jamesgsppencer, Author at CRAZY DIFFERENT

Tired of Being Held Accountable? You May Not Be Ready to Lead

ByjamesgsppencerMarch 22, 2019

Orwell’s Animal Farm was written as a political critique of events leading to the 1917 Russian revolution and the Stalinist regime that followed. After receiving a revolutionary vision of a farm run by animals without human oversight, the animals stage a coup and run

ByjamesgsppencerMarch 22, 2019

In The Confessions, Augustine highlights a dynamic located in “certain offices of human society” which “render it necessary to be loved and feared of men.” He notes that as we seek to be feared and loved, we are often caught up by the “well

ByjamesgsppencerMarch 22, 2019

When I applied for my first ministry job after completing my doctoral coursework, I felt a strong call to serve rural pastors. There was a Director of Missions opening with a Southern Baptist association in my hometown. It was part-time, but it came with a parsonage and Kim

ByjamesgsppencerMarch 22, 2019

When I was an Assistant Dean in distance learning, my department was going through a fair degree of change. It seemed as though everything was against us and I was having trouble not taking things personally. Every decision seemed like a personal affront. I was venting about

ByjamesgsppencerMarch 22, 2019

In taking over my various leadership positions, I have not always been particularly gracious to my predecessors. In many ways, it was easier to blame the person who led the organization previously than it was to recognize the contributions they made. In my case, pointing out

Christian Thought

It’s Just a Building, Right? Why Space Means More than You Might Think

ByjamesgsppencerMarch 22, 2019

While it is certainly appropriate to understand space as a physical concept, the symbolic aspect of space is also significant. Physical space does have an impact on the manner in which we view the world. It creates and/or constrains the options we have before us by

Christian Thought

You Are Not Alone…How to Live in Community

ByjamesgsppencerMarch 22, 2019

As many benefits as community may bring, it would be a mistake to assume that being part of a community is all roses. In addition to the inevitable miscommunications, frustrations, and hurts, communities have their own set of dynamics, unwritten rules that govern the

Christian Thought

All Narratives are Theological

ByjamesgsppencerMarch 22, 2019

In a previous post, I talked about how to write a theological narrative. There is a sense, however, in which all narratives are theological…they may not be correct, but they are theological. All narratives portray God in one way or another. As individuals interact with one

Christian Thought

You Too Are a Theologian: How to Build a Theological Narrative

ByjamesgsppencerMarch 22, 2019

In his book entitled Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman suggests that the brain likes simple stories. As such, when looking at stories of success or failure, we generally tend to “exaggerate the role of skill and underestimate the part that luck played in the outcome.”

ByjamesgsppencerMarch 22, 2019

After being promoted to my first academic deanship five years into my career and beginning to serve as a consultant with a higher education firm, my professional life seemed to be moving in the right direction. One problem…I wasn’t happy. I couldn’t shake

Author: jamesgsppencer

Tired of Being Held Accountable? You May Not Be Ready to Lead

Don’t Get Addicted to Those Pats on the Back

God is in the First Cubicle on the Left: What Happens When We Put God in a Box

Sorry, I Wasn’t Listening…And I’m Not Going To

Don’t Look at Me…I’m Only the Leader

It’s Just a Building, Right? Why Space Means More than You Might Think

You Are Not Alone…How to Live in Community

All Narratives are Theological

You Too Are a Theologian: How to Build a Theological Narrative

Obsessed Much? Don’t Live with Regret

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