradition and experience with you, we have in the PCA a method for discerning a call. There must be an internal call and an external call. Neither is sufficient to constitute a call. The internal call is the subjective sense of calling to a particular work. The external call is when the church itself calls you. Actually, you could say there are two senses of the external call that must be present. The external call involves the approbation of the body - there are those who know you who affirm your fitness for ministry. Then there is the call from a particular church to serve with them. Anyway, all elements must be present. Some folks raised great concerns about me because, when I was asked if I was called to pastor the church I am now pastoring, I said “I don’t know.” I explained that I had that internal sense of calling, in that I wanted to come and pastor this church. This was not the “want” of a mere whim, I had prayed over the matter, sought much counsel, and interviewed the church very thoroughly while they were interviewing me. However, that wasn’t sufficient to confirm it was God’s will to me until I received the call from the church. Even though I wanted to pastor this church and subjectively felt like God was leading me, I could have been entirely wrong. It may have been my own voice I was hearing and not God’s. Some of the more mystical folks took that as tantamount to saying that I wasn’t listening to God’s voice. But the truth was, I was simply using the means God gave me and when the church extended the offer, I confidently told everyone I met that I was called to pastor this church. That’s a long winded response and story. My guess is that Adrian and I are extremely close on this. I think the crux of the matter is “what place does the subjective play in discerning the will of God?” We both agree that it plays a role, any differences we have is probably over degree. I would just encourage Christians to relax a little in this matter. As Garry Friesen has said so well, God doesn’t have dot in the center of a circle known as His “perfect will” which we must spend our lives trying to find out. Yes, in His sovereignty He does have an individual plan for our lives, but He doesn’t reveal it to us and doesn’t tell us we must seek it. He simply gives us tools for discerning His will - prayer, the Word of God, godly counsel, and circumstances. Lets just use the means He gives us, make decisions and go with it. God is big enough to change our course if we are not doing what He wills, and He will do so when He is ready. I would also like to refer you to some more stuff I have found in the blogosphere on this subject. Rebecca writes refers us to a terrific set of articles from the in-depth studies page on finding the will of God - this is from a conference and the teachings here fall in line with Garry Friesen’s terrific book Decision Making and the Will of God. You can find these articles here, here, here and here. The material on those pages are thoroughly biblical and state my position better than I can. Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason has an article critiquing Henry Blackaby’s book Experiencing God, which hits on many of the points from this discussion. Hat tip to Sozo at Reasons Why for recommending this article. Rusty Lopez has followed up his original post that got the ball rolling here. And Jeremy Pierce at Parablemania reminded me of a link to the discussion at The Limitless.

created several key programs that survive to this day and help to define the Jewish-federated philanthropic system, including solidarity missions to Israel, today a staple feature of Jewish fundraising, and the Israel Emergency Fund. Another was the UJA

of democracy and clean elections, it is important that African observers take their responsibility seriously. These are not solidarity missions, these are election observer missions in a country going through some very serious challenges.