New Years is a time of living in the present while intentionally looking backward and forward. With that in mind, here are three quotes on aspects of the Christian life that are ours in the present, although (only fully "made real") in the future. Since I believe that full reality is outside of our capacity …
Month: December 2017
Ministry Presentation
Powerpoint that shows a small amount of our ministry work from 2003 to 2013.
Willy Wonka and the Advent
Well I do love the 1971 movie, "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory." I did enjoy the book it was based on (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). but it has been over three decades since I read it and its sequel, so I would rather base the story on that movie not the book. The …
Maligayang Pasko Again!!
It is Christmastime in 2017. Most years I put a little post about Christmas. Some are better than others. This year I linked Christmas with a short story by Cyril Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl. (https://munsonmissions.org/2017/12/22/christmas-and-the-gift-of-garigolli/) However, two of my favorites I wrote were from 2012. You may want to read them. Christmas, It's Okay... Really. …
Ministry in Diversity. 2nd Edition
Finally got my book updated. Previously, I was trying to finish the book "Ministry in Diversity" quickly so that it could be used in my Cultural Anthropology class. So I was a bit... sloppy. My son helped me fix a lot of it. We got most of the problems fixed now (HOPEFULLY all of them). …
Christmas and “The Gift of Garigolli”
This is a follow-on of my previous post on the Golden Rule and how it is affected in cross-cultural situations. If you haven't yet, you can read the post HERE. An interesting story that points this out is "The Gift of Garigolli" by Cyril M. Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl. It can be found in an …
The Golden Rule in Cultural Application
The Golden Rule is the term often used for the command of Jesus in Matthew 7:12: "Whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them." This positive form is also balanced by what is sometimes called the Silver Rule that says almost the same thing but from a negative sense. …
3 Lies Your Pastor Tells About Missions
None of my pastors ever shared these... but I have heard some of these before. The 2nd and 3rd are especially frustrating because they sound good, but are in fact not only unbiblical, but also counterproductive. Source: 3 Lies Your Pastor Tells About Missions
Argument and Ego Response
I find this an interesting phenomenon. Maybe you will as well. I am teaching a course in Inter-religious Dialogue. The first third of the course is on some principles of IRD, while the second deals with the beliefs of some major word religions. We had covered Rabbinical Judaism already and were now in Islam. One …
Ministerial Recovery
We all fail sometimes. Sometimes the failure is minor... sometimes it can be spectacular. Sometimes one has control over the situation of the failure, and sometimes not. Failure is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, failures are great opportunities to grow. But not all failures are equal to each other. Consider three forms of …