Posted on May 26, 2008 by Israel Galindo

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Posted on May 23, 2008 by Israel Galindo

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Coming of Age

Posted on May 22, 2008 by Israel Galindo

I finally got around to watching a DVD from Netflix that’s been sitting on the coffee table for about a month (thank goodness for that “no late fees” policy!). The movie was House of D. In the movie a thirteen-year-old comes of age through loss, grief, and escape. As an adult, and a father, he returns to the place of his childhood in order to reconnect and move on. Continue reading →

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On Christian Education Formation

Posted on May 19, 2008 by Israel Galindo

My friend Marty and I are just finishing up a book project on how to plan and organize congregational Christian education. In a couple of weeks we’ll send off the manuscript for Planning and Organizing for Christian Education Formation: A Community of Faith Approach. It will be published by Chalice Press and should be out in the fall. Continue reading →

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Posted on May 16, 2008 by Israel Galindo

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What your brain thinks

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Israel Galindo

An advantageous reminder is that while we are blessed with the power of cognition, we remain biological creatures often at the mercy of our phylogeny. This is advantageous when we recognize it, and, when the instinctual, non-rational part of our brain does its job in ensuring the survival of our little puddle of the gene pool. The problem comes in that our instinctual brain lacks discernment and will veto our rational cortex when it perceives a threat. Continue reading →

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Real Estate, Techtonics, and Discipline

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Israel Galindo

The following is from the book Myths: Fact and Fiction about Teaching and Learning by Israel Galindo. How well do you know fact from fiction?

FICTION: If you want to get rich, you can’t go wrong investing in real estate (land) because, as they say, “they ain’t making any more of it.” Continue reading →

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The facts about reactivity

Posted on May 13, 2008 by Israel Galindo

Leaders often get caught by surprise by reactivity. That’s no surprise given that reactivity often feels like a dose of intense raw emotion. That kind of energy goes right to the amygdala triggering reactivity on the part of the recipient that results in a “fight or flight” impulse. A sudden assault of intense reactivity can turn off our brain, leaving us with an inability to tap into the resource of cognition—thinking through the problem Continue reading →

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Book review: Letting Go: Transforming Congregations for Ministry, by Phillips

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Israel Galindo

Roy Phillip’s Letting Go (Herndon, Virginia: The Alban Institute, 1999) starts with the assertion that ministers need to “let go” of their need to control every aspect of their congregation, and to let the members take charge. Phillips talks about how bringing people into congregations can be seen as a five-step process: inviting people, welcoming them, orienting them, helping them join, and then assimilating them into the congregation. He says that this last step is where most congregations fail. In order for congregations to become transformed for ministry, Phillips proposes four major changes, each to which he dedicates a chapter. Continue reading →

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Posted on May 9, 2008 by Israel Galindo

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