Wesley Theological Society Meetings (March 4-7)

I attended the annual WTS meetings in Anderson, Indiana, home of Anderson University. I attended the Society for the Study of Psychology and Wesleyan Theology (SSPWT) on Wednesday. The keynote speaker was Dr. John D. Caputo from Syracuse University.

NNU had nine professors and eighteen students attend the conferences. The WTS conference featured I. Howard Marshall, University of Aberdeen and Bruce L McCormack, Princeton Theological Seminary. Also, my colleague, Dr. Thomas J. Oord, the WTS President, gave the presidential address, “Love as a Methodological and Metaphysical Source for Science and Theology” on Friday night.

Conference papers and presentations can be viewed at http://wesley.nnu.edu/wts/44_annual_meeting/44_annual_meeting_papers.htm

Article Accepted

I received word on Thursday that my article, "John Wesley's Educational Philosophy" will be published by Evangelical Journal (Spring 2009).

Also, the book project is going well. I have completed the first two chapters. I have eight more to go. Dean Blevins and I are hoping to have the book completed by Summer with the book being published in early 2010.

Slumdog: Millionaire

We watched Slumdog: Millionaire on Saturday night. It was a great movie. I was a good reminder of the human suffering in Indian and other parts of the world. I also focused on how our life experiences shape our identity.

The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapte

r of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. Each chapter of Jamal's increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show's seemingly impossible quizzes. But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out. At the heart of its storytelling lies the question of how anyone comes to know the things they know about life and love. Written by Fox Searchlight Pictures

Real Life Community Church

We attended the Nampa Real Life Community Church this morning for worship. I was invited by Pastor Dana Hicks to serve on a discussion panel during the service. The panel consisted of Pastor Hicks, Brent Peterson, and I. The panel addressed questions previously submitted by the congregation. The discussion can be heard on the Churches podcast at http://www.reallifecommunity.com/netcast/

Wesleyan Integration Article Accepted

In January I was asked by the President to serve as chair of an ad hoc committee on "Hallmarks of Wesleyan Higher Education." The committee consisted of Diane Leclerc, Rhonda Carrim, and Gene Schandorff. Diane and I decided to do additional work to prepare the article to be published. Diane wrote the theological hallmarks and I worked on some of the educational aspects. Diane and I sent the article to the editor of the Wesley Theological Journal to see if it might be considered for publication. The article is titled, "Wesleyan Integration: A Distinctive Philosophy of Education." We recieved word on that the article will be published in the WTS journal, Fall 2010.

Attended Worship at Meridian Valley Shepherd Nazarene

Today we visited the Meridian Valley Shepherd Church of the Nazarene. We enjoyed our time of worship and fellowship at Valley Shepherd. Pastor Tim Pusey was finishing a sermon series in 2 Corinthians. He preached from I Corinthians 12: 7-10. He focused the sermon on Paul's "thorn" in the flesh. He talked about the range of interpretations of what "thorn" means such as physical or emotional, but concluded that biblical scholars are not sure. He emphasized that all of us will face situations as Christians where we will put in situations where we think we are not capable of handling. He reminded us that whatever our "thorn" may be that "God's grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (v. 9). Pastor Pusey did a great job communicating the important of when we are weak, God is strong.

It was also very rewarding to see two of NNU graduates, Tom Foisy and Casey Wilkerson. Tom is the youth pastor and Casey the children's pastor. They both made us proud in the service. Several other NNU students serve as interns, Matt Dayton and Roland Teddar.

We enjoyed lunch with Pastor Tim and Cindy Pusey along with his daughter Krista and her friend Josh. Pastor Pusey's parents, Paul and Louise Pusey were friends of the senior pastor where I served on staff ministry in Lexington, Kentucky. It has been reconnecting with the Pusey family.

Articles Accepted for Publication

I have been busy writing this week. I finished a chapter on "Christian Spiritual Formation" for a book being written by two of my close friends, Jim Estep and Jonathan Kim titled, "Christian Formation and Development" by Broadman-Holeman.

I also submitted the following articles a couple of weeks ago and they were approved for publication.

• Book review: “Teaching That Transform: Worship as the Heart of Christian Education.” Christian Education Journal, Debra Dean Murphy (Fall 2009).
  
• Maddix, Mark A. John Wesley’s Formative Experiences: Foundations for his Educational Perspectives. Didache (June 2009)
  
• Maddix, Mark A. Christian Spiritual Formation, In Foundations of Christian Formation and Development. James Estep and Jonathan Kim, 2009 (Nashville: Broadman-Holeman).
  
• Maddix, Mark A. John Wesley and a Holistic Approach to Christian Education. Wesley Theological Journal, Fall 2009 (44: 2).

I am waiting to hear on the other articles I submitted for publication. I should hear about them in the next few weeks.

I will be working on the book project next week. Dean Blevins from Nazarene Theological Seminary and I are writing a Christian Education textbook for the Church of the Nazarene. The book is titled, Didache: Faithful Discipleship. We hope to have the book project done by this summer.