W. Davd Phillips

Several Articles I found worth a read recently:

Life/Work

How to stay productive during the winter holidays

It’s December and one side of my brain is already thinking about presents, imagining the warmth of home, and preparing a list of “must-buys” for Christmas entertaining . The other side ois stuck with the reality of my daily life: me, at the office, dealing with day-to-day tasks. My attention has been divided and this can be seen in my results. It’s not the best situation you want to deal with, especially when the boss has clear expectations from you and reminds you that holiday starts only on  the 24th of December. Therefore, we all most refocus and get concentrate to get things done in time. If this sounds like you, the tips listed below might help.

5 Tips to Help Reignite Your Passion

You’re bored. Tired of what you do. You’re not even close to where you hoped your business would be by now. You feel like you’re losing ground and don’t know how to get energized and ready for the next round.

It happens to nearly everyone. Even though we know it takes most people two to four years to get a business off the ground and making money, we somehow believe we will be the exception to the rule. Or we just forget how long two to four years actually is. It doesn’t help that every time we turn on the news, echoes of the declining economy ring in our ears.

Plenty of people are thriving, even in this economy, and you can, too. More important, you can regain your passion for what you do. Follow some of these suggestions to boost your flagging enthusiasm

The Surprisingly Deep Benefits of Walking

Walking is a form of exercise – in fact, it’s one of the best forms of exercise that you can possibly do. In 1997, Professor J Morris and Dr. Adrianne Hardmann called walking ‘the nearest activity to perfect exercise.’ Why? Consider the following health benefits of regular walking:

ADHD and Time

The most authoritative study on the question of brain development and ADHD was led by researchers at the NIH, NIMH and McGill, and published in 2007 in PNAS. The scientists scanned the brains of 223 children with ADHD and 223 control subjects, from a variety of different age groups. They analyzed these anatomical snapshots for “cortical thickness,” which served as a proxy for brain development.

They found that ADHD is largely a developmental problem: the brains of kids with ADHD develop at a significantly slower pace than normal.

Ministry/Theology

The Small Dying Urban/Suburban Church Vs. The Small Country Church as a Training Ground For Mission

I recommend the small church as a place of ministry for young pastors and seminarians. In difference from Dr Tim Keller however, I recommend the small urban and/or suburban church (as opposed to the country small church). Most often, these urban/suburban churches are in a death spiral amidst the vestiges of post Christendom urban/suburban centers. The small country churches are in many cases hanging on and in some cases thriving in a still largely Christian friendly rural culture.

Why is the Emergent/Missional Church So White?: Soon-Chan Rah’s Next Evangelicalism and Why It Doesn’t Go Far Enough (in Exposing White Western Cultural Captivity)

The lack of diversity in the Missional Church (and for that matter the Emerging Church) is a main topic at this year’s Missional Learning Commons coming up here the first week of January in Ft. Wayne. On the Friday night, we’ll be discussing Soon Chan Rah’s book The Next Evangelicalism: a book that deals expressly with the problem of diversity in evangelicalism. The book has received a good bit of attention. I think it voices the consensus approach to the problem most often articulated among these same groups – evangelicals and emerging Christians. It’s worth a read for that reason alone.

Shutting the Doors for Good

Death is a reality all pastors have to deal with. After a few years, we get used to dealing with the dying, the dead, and those left. But what about when a church dies? No one talked to us about that in seminary and while there is precedent for shutting down factories and warehouses and businesses, there isn’t much written about shutting down a church. I don’t think there was even a mere mention of it in “Theology of Ministry 101”. But it’s happening…churches are closing, and my friend had to do it.

“Didachists” to Avoid – The Dishonest Type

There are plenty of teachers, “didachists,” on these interwebs that like to warn the Christian sub-culture of those to avoid and fear. Yet, here is a book reflecting positively on the benefits of a “rule of life” addressing simple living in the Way of Jesus and nary a word.

Economics

Is it time to rethink Capitalism?

Umair Haque is Director of the Havas Media Lab, a new kind of strategic advisor that helps investors, entrepreneurs, and firms experiment with, craft, and drive radical management, business model, and strategic innovation.

In an article this year on Harvard Business Review, he suggested that the question, “Is it time to reboot capitalism?“, should be at the top of agenda of every decision-maker across the economy. Why?