Terry Pruitt's Blog

Someone asked me recently, “What do I think of the surge ?” The current situation makes me think of me watching the Super Bowl . I'm no football fan and I really do not know the teams. I can, like anyone else, appreciate the athletic abilities on the field when I see them. But I don't know the players. I don't know the coaches. I don't really understand what is going through the players heads as the prepare for each play. I'm not a football player or fan. So what do I do when it comes to Super Bowl talk? I talk what I know, which is the cultural aspects of the celebration of this American sport. I have a hard time even picking a team to root for. So when it comes to football I just need to stick with what I know. When the media covers the war in Iraq and Afghanistan they are sort of like me talking about football. They sort of don't understand the story to begin with so the concentrate on aspects of war they understand. Instead of talking about milit...

What do I like about George Bush? 1. He is realist with a dash of optimism. 2. He sees education of the America as a priority. 3. He tells the American people what he is trying to accomplish. Transparency is a good quality in a leader. 4. He has chosen some well qualified leaders who also happen to be minorities. 5. I believe he is true to his convictions.

There is an excellent article in Leadership magazine entitled Curing Souls: the Forgotten Art by Eugene Peterson. Peterson, faimed for his paraphrase of the Bible called The Message, contrasts the institutional CEO mentality of ministry with one that is curing the soul. Probably the best insight is that if I count my job is to solve organizational and personal problems then there is no end to doing that. When do we take the time to seek God during the trying parts of life if we are continually fixing it ourselves? Growing up in rural Missouri, Theron McCloud was our minister of the gospel. He spent a lot of time visiting the sick and shut-ins in the community. He was not a CEO. Our people could not relate to a CEO since most of the people were farmers, farmer's wives, people who worked with hands but lived in town. Yes there were some business owners and such in the congregation, but sophisticated organizational structures and programs would have been smaltzy. Instead Th...

My daughters bought me a couple of CDs for Christmas last year (2005) by David Crowder . My CD player in the car was working fine. The Lime was immediately my favorite. The Collision just did not make sense. However when I put Collision on the iPod, it became a whole new experience. The experience of Collision is too subtle for an aging stereo in a car with tad bit of a muffler problem. The songs are not simply a collection of songs of a single genre. The album has a flow to it that is intriguing. There is a mixture of techno-sounds, rock guitar, ethereal high pitched women singing (who may be synthesized, the voices not the women), Amer-Indian chanting, and blue grass banjo. Who would have figured? Collision is worth the time and few bucks to buy. There are themes of Collision are death and the afterlife, great themes from certain genre of Christian music my friend Lynn Thomas used to call “suicide Christian music”. David Crowder Band explain on their website that the Davi...

Today I had to go to a committee meeting that I promised to attend. So I also took the day off from work. I decided to also reconnect with a friend from high school. We discussed our work, our children and how the years have gone. It was good to reconnect. He is now working at a Christian college and would like all of his children to be educated there as he and his wife were. Clearly in my mind, he was my best friend in high school. I'm not sure why I did not stay in touch better. Regrets.

I saw a video in my seminary class which showed how the gospel spread among a tribal people. The people were taught the Bible and leaders were raised up. Then these tribal people became a sending people. I was reminded how leaders are raised up in the church. The American church culture by and large see the pastor as a professional whose job is to run the church, visit the sick and preach sermons. The pastor is viewed as a person who is a professional. This model of the clergy has him trained by an institution, the seminary. While seminaries are great places to aid in training pastors, counselors, and missionaries, I see this as a deviation from the New Testament model for training for the ministry. Practically speaking the institution trained model keeps people from doing ministry that they should be doing. Ephesians 2:11-13 tells us that the ministry of the body is to be done by the members of the body and the pastor is a part of a team of equipers. "11 It was he (Jesus...

The Questions I received a question from a reader of this blog. From our discussions it appears to me that the reader does not hold to strong religious beliefs but feels it is fine for others to do so. He has a long time friend who has strong religious beliefs, though not stated explicitly, I think is an enthusiastic, evangelical Christian. The reader says that they have had a great friendship for years with an agreement of some sort to not bring up religious matters. Of late his friend has started trying to influence his beliefs. The reader is now troubled that the rules of the friendship have changed but also troubled that by confronting the issue he will do harm to the friendship. The reader asks, “What do I do with a friend who is trying to influence my religious beliefs when I don't desire this?” The Answers Respect and Courtesy Change with Intimacy It is one thing if a stranger is trying to convert you, it is quite something else if a friend or relative is trying to con...

I got an iPod for Christmas. I put it on my Christmas list just like each year a put jacuzzi . (My wife does not want a jacuzzi at all. She sees it as another thing that would have to be maintained and she is right on that. I put it on my list each year though right above tazar .) But she called my bluff this year and bought me something on my ridiculous list. I will have to be careful or I will get something else that I thought was really out of bounds. So Tim Challes has reviewed a book on the iPod that I want to link to here below. Challies Dot Com: Book Review - The Perfect Thing : "People looked at me in a strange way when I told them I was reading a 300-page book about the iPod. 'No, seriously. It's a whole book about the iPod!' Steven Levy, author of The Perfect Thing is senior editor and chief technology correspondent for Newsweek magazine and the author of five previous books. Levy is a technophile and over the course of his career has seen many produc...

Jack Yoest at Reasoned Audacity recently wrote an excellent article celebrating his son's participation sports and giving a tip on how to understand a potential applicant's leadership ability. There is some quibbling with this a little over at the Jollyblogger regarding where that leaves those who are less gifted athletically when it comes to leadership . I'm not sure what the phrase "best predictor of successful leadership" really means. For some folks it could mean that they don't understand any kind of leadership except that which is expressed in cleats. For other people I would get the sense it means that they feel a camaraderie with those who are likewise athletes and so would trust their judgment since they are a part of the 'club'. For these folks who are looking for a certain status and bravado, they will find it when discussing sports quickly. For others I think the phrase would mean that sports is a great laboratory for seeing how peo...

