http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/ About this blog: Don Payne is Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Theology and Ministry for Denver Seminary. In this blog, he shares his thoughts about theology, theological education and mentoring. Fri, 04 May 2012 22:40:38 GMT en-us Copyright 2012 Denver Seminary http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentoring-as-theological-integration/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentoring-as-theological-integration/ Fri, 04 May 2012 22:40:37 GMT Sitting at The Navigators' Glen Eyrie Castle during the 2012 mentoring conference that Denver Seminary is co-sponsoring with the Navigators and the International Christian Mentoring Network.  Had some rich conversations with folks from ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/doing-our-job-brings-trouble/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/doing-our-job-brings-trouble/ Tue, 01 May 2012 02:36:39 GMT Few targets invite more criticism, year in and year out, than the Church.  In both scholarly and popular publications, one can hardly turn around without bumping into negative analysis of the body and bride of Christ.  And the focal ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentoring-as-leaving-it-all-on-the-field/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentoring-as-leaving-it-all-on-the-field/ Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:19:08 GMT Coaches commonly motivate athletes by urging them to "leave it all on the field."  If you're not familiar with this expression, it's a way of challenging a person to hold nothing back or give everything one has.  However, the figure of ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/character-upgrade/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/character-upgrade/ Sun, 09 Jan 2011 23:45:46 GMT My cell phone.  My internet service.  My software packages.  My skill sets.  My life is ravaged by the need for upgrades!  The notion of an upgrade sometimes provides a sense of exhilaration.  Anything new and ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/christmas-in-joy-and-sorrow/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/christmas-in-joy-and-sorrow/ Sat, 25 Dec 2010 04:44:32 GMT It's Christmas Eve.  My family and I have enjoyed a day of reconnecting, teasing, laughterg, and general holiday revelry.  We just finished our annual Christmas Eve tradition of finger food and fondue.  Once again, I'm moved with ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/radical-transformation/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/radical-transformation/ Tue, 23 Nov 2010 04:41:57 GMT Pay attention to conversations among serious followers of Jesus and you'll almost certainly hear two words over and over: "radical" and "transformation".  Quite often you'll hear them used together.  When God gets a foothold in our ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/taking-up-the-cross-and-missional-living/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/taking-up-the-cross-and-missional-living/ Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:10:07 GMT Our president, Dr. Mark Young, keeps before us the primacy of the mission of God for all we do at Denver Seminary.  As I've been reflecting on this, alongside my reading of Christopher J.H. Wright's The Mission of God, implications keep ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/ministry-sustainability-creativity-and-mastery/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/ministry-sustainability-creativity-and-mastery/ Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:21:02 GMT In my last post, I drew from Matthew Crawford's book, Shop Class as Soulcraft to place ministry in his category of stochastic arts.  These are trades that, by definition, never achieve their ends because they are not dealing with the ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/ministry-as-a-stochastic-art/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/ministry-as-a-stochastic-art/ Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:10:34 GMT It will come as no surprise that as one involved in theological education, I think a lot about both the nature of ministry and the process(es) by which we are formed for ministry.  Over the past two years my colleague, Prof. Laura Flanders, ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/the-myth-of-doing-v-being/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/the-myth-of-doing-v-being/ Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:54:28 GMT Among the most fashionable emphases in recent years is the elevation of "being" over "doing".  This understandable reaction propels much that we find in the spiritual formation movement among evangelical Christians.  I say it's ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/a-great-loss-and-a-great-gift/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/a-great-loss-and-a-great-gift/ Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:58:07 GMT This morning I was informed that Dr. Ray S. Anderson, long time professor of theology and ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary, passed away two days ago.  The blogosphere is rapidly filling with tributes to this unusual, provocative, and ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentors-who-hate-mentoring/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentors-who-hate-mentoring/ Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:19:45 GMT As mentoring has been recovered (and it is a recovery of something lost, not the invention of something new) it has emerged into a vocabulary, a research discipline and an industry.  It has also acquired a certain persona.  One of the ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/guilt-gratitude-grace-and-eating-dirt/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/guilt-gratitude-grace-and-eating-dirt/ Fri, 29 May 2009 05:12:30 GMT Last evening’s BBC World News ran a story about the diet of many children in Haiti.  One staple item is a sort of “cookie” that their mothers make from . . . DIRT.  They add a bit of sugar and spice, knead the ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentoring-for-one-degree-change/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentoring-for-one-degree-change/ Wed, 20 May 2009 16:27:13 GMT Regardless of my commitment to mentoring and my interest in mentoring, I still often find it stressful.  What stresses me about mentoring is the fear of misguiding people or of having nothing helpful and substantive to offer.  My ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/seminary-and-the-simplicity-on-the-other-side-of-complexity/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/seminary-and-the-simplicity-on-the-other-side-of-complexity/ Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:16:49 GMT Oliver Wendell Holmes reportedly once said, "I wouldn't give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity."  