I have been portraying "First-time Grandpa" in the last few weeks--- a role I had little preparation for. It has been fun and tiring. In terms of tiring, it has left me without a sense that I have much of anything to say. As such, I have posted little in the last few weeks. I thought I would update my ministry chart.

I recently started reading The Politics of Jesus, by John Howard Yoder. It is a recognized theological classic, having been published in 1972. The book makes a power case for Christian pacifism. As Americans, this is a tough sell. I recall attending a religious conference ("Baptist Fundamentalism '84") at the Washington Conventional Center. During US President Reagan's speech, a group of protesters stood up, unfurled a banner and began chanting the message on the banner...

I am slow in learning and using online acronyms. I only learned what FOMO meant perhaps a year ago ("fear of missing out"). Only a few days ago I learned JOMO--- "Joy of Missing Out." As a shy introvert I missed out on a lot, especially when I was young. But even then there was a part of me that appreciated some aspects of my social awkwardness.

It has been noticed by a number of people that slavery has received "positive" evaluation by some Evangelical Christians in recent days. For the best of my understanding this has been mostly from American Evangelicals. This is a curious thing. I was raised up in white American Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christianity, and it was pretty much a given that slavery is bad. Some have argued this weird reversal by some flows from American Exceptionalism as well as American Conservativism.

I am happy to say that a couple of projects of Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary Press (PBTS Press) are soon to come out. #1. Our first book under this imprint is about to officially release this January (January 2026). "Drinking Coffee with Some Contemporary Filipino Evangelical Theologians" has been completed by Dr. Francis Jr. S. Samdao. I hope to give a review of the book in the coming weeks.

Here are a couple of quick examples this week. I am visiting some relatives in Florida and we visited the local Greek Fest. That is an event commonly done in Greek Orthodox churches across the US. The one here is a BIG THING. We had great Greek foods, and listened to great Greek music. They had dancers, vending booths, and more for a very pleasant experience.

I am not in the Philippines right now--- my wife and I are visiting with our new grandson--- but there is a big typhoon going overhead where we normally serve and reside. A missionary acquaintance of mine put up on social media speculation that this storm is God's judgment for <I won't put his theory here... it's not the point of this post…

Sometimes I look back at my old posts and wonder why I wrote about my writing status. After all, a couple years later and sometimes the information is woefully out-of-date. Sometimes it includes something I decided never to finish. Others, they include something I finished long ago. However, I remind myself, that one of the purpose of this blog/website is historical/reflective.

A friend of mine is a pastor of a church in Sierra Leone. He asked me to provide a video training on the topic of the importance of training for ministry. Video is not my strength, but I tried to provide something.

Since the late 1800s, it has been common in Christian mission circles to have slogans or rallying cries around "finishing the task" or "fulfilling the Great Commission." Whether it be "this generation" or "2000 AD" I have never liked the slogans. For one, they have often been used to promote one-sided missions (evangelism rather than holistic or integral missions), or to use fast sloppy methods because of the presumption that fast is a virtue.

Our Seminary, Philippines Baptist Theological Seminary, has recently decided to establish a publishing arm. If the symbol looks unfamiliar to you, it is simply Baybayin Script (ancient Philippine syllabary) for "P." Our formal launch with our first book is expected to be in January 2026. The 2025 edition of the Philippines Journal of Religious Studies will be released in electronic form soon. Will let you know soon.

Faith is important in the life of a Christian. However, faith is only a concept until it has a foundation.... Faith in __________. In the Christian life, having faith in your horrible politician is no more commendable than having faith in "their" horrible politician. Having faith in your "tout" for your next sporting bet is of no spiritual value. For the Christian, Faith is a virtue when it is founded on God...

Book: CONNECTING POINTS: Bridging the Orality Gap to Minds and Hearts Editors: Charles Madinger, Danyal Qalb Publisher Info: Institutes for Orality Strategies, OralityResources.International, Manila, Philippines Format: E-book. Available at (Note: While freely available to anyone, it is requested that the link is shared, not the file. That way, they can keep track of how many downloads of the book are carried out.)

I did a class at Faith Bible College (Norfolk, VA) a few years ago. Sadly, they no longer exist, so I strung the presentations together into one file. These were not meant to be shared without an instructor talking through it so I apologize if it is a bit incomplete in parts. Also because they were separate presentations shared on separate days, there is some repeats/overlaps.

So in the previous post I gave reasons for why I moved from a position of Dispensational Premillennialism (DP) to something else. Now I want to speak about how such a change may have a positive role in missiology. But first, you may ask what my view is. If I sort of reject DP, then what do I accept? The truth is that I accept "Mystery." Technically, I don't reject DP.

I went to a Christian college back in the 1980s. At that school, Hal Lindsay was all the rage. He promoted a certain type of understanding of the future, and particularly a way of reading he Book of Revelation in the Bible. I knew this understanding as "PreTrib PreMill" but the more formal encapsulating term is "Dispensational Premillennialism." I really don't recall whether this understanding of Eschatology (study of future events) was taught as  "The Truth." It was definitely presented favorably in contrast to other schemas.

I am writing a book with the tentative title "Paradoxical Christians Mission: Theology Reflections for Weak, Small, Poor, and Slow Ministry." In case it wasn't clear in the title, I am suggesting that Weak, Small, Poor, and Slow are GOOD qualities in ministry. As I have been writing I feel myself bumping up against the Seven Mountain Mandate.

I decided to embrace a bit of curiosity and figure out what posts of mine were the most popular (best?) for each year this website has been in existence. It just hit 15 years. In terms of calendar years, then, I have posts from 2010 to 2025 2025 Inculturation, Enculturation, Acculturation, and More

Continuing.... I would like to use my own example to suggest how training works with ministry. My wife was born in the Philippines but had moved to the US after college. We met there and had three children… but after 9 years of marriage we began to be convinced that God was calling us to serve as missionaries. I was a mechanical engineer.

The following is a write-up (first draft) for a video on this topic. Is training necessary. I argue YES. However, a more nuanced response would be: A. YES, training is necessary... but non-formal and informal trainings are also forms of training. B. NO, formal training is not absolutely necessary... but there is a cost for not being formally trained. Anyway, here is my first draft.

Orality Missions (there are lots of terms... not going to delve into them) refers to a mission strategy/movement involved (originally) in reaching illiterate people with the gospel of Christ. By illiterate, we would be commonly refer to those who cannot read, in a people group who cannot read. Traditionally, the strategy for such a group would b for the missionary to help them read.

I think it might be best to give the TLDR answer here: YES, it is good for Christians to pray for UPGs. I am giving the answer early becase I am going to go over a number of things that might cause people to think I am saying “no.” A big reason that one might think my answer would be “no” is because I reject much of what might be labeled “UPG Theology.”

The above question has become more relevant to me of late as I have reached the traditional age for retirement in the Philippines, and my wife has reached the traditional age for retirement in the US. Some argue that there is "No retirement in the ministry." That may be motivational, but it is also not strictly true. In fact, it is not particularly true on any level.

A really really old joke. Maybe one should not even call it a joke, but maybe it is more of an anecdote. A salesman is driving through a sparsely inhabited bit of countryside. He comes upon an old farmer standing at the corner of an intersection of two roads completely lacking in directional guidance. <Typically, the farmer is a New Englander, but since I can neither speak nor type with a convincing New England accent, I will let you pick the region of your choice.>

I am presently working on a Missiology book that will hopefully be done in 2026. But for now, I would like to go over the books I have written up to this point. All of my books have been self-published and self-edited (mostly). My new book will probably have a publisher, so hopefully it will be more... professional? My Author Page is on Amazon if you are interested in any of the books.