Tom Schreiner on the New Covenant

Tom Schreiner unpacks the new covenant in the final chapter of his book, Covenant and God's Purpose for the World. Schreiner begins making the point that the new covenant can be described various ways in the Old Testament without actually using the exact phrase, "new covenant" (89). Sometimes other descriptions for the new covenant are…

How do you actually share your life with other adults?

unrecognizable women serving table with assorted appetizers in garden

It is totally obvious to state, but here it is: Jesus was a genius disciple-maker. And to make disciples what did Jesus do? He shared his life and he shared the word of God. His practices influences our practices. The practices of sharing life and the word are the two foundational pillars for building a…

A World Without Email | The Specialization Principle

How do we get out of the mess that email has made? Cal Newport, in his book A World Without Email, lays out a few principles that could help individuals and organizations get out of this mess we've made. First, Newport argues that organizations must prioritize their worker's attention. Knowledge work require great depth of…

A World Without Email | The Protocol Principle

Email is terrible. But Cal Newport has answers for the problem of email: the attention capital principle and the process principle. In the next chapter, Newport lays out the next principle: the protocol principle. The protocol principle seeks to "optimize when and how coordination occurs in the workplace" (187). In other words, what are the…

A World Without Email | The Process Principle

Newport opens his book examining the problems that email has brought upon the world of knowledge work. He then attempts to solve these problems by laying out a few principles. He first argues that organizations should focus on focus, guarding their employee's attention. Next, Newport focuses on the "process principle." Knowledge work can be more…

A World Without Email | The Problem of Email

Cal Newport's book A World Without Email explores the problems that email has brought upon the world of knowledge and how to counteract them. While the book puts "email" in the title, the bigger problem is what Newports calls the "hyperactive hive-mind": having your mind bound back and forth between various messages and therefore constantly…

You Only Have a Compass, Not a Map

person holding compass

When you're leading a ministry, you only have a compass, not a map. You can't predict the future and trying to plan out every little thing often does not work. Yet the allure of planning runs strong in many leaders. Map-Based Planning We often treat planning for ministry like we have a map in our hands: a…

Don’t Try to Measure the Unmeasurable

crop payroll clerk counting money while sitting at table

At Centratel, the staff wage scale is 50 to 75 percent higher than our competitors'. How do we measure whether this elevated pay scale is a smart thing to do? That's an easy question to answer: we don't measure it because we can't measure it. Too many variables and too much subjectivity preclude analysis. Instead,…