Although I’ve not been too terribly active on social media this summer, I’m preparing to power down for a few weeks. Maybe you’ve done this before — and maybe you’ve just thought about it. But I find that if I don’t do this from time to time that I experience two different things: I […]
As the quieter months of the summer begin, how will you utilize the time and space that you have? More specifically, and less obvious, how will you engage the practice of silence? With much of the “noise” that makes up our normal days while our students are around during the academic year now removed […]
Are titles getting in the way of you doing good work? Do you know what I mean? Do you ever find yourself hindered by your place on the “org chart,” or unwilling to say something or do something because of where you fall within your office or organizational sub-structure? What’s holding you back? I mean, […]
What makes for a good book? I mean, what makes for a really good book? You know there’s a difference — but have you ever been able to pinpoint what differentiates the good books from the really good books — for you? Is it the writing style of the author? Is it the way […]
Doing the work that we do — mentoring students within a wide-variety of contexts — comes with a whole slew of challenges. Some of the challenges are related to our context and the things we have to manage or navigate in order to relate well with students. Some of the challenges are tied to […]
Maybe you see what I see, and hear what I hear, when you engage with students around campus. Time and time again I encounter students who appear stuck and sound hopeless as it relates to their current situation and set of circumstances. It may be the week they’ve been having. It may be the […]
I’m increasingly reminded of just how broken our world is. Even within our Christian circles. Even within our Christian ministries. The powerful shaping influence of our culture continues to make inroads into the ways we think and lead and love. And what’s true for us is most definitely true for our students. With all of […]
Eight years ago, when I first started at BU, we had no chapel service. And the required convocation program that we had, was (and still is), housed in Student Affairs. The short of the history is that once upon a time BU had a required chapel service — and open enrollment (attracting a good percentage […]
The story of Joshua is a familiar one to most of us — and possibly the closest thing to a “kids going off to college” kind of story in the Bible. Joshua and the young Israelites are entering a new, unfamiliar land — without the leadership and direction of Moses (the primary leader for most […]
I heard this passage in church yesterday and thought of us — and the work we do with students. I was reminded of how much our work this year will involve waiting — on God, on students, and on the active work of God in any student’s life. We are called to do our work […]
By my own confession, I’ve never been much of a handy-man. If given the choice, I’d much rather pay someone to fix — well, whatever really — because I’ve found that I rarely know how to identify the problem, how to get to the problem, what to do when (or if) I find the problem, […]