I grew up among ethnic pietistic Baptists who tended to emphasize the emotional and personal aspects of religion over against the liturgical, Traditional, and ecumenical. It was a simple faith that retains enough charm so as not to be off-putting, though I can only take it in small doses nowadays. While conservative in its theological orientation it was not fundamentalist, but there was enough of an influence from the popular fundamentalist milieu and networks so as to leave me with an ability to recognize the language and mentality when I came across it.

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People sometimes ask me if they can use my stuff, published material and resources like those on the educational consultant site. I always appreciate that they ask and tell them they are free to use whatever they find helpful for their work or ministry. It’s at least better than the guest lecturer I invited to speak at one of my courses. He distributed handouts to the students apropos to his topic, but the handouts were copies of my material with the copyright tag suspiciously removed, and he used it without attribution.

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GRACE member Israel Galindo reflects on three things an organization needs in order to be “great”. Read his toughts at the Perspectives on Congregational Leadership blog site.