Author: Robert

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whoa

sunday night i used a photo of some backpacking i did in 2001 and for all the threads whose last name isn’t terrell it was the first time they had seen me before i started running. i start running in 2005 because i had gained some weight and i wanted to loose it. actually i started playing a lot of racquetball in 2003 to loose this weight but then my racquetball partner went and started another church. this led to him being too busy to play in our bi-weekly challenges and i was left needing to participate in some form of solitary form of exercise or find another partner. all the racquetball partners i tried playing against were better than me so i opted for running instead. 🙂

anyhow, i used the photo below as part of an illustration for my message on sunday night and the response was not what i expected. there were several snickers, which i did expect, but one person said “whoa” loud enough for everyone in the washington elementary school gym to hear. i guess i look a little different, which is really a good thing.

here’s the photo. i am the one on the left. enjoy.

climbing

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she’s impressive

brazil

i posted this link on my facebook profile the other day but i thought i would add it to the blog because i kind of like bragging on my amazing wife. pamela is presently on the tail end stretch of the biennial study abroad course she leads to brazil. she started the course and the university tends to brag on it every now and then because (to my knowledge) it is the only communicative disorders study aboard course in the entire UW system. like i said pam is pretty impressive.

anyhow you read all the posts she has made concerning the course for the uwsp college of professional studies blog here and here are the specific posts she has made thus far:

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the annotated bibliography

rest

establishing the foundation for my d.min project/dissertation (which is a study concerning the effectiveness of collaborative sermon preparation) is done through by establishing an annotated bibliography that is evaluated by a recognized expert in the field to make sure that it represents the general thought and discussion of the field. it is similar to the literature reviews that other fields do as an initial part of their studies.

i have been corresponding with dr. wesley allen of lexington seminary and author of “the homiletic of all believers” to develop the annotated bib for my project. yesterday morning dr. allen said it looked good. i was so thrilled that i shouted loud enough to wake noah up.  thus my tweet yesterday.

i felt pretty good about the books i was using for the foundation of the project before i corresponded with dr. allen but I AM THRILLED with the books that talking with him led me to consider. thanks to the used books on amazon i was able to get them for next to nothing. i think the most i spent on any of the books is $6. most of them i was able to buy for $3-$4.

here is the annotated bibliography for anyone who is interested.

the remaining steps for finishing my project proposal are:

  • receive edits from dr. lemke (my faculty mentor) and update paper.
  • have paper reviewed by d.min reader to make sure it is ready to be submitted.
  • have paper read by dr. ogea associate dean of the professional doctorate program to make sure it is ready to be submitted.
  • submit the proposal to the professional doctorate committee for approval.

once it is approved i can begin to work on the actual study. yeah.

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garden of your mind

he is right, it is good to be curious about many things. now i am going to go grow something in the garden of my mind. thanks mr. rogers.

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jambalaya for the washington teachers

planting-jambalaya

there are a great number of things that i have done wrong when i was planting tapestry or now do wrong as the pastor. for example:

  • i tend not to be the best “salesperson” for the church. instead of giving people a simple answer concerning what tapestry is like i end up getting involved in a long discussion concerning their experiences with spiritual maters.
  • because tapestry is so relational at its nature i tend to never do just general invites to the community (what everyone else would call marketing). this is great for the people who know someone but i probably need to do more to extend the invite to people who don’t know a thread.
  • i tend to say stupid things. this happens a good bit.
  • i don’t do a good job of following rules.
  • there are many other ways that i mess up that i am sure pam, my boys, the leadership team of tapestry, or any random number of threads could tell you about.

BUT …

one thing i know that i have done right as pastor of tapestry is leading the church to provide an end of the year jambalaya lunch for the teachers and staff of washington elementary school. this meal is a blast and pays off great dividends with the church’s relationship with the school every year. today various threads provided salad and desserts to go with the jambalaya and it was all enjoyed greatly. i cannot count how many teachers told me “i look forward to this lunch all year.” there are great teachers and staff at washington and i am very thankful for the relationship that we as a church have with them.

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still looking for an expert

for those of you who have been following the development of my d.min project/dissertation i thought i would give you a little update. at this point i need to find an expert/authority to review the bibliography that forms the base of my research. once i do this and get him/her to approve it i will work through dr. lemke’s, my faculty mentor at nobts, changes and i will be able to present it for approval. once it is approved the fun will start because i will be able to begin my evil experiment on collaborative sermon preparation. mu ha ha!

anyhow these are all the people that i have asked thus far (and their responses if applicable).

dr. john stott

 as i’ve discussed before the late dr. stott’s organization was VERY helpful and it makes me like dr. stott all the more. the man lived out what he preached and so did (and continues to) the organization that he founded. he is the biggest name that i corresponded with yet his organization has been incredibly helpful.

