Posted by Chris on Dec 27, 2011 in
Life Every year, I try to plan ahead what I’m going to read. My goal is to conquer a minimum of 40 books every year. I have no doubt that the graduate school will provide at least half of that. So I’m looking for about 20 books to that will help define 2012.
Here’s some categories:
Classics
The kind that you always feel like you should have read, and are free on a Kindle.
Discernment/Vocation
One goal I have for 2012 is about taking decisive steps towards growing in my vocation. Anything you may have on this would be great.
Biography/Memoir
The only thing better than learning from experience is learning from other peoples experience. I’m looking for stories of leaders, missionaries and interesting people.
Mindless Fiction
You can’t be in school all the time. I’m looking for a few books to rest my mind on weekends and in between classes.
Your Favorites
What reads have had the most affect on you? I’d love to share in that with you.
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Posted by Chris on Dec 26, 2011 in
Life 
http://www.in5d.com/images/2012mckenna.jpg
What will 2012 be all about? It’s a more important question than you might think.
As I approached 2010, I had this epiphany that I my year was not going to be about accomplishing my great life goals. Instead, I decided to focus on a few small things that I knew I would be able to well. So I aimed for those dreams that you never really get around to, the “bucket list” kind of things. I set twelve goals, and used this blog as a means for enforcing accountability. I did things like run a marathon and pay off all of my debt. It was a very difficult year, but I’m proud of it.
For some reason, I didn’t approach 2011 with the same attitude. Maybe I was just tired. Maybe I felt like I had accomplished enough and didn’t need to try. Maybe I was more concerned about maintenance than accomplishment. 2011 was mainly about riding my bicycle and doing well in graduate school and surviving the summer heat. The end result was a good year, but not one I look back with the same kind of pride I have about 2010.
Perhaps the difference is that early on I decided what 2010 was going to be about. I made some goals, and a plan to accomplish them. The end result was that I did some cool things, specific, that I can point to.
I want to have more years like that. I want you to as well.
So now is the time to decide: What will 2012 be all about?
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Tags: 2012
Posted by Chris on Dec 23, 2011 in
Life 1. Harry Potter and the Imperfect Christ Figure
Not only my biggest post of the year, but my biggest post ever. Completely because of the cool picture.
2. How Facebook Causes Depression
Inspired by pictures of ex-girlfriends, people acting like they’re having fun, and friends I haven’t seen in 8 years having babies. This really seemed to resonate.
3. A Jesus Way: The Water We Find Ourselves In
A leftover 2010 post that still gets some interest.
5. Will Harding University Face Up to Its True Sexual Dysfunction?
Part 1 of a discussion on the controversy that hit my alma mater this year. My hope was to turn the conversation to what mattered.
6. How To Be A Good Date
Lessons learned from a year with way too many first dates.
7. Three Things Twenty-Somethings Need from Church
When I posted on another blog that churches didn’t know what to do with 20somethings, somebody asked what exactly they should be doing. My answer.
8. Dune: The Greatest (Science Fiction) Story Ever Told?
Revisiting the best science fiction book I know.
Two Honorable Mentions:
These didn’t get the traffic my other posts did, but they’re a few of my favorite things I wrote this year.
How Osama bin Ladin Led Me to Anabaptism
After listening to a This American Life episode, my parents asked me how Bin Ladin’s death had affected me. The conversations inspired this series.
If You Could Only Read One Book
My fellow MAGLers asked me for a reading list. This is what I’ve come up with so far.
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Posted by Chris on Dec 22, 2011 in
Culture,
Life 
Advent is almost over, and Christmas is almost here. Maybe it’s Austin’s general lack of four seasons, but I’m just not feeling it. I’m not sure how, but I have the sneaking suspiscion that I did Advent wrong, and Christmas will suffer.
If Christmas is the great celebration of Incarnation, Advent is the bated breath that waits for his coming. And waiting is what makes so much of life worthwhile. The problem is, we don’t have to wait in our culture.
Today we get our meals by driving through, or zapping something in the microwave. We forget what it means to be hungry, or how to salivate at the smells wafting from a kitchen. You don’t have to drive to a record store, you download your new favorite album on your phone. You don’t have to write letters or travel miles to hear from loved ones on other continents, you just send a text message or get on Skype.
Following Christ is about learning to live in the “time of God’s patience,” this strange age between the coming and the coming again. It’s all about waiting. And in that way, it’s probably the most “Christian” of all holidays.
Waiting isn’t fun. Actually it’s pretty boring. Which is another problem. There’s very little opportunity to be bored today. Think about the times you might be bored: waiting in line or traffic, a slow day at work, listening to a bad sermon. But today, we’ve exchanged boredom for distraction. All I have to do is press a button and I suddenly have fresh news feed of articles, tweets, instagrams and gifs. We’ve exchanged boredom for distraction.
For me, my Advent has been filled to the breaking point. My days have been packed with school projects, new websites, networking events, holiday parties, on top of my fourty hour a week job. Advent requires space to be quiet, to wait, reflect, and yes, get bored.
Ignoring Advent is like ignoring the light that comes on when your car is low on gas. The light will have it’s way, and you will find yourself on the side of the road. We have fill our lives with a million little things to distract us from the big things. Then one day we wake up with a road crew and yield signs in our path. Life will teach us to wait, whether we want to or not.
What if, in these last days before Christmas, we turned off the feeds and the notifications. We powered down the devices. We could bake things in the oven, write notes by hand, and walk to our destinations.
Maybe we’d get bored, and in our boredom, remember how much we need him to come back.
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Tags: Advent
Posted by Chris on Nov 25, 2011 in
God,
Life 
Isolation is a term coined by the late Fuller Professor Robert Clinton. It refers to an experience where a leader is removed from a number of things, such as their position of leadership, a sense of God’s presence, a knowledge of calling or direction. Isolation can be chosen, like taking a sabbatical or returning to seminary. It can also be forced on you, like a health problem, imprisonment or getting fired. It can last for weeks, or for years.
My major Isolation experience began when my position on a staff at a megachurch in San Antonio ended. I was out of work for over six months. I was unable to find a suitable ministry position, and eventually ended up in retail. I went from having a place of positional leadership and what seemed like a career track to being alone, with no sense of direction and very little hope.
In studying Isolation as part of the MAGL, I read something from Dr. Clinton that basically went like this:
“Don’t try to be finished with your Isolation until you’ve gotten everything out of it that God wants you to get out of it.”
This floored me, because for two years, I’ve been trying to be getting out Isolation. Unable to find direction, I tried to dive further into spiritual practices. When I felt adrift in depression, I sought to distract myself, and eventually got into counseling to “fix it.” I’ve had to learn what it is to do ministry when it’s not my job. Worst of all, my sense of failure and lack of direction left me unable to even answer the question “what do you want to do?”
But this comment about “getting everything out of Isolation” forced me to reevaluate why I was in such a hurry. If the perfect opportunity fell in my lap tomorrow, would I know what to do with it? Am I mature enough to keep from repeating the mistakes I’ve made in the past? Am I even the kind of person who should be trusted with leadership?
For the first time in almost three years, I am beginning to sense some “movement.” It may be that some new opportunities are on the horizon. But what’s the rush? Maybe I still have something to learn from Isolation.
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Tags: 7 Things I'm Thankful For, depression, God, leadership, MAGL
