Reflection Roundup: It’s a Grace Competition

Each week we gather news stories, notable pieces, and other important items for Christian leaders today. As always, listening broadly draws together differing perspectives from which we can learn but may not concur. Here are 10 things worth sharing this week.

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1. Audrey Jackson, associate editor for the Christian Chronicle, writes “Lipscomb names Candice McQueen as its next president,” detailing McQueen’s expansive educational experience and history with the university. “Lipscomb’s board of trustees unanimously elected McQueen. A six-month national search for longtime President Randy Lowry’s successor drew more than 130 applications and nominations.” Lowry says, “Candice can see beyond what is to what could be. She also has a sense of creativity and a level of excellence that was beyond even our own expectations.”

2. Are female leaders in Christian education really so new? Bobby Ross Jr., editor-in-chief of the Christian Chronicle, recalls the pioneering vocation of Meta Chestnutt Sager in “Will Candice McQueen really be the first female president of a Church of Christ university?” Sager led a Christian college in Oklahoma’s Native American territory for 25 years at the turn of the 20th century. Interesting to those within the Stone-Campbell fellowship, Sager’s tenure at El Meta Christian College aligns with the historic 1906 division between Churches of Christ and Disciples of Christ. Darryl Tippens, “a scholar at ACU and former provost at Pepperdine” commented, “I congratulate Lipscomb University on the appointment of perhaps the second female president of a Church of Christ-related institution of higher learning. When Candice McQueen assumes Lipscomb’s presidency, she will be standing on the shoulders of giants.”

3. Dan Bouchelle writes “Kingdom Thinking vs. Institution and Nation Thinking” for the Mission Resource Network blog, reminding that all ministry belongs to God and is for God. God’s mission is our mission, and sometimes we get this turned around, asking God to bless our efforts. “For us to get clear on God’s mission, we really need to recover the concept of God’s kingdom. Yet, this may be the most neglected core subject by Christians in the American church and communities around the globe influenced by American churches.” Bouchelle pointedly articulates specific ways we might readjust our thinking toward a fresh kingdom mindset.

4. Vulnerability may be the key discipline for the sticky passing on of faith. Not the “too much information” type, but the honest admission that often leaders don’t know what to do. Even Solomon prayed, “I am like a little child; I don’t know how to do what must be done” (1 Kings 3:7). These truthful words prepare both the speaker and the hearer for what God is going to do next, rather than on the shortcoming nature of people. Mark Hooper writes “Will You Pray?” and highlights confession as the July prayer focus for Mission Resource Network. Hooper directs the reader toward specific words and postures that lend themselves to confession. “Disciple makers model confession and vulnerability. Their own accountability before God is seen in their lives, in part through their prayers uttered in community.” Witnessing the strength of Christ requires we admit and narrate our weaknesses.

5. As it turns out, the slogan “Think Globally, Buy Locally” is harder to do than we first thought. Rebecca Bratten Weiss helps us understand that, while responsible and conscientious on the one hand, supporting a collective of locals can propagate a shrinking and tightening worldview. Regardless of whether we agree with farm-to-table grower and writer Weiss, her piece “When localism becomes nationalism” for the Christian Century begs we all stop and consider our neighbors (both within and beyond our national borders) and examine the spoken and implied ideologies we hold.

6. Melissa Collier Gepford writes “Three Things Every Family Needs and One Thing They Don’t” for Ministry Matters, naming safety, predictability, and connection as primary. The pandemic, along with other elements of living in the post-modern world, continues to shape people’s needs, and the church must receive this nimbly. While not succumbing to the business of actualizing every individual need, the church acknowledges that caring for people has always been a relational space where we meet God. Collier empathizes that none of us needs to feel pride or shame about the ways in which our lives make church participation easy or hard. Jesus is always about meeting people where they are. Things are not as they were; this will always be true. How can we appreciate and grow the good?

7. The mind of God has no shortage of creative ideas with which to reach people, as Elaine Blanchard testifies in “Restoring bicycles – and lives – in Memphis” for the Christian Century. Revolutions Bicycle Cooperative, a bike shop located in one end of First Congre­gational, began in 2002 as a way to support a healthy community interest, meet needs, and get to know folks like Gerald, who needed a better way to get to work. Pastor Cheryl Cornish and director of mission Julia Hicks embraced some unconventional ways in which their building could be used, and then Gerald “had wheels to get him to work on time – and one more place to belong.” Blanchard’s piece testifies to the tremendous impact one church can have by saying “yes” to community partnerships.

8. Offering helpful perspectives to those who communicate through story, this excerpt from The Art of Spiritual Writing by Vinita Hampton Wright is a no-miss. “How to Make Your Story a Story for Others” gives brief, poignant reminders for preachers and authors alike. Once we choose to share publicly, the narrative takes on a life of its own in the mind of the hearer. Our speech is not about us; rather, we host the audience and must keep generous hospitality front of mind.

9. Last week’s post included some items relating to authentic digital connectivity, so I’d like to share something my home church has been trying for the past two weeks. On Instagram and Facebook, they’re posting fill-in-the-blank prompts like this one: “______ is an important quality for those in my inner circle.” Feel free to subscribe and answer, or share to your own page! Maybe this little innovation inspires some creative thinking in your own congregation. I have to confess … I was a doubter at first, but it’s growing on me.

10. Watch this clip from Priscilla Shirer’s “You Have Influence,” first seen here. Get it, girl!