Daniel Darling's Blog, page 63

Thomas Kidd on Christians and History

Last week for Leadership Journal, I interviewed one of my favorite historians, Thomas Kidd. Kidd is professor of history at Baylor University, and the author of books including Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots. He is currently writing a biography of George Whitefield for Yale University Press. It was a fascinating discussion. Below is one of the questions I asked him.

There is a temptation for evangelicals to either sanitize American history, or ignore it. But you call for a third way of knowing, understanding, and learning from our history.

Yes. George Whitefield (the preeminent evangelist of the First Great Awakening and subject of my current book project) spoke of how Christians sometimes make a “pious fraud” out of the heroes of the past. We might be tempted to act as if the people we admire in the past were entirely sanctified saints who never made any mistakes. It is interesting that the Bible never adopts this approach: the great heroes of the faith, from David to Paul, were often also some of the worst sinners.

Some Christians who are also great admirers of the American founding generation are also tempted to fashion the Founding Fathers as exemplary saints, too. This is even more problematic, not only because the Founders weren’t all perfect Christians (and, in some cases, weren’t Christians at all), but it can turn them into heroes of a quasi-Christian patriotic faith. American civil religion is dangerous and something Christians should avoid, no matter how much they admire the founding generation’s accomplishments. Admitting that someone like George Washington was imperfect (he owned slaves and refused to take communion at church, for example) is not only honest, but it helps us remember that all humans, no matter how noble, are flawed by sin and the limits of our culture.

You can read the rest of our discussion here:

Celebrating Sanctity of Human Life Sunday In Your Church

Sunday is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. If you are a pastor or church leader, I encourage you to celebrate this in your church. Here are a few resources you might consider:

1) Here’s an oped I cowrote with my colleague Andrew Walker for Christianity Today. A snippet:

As evangelicals who came of age during the culture wars, we’re part of a generation ready to move past the pitched left-right debates. The critiques of Christian political activism have held some merit: A hyper-focus on elections, voter guides, and strategy has often buried the gospel story. Sometimes following Christ has strangely looked like following an elephant or a donkey.

We need the hope, optimism, willingness of new generation of evangelicals to get dirty serving the poor, fighting for justice, and eschewing party labels. Their wide-eyed engagement has awakened new interest in bipartisan horrors such as human trafficking, environmental degradation, the orphan crisis, and child poverty in underdeveloped nations.

And yet, in our rush to justice, we cannot forget the prophet Micah’s haunting words:

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8, ESV)

These words motivate our desire as God’s kingdom people, to pursue justice where we can and pray for it where we cannot. But what about causes that push against the culture? Surely God’s intention for his church didn’t simply include only a portfolio of chic causes.

And that leads us to the pro-life movement, dating back to the 1970s. Being pro-life was missional, incarnational, and radical way before those terms became evangelical buzzwords. And yet, caring for and advocating on behalf of the unborn remains controversial.

You can read the rest here.

2) The ERLC has released a number of excellent resources for Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, including: 

A bulletin insert
A sermon outline
A short video by Dr. Russell Moore

You can access those here

3) You might also provide a way for your people to connect with a local prolife crisis pregnancy center. Here are a few links: 

CareNet
Operation Ultrasound

Don’t let your kids say this phrase

There is a phrase in our vocabulary that nobody has to teach us to say. It’s a phrase kids learn very quickly in childhood. And it’s a phrase you should ban in your household:

“That’s not fair.”

It sounds innocent enough. Everybody wants life to be fair, right? But this is an insidious phrase, revealing a sin so bankrupt it goes back to the very beginning, back to the Fall of Man. It’s essentially what Eve was told by the serpent. “You’re getting a raw deal. You’re entitled to more. God is holding out on you.”

If you read Paul’s account of the Fall in Romans, you’ll discover that it was this attitude–ingratitude and entitlement–that lit the match of sin, plunging Creation into darkness. And it’s a surefire way to test your own heart, to see where the idols are.

Maybe it seems a bit melodramatic to bring all of this up to my four children ages 2,4,5, and 9. But I fear that if I allow them to embed entitlement in their little hearts right now, if their first reaction to a someone else getting an extra dessert, a gift from a friend, a new pair of shoes is “That’s not fair.”

