My background led me to hold liturgy with a little disdain, and I regret that posture. That day, sitting in a small room not far from the well-known Hollywood sign, I saw something new and fresh.
Thoughts on Lent (with a Hollywood slant)
Watch for the “The Jesus Climb,” April 2024
Gary is currently on a writing break completing edits for The Jesus Climb: Journeying from Student to Disciple (Abilene Christian University Press / Leafwood Publishers, 2024)
30 Favorite Christmas Movies and TV Specials
If the stable teaches us anything it’s that you can’t always judge a Christmas classic by its humble beginnings.
Can You Really Call Yourself a ‘Follower of Jesus’ if You Don’t Follow His Teachings? (Podcast)
Gary and Peter Kapsner (Ph.D. Edinburgh) discuss Luke 6:42 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not follow my teachings?”
Spiritual Formation: The Four Heart Attitudes (Podcast)
Gary and John C. Lemon discuss the four heart attitudes and the significance of endurance.
Spiritual Formation: Following Jesus as a Student (Podcast)
John C. Lemon interviews Gary on what it meant to following Jesus as a student in the First Century and today.
Story Failure: Why We ‘Lose it’ in High-Stress Environments, Part 2
The stories, beliefs and strategies we develop to survive life’s most painful experiences inevitably fail us in high stress environments. Here’s why.
Scripture and Culture-Making: What Christian Colleges could Learn from Rabbinic Higher Education
Do 21st-century Christian colleges hold the gospel of Rabbi Jesus in as high a regard as 1st-century Jewish educators held the Torah?
LOST Lessons of Leadership 3: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – Authoritarian Leadership Learns to Serve
The second season of LOST introduces yet a third approach to leadership in the person of Dr. Benjamin Linus. As evidenced in the clip below, Ben is the most dangerous type of leader in the postmodern world—a pseudo servant leader, or “power broker.”
LOST Lessons of Leadership 2: Jack’s Position of Power – Service for the Common Good
In contrast to the “asshole” style of leadership evidenced by Sawyer and his gun (see, Lesson 1), the first season of LOST open’s with a compelling story of a radically different approach: service.
LOST Lessons of Leadership: What the Island Taught Me About Heroic Character
Like all authoritarian leaders, Sawyer understood that a leadership position is often wielded very much like a gun.
One of the key storylines of LOST’s first season is the tension between Jack (Matthew Fox) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) for leadership of the small band of plane crash survivors desperately seeking to balance the twin goals of survival and rescue.