Dark Roasted Blend: The Most Dangerous Roads in the World : "The Most Dangerous Roads in the World" While it might be intriging, I'm going to not put this on my list of places to go on vacation. I have been stuck in the mud and it is not fun.

This is a link to a map of the Middle East which shows who has ruled in the area through history. The insightful part of this dynamic map is the how those who rule come from the edge and sweep through the area. Also, when we think through the historical ruler, this map shows that current situation is relatively new. Hat Tip: Jungle Pop .

Zechariah 2 By Terry L. Pruitt Main Idea : The Lord will protect his people. Outline I. Man with the Measuring Line Zechariah 2:1,2 II. Jerusalem is so Large That It Has No Walls Zechariah 2:3-5 III. Return to Jerusalem You Who Are Scattered Zechariah 2:6,7 IV. Those Who Harm God's People Will Suffer His Wrath Zechariah 2:8-9 V. Many Nations Will Follow The Lord Zechariah 2:10-13 1. Josephus was looking for one literal fulfillment of this passage. Clark's commentary says... The vision with which this chapter opens, portended great increase and prosperity to Jerusalem. Accordingly Josephus tells us, (Wars v. iv. 2,) that "the city, overflowing with inhabitants, extended beyond its walls," as predicted in the fourth verse, and acquired much glory during the time of the Maccabees; although these promises, and particularly the sublime image in the fifth verse, has certainly a still more pointed reference to the glory and prosperity of the ...

In the tradition of free and open source software, courseware and others who are generous and yet somehow effective, I'm publishing my Sunday School lessons here on the web. Some other projects that I respect that are free and open are the MIT Open Courseware , Third Millennium Ministries and Crosswire Bible Society . I'm not going to mention all the software that is open source. I'm really wondering if Third Millennium and Crosswire should get together on some projects. Zechariah 1 by Terry L. Pruitt Main Idea: The Lord will defend His own reputation and His own people. Will you merely be a tool in His hand or will you follow Him? Outline to Zechariah Chapter One I. Introduction "The 'Lord Who Rules Over All" Says Turn To Me (Zechariah 1:1-6) II. Introduction to The Visions (Zechariah 1:7) III. Content of the First Vision – Four Horsemen (Ze...

Parableman: The Logical Problem of Evil : "The Logical Problem of Evil" Jeremy has an excellent discussion of the problem of evil. He will soon discuss some theistic solutions. I'm intrigued.

I got this from Parableman . I was surprised how easy the test was to take and how accurate it was. What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio. The Inland North The South The Northeast Philadelphia The West Boston North Central What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

That Sermon You Heard on Sunday May Be From the Web - WSJ.com : "The plagiarism debate grew louder in recent months after a sermon site posted an essay by the Rev. Steve Sjogren titled, 'Don't be original, be effective!' Mr. Sjogren urged pastors to quit spending time striving for originality and instead, to recite the words of better sermonizers." Yesterday I bought a Wall Street Journal. I have not bought one in years but I saw a leading story on preaching and plagiarism so I spent my dollar to read the one article. Then I see that Tim Challies wrote a post on this same article. My pastor goes out of his way to source his sermon material. I think his practice of mentioning who he read to get an illustration or an idea is great. However, some people misunderstand his sourcing content that he uses from books. One fellow was intimidated by the often mentioning of book. He was of average or better intelligence but he was not an avid reader so he felt a little...

When I was in high school I went to a Christian vocation conference at Bethel College in McKenzie, TN. It was a conference to get young people to come to the college, talk about their desires to go into the ministry and ultimately go to Bethel College. I had a good time and I ended up going to Bethel too. I had a question that I asked one of the leaders, "What does a pastor do all day?" Ultimately nobody answered the question. Perhaps other people don't have this problem, but I think they might. We had a lot of bi-vocational pastors in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the denomination that I grew up. Since some of the men could work at a shoe store part time and still do a great job pastoring the church, the question was in everyone's mind, "What does that pastor down the street do who is only a pastor?" Though I read a lot on the ministry, have pastored a couple of churches as a student pastor, and am now going to seminary, I have had no one a...

Richard Dawkins on Colbert Report I got this from Gary Shavey's blog on Resurgence . I'm not sure if Colbert wins the debate but it is an entertaining exchange.

I caught this on Wired . It is very funny. The quote from Neitzsche is randomly paired with the picture from Family Circus. I think this randomly generated pair is particularly funny since Dolly is holding her dolly. The art is along side the reality, which of course is art too. Sort of recursive humor. Follow the link and see funny sayings. The Nietzsche Family Circus : "Art is not merely an imitation of the reality of nature, but in truth a metaphysical supplement to the reality of nature, placed alongside thereof for its conquest."

What I'm thinking could be big is Jericho on CBS. I've always loved the whole Alas Babylon and On the Beach scenario where you just have to use those survival skills and bone up on your Boy Scout handbook . Jericho scratches that itch and then has a bunch of interesting characters as well. The small town has a mayor, his wife, his son who is a adulterer, his son who has been out of the picture for five years and has no explanation, the blond school teacher, the bar maid, the St. Louis cop who is new in town, the mayors political opponent, a deaf girl, her farmer brother, an accountant who just audited the farmer, a brunet who broke her leg in a school bus accident, John Lock, Tom Sawyer, Kate, Evangeline Lilly, Henry Gale , and others. So it does have some of the same elements of Lost . There is a lot of characters who need to be developed. They are surviving a diaster together. There is an outside threat. By the way, the Wikipedia article on Jericho, Kansas is pretty...