And so we don’t allow this in our home. And when it comes up, my kids know they are in for some form of punishment, which usually involves a long-winded soliloquy from Dad that goes something like this:

First, you are right in saying that life isn’t fair. Because it’s not fair that little children go to bed hungry this very night, having eaten nothing but a handful of rice and here you’ve just had seconds on french fries. It’s not fair that some boys and girls grow up without a mother and father, orphaned by a war they didn’t start. It’s not fair that some children won’t even see many birthdays, succumbing to diseases we treat with immunizations and routine trips to the doctor. So if there is a complaining about being fair, its you and me and all of us in prosperous, free America on the other side of “Not fair.” So in the line of people complaining about a bad lot in life, we are several zip codes away from the front. Most of the world is pointing to us and saying, “Life isn’t fair” and they have a much better case.

Second, you really don’t want life to be fair. We all have a scale of what is just–but the problem is that we are human and not God. He actually holds the scale and the Bible says to us that it’s weighed down heavily in favor of His mercy. Listen to the words of the prophet, Jeremiah, “It is of his mercies we are not consumed” (Lamentations 3:22). In other words, because of our sin against Him, it is overwhelming mercy that we are not immediate targets of His judgement. Instead, we are beneficiaries of His grace. We really don’t God to be fair, but to be just. What’s unfair is Jesus’ assuming our wrath and guilt on the cross on our behalf so we could be restored to a right relationships with God. And on a more personal, pragmatic, earthly level, we should ask ourselves: do we really want God to even out the score? For us in wealthy, rich America, that might mean taking some things away from us and giving them to the less fortunate. Or someone more appreciative.

Third, a heart of ingratitude and entitlement is evident of a deeper problem with God. This is what worries me most about entitlement. It is saying to God: I do not trust you to be my Father, to take care of my needs, to love me and care for me. Worse, it elevates self to a god-like position. Ingratitude says: I know better what is good for me. I’m a better god than God. When we say, “That’s not fair”, we are saying to God, you haven’t distributed things as evenly as I would. Even though I’m a sinful human, I know much more about what is just and right than you. That’s a dangerous position to be in, because we know from Scripture that God is the perfect Heavenly Father and to trust ourselves to our own care, our own lordship, only spells disaster (Proverbs 14:12; Matthew 7:9-11). You don’t want to go through life as your own lord, your own god, your own master. You only have to look around at the misery and despair in the world to see that’s not a path worth pursuing.

After this, I then give them three things to consider about their ingratitude:

First, the cure for ingratitude and entitlement is the gospel. We don’t simply want our kids to “buck up”, but we want them to be sanctified by the Spirit of God. You see the gospel cures our our entitlement syndrome by reminding us that Jesus is enough. It reverses the curse of the Garden. It answers Satan’s lie about God by pointing to a bloody cross and a suffering Savior. It says: God did provide all you need. God is your Father. Anything else you think you need is a cheap, worthless, soul-crushing substitute. 

Second, the gospel nurtures in us a healthy sense of justice. You see there are imbalances in the world, but rather than looking inward at what we think we lack, God’s love teaches us to look outward at the injustice in the world. As members of Christ’s kingdom, we now become part of His plan to heal and restore. We stop looking at our own lives and saying, “It’s not fair” and we start looking at others, who are suffering under the weight of the Fall and we devote our lives to getting involved in alleviating injustice around us. When give up our own entitlement for the sake of others, we become a small window into the Kingdom to come, where Christ will full restore all things.

Third, resisting ingratitude early on help us avoid unnecessary disappointment and sorrow later in life. This is not to dismiss genuine, real suffering and pain endured by so many people. However, there is much in the way of trial and hardship that is brought on simply by unrealistic expectations of what God is supposed to give us in this life. The entitlement mentality is never happy, always looking for what is mine. This is a fruitless, miserable pursuit. But a gospel-centered gratitude that recognizes God as Father and giver of good gifts helps us enjoy the blessings we already have, to revel in the grace we possess rather than wishing for things we think we are owed.  In a sense, it’s the reverse prosperity gospel.

In Summary: Don’t let your kids say the phrase, “It’s not fair” about their own situation. It’s the phrase that pays in misery and alienation from God.

Preaching as a Craft to Be Cultivated.

I love preaching. I love the act of preaching and I love listening to preaching. There is something wild and mysterious and beautiful about God’s Word flowing through a flawed man empowered by the Holy Spirit as a primary delivery method for spiritual change.

