Doctoral Studies « W. Davd Phillips

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The depressed prophet

Friday, June 25th, 2010

I am working on two writing projects, one of which I’ve already started and the other that I am just beginning to think about. It is also one that is not discussed often, but that brings a lot of traffic to my site. That topic is pastoral depression.

Elijah has been a favorite prophet of mine ever since I was seminary. One of the professors there, Argile Smith, shared a message in chapel once from Elijah, talking about decision-making. It stuck, and so did Elijah. And I am going to use Elijah and Jeremiah to talk about pastoral depression.

Why do this? Well I have walked through some of those issues myself. Second, I have two major searches from google that hit my blog: missional and pastor depression. I’ve done a podcast and post on it, and that topic generates traffic, so I know it is an issue in ministry. Third, my doctoral research offers incredible insight into topic, particularly as it relates to brain health, brain function, and decision-making.

I haven’t decided if I am going to make it into a print book or just a free ebook. As I was writing out a description for my coach this morning who – as a Christian counselor and former pastor, will help in the process – the ideas became bigger than I at first perceived. This would make a full book possible, but there is part of me that would like to give it away.

Pastors and ministers do not talk about this much, but we need to have these discussions. Too many pastors are leaving ministry because of it, too many are not making good decisions because of it, and it affects too many ministries, churches, and families. We cannot ignore it.

If you think you may be depressed and would like to talk to someone who has been through it, please contact me! I was thankful to have a coach who had been a pastor and had worked through his own depression battles. I’m not a counselor, but I would be willing to help any way I can.

Tags: Depression, Pastoral Depression
Posted in Doctoral Studies, Formation, Mentoring, Ministry | 1 Comment »

Life Lessons Learned from Writing a Book part 1

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

This week I finished all the edits on my upcoming book, Holy Rewired: Science, the Gospel, and the Journey Towards Wholeness. As I was sending the last thoughts to the publisher, I began to think about the lessons I could learn from writing this book. I generally process experiences after they happen, and this was one experience where I did not want to have the lessons leave me. I have written them down for myself, and I want to share with you over the next several days some lessons about life that I have learned from writing a book.

Life Lesson #1: Despite your own thoughts, if you have haven’t done something well many times, you are not going to be good at it.
I went into this process with the mindset that writing would be easy. The hard part would be putting aside the time to write. I was wrong. This book was birthed in 2006-2007, early in my doctoral work. In fact, my intention was to also produce a publishable manuscript in addition to the dissertation. So when I set out to write my dissertation, I enlisted an editor who had edited some well-known books. It was then that I learned how bad of a writer I was.

I would get back from her a document that looked like she had bled all over it. And the criticism was difficult. I didn’t explain things. I didn’t define things. Some things just didn’t make any sense. I had mis-matched metaphors. And that didn’t include all the grammar issues! She was tough, yet I was immensely greatful.

When I turned the dissertation into a book, I had to write differently. I had to transition my writing from an academic work to a work for the masses. I had to clean up language, dumb down language, and make it understandable to those who might not think critically or want to get deeply involved in a intellectual exercise. That took a great deal of work, which I hope I have now accomplished.

Now truthfully, I thought I was a pretty good writer. I thought I was a good writer because I always got good grades in English and when I did papers in graduate school no one ever really criticized my writing. Working with a professional, however, showed me I was wrong.

After getting this book done, I’m actually trying to work on my writing by taking some free creative writing classes through several universities as part of the open courseware consortium. I am trying to be more careful with my language and my metaphors. I am trying to be more cautious with how I express my thoughts. I am trying to pay more attention to details (more on that later).

There is an old saying that practice makes perfect. That is not true. Practice makes permanent. Many of us have practiced something over and over again and now it is permanently part of our behavior. That doesn’t mean its perfect, unless you believe that you can do something perfectly wrong. Unfortunately, that is what I did. I developed a style of writing and that style became permanent. But it wasn’t good writing.

Anything that is worth doing is worth doing right. It is also worth doing well. To do that, however, will require the help of an editor. More on that in the next post.

Tags: Lessons, Personal, Personal Development, Writing
Posted in Books, Doctoral Studies, Personal, Writing | No Comments »

Images, Pornography, and Ministry

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Looking over google trends recently, i saw where the hottest trend was a search for Kari Ann Peniche. Apparently, she, a former beauty queen from Oregon, was in a drug-induced sex tape with Eric Dane and his wife Rebecca Gayheart. I did doctoral work in emerging brain research, particularly in the areas of neuroplasticity and unlearning behavioral patterns. Part of my research focused on the best way to communicate in order to facilitate behavioral change. When I saw this trend, I did a little research into the science behind pornography.

What I discovered was when the brain receives sensory inputs, it transforms them into images. In other words, the brain learns, adapts, and is literally re-wired through images. In fact, according to Judith Reisman, Ph.D., President of The Institute for Media Education, Scientific Advisor to the California Protective Parents Association and the Subcommittee on Junk Science for The American Legislative Exchange Council’s April 2004 report, “Brain scientists tell us that ‘in 3/10 of a second a visual image passes from the eye through the brain, and whether or not one wants to, the brain is structurally changed and memories are created’we literally ‘grow new brain’ with each visual experience.’” (1)

This brings us to the idea of pornography. Pornography is a series of images, whether just a series of pictures or a complete video, that literally transform the brain with each image seen. In addition, “sexually explicit images trigger another part of the brain, the pleasure centers. In them, pleasure and pain are experienced. This part of the brain is the most primitive part that is in both humans and animals, Weight said. It triggers an appetite for the necessary things of survival — such as food, anger and sex.” (2) As the images re-wire the brain, the pleasure centers of the brain reinforce that new wiring by strengthening the connection between the synapses. These pathways are the conductors for our behavior.

Since we are emotionally driven, this is of greater concern. The images produce memories that power emotions. Overcoming the emotional triggers, particularly of wired pleasure & pain paths is extremely difficult. Rewiring is a complex process.

So what does this do for ministry?

1. We need to warn our congregation of the dangers of images. We need to understand their image ont he brain and speak to those we minister to about how this works. It may seem boring to deal with synapses and neurons and neurotransmitters, but if people can learn how the brain works and how behavior is wired into our brain, people can be prepared.

2. We need to communicate in images. Whether it is video clips, or images in our sermon or verbal images, if we want to communicate for behavioral change, we need to communicate in images. This was a profound revelation for me in my doctoral work. It is important to realize that this is one reason (not to mention the Holy Spirit) that the Bible has such impact: it speaks in images. Whether its parables or poetry or stories, the majority of scripture is full of these. Consider using more imagery in your preaching.

(1) http://www.drjudithreisman.com/archives/2005/12/senate_subcommi.html
(2) http://nn.byu.edu/story.cfm/13911

Tags: Behavior, Brain Research, Doctoral Work, Images
Posted in Change Theology, Communications, Doctoral Studies, Lifestyle | 1 Comment »