A number of times I have used this quote with ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentors-i-tried-to-forget-and-am-now-glad-i-didnt-pt-ii/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentors-i-tried-to-forget-and-am-now-glad-i-didnt-pt-ii/ Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:58:31 GMT Dr. Gary Orrino is still the pastor of Baptist Temple in Wheat Ridge, CO.  Though I have not seen him in many years, I owe him much.  He and my father became friends in the early 1970s while they were both church-planters.  When I ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentors-i-tried-to-forget-and-am-now-glad-i-didnt-pt-i/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentors-i-tried-to-forget-and-am-now-glad-i-didnt-pt-i/ Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:25:45 GMT Dr. Lee Roberson, the late founder and chancellor of Tennessee Temple University, my undergraduate alma mater.  Dr. Roberson was not a mentor in a personal manner.  Though I shook his hand, he never knew me.  Yet, he mentored me ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/benjamin-button-mentoring/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/benjamin-button-mentoring/ Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:57:46 GMT In my last post I promised some positive, grateful reflections for various mentors from a tradition which in many respects I have tried to leave behind. But let me leave that behind temporarily for a brief interlude. This past weekend my wife ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentors-i-tried-to-forget-and-am-now-glad-i-didnt/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentors-i-tried-to-forget-and-am-now-glad-i-didnt/ Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:31:35 GMT Mentors come in many shapes and styles; some we would rather forget because things didn't work out that well, we never "hit it off," or perhaps what we learned from them was by negative example.  Another category just occurred to me; ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/spiritual-gifts-and-a-pastoral-legacy/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/spiritual-gifts-and-a-pastoral-legacy/ Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:20:22 GMT Last evening Sharon and I attended a celebration for Dr. Jerry Nelson who is stepping aside from the senior pastor role at Southern Gables Church after thirty years.  Jerry was my mentor while in seminary during the 80s and during the 90s I ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/more-on-the-theology-of-mentoring/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/more-on-the-theology-of-mentoring/ Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:42:31 GMT Mentoring is not devoid of theological resources, but few of them have been brought to light. Some years ago at one of our early national mentoring conferences here at Denver Seminary, Dr. James Houston observed that without theological ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/theology-mentoring-and-clutches/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/theology-mentoring-and-clutches/ Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:36:02 GMT During my time training mentors in Quito, Ecuador last week, my friend Dr. Les Hirst observed that my work in theology and in mentoring seem like an unusual combination.  Though this had occurred to me previously, it made me think a bit ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentoring-by-endurance/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/mentoring-by-endurance/ Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:16:53 GMT Who does not at times (some more often than others) face difficulties that appear too much to overcome? What type of mentors or mentoring do we need in those times? Some mentors can provide insight or help us think creatively to find solutions. ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/the-eucharistic-character-of-mentoring/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/the-eucharistic-character-of-mentoring/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:53:17 GMT What actually happens when mentoring touches deep places in our souls, functioning as a healing or hope-giving instrument in God's hands?  As we gain greater theological understanding of why mentoring works as it does, we can engage it more ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/seminary-and-enjoying-god/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/seminary-and-enjoying-god/ Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:23:34 GMT "Theological education" and "enjoying God" are not frequently used in the same sentence. Quite often the experience of theological education ("seminary" for shorthand) provides something of a jolt to a student's spiritual system. New questions, ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/processing-success/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/processing-success/ Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:38:02 GMT Understandably, but sadly, failure receives a lot of attention within the Christian community.  At least this is the case in circles (such as seminaries!) that prioritize evaluative reflection and promote high standards of integrity ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/a-mentoring-legacy-is-a-two-way-street/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/a-mentoring-legacy-is-a-two-way-street/ Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:39:16 GMT Wes Roberts is one of our most active and vibrant mentors here at Denver Seminary (and, I'm privileged to say, a mentor of mine).  Wes graduated from Denver Seminary about a hundred years ago, I think.  He has a practice of giving to ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/laughter-as-a-theological-diagnostic/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/laughter-as-a-theological-diagnostic/ Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:19:54 GMT Our ability to laugh can be an important diagnostic for the health of our theology.  Don't ask what made me think about this because I could not give a clear answer.  Perhaps it's my occasional tendency to become overwhelmed ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/the-aesthetics-of-mentoring/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/the-aesthetics-of-mentoring/ Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:27:27 GMT Last weekend as my wife, Sharon, and I enjoyed the gift of a lovely B & B in downtown Denver I read Dorothy Sayers' essay "Toward a Christian Esthetic" (from a collection of her essays entitled The Whimsical Christian).  ... http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/welcome/ http://www.denverseminary.edu/don-paynes-blog/welcome/ Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:08:16 GMT Cogito ergo blogito - "I think, therefore I blog."  OK, the last word is not real Latin but at least it resembles it.  This seems like a fitting introduction to a new blog on the Denver Seminary website.  Welcome! Actually, ...