This week I had the chance to interview Matt Woodley, managing editor of PreachingToday.com, an excellent resource for pastors and church leaders. Our conversation was wide-ranging, really. I queried him on plagiarism, fact-checking pastors, etc. But my favorite part was reading Matt’s thoughts on the act of preaching itself. Here’s a question I asked him:

If you could give one piece of advice to an up and coming pastor or church leader about preaching, what would you tell him?

Love preaching. It is a craft like mending shoes, fixing cars, throwing a curve ball, writing poetry, performing surgery, teaching British literature, and so on. You can grow as a preacher. So apply yourself to the craft. Learn from other preachers. Read good sermons (and reading is better than listening). Get feedback. And for Christ’s sake (and I mean that literally) stop being so defensive about your preaching! My gosh, it’s not like a sermon is your child or something. But when it comes to preaching, decide right now that you will be a lifelong learner of the craft.

But on other hand, don’t take your preaching too seriously. You aren’t primarily a preacher. You are a child of God. You are a member of the body of Christ. You are a friend, spouse, and parent. Your identity is not wrapped up in how well you preached last Sunday. So read and do lots of stuff that have absolutely nothing to do with your role as a preacher. Preachers who just preach are really boring. Be an interesting person, do interesting stuff, go to interesting places.

Read the entire interview here: 

Fearless Predictions for 2014:

A fair warning: I’m likely the worst prognosticator in the world. Just ask President Pawlenty. And yet here I am making predictions for 2014, well, just because this is what writers do. So without further fanfare, my picks for 2014:

 1)   After a year (2013) of religious liberty setbacks, this will be the year religious liberty wins in the courts. This is not just a left-right issue, but also a constitutional issue. I think the Supreme Court will strike down the HHS mandate in a win for religious organizations and businesses.

2)   Peyton Manning will win his second Super Bowl, leading the Denver Broncos to a narrow win over the Seattle Seahawks. This year will further bolster Manning’s case as one of the greatest QB’s to play in the NFL

3)   There will be two or three major controversies that will continue to divide the Christian blogosphere. Some will fan the flames for continued blog traffic, platform building or fundraising. Others will issue cliched appeals to harmony, unity, and getting back to important work, like instagraming every meal.  And a few smart influencers will offer thoughtful and original reactions.

4)   A pop culture icon will do something crass, foolish, or vulgar (or all three) allowing regular people to feel better about themselves.

5)   Southern Baptists will continue to quietly serve as the third largest disaster relief operation in the world, but nobody will notice.

6)   No Chicago sports teams will win a championship. The Cubs’ 100-year plus rebuilding project will continue at its glacial pace, the Bulls will me a mediocre-but-not-elite team without Derrick Rose, the Blackhawks will take a year off from winning championships, the White Sox will continue to have no plan, and the Bears will rise and fall on the health and maturity of their quarterback, Jay Cutler.

7)   Evangelicals of my generation and younger will continue to try to be cool and Christian with less and less success. As the stigma of radically following Christ pushes against cultural winds, many will run for the high ground of acceptance and eschew courage.

8)   Political parties and activist groups will tell us again (without irony) that the 2014 midterm election is the most important of our lifetime. This will lead some to fevered and worried anticipation, others to involvement, and others to apathy.

9)   Dr. Russell Moore will continue to grow in influence among those trying to apply the gospel of the Kingdom to current culture. His winsome voice will help younger evangelicals think through difficult moral and ethical issues and key institutional leaders will continue to seek his advice on evaluating and making policy.

10)  Some will continue to wring their hands at the decline of the Church’s influence and power while quietly, the gospel will advance in cities around the world. A burgeoning gospel-centered movement to church plant in the worlds’ biggest population centers will slowly transform whole neighborhoods, boroughs, and even whole cities.   Small town pastors will continue their faithful gospel work. And Jesus’ promise to build His church will continue unabated by other factors.

11)   People will continue to demand content in a variety of platforms. Reading of online content on smart phones and iPads will increase. The desire for magazine-style journalism on digital devices will increase. And the consuming of e-books will level off but not drop off as readers appreciate the complimentary nature of both digital and analog.

