I know some are into New Years Resolutions. As far as I can recall, I have never done this. I think I am more open to the idea of year “theming.” I have done this before and found it had some merit. This year, my focus is more on Missions writing. As a missions professor, that seems hardly a shock. In fact, one might presume this to be a given. However, in many years, I have focused on other things. This is especially true in terms of Pastoral Care and Counseling. My wife is a clinical chaplain and pastoral counselor, and I am the administrator of a counseling center and on the board of a certification and accreditation organization for Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). Many years, I have focused on pastoral care and counseling over missions.

But this year, I am hoping to focus much more on Christian missions:

—April 11, I will be presenting a paper at the Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS), Southeast Regional conference. The title of the paper is “Holy Defect: Metaphors and the Quest for the Perfectly Flawed Missionary.” This paper does draw somewhat from pastoral theology. I do, however, believe that there are areas where Christian Missions and Pastoral Care overlap. Among these are Missionary Member Care, and Interreligious Dialogue. Another area is the similarities between a Chaplain and a Missionary. When I speak of a chaplain, I am speaking both in its early form, as minister to Christian travelers, as well as the more common modern form of a minister who works outside of the church for those who are both Christian and non-Christian. Anyway, I think there is a lot of good exploration that can be done in these overlaps.

—Later this year I HOPE to finish my book, Slow Missions. This is a book that I have been dabbling with for a few years. It exists in a whole bunch of partly done chapters. I am not sure whether to continue stitching those chapters together, or whether to start writing from scratch (utilizing the previous work as raw material). Unlike most of the books I have written before, I plan to have this proofread, copyedited, and formally published. Hopefully…

—Oh yes, and I want to continue moving forward with PBTS Press. This is the publishing arm of our seminary. I head the “Research and Creative Writing Office” at the seminary, meaning that I am “editor-in-chief” of PBTS Press. While this is not technically a “missions thing.” it is an academic role more than ministerial, and so is linked to my role in teaching Christian missions.

We will see what the year brings. Some health concerns have changed our plans, in the last 3 or 4 weeks, and I have to accept that they may change again (and again (and again)).