Well, I'm getting ready for three days of training at UCLA, learning all about data analysis from the good folks at the Higher Education Resource Institute. Hopefully by the time I return to Biola I'll be able to squeeze a bit more out of that lovely freshman data we collect!

Took a minute holiday at MadLibs. Here's what popped out:

Laura's Hamlet madlib
To be, or not to run, -- that is the mango;
Whether 'tis nobler in the house to suffer
The slings and cats of aggressive fortune,
Or to take watermelons against a sea of students,
And by carrying end them. To die, -- to hit, --
No more; and by a hit to say we end
The human and the 999 natural shocks
That flesh is researcher to,-- 'tis a belly
willingly to be wish'd. To die, --- to hit,--
To hit! perchance to smash! ay, there's the bottle;
For in that hit of death what lids may come
When we have plopped off this green coil,
Must give us pilot....

Do your own at http://www.madlibs.org/

I've been reading Walk ...This Way by Tim Woodroof in preparation for a new Sunday School series on the Beatitudes. The more I read, the more I wonder how I can teach this. So far every chapter has stabbed like a knife, causing me to ask myself if I have settled for safe Christianity. I have. Of one thing I am sure. By the end of the series at least one person will be changed--me.

I was talking with some friends at lunch today about my Master of Divinity program, and I began to realize just how close I am to finishing. About a year from now, I will need to decide on a topic for my thesis--eek! About two years from now, I will be preparing (if interterm and summer school go well) to complete my final semester. Knowing how quick the past three years have gone, I am excited and a bit scared. By this next spring, I will begin classes for my major emphasis--Christian Education. Just around the corner is the living out of all this stuff, which up until now, has only resided in the form of dreams and plans. It's not that I'm questioning the direction, it's just that I know everything will change. But then, it always does. Things either change and grow, or they change and rot. I'd rather grow.

I am experiencing a severe case of empty mind syndrome. I think it's time to go...

I found another list of leader priorities from Pastor's Coach: 1. leadership and vision-casting; 2. communicate the Word of God; 3. develop leaders; 4. develop stewardship; and 5. personal evangelism. These refer primarily to senior pastors, but are definitely applicable to leaders in any ministries.