Thursday, October 29, 2009

My New Retirement Fund

I earned $0.01 today via Google AdSense on my blog http://montygalloway.blogspot.com/. Now I can retire and live in the lap of luxury.

Harvey Cox's The Future of Faith

Philip Clayton and Harvey Cox both have new books out and they are taking them out on tour. One of the blog tour stops will be here, but as you can see below they will be making their rounds over the next month until they wrap things up in Montreal at the American Academy of Religion's annual meeting. There they will be joined by an illustrious panel including Eric Gregory, Bruce Sanguin, Serene Jones, Frank Tupper, and Andrew Sung Park to share a 'Big Idea' for the future of the Church. These 'Big Ideas' will be video tapped and shared, so be on the look out for live footage from the last night of the tour.

Philip's new book is Transforming Christian Theology for Church & Society and Harvey's is The Future of Faith. Both are worth checking out at one of the many tour stops. If you can't wait you can listen to them interview each other.

I will be reviewing Cox's The Future of Faith. Below are links to the blogs of others that are joining in on the fun.

Joseph Weethee , Jonathan Bartlett, The Church Geek, Jacob’s Cafe, Reverend Mommy, Steve Knight, Todd Littleton, Christina Accornero, John David Ryan, LeAnn Gunter Johns, Chase Andre, Matt Moorman, Gideon Addington, Ryan Dueck, Rachel Marszalek, Amy Moffitt, Josh Wallace, Jonathan Dodson, Stephen Barkley, Monty Galloway, Colin McEnroe, Tad DeLay, David Mullens, Kimberly Roth, Tripp Hudgins, Tripp Fuller, Greg Horton, Andrew Tatum, Drew Tatusko, Sam Andress, Susan Barnes, Jared Enyart, Jake Bouma, Eliacin Rosario-Cruz, Blake Huggins, Lance Green, Scott Lenger, Dan Rose, Thomas Turner, Les Chatwin, Joseph Carson, Brian Brandsmeier, J. D. Allen, Greg Bolt, Tim Snyder, Matthew L. Kelley, Carl McLendon, Carter McNeese, David R. Gillespie, Arthur Stewart, Tim Thompson, Joe Bumbulis, Bob Cornwall
This Tour is Sponsored by Transforming Theology DOT org!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Directionally Challenged by Travis Collins

I picked up this book because this is exactly how I feel...Directionally Challenged. We all feel this way at one time or another and Collins does an excellent job of laying a good foundation on expressing these feelings of "lostness" into words. And yet, lays out a map to finding your way again. Through stories and anecdotes, the author keeps your interest while driving the point home "you may FEEL lost, but there IS a way to the other side." Chapter 3 titled "The COMPASS" alone is worth the price of the book. In it, Collins outlines a guide to find your way in troubled times. Like a real compass, this spiritual map is practical and handy, but does not show you every step of the way. Although the book could have been 100 pages shorter, it is a helpful guide through the muck of mediocrity. Directionally Challenged provides real world examples of those that seemed to wonder aimlessly only to find their place in this world. Not only does Collins' work assist those looking for direction, the book also challenges your direction. We must always remember that our path is one of what Collins labels "follower-ship" in which we are only told to follow Jesus. In this path we are lead to life of courage and mystery.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Contemplating these questions:

What can I do?
What are those things that I am physically, mentally, emotionally, capable and gifted to do?

What I should I do?
What are those things that I am being told by God, my wife, my family, my community, and by society that I should do?

What will I do?
Of these things, (the can and should) which of them am I willing to do?

What must I do?
What are the non-negotiables?

What am I compelled to do?
Which of these do I have a drive/desire/passion to do?

What do I do?
In light of the questions above, what is the next step?

Friday, October 23, 2009

You Can't Teach Interesting

One of my graduate professors told me once that you can't reach a person how to be interesting. You either are or you are not. This may be true. However, in light of a recent conversation with my wife, I'm wondering if this has more to do with the person making the observation of the individual in question. In other words, is it because I AM boring or because YOU THINK I'm boring that makes me boring? Maybe like beauty, boring is in the eye of the beholder. I remember when I was a kid having to hang out with my parents and their friends one afternoon. All they wanted to do was talk! How boring!!! Now that I'm older, I find enjoyment in conversations with friends. Maybe the "un-interesting" has more to do with context than the personality of the individual. Or maybe you've fallen asleep reading this blog. Either way, one man's boring is another man's enjoyment.