12)   Smart, young, conservative evangelicals will continue to quietly make their mark in leading cultural and political institutions. Christian colleges and seminaries will keep churning out committed, well-read, world-shapers eager to contribute to human flourishing in their generation.

13)   The color of the Church as we know it will continue to change. The embrace of intentional racial diversity by the evangelical church, rapidly changing North American demographics, and changing attitudes about race will continue to bring Sunday gatherings closer to John’s vision of the Kingdom in Revelation 9.

14)   Bloggers will continue to blog about Mark Driscoll, even if there is nothing left to talk about. No explanation needed here, really.

15)   The prolife movement will continue to make gains, both in public attitudes, in state-by-state legislative remedies, and in the heroic work of countless crisis pregnancy centers around the world. The outrage of abortion on demand will continue to prick the American conscience.

16)   Dr. Russell Moore will continue to mock me for calling Diet Pepsi “pop” instead of coke. And I’ll continue to stand out as a Midwesterner among southern gentleman here in Nashville.

17)    Tim Keller will continue to churn more awesome books than I  have time to read.

What Are Your Goals for 2014? Here are mine

Yesterday I poo-poohed New Year’s posts on Twitter:

3 kinds of New Year’s blogs: a) Have a better year (5 steps) b) angsty I’m-not-perfect-and-God-still-loves-me c) resolutions don’t matter

— Daniel Darling (@dandarling) December 30, 2013

And yet here I am, today, sharing a New Year’s post. I thought I would share my goals for 2014. By making them public, it gives me some accountability and perhaps it will help inspire others to set some good, God-centered goals. New Year’s is a great time to reevaluate, to set aside the past, look to the future, and pray with Moses, “Lord, teach us to number our days so we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12). So, without further ado, my five goals for 2014:

1) Get in better physical shape. Frankly, I’m probably in the worst shape of my life. I intend to get back in shape by losing weight and exercising. Weight Watchers has always worked for me, so I’ve signed up and will start attending weekly meetings and following the plan. Yes, I know this doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for me and it’s balanced and nutritional and reasonable, given my travel schedule and other factors. (and please, though I know you mean well, don’t send me your diet books, new formulas, or special powders. I’m sure they work wonders for you, but I’m not interested).

2) Continue pursuing my Master’s degree. Since I recently moved to Nashville, I recently transferred from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. SBTS has an extension center in Nashville and also offers convenient online and hybrid courses. I’ve already started one for this winter term. Studying takes extra work and takes away some other pleasures, but in the long run, it will be worth it both to honor the Lord with my mind and equip me for my current and future callings.

3) Spend quality time with my wife and kids when I’m home. This is something I honestly struggle with. It’s hard for me to be home when I’m home, if you know what I mean. It’s difficult to put down my phone and be present. It’s not that I think my work is more important than my family, it’s just that I really love my job and have struggled to shut it off when I walk in the door. I’ve done pretty well, I think, as a husband and father, but this is one area where I really need the Lord’s help. I know I have much room for improvement here.

4) Lead my team with intentionality, purpose and quality. This year I really want to equip and encourage the coworkers who work on my team at ERLC. I’m praying for the Lord to mold me into a leader worth following and a servant of those I’m called to follow. I have high hopes that this will be a great year for us as God uses us to represent Southern Baptists in the public square and to help equip Christians to think through important issues of ethics and culture.

5) Become a more intentional giver. I’m not sure what this will look like, but Angela and I both feel compelled to invest more in Christ’s Kingdom, where “moth nor rust does corrupt nor thieves break thru and steal”  (Matthew 6:19-20).

 

Top 10 Posts of 2013

This was a great year in blogging with a 75% increase in traffic. I thank each and every read who passed through and hope my words, in some small way, helped you grow closer to Jesus. I blogged about a lot of different things this year, mostly whatever ideas came to my mind, mostly at the intersection of faith and ministry and culture. Here were the top ten blogs, ranked by order of pageviews:

1) 5 Things Every Daughter Needs to Hear From Her Dad

This idea came to me on a Sunday evening after a long day of ministry. Not sure exactly what sparked it, but I had no idea how huge it would be. Essentially I shared a list of things daughters need to hear from their fathers. As a father of three, these are things I try to practice on a regular basis.

