Rick Mattson's Blog, page 7
August 26, 2021
The View from 40 years in campus ministry, Part 2: The Heart of Your Calling
(Part 1, “The Heart of the Minister,” is here.) Finding your niche inside your chosen field shouldn’t be that hard, but it often is. My colleague Paul Tokanaga currently serves as a leadership coach. His advice is: In your 20s, experiment. Try everything available to you at work. In your 30s, narrow the field. Focus on the two or three ...
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August 25, 2021
The View from 40 years in campus ministry Part 1 of 5: The Heart of the Minister
I began my career with InterVarsity in 1981. I’d like to share some personal and ministry observations from a 40-year viewpoint. A few years ago a college student accused me of lacking in compassion. She may have been right. Navigating my way through the events of that moment, I remember walking a tightrope between truth and compassion, and truth won ...
Read MoreThe post The View from 40 years in campus ministry Part 1 of 5: The Heart of the Minister appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
The View from 40 years in campus ministry Part 1: The Heart of the Minister
I began my career with InterVarsity in 1981. I’d like to share some personal and ministry observations from a 40-year viewpoint. A few years ago a college student accused me of lacking in compassion. She may have been right. Navigating my way through the events of that moment, I remember walking a tightrope between truth and compassion, and truth won ...
Read MoreThe post The View from 40 years in campus ministry Part 1: The Heart of the Minister appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
The View from 40 years in campus ministry 1: The Heart of the Minister
I began my career with InterVarsity in 1981. I’d like to share some personal and ministry observations from a 40-year viewpoint. A few years ago a college student accused me of lacking in compassion. She may have been right. Navigating my way through the events of that moment, I remember walking a tightrope between truth and compassion, and truth won ...
Read MoreThe post The View from 40 years in campus ministry 1: The Heart of the Minister appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
May 11, 2021
Must Religious Beliefs be “Right?” Part 2 of 2
In the prior post I mentioned how Ben, an international student in Chicago, voiced the “lottery objection” to faith in Jesus. To summarize: Picking the right religious beliefs out of the thousands available is like winning the lottery. There’s a lot of luck involved. Either God should make “right belief” more obvious to humanity or he shouldn’t hold anyone accountable ...
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Must Religious Beliefs be “Right?” Part 1 of 2
Recently I enjoyed an extended conversation with a group of students in Chicago. They voiced many questions and objections regarding Christianity. One international student I’ll call Ben said, “I’m against the idea that you have to have the right religious beliefs in order to be accepted by God. I don’t see how this is fair, since people all over the ...
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April 13, 2021
On Productivity, Part 3 of 3
In the last post I mentioned my decision to slow down and place rest ahead of work. Here are three things I learned: 1. You can’t rush rest. It takes a long time. 2. For me, the backlog of personal items coming to the surface was eye-opening. I was overdue on many, such as grieving years of losses and wounds, ...
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On Productivity, Part 2 of 3
Part 1 is here. Due to covid confinement this past year, I stayed at home, worked alone . . . overdosed on Zoom calls. It was an unwelcome slow-down. One of the blessings, however, was that I was forced into a period of personal reflection, with no chance for escape. I couldn’t bolt over to campus or church, couldn’t engage ...
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March 31, 2021
On Productivity, Part 1 of 3
In his fine book, The Unhurried Life, Alan Fadling reminds us that Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day. Thus, instead of plunging into a full work-week where the original couple would tend the garden (Gen 2:15) and rule the earth (1:28), they entered quietly into the seventh day: sabbath rest. Fadling asks a profound question: What if ...
Read MoreThe post On Productivity, Part 1 of 3 appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
On Productivity
In his fine book, The Unhurried Life, Alan Fadling reminds us that Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day. Thus, instead of plunging into a full work-week where the couple would tend the garden (Gen 2:15) and rule the earth (1:28), they entered quietly into the seventh day: sabbath rest. Fadling asks a profound question: What if rest ...
Read MoreThe post On Productivity appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