dr. david platt

 lots of emails to lots of different email addresses (one that was his personal email address some years ago when he was doing DisipleNOW events for me at parkview baptist church) before i finally received a “sorry but dr. platt  it too busy” from his assistant.

dr. james shaddix

 several emails over the past six months with no response as of yet.

paul windsor

 assistant director of the langham partnership in new zealand. i’ve corresponded with rev windsor some but i have been unable to get in touch with him for the past couple of months. since i know that he is working on his own d.min project i am pretty sure that is keeping him busy.

dr. john mcclure

 dr. mcclure has been very helpful and communication with him has been wonderful but he is too busy at present to help any more. i really appreciate the help he has already give me.

dr. chuck kelly

 dr. kelly is president of nobts so i really don’t expect him to be able to do this but i thought “what the hey” and emailed him yesterday. no response yet but i honestly don’t expect him to be able to do it.

dr. rick mckinley

 just emailed him yesterday. i think the world of imago dei and advent conspiracy so i figured i would ask. no response yet but it has only been one day.

chris seay

 just emailed him yesterday. i think the world of ecclesia and advent conspiracy so once again i thought i would ask. no response yet but it has only been one day.

dr. wes allen

 dr. mcclure recommended that i contact dr. allen. i am not familiar with dr. allen but dr. mcclure said that dr. allen is on top of the literature related to my d.min and he should be of great help. that is good enough for me. of course, i am also intrigued by the books that he has published so that also made me desire to ask him. i just emailed him today. we’ll see what happens.

i promise to start writing about the d.min less in the future.

UPDATE – 6/6/2012 @ 3pm

    dr. allen emailed last night saying that he would be able to do it! this means i have an expert and once i finish my annotated bibliography (hopefully tonight/tomorrow morning) i can start on the next step. dr. mckinley’s secretary also emailed last night saying that he was presently out of the office but would look over my request once he was back in the office.
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and you should too

2012-06-05 09.01.38

kind of cool to be a part of only the third gubernatorial recall vote in our nation’s history. obviously i am pulling for a certain result (which i won’t say because my blog is on the church’s site and i have wonderful friends in tapestry who hold a different view from me concerning the election and i don’t want them to feel like their tithe went to support politicking) but either way our election process and the democratic republic that results from it are awesome. i assume i am the first member of my family to have ever voted in a gubernatorial recall since i was the first terrell signature at the poll today and i don’t believe any of my extended family has ever voted in a gubernatorial recall before.

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thankful for willing experts

one of the things i am discovering from working on my d.min project/dissertation is how generous most academics are with their time and unfortunately how non-generous some others are. i have written before concerning how amazed i was with the incredibly fast and positive response of those involved with john stott ministries and the incredibly slow and negative response from a couple of people i would have considered friends or at least strong acquaintances (if you can’t tell i’m still a little bitter about this but i am trying to let it go). as i finish my proposal and prepare to submit it i am again amazed by the generosity of the many academics with whom i have talked. two different professors at uwsp have willingly loaned me their time and expertise. my research has absolutely nothing to do with their research. they have nothing to gain from helping me (other than maybe a cup of coffee or some homemade cookies) and yet they are very willing to review things for me and make suggestions for improvement. i am very thankful for their help.

the latest example of this is dr. maggie watson, a professor in the communicative disorders department, who has graciously agreed to review the survey i will use to quantify my research. i felt pretty good about the survey i had originally developed. i modeled it on several others i found in other people’s research. you can see it here. pam recommended that i run it past maggie. pam said she is a wiz when it comes to this stuff. so i asked her and she has been gracious enough to evaluate it. her changes were small but should make a dramatic difference in the data i garner from my research. you can see it here. one small change she suggested that i believe will make a huge difference is to never have odd numbered choices on the survey. i had originally asked them to answer “strongly agree / agree / undecided / disagree / strongly disagree.” maggie suggested getting rid of the “undecided” choice by either going to 4 or 6 possibilities (i went with 6). this forces the one tested to make a choice. brilliant.

anyhow i have been pleasantly surprised, though i probably shouldn’t be because it seems typical of most of the ones i conversed with, by how generous with their time the academics i have corresponded with have been concerning my research.

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duck tape dots

just saw these duct tape dots on lifehacker and i think it is brilliant. now i just need to borrow a gasket punch.

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quoting yourself

i know a few pastors who quote themselves. for example, i have a couple of acquaintances whose “favorite quotes” section of their facebook account is full of quotes from their own sermons. one in particular quotes himself as his facebook status. instead of just saying what he wants to say he types it out as a quote. for example …

i find it weird when people quote themselves – robert terrell/2012

just seems rather odd to me. of course, george bernard shaw once said “i often quote myself. it adds spice to my conversation.” so i guess i shouldn’t criticize. i think i’ll quote myself saying that on my facebook page.