2) 5 Things Every Son Needs to Hear from His Dad

This came on the heals of the above post. I had some parents wonder why I didn’t mention boys. So this is one for fathers of boys. Along with three daughters, I also have a son. Seems boys and girls have different needs, different “love languages” and so this one struck a chord as well. Like the above list, these are things I try to practice with my own son regularly.

3) How to Build Community In Your Church

This was a blog written, not to pastors or church leaders, but to the members. We often put too much of the responsibility for fostering community on the leaders with little expectation from church members. But it takes everyone giving and receiving in order for us to live out the gospel as Christ’s local body of believers.

4) Why Going to Church on Sunday is an Act of War

I was a bit melodramatic on this one, but I wanted to make a point that the simple act of getting out of bed and going to a Bible-believing, Christ-proclaiming church on Sunday is a more world-changing, revolutionary concept than you might imagine. Praising the name of Christ in your corner of the word is a powerful and bold statement.

5) 5 People We Should Pray For, Even If We Don’t Want To

I tried to think of the most despised groups of people in society, the folks that everyone agrees are worth mocking and despising. Of course you could create a much longer list or much different list than mine, but this did provoke some good discussion.

6) 5 Ways Adult Children Can Honor Their Parents

So, I was into lists in 2013. Well, here is a subject we don’t often discuss: how adult followers of Christ can honor and respect their parents. This is a really tricky and difficult subject. I hope I navigated the tensions well.

7) 5 Hard Truths for Parents

This post was born out of both my role as a pastor in a church with young families and my own role as a father of young children. There are some hard truths we need to accept about our children and about ourselves if we are going to create gospel communities in our homes.

8) 10 Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Dad

I wrote this post in May of 2012, but it still got some good traffic. It’s easily the most read of any blog I created. In this blog I talk about the realities of fatherhood that are just foreign to those who don’t have children.

9) 5 Reflections on My First Year in Seminary

I was surprised at how the traffic this post generated. Apparently more people were interested in my first year of seminary than I realized. This post has reflections on seminary life, going to school as an older student, and how seminary and ministry intersect.

10) 5 Reasons We Don’t Share Our Faith

So why don’t Christians share the gospel? There are reasons beyond the simple causes like apathy or fear. There are theological reasons. This post was both personal and pastoral.

 

 

2013 – The Year That Was

I happen to think New Year’s Day is an underrated holiday. I like the reflection upon a year that was and the anticipation of a year that is to come. It gives us, I think, an opportunity to pray with Moses: “Lord, teach us to number our days” (Psalm 90:12).

2013 was for me a monumental year in many ways. There were several highlights. At the beginning of the year I was engaged in the second semester of my first year at seminary. After 13 years or so of being out of school, I had decided to pursue further theological education at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

In January, I had an op-ed published by CNN.

In March, I announced a new partnership with Leadership Journal. In April, I featured my first interview with renowned evangelical scholar and cofounder of The Gospel Coalition, D.A. Carson.

 

In May, I finished my first year, grateful for all I learned and how it shaped my preaching and writing ministry. 

In May I also had the privilege of offering the prayer before the Illinois General Assembly.

In July, I saw my fifth book released, Activist Faith, co-written with two of my friends, Dillon Burroughs and Dan King.

In August, I had the privilege of speaking in Canada for TGC Atlantic Canada. I thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship and ministry with our brothers and sisters north of the border.

In September, our family made a huge move, as I stepped down as Senior Pastor at Gages Lake Bible Church and moved to Nashville, joining Dr. Russell Moore and the team at ERLC.

In December, we joined a new church as we continue to adjust to our new lives in Nashville.

So, as you can see, 2013 was a year of change for the Darling family. In all these changes, God is good and we trust His sovereign hand. We anticipate God’s grace in 2014 as He guides into more growth and change.

 

The Last Evangelical Hipster

Yes, here is one more blog post opining on the Duck Dynasty kerfuffle. Like the man I work for, Dr. Russell Moore, I’m not fan of reality TV. And as a child of suburban Chicago, I don’t really fit the Duck Dynasty demographic, though it’s widespread appeal clearly shows that the show resonates with more than bearded backwoods hunters. I’ve never watched one single episode. And I’ve been pretty proud of myself for that.

