A few weeks ago my student Mario invited me to the ninth birthday celebration for his church in Oakland where he is a leader in training. The church is made up of immigrants from just one village in Guatemala: Todos Santos Cuchumatán. That Sunday at Iglesia Eben-Ezer, I thought about the meaning of the gospel in … Continue reading Todos Santos Cuchumatán in Oakland, CA
Oakland has a reputation as a violent place. It is interesting to stop to think about how Oakland has become associated with violence. The label covers over lot’s of other realities about that place. There are lots of Oakland residents who are peaceable people. The “bad” neighborhoods are also full of peacemakers, like my student … Continue reading What kind of place is Oakland?
Latin America and humanity Brazil Islam and humanity God and humanity (actually nearly all my other posts in other topics are also about “God and humanity”) Immigrants and Refugees Oakland Leadership Doing Missiology My Work Family
Tuesday nights in February I teach a class at a church in Oakland on “Liderazgo al Estilo de Jesús” (that’s Spanish for “Leadership Jesus’ style”). My students are mostly tri-lingual. And, one of the three, is likely to be one of three different dialects of Mam, a Mayan language from the highlands of Guatemala. After … Continue reading Leadership, Jesus style
I will spend the next four Tuesday nights in Oakland with a group of immigrants from Guatemala who want to lead. Our task together is to think about leadership in light of Jesus. Where do they lead? If by “leader” we mean someone who shows the way for others, or someone who redefines the future, then these immigrants are … Continue reading They want to be leaders. Jesus has something to do with leading.
Thursday is my favorite day of the week. All day, I look forward to my evening class at a local seminary. I teach in Spanish to 12 hard working immigrants and we are looking at the first five books of the Bible. I sometimes post things for my students on this site. We use Spanish … Continue reading God Bless America.
Last Saturday, Lois and I went to see the movie Moneyball. We highly recommend it. We went mainly because we are Oakland A’s fans who happened to be at the Oakland Coliseum the night that the A’s won their 20th consecutive game. We can still recall the exciting emotions of that night. The A’s … Continue reading Moneyball: "you are solving the wrong problem".
I forgot to mention a connection between my last two blogs–one about Emily and Erlo and the other in which I try to notice some of the global connections in a small one block radius of Mi Oficina Computer Café I often go for meetings or to do other work. The most concrete connection is … Continue reading My last two blog posts: there is a connection
Our youngest daughter, Emily, lives in New Zealand with her husband, Erlo. Here is my version of their story. For the last two years I have watched as my daughter met, fell in love with and married the man of her dreams. We first heard of Erlo, practically on the day they met in … Continue reading Emily and Erlo
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