However, this moment in American culture demonstrates a shift. We are entering an increasingly post-Christian age where true followers of Jesus will no longer be affirmed for their beliefs. To be sure, the comments by the Duck Dynasty chieftain were not in the spirit of Jesus’ model of truth and grace. But as we saw with the Lou Giglio flap earlier this year, those who demand widespread acceptance of a new cultural sexual ethic don’t discriminate between the holy and profane. When it comes to isolating and then publicly shaming those who hold to orthodox Christian beliefs, no amount of winsome nuance will help you escape the new designation of village bigot. So evangelicals have a choice and a series of choices to make.

First, there will be no evangelical hipsters left. What I mean by this is not that Christians can’t or shouldn’t try to exegete the culture, live in the times in which we are called, or enjoy beauty and art in all of it’s eclectic forms. What I mean is that there will be no way to thread the needle, to uphold distinctly Christian views and be universally loved by the masses. We’ll have to choose between love of the world and love of Christ (James 4:4). In a sense, this is the choice every follower of Jesus has had to make since Peter’s tragic bow to cultural pressure in the shadow of Golgotha. But American Christians have long lived in a protective bubble, unique in all of church history, that has allowed us to be both Christian and mainstream. So, we will either have to deny our desire for acceptance and take up the cross of Christ or we’ll bow to the demands of the world and fashion a Jesus who looks nothing like the real thing.

Secondly, we’ll need to evaluate our expectations. There needs to be no false nostalgia for a mythical golden era that never existed. We were created for these times, to joyfully stand for Jesus in a world that doesn’t like Him. Like Paul, we must find joy and urge others to rejoice even while suffering for our faith. So far little genuine persecution has actually occurred here, but it could be on the horizon. Small cultural slights like the removal of a favored reality star, the banning of orthodox believers from inaugural prayers and the compelling of businesses to act against conscience should prepare us to suffer willingly if and when graver perils arrive. This expectation, encouraged by Jesus (John 15:20) should warn us away from an apocalyptic, doomsday outlook , the disguising of our own sin as martyrdom (1 Peter 3:17), or the chasing of endless conspiracy theories. Remember who was writing the New Testament commands to joy: the same men who were about to lose their lives for Jesus’ sake.

Thirdly, we’ll have to understand that the truth of the gospel will overshadow the love in which we deliver it. Speaking with grace is not a tactic to be tested. Though the gospel compels us to care for the poor, love our neighbors, and pray for our accusers, no amount of charity will overshadow the stumbling-block that is the cross of Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:23). Consider that the Southern Baptist Convention operates the 3rd largest relief operation in the world and yet it’s stand for Christian orthodoxy overshadows this.

Bottom line: Christianity will continue to cost us something, as it was always intended to do. There can be no avoiding the culture wars when the battle arrives on your doorstep.

Is Power Always A Bad Thing?

How should followers of Jesus think about the use of power? That’s a question Christianity Today executive editor Andy Crouch addresses in his latest book, Playing God. I had the chance to ask him about this and other questions in a wide-ranging interview for Leadership Journal. Here’s an excerpt:

Your latest book, Playing God ventures into what you might call the “third rail” of evangelicalism, the idea of power. It seems we are afraid of power—is that due to so many examples of corruption and tyranny?

Evangelicalism inherits the legacy of dissenting churches that were disenfranchised (by choice or by others’ force) from their culture and the more established churches, and folks who found themselves in a minority position. It’s also a movement that has always leaned towards individualism and away from institutionalism, for better and for worse. So it’s not surprising that power is a topic that has seemed distant or downright dangerous for many evangelical Christians. Power is what Rome or the Church of England had in the 18th century, or the mainline Protestants had in the twentieth century, or “the culture” has today—not something “we” have.

But I’ve discovered that almost no one really thinks they have power. Everyone can quickly come up with a list of people who are more powerful than they are. And this can become an excuse for not being accountable for the power we do have. I think it’s time for us to be more honest in owning the fact that we have power.

It’s easier to do that when you come to believe, as I argue in the book, that power is not the same thing as violence and domination. Power is meant for flourishing, and especially the flourishing of the vulnerable—and in fact, the vulnerable do not flourish unless others exercise power. This is true for every single one of us, by the way, not just the poor—because all of us were babies. Every human being has been and will be vulnerable; and every human being, created in the image of God, has power that can be used for the flourishing of others. With that perspective, it’s not something to be afraid of, but something to be accountable for.

Read the entire interview here: