Here are a few of my notes from the second 30 minutes of the panel discussion.

From Rev John Cleghorn:

Knowing what I don’t know” is an essential part of wisdom when it comes to leading and preaching.

Rev Brad Paxton shared:

I teach imagination for a living. Imagination is paying attention to what is for the sake of what may be. It’s a disciplined paying attention… When a pastor doesn’t know what to preach, they have stopped paying attention.”

Rev Shannon Kershner shared:

Your voice and who you are is who God has called into that pulpit. You do not need to try and be who you think the congregation wants you to be.

How does leadership from the pulput go wrong? What are its limits?

Recommended books by Abraham Joshua Heschel, via Rev Brad Paxton.

From Rev John Cleghorn:

Humility is key. Leadership in the pulput goes wrong when we lift up our own indispensability. We must remember we are but one among many vital voices.

From Rev Shannon Kershner:

“Use Scripture as bread not stone.” An idea from feminist theology, recognizing the Word can and does nourish.

Preach in a way that is invitational. that does not back people into a corner.

From a person in the pew, via Rev Shannon Kershner:

We know you have to tell us hard things. But please tell them to us softly.

From Rev John Cleghorn:

People come to worship services for MANY reasons, it’s important that it’s not always for the sermon… “that’s just part of the buffet” which is Sunday morning worship… Learning over time to speak and preach with less absolutism…. and to listen to the congregation… “Exegeting” the Word as well as the congregation.

How can preaching help lead people through these times of significant change and anxiety?

From Rev John Cleghorn:

These are challenging and difficult times… but if we believe in a God of resurrection and new life, we must remember that ‘this too shall pass.’

Rev Brad Paxton shared:

Sankofa: To go back and reclaim… to go back and remember what the ancients survived and persevered through… With a spirit of humility we can strengthen our muscles for struggle and resistance… Hard is authorized… working from cross to resurrection.

From Rev Shannon Kershner:

I am trying not to always be reactionary to the latest thing / news… Focusing on who we have been, and how that intersects with what is happening now in the nation. It’s hard! I get tired! It’s non-stop… but we need to remember this is not new… I’ve reclaimed the ‘powers and principalities’ language. Preaching a tough and resilient hope in Jesus Christ that holds Friday, Saturday and Sunday…. Not toxic positivity, but resiliency and joy that defines who we are as followers of Jesus… The litergy is the work of the people!

Follow Union Presbyterian Seminary on Facebook for more updates and event links, and sign up for their newsletter at the bottom of their homepage, www.upsem.edu.

An amanuensis is a person who writes or types what another dictates or copies, or signs a document on behalf of another. Learn about the origin, role and examples of amanuenses in Ancient Rome, medieval Europe and modern contexts.”

I used Claude to compose an image prompt visualizing key themes from my iPad handwritten notes, and created the image with Gemini. It took multiple iterations to correct a few spelling errors, however. (convo 1 – convo 2) This is an idea visualization concept I’m calling, an “AI Sketchnote.”

My initial image prompt draft for Claude was:

Please draft an image prompt in the style of a sketchnote in the style of Rachel Smith and Mike Rhode https://rohdesign.com/about/ for these notes about the course at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, “Religions of the Enslaved” taught by Dr. Alphonso F. Saville, IV which I audited today in person. Use the attached photo as a basis for a sketchnote version of Dr Saville, the professor today

From a content standpoint, I was really pleased and thankful to be able to audit this particular class. As I briefly reviewed the degree program options at UPS, I wasn’t sure if their M.Div. program provided many elective options. It turns out they do, but students need to be careful to complete all core class requirements as some are offered on a rotating term schedule. Since Shelly and I participated in and completed the “Confronting Whiteness Course” created by Rev. Dr. Ben Boswell, I’ve been much more aware of my own need to deepen my understanding of the ways ideas of white supremacy, race and racism, and white privilege shaped and continue to shape my life as well as the culture in which we live. I’m looking forward to joining our church’s Anti-Racism Council this spring, and continuing my own journey of listening, learning, studying, and striving to live with a deeper understanding and greater sensitivity to the ways conceptions of race shape our lives together.

I’m not sure I am called to attend seminary at this point, but God has placed this question on my heart so I will continue to discern the right path forward for me and for our family together. I would love to teach “Media Literacy for Pastors” at a seminary like UPS, but I don’t think my Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction is an adequate credential for that professorial role. I do know that I want to continue working as a “culture healer, not a culture warrior.”

It will be both interesting and exciting to see where that path will lead next.

This evening, I re-watched episode seven of season 2, titled, “Reckoning.” This is a short clip (1.5 minutes) on YouTube, showing part of a dramatic scene when Roman centurions arrest Jesus to bring him in for questioning in Capernaum with the Roman Praetor, Quintus.

As I related in my video update last night for “Heal Our Culture” and my related media literacy post about fact-checking Iranian war memes, “We are living in surreal times, and our news feeds can be both perilous and important to watch.” It’s very important we work to “reclaim our news feeds” from mainstream media sources (like TV channels) as well as “BigTech social media algorithms.”

In this fraught environment, I LOVE the opportunity to spend some time in the evening watching “The Chosen.” I’m not burying my head in the sand, I”m staying aware news and current events, but I’m also NOT going to watch news channels constantly when I’m not working or teaching. I watched my dear Grammy, my mom’s mom, fill her mind all day long with news from CNN, and most evenings with UFO conspiracy theories on the radio from “Art Bell Coast to Coast.” Repeated exposure to media has a powerful effect on our minds, and it’s vital that we’re proactive and intentional with the media we choose to consume.

If you love Jesus or are just interested in Jesus and would like to learn more about his life and ministry on our planet, I encourage you to watch “The Chosen.” It’s free to watch, you can download the app for AppleTV, Roku, FireTV, Android, etc. Or just watch it online in your web browser.

It’s a decision I’m confident you’ll be happy you made.

‘Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” And no one dared to ask him any more questions. ‘

Luke 20:27-40
https://www.bible.com/bible/111/LUK.20.27-40

I created a sermon sketchnote during the service, which I “polished up a bit” afterward, adding a little more color and details.

I also created a “narrated sermon sketchnote” version, which I shared on YouTube. (5 minutes long)

Learn more about how to create your own sermon sketchnotes and narrated sermon sketchnotes in my book, “Pocket Share Jesus: Become a Digital Witness for Christ.”

I’ve been using ChatGPT 5 frequently now to quickly generate “Alt Text” for images I share online. This is the ALT TEXt it generated this afternoon for my sketchnote:

Colorful hand-drawn sketchnote titled “Children of the Resurrection” by Reverend Dot Killian, with caldwellpresby.org written underneath. Across the page are bright words, arrows, and cartoon figures summarizing a Christian sermon about resurrection.

On the left, a speech bubble asks “What comes NEXT?” above a simple human figure. Nearby are the questions “Is there RESURRECTION?” and “By what AUTHORITY do you teach?” next to a yellow cross labeled Luke 20: 27–40 and an open blue Bible. Below, red stick figures and a photo of interlocking gears are labeled “The Sadducees – determinism, no angels, no resurrection.” The Caldwell Presbyterian Church logo appears in the lower left corner.

Dominating the center is the word “JESUS” in large purple letters with notes: “Answers with a QUESTION,” “Points to Exodus 3,” and a small drawing of the Torah and the burning bush. Nearby, bright lettering reads “PRESENT tense!” and a vertical phrase “LIFE after DEATH” with a purple arrow curving downward into “LIFE.” A yellow face with X-eyes and a globe are surrounded by the phrase “is NOT just a continuation of our EARTHLY LIFE.”

At the bottom center, a gray cartoon person points upward beside the words “LOOK to our LIVES for evidence of resurrection.” To the right, a record-shaped spiral and musical notes accompany the phrase “Look to the RECORD of our lives!”

On the upper right, a failing “GRADE F North Carolina BAR” card contrasts with a green “South Carolina BAR PASS” card, with a red arrow labeled “A story of resurrection NEW LIFE.” The bottom right shows a screenshot of the Bible text from Luke 20 (NRSV) with “they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection” underlined, and the word “HOPE!” in huge red letters. In the top right corner it says “11/9/2025 #sketchnote by wesfryer.com.”

As a follower of Jesus who now identifies as a former evangelical Christian or “ex-vangelical,” the stories Tim shares in this book connect so many dots for me. As a 15 year member (including service as an ordained deacon and elder) of First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma, subsequently a Christian refugee attending Saint Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church of Oklahoma City and Grace Church of Yukon… and now Caldwell Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, North Carolina.. I’ve struggled to understand exactly WHAT HAPPENED to many mainline Protestant Christian congregations during my adult lifetime?

During the years of COVID and those that followed, I not only resigned from leadership in our wonderful Friday Morning Men’s Group at FPC Edmond, after 15 years of attendance and participation, I also stepped down as an adult Sunday School teacher from a class and community we absolutely LOVED… and our family decided to leave that church entirely and try to find another congregation… which both believed and followed Jesus Christ in greater alignment with how we understood Him (and God’s Holy Spirit) to call us to live. The simple slogan of Grace Church of Yukon, Oklahoma, summarized a big part of what we found ourselves running TO in making these significant changes in our church communities: “God’s love is for EVERYONE. There are no exceptions.”

I am trying to choose all my words here with care and intention, because Shelly and I LOVE and still CARE FOR so many people we had to leave behind at FPC Edmond. We raised all three of our children in that church, and had SO many powerful and transformative experiences together there over the years.

I felt more connected to our church family there through my friendships and experiences with our Friday Morning Men’s Group than any other organization, so it was both excruciatingly difficult for me to leave / step down from leadership as well as CLEAR that this was the path I had to follow in late 2021… along with our family.

It turns out, the struggles I faced with brothers and sisters in Christ who became politicized and strident in their political views at church were not unique. Tim Alberta shares SO MANY stories of Christians and Christian churches facing similar circumstances, and I find his perspectives to be both instructive and clarifying.

I want to share my recommendation for Tim’s book in this post as well as a series of resources and organizations Tim references which remind me of my current passion projects, “Heal Our Culture” and “Resist and Heal.” It is abundantly clear to me that the voices and roles of Christian pastors in the United States have and continue to play a significant role in our present political pickle. As I write this three days before the “No Kings 2 Protests” nationwide on Saturday, October 18, 2025, which promises to be the largest day of political protest in our nation’s history, I believe we already are in the midst of “a slow civil war” (as Jeff Sharlet calls it, in another book I highly recommend) and unfortunately will face additional waves of political violence.

We need to find paths forward, to maintain our hope and joy in the face of difficult circumstances… but also to serve God on this earth with the time and resources we have been given. I believe we need to “Heal Our Culture,” and it turns out many other people and organizations do too.

Tim highlights the work of Curtis Chang, who (among other professional work) is the founder of Redeeming Babel. The homepage explains the project’s focus and mission:

Clarity in a Confusing World
Christians are called to serve as signposts to the coming Kingdom of God, when Jesus will finally repair all brokenness. In a culture afflicted by division and confusion – a condition depicted by the story of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9 – Redeeming Babel equips Christians to navigate the chaos with timeless Biblical truths.

Along with Nancy French, Curtis is the author of “The After Party: Toward Better Christian Politics,” and the the flexible, FREE, six week course, “The After Party.” The pitch for the course is:

For pastors & people who know there’s a better way
The intersection of faith and politics doesn’t have to be messy. Our free video course will give you an on-the-ground, biblically based approach to navigating today’s challenging political environment.

This course reminds me of “Confronting Whiteness,” a 9 week course Shelly and I experienced about 2 years ago and opened up for us a rich and important array of voices, perspectives, books and films. In the past few months I’ve been helping the founder of Confronting Whiteness, Rev Ben Boswell, start a podcast which will be launching this month, and completed facilitator training for the course earlier this year. I’m interested in learning more about “The After Party” and taking the course myself, hopefully with others.

In the latest episode of “The Good Faith Podcast,” Christian conservative David French asks and answers the question, “What the Heck Is a Christian Nationalist?”

These are all topics about which I have a deep interest. While the Heal Our Culture project is explicitly secular, I’m growing more aware of the opportunity as well as responsibility my past identity as a Christian evangelical provides for me to advocate and work for the redemption of Christian evangelicals and mainline Protestant church congregations more generally. That is work the people and organizations I’ve linked to in this post are committed to as well.

So I wanted to pass along these links and recommendations!

My deepest intersection with Mormonism, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and members of the Mormon church came in undergraduate pilot training at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas in 1993-94. Growing up my parents had some close Mormon friends, and I remember them showing us some of their “prepper supplies,” including lots of grain they could grind into flour at-need in hidden barrels serving as tables in their living room. One of my older UPT classmates was/still is Mormon, and a few months into our friendship they had me over to dinner at their house on base. He was married with a couple of kids, and they had also invited the local Mormon missionaries over to eat with us and after dinner, “share the pitch” about Joseph Smith, Mormonism, etc, and give me a copy of the Book of Mormon. I did read some of it, but having been raised as a midwestern USA Presbyterian, I was skeptical and my inquiries into their faith did not ultimately lead to a change in my denominational affiliation.

This encounter was influential in some of the dramatic events in my life in 1994, but I’m not going to share about those in this post.

What I will share is my opinion that Johnny Harris is remarkably courageous and brave to not only take the journey of the past decade away from the high-control / obedience-focused Mormon religion and culture, but also to SHARE that journey and so many insights through this most recent video specifically. I am thankful for his authenticity and for the window he provides into his own life and identity, but also the remarkable and influential history as well as current role of the LDS church in the United States and our world.

“Straight White American Jesus” has been one of my favorite podcasts for the past couple of years. (There are more, of course, I have a list.) I was fortunate to NOT grow up in a “high-control evangelical Christian” church and family. I attended and completed “Communicants Class” as an 8th grader at the First Presbyterian Church of Manhattan, Kansas, and while we certainly read the Bible, learned important stories and lessons from it, I remember us also being invited and welcomed to BRING OUR QUESTIONS about God and faith to class and to church. This was true throughout my church experiences growing up and at home with our family. I am very thankful for this.

At the end of his video, Johnny shares the following reflection (at 67:20) about growing up in the Mormon church, and how he thinks about those influences and their impact on his life and identity:

That [being raised in ‘a very high commitment, high control religion’] did a number on my mind and the minds of a lot of us who have had the courage to take the story back, to redefine our worthiness and our value away from the story that we were told. To define that worthiness based on what is inside of us and not on loyalty and compliance with the rules of a corporate organization that made us believe that it had the authority to tell us who we are.

Those are super-deep and super-important thoughts.

I also believe we have, as human beings, inherent “worth” and “worthiness” not based on our membership or non-membership in a particular group or tribe… but based on our humanity. As a follower of Jesus and student of the Christian Bible, I believe we were each created in the image of God, our Creator, and as God’s creations we are uniquely and individually both gifted and worthy.

How many people have been “scarred” and are being wounded today by high-control religion? The Jesus I’ve learned about and to know over 55 years, through reading the Bible as well as living life with other followers of Jesus, never advocated for an authoritarian, high-control faith or religion. Those elements of “religion” and “denomination” have been added by people (sadly mostly white guys) who have sought to impose hierarchy and obedience by mandate rather than through the ways of Jesus: Stories and invitations of love.

Give “Why the Mormon Church is So Rich” a watch and see what you think. I have known some wonderful folks who are Mormons and members of other “high-control” Christian churches and denominations. But I also know a lot of folks who embrace a much more liberating and empowering understanding of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. I’m thankful for all these experiences and perspectives.

‘But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ‘

Matthew 6:33
https://www.bible.com/bible/2016/MAT.6.33

Amen.

One of the members of our congregation asked about a new virtual tour / walk-through tour of Easter’s Home, now that it is nearing completion and opening, and this prompted me to gather some of the photographs as well as videos I’ve taken of the Easter’s Home project since we joined Caldwell in January 2023. Here are links to some of the photos, videos, and news articles I’ve shared and found.

On July 2, 2023, members of our congregation went on a tour of Easter’s Home to view the progress of the renovation, and I recorded a 7.5 minute video to document part of what we saw and heard.

Multiple news articles since 2022 have shared updates and news about Easter’s Home, and I’ve collected those (11 links as of today) in a public / shared Wakelet collection.

Those links include the book by our Pastor, Rev John Cleghorn, “Building Belonging: The Church’s Call to Create Community and House Our Neighbors.” That book and it’s accompanying congregational study guide (a free PDF) offer an outstanding deep dive not only into the background and history of Easter’s Home in Charlotte, but also the efforts of other Christian and community leaders around the United States seeking to find innovative ways to address affordable housing with the land and property owned by many church congregations and denominations.

To date (as far as I could find today) I’ve taken 42 photos of Easter’s Home since January 2023, in various stages of construction and renovation. I’ve shared all of these in a Flickr album, and images are sorted in reverse chronological order, with the newest first. Here are a few highlights.

One of the wonderful features of the original “Price Education Building” at Caldwell church is the stained glass window over the entry door. The architects for the renovation of Easter’s Home were able to preserve it, so it is visible from the 2nd floor as well as the entry area on the first floor.

The story of the stained glass window deserves its own video and audio podcast to share it fully, but I’ll attempt to summarize from what I remember our pastor, John Cleghorn, sharing during our most recent tour on June 22, 2025. Emma-Ford Adams was a young girl in the Caldwell Congregation who died in November 1922 during the Spanish Flu pandemic. Her family commissioned this beautiful stained glass window, which beautifully filtered the outside sunlight into classrooms in the Caldwell education building for many years. It’s so special that this unique and important part of the history of the Caldwell family is preserved within Easter’s Home.

Another important part of the story of Easter’s Home is the building’s history as a women’s shelter for women experiencing homelessness in 2013. The January 2023 Caldwell church newsletter shares some of that background. Caldwell member and elder, Jesca Yiskah-El, also highlighted that history in her testimony, sharing during our worship service on October 13, 2024. The Caldwell church community has been engaged in efforts to support and provide for those experiencing homelessness and hard times for many years, and those efforts continue today in the Easter’s Home project.

One sad footnote to this story of “storychasing” or documenting the renovation and construction of Easter’s Home regards some hand-drawn art and murals from the back stairwell of the Price Building. Back in May of 2025, members of our congregation took another short tour of Easter’s Home and Pastor John pointed out these inspirational works of stairwell art. I took two photographs of them at the time: “I Thought I Could” and “Ingredients for Success.” The artist depicted the journey of a caterpillar on its way to becoming a butterfly, making an analogy to the process of developing confidence and ability to escape poverty and homelessness.

Sadly, during our June 2025 tour of Easter’s Home, we discovered that the contractors had painted over these precious stairwell murals / art pieces. They had been specifically asked to PRESERVE them and not paint over them, but unfortunately sometimes instructions are not fully communicated and understood in renovation projects like this.

Perhaps this will become a sermon illustration down the road. Whether or not the stairwell art has been painted over, the STORIES, the HISTORY, and the ways the Price Building / Easter’s Home and the Caldwell Presbyterian Church community cannot ever be erased.

Shelly and I are thankful to be members of Caldwell and our “beloved community.” Truly we are striving to “build each other up in love – brick by brick.”

At 4:07 of the sermon, Ben specifically addresses the misinterpretation which many Christians have maintained historically about the radical vision which the Apostle Paul had and shared for “the beloved community,” including his views on gender and relationships among people. Ben did this by starting with a discussion about baptism and the traditions of baptism in the early church. Here is what Ben said, starting at 4:07:

[04:07] And I know that Paul, you know, is not the person many of us would think of when it comes to a liberative vision of sexuality or gender. In fact, in liberal circles, Paul has a bad reputation for being rather conservative on matters of the household.

But the problem was never really just Paul himself, but his interpreters. Paul was certainly not perfect by any means and he got it quite a bit wrong. But I believe he also gets a bad rap because of the way theologians who came after him used his name to promote a reality that was the opposite of his vision.

[04:47] Only half the letters in the New Testament bearing Paul’s name were actually even written by Paul. And one could argue that Paul’s perspective on gender, ethnicity, and social status was so radical that a concerted effort was made after his death to appropriate his name and reinforce more patriarchal visions of the household and the church.

[05:13] Today, there are multitudes of fascists calling themselves Christian that are still constantly misinterpreting Paul. Some even work for the government.

[05:24] And I know that Howard Thurman’s grandmother would not allow Paul to be read in her presence because of the way his words had been used by slaveholders against her.

But there is also another Paul—the egalitarian Paul—who said, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, no longer slave or free, no longer male or female.” Paul was one of the first leaders to try to live out the radical teachings of Jesus in community with real people and to analyze that experience in writing, through the letters he wrote to churches he had visited.

[06:03] No wonder it was messy. It was the first time they were trying this all out. And if we give Paul a little bit of grace, we can see in his writings that the vision is there. His implementation may have been flawed at times, but the radical gospel vision of beloved community and new creation is clear and present in his letters.

Part of our difficulty in receiving Paul’s teachings is that we don’t really understand the culture and what it was like at the time Paul was writing. We tend to place our present-day culture—of the 21st century—back onto Paul, which is not just unfair, it obscures the radicality and the power of his vision.

Ben goes on to discuss the very hierarchical and sexist (“misogynistic”) value system of Aristotle, and how it was widely accepted by both Greek and Roman cultures. Ben makes the case that some of those INTERPRETING the letters and words of the Apostle Paul deliberately misrepresented his vision so it was SUPPORTIVE of hierarchy and misogyny, rather than radical and liberating. At 8:47 Ben said:

[08:47] Aristotle’s household code sounds nearly identical to the Victorian social norms that we all grew up in as part of the culture—especially if we came from the South. Amen.

But what is fascinating is that in this passage, and also in the whole book of Galatians, Paul—who would have known Aristotle’s arguments intimately—turned them all upside down. Paul completely reimagines the household in light of Christ. Instead of an exclusive, oppressive, patriarchal hierarchy, everyone is included. Everyone is equal. Everyone is one.

[09:24] Paul’s vision is so radical and liberative, one scholar called it the Magna Carta of Christian equality.

It’s clear today that, for the most part, the church chose to follow the patriarchal lead of Aristotle and Paul’s interpreters instead of Paul himself—is it not?

[09:42] But we also know from history that there were communities of Christians who followed Paul’s liberatory vision of a new creation.

These ideas are SO important to think about, pray about, and understand.

Christian heresy has always been a part of the landscape of faith, religion, spirituality, and Christian teaching. This is, in part, why most Christian churches establish procedures and requirements for individuals to become pastors and church leaders. There are and have (apparently) always been folks who claim (without pedigree or formal religious education) that God has spoken to them through his Holy Spirit… and they are able to accurately discern God’s Word and God’s Will. I do believe that God speaks through his Holy Spirit… He has throughout history, and He continues to do so.

But I also believe it is VERY valuable for us to seek guidance, instruction, and inspiration from Christian leaders who HAVE dedicated themselves to the study and analysis of Holy Scripture. I believe Rev Ben Boswell is a “trusted voice” when it comes to better understanding the Bible and the liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for this clarifying message from last Sunday, and the opportunity to reflect on how the God of the universe is a LOVING God for all people… and this radical vision is as needed today in 2025 as it was when Jesus walked the earth as a human being.

#book2read: “The Overstory: A Novel” by Richard Powers. (added to my Amazon reading wish list)

The Overstory is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of – and paean to – the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours—vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.

The overstory. (n.d.). Goodreads. Retrieved March 17, 2025, from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40180098-the-overstory

#book2read: “Radically Condensed Instructions for Being Just as You Are” by J Matthews.

From the description on Amazon:

“Radically Condensed Instructions for Being Just as You Are” is perfect for anyone who is curious about nonduality’s impact on life as it is lived every day. How can a clear understanding of nondual philosophy change how we experience our lives?

“Radically Condensed Instructions” helps us use Nonduality’s basic theory – that nothing truly exists outside of the ‘here and now’ – to radically deepen our practice of present-moment awareness or “being here, now!” When we truly understand that open and clear Awareness is really all there is, we can make an uncompromising commitment to the present moment without the distractions of distorted thinking, artificial comparisons and impossible ideals.

The sermon message by Rev. Joseph Alsay from March 16, 2025 at St Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Oklahoma City.

1. Acts 12 from “The Message”
2. Acts 12 from the NSRV

We are using two Biblical commentary books to inform our discussions about Acts and the practical lessons and applications which we can draw to our lives today. These are books recommended by Fran Hayes, who is a retired Presbyterian Pastor and one of the lay leaders of our class:

1. Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible by Willie James Jennings
2. Acts: The Gospel of the Spirit by Justo L. Gonzalez

I have been using and “playing with” the AI tool NotebookLM by Google for a year, since January 2024, when I used it for the series of adult micro-credential courses I taught on “Teaching the Conspiracies” for the Media Education Lab. In October 2024 I facilitated a webinar for the MediaEd Club on “AI NotebookLM & Steven Johnson.” (An archived recording is available) I’m very familiar with the way NotebookLM works, and have previously been AMAZED by the quality and depth of results it can provide. These are reasons I wanted to use it to create an audio podcast summary for our Sunday School lesson today.

Unlike a basic prompt entered into an AI model like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, CoPilot or Grok, before entering a prompt into NotebookLM a user MUST upload documents into a “project library.” These documents are given preference for the prompts and tasks requested by the user. Before our Sunday School class today, on Saturday, I uploaded PDF versions of each of the Acts 12 Bible versions I wanted us to read and discuss, along with PDFs of the scanned pages in Jennings and Gonzalez’ books which address Acts 12. I used the TurboScan app on my iPhone for this.

I thought I might have to convert the image-based PDFs to text, and initially tried using both ChatGPT and Claude to do that OCR process, but neither would. So I just uploaded the PDFs into NotebookLM to see what would happen. NotebookLM was able to “read” (ingest and understand) the image PDFs fine!

This is the prompt I used with NotebookLM. Note that I specifically instructed the AI to compare and contrast both Bible chapter versions, offer insights from Jennings and Gonzalez, and share practical applications for followers of Jesus today. This is important to remember, because the high quality of the results I obtained from NotebookLM is at least partly attributable to the specificity of this prompt as well as the source materials I uploaded to the project library.

This is the 20 minute, 33 second audio podcast “deep dive conversation” which NotebookLM created based on my source documents and prompt. I emailed this to members of our Sunday School class on Saturday, along with my lesson plan ideas, in case anyone wanted to listen and read the Scriptures in advance of class. Several people did!

Duration: 20 min 33 sec

I was VERY impressed with the quality of the Biblical analysis provided by NotebookLM in this audio podcast, as well as the ways it appropriately integrated interpretations and perspectives offered by both Jennings and Gonzalez. Wow. This “AI experiment” demonstrated something I’ve heard Jason Neiffer say repeatedly and I share as well: It’s best to test and play with these AI tools using topics and themes about which we know a great deal. That way, in the parlance of Neil Postman, we can be effective “crap detectors” and identify AI hallucinations / inaccurate information, as well as judge the quality of the ideas shared by the AI model.

When we got home and after lunch, I decided to take this AI reflection about Acts 12 to another level, and create an AI-enhanced video version. I used Pictory.ai (on a free 2 week trial) to create a VIDEO version of the audio podcast. First, however, I created a free transcript of the audio recording using Descript.com. I then copied that transcript into ChatGPT and asked it to remove the speaker names, and identify (using included 30 second timestamps) approximately 15 second script sections which could be used with different images in the “Photo Story” video created by Pictory.ai. (Here’s my conversation transcript with ChatGPT.) Pictory.ai will automatically insert new, related video clips into a movie at line breaks, so I ended up creating about a 20 minute video with 50 different 15 second scenes.

I only chose to edit 1 of the auto-selected video clips in the first version of the video I created (which is available on YouTube but unlisted), but on the second version I updated and manually selected video clips for about 40 of the 50 scenes. I also removed background music and the text shared as a closed captioning block. I recorded an intro clip and outro clip for the video using Streamyard, and combined the 4 video clips using QuickTime Player.

Check out the final video, it’s 35 minutes long. I’d love to hear your feedback, either on this blog post, on the YouTube video, or via social media. There are SO many issues this AI experiment raises which would be great to discuss further.

On a final technical note, I’ll observe that this is one of the highest quality videos I’ve recorded to date at my home office desk. Two contributing factors to that quality are the fact that I’m using my iPhone 14 as my webcam thanks to MacOS 15.2 Sequoia’s “continuity camera” features, and my Stouchi Continuity Camera Mount.

This is the same setup I used this weekend to participate in the 2025 MediaEd Forum hosted by the Media Education Lab. I snapped a photo of my screen setup with my iPad during the conference, and annotated the various pieces of equipment. Both my ring light and LED bulb light bar also help make my webcam image look more professional.

Welcome to the Age of AI.

For more of my AI / artificial intelligence related posts, videos and projects, visit “Learning AI with Wes Fryer.”

There are SO many wonderful songs by Uncle Charlie! After we moved from Lubbock to Oklahoma City in 2006, Shelly was able to help bring Uncle Charlie, Rachel Sanchez, and their praise band to our new church, First Presbyterian of Edmond, again through Children’s Ministries and her work with Kristin Leard, who was the Director of Kids Ministries at the time and served with her husband, David Leard, who was one of our Associate Pastors. I’m sure everyone who has ever heard Uncle Charlie sing remembers his song, “The Fruit of the Spirit,” and may even be able to sing the words from memory! I know I can. That song and many more videos are featured in their VBG smartphone app. Many are also previewed on the official Uncle Charlie YouTube channel.

I LOVE so many songs by Uncle Charlie and Rachel Sanchez. “Sanctuary” is definitely another one of my favorites. Their “Making Melodies” music album was one of our favorites to play in the car and at home as our kids were growing up.

Driving to Sunday School and church this past weekend, Shelly played the 14 minute video, “Life is Like a Puzzle.” Uncle Charlie is not only a master storyteller, but also a gifted communicator with kids as well as adults. Those gifts really shine through in this video, which “connected the dots” for me as I wanted to understand what happened to Uncle Charlie soon after he came to our church in Edmond, Oklahoma in the late 2000s. The video, “My Miracle Story” which Uncle Charlie recorded in 2015, 7 years after he had a near-fatal car accident that changed the course of his life forever, also provides more background about these dramatic as well as miraculous events.

I am very thankful, personally, for the life, ministry, and creative love shared by Uncle Charlie and his team over the years. This past weekend, Shelly and I recorded a new episode of our audio podcast together, “Wes and Shelly Share,” about fall traditions and memories.

As a result of related Facebook discussions, Shelly shared about Uncle Charlie and his amazing VBG app. This “good news” is too good to keep to myself, so I decided to share this blog post today before school!

I hope you will take some time to download the VBG smartphone app and listen to some of the songs and videos by Uncle Charlie. There are lots of bad things going on in our world, but as Christians we have GOOD NEWS to share EVERY DAY. Uncle Charlie reminds me and reminds us that GOD LOVES US, God is real, God values YOU, and God still acts in MIRACULOUS ways through both the good times and bad times of our lives.

Praise God, and thank God for Uncle Charlie!

I first learned about The Bible Project from Tim Sean Youmans, at the time (and currently) the head Vicar (priest) at Casady School in Oklahoma City, the Episcopal Day School where I worked and served in various roles for 7 years, from 2015 to 2022. My first blog reference to “The Bible Project” dates to October 2018, in my post, “Gospel Encounter: The Last Supper (Matthew 26:17-35).” Tim Sean is the author of “Blessed to Bless: An Introduction to the Bible,” which is used a guiding text in Bible classes taught at Casady. Father Youmans would often use Bible Project videos in the homilies and messages he shared with students, faculty and staff at Casady.

When I had the opportunity to teach and lead an adult Sunday School class at First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma for 3 years (2019-2021, through the pandemic) The Bible Project videos were a frequent media element in my lessons and slideshows. These are (mostly) all archived, by the way, on followjesus.wesfryer.com. These videos also inspired me in my “almost-completed for many years” book project, “Pocket Share Jesus: Be a Digital Witness for Christ,” and the workshops I’ve shared over the years (now through “Storychasers“) on “Christian Digital Storytelling.”

My wife, Shelly, has always been an extremely discerning and spiritual follower of Jesus, and has taught me a great deal over our 28 years of marriage about Biblical values like love, grace, forgiveness, humility, sacrifice, and service. Shelly has been using videos from “The Bible Project” more recently in her own morning devoitions, and she shared the video, “Why Jesus Called Himself the Son of Man,” about a week ago with me via text.

As you may know, I’m a confessing “digital over-sharer” In my life. Slowly over time, in part due to encouragement from my spiritual director, Curt Gruel, I’ve become a more “integrated person” when it comes to my spiritual / Jesus-following / “Sunday morning side” and my “rest of the week” / more secular / professional educator side. This is reflected in several ways, including the ways I now share different kinds of media (most often “Bible Verse InfoPics.”) via the different social media channels I maintain.

Sharing a simple hyperlink can be a powerful and potentially TRANSFORMATIVE act. I credit Tim Sean Youmans with not only introducing Shelly and I, and eventually our FPCE adult Sunday School class, to The Bible Project, but also to the absolutely INCREDIBLE TV series, “The Chosen,” which is soon about to release Season 4. Those videos continue to shape my own understanding and visualization of the characters and narratives in The Bible / Holy Scripture, but also the faith journey of (at least) one of our own children, who has been particularly captivated by watching the series this past year.

I encourage you to not only watch the 6 minute video, “Why Jesus Called Himself the Son of Man,” from The Bible Project, but also check out more of the resources from bibleproject.com. Download the YouVersion Bible app and explore the words of Holy Scripture through its well designed interface, using multiple translations and interpretations of the Bible in your languages of choice. I also encourage you to SHARE these resources and your own experiences with them.

The words of God, expressed in the Holy Bible, are powerful and can be transformative in our lives. We live in an era of challenges and opportunities, and it is vital that we focus our minds DAILY on the words and messages of Jesus Christ, to maintain our hope in a world filled with dangers, fears and perils.

I pray God will bless you this day. I know God continues to bless me through my wife and spouse, Shelly, in many ways… Including the ways she shares helpful resources that assist me in my ongoing journey to deepen my relationship with and understanding of Almighty God. To God be the glory!

“Praying The Hours” is a Catholic prayer ritual / method one of the members of our Sunday School class uses / follows.

 ”Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.“

Amos‬ ‭5‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭RSV‬‬

From ChatGPT 4: My prompt: “Tell me background about these Bible verses: ”Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.“ ‭‭Amos‬ ‭5‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭RSV‬‬”

ChatGPT 4’s responses:

The verses you’ve quoted, Amos 5:23-24 from the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible, are part of the Book of Amos, which is one of the books of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. Amos, the author, was an early prophet of Israel, active around 750-760 BCE.

These particular verses are part of a larger passage where Amos is delivering a message of judgment and warning from God to the people of Israel. The primary context here is a critique of ritualistic worship that lacks sincerity and justice. Amos is essentially telling the Israelites that God is not interested in their music and worship if they are not also pursuing justice and righteousness in their society.

Verse 23 (“Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen”) indicates God’s rejection of worship that is disconnected from ethical living. In verse 24 (“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream”), the imagery of flowing water symbolizes the continuous and abundant practice of justice and righteousness that God desires.

This passage reflects a common theme in the prophetic books of the Old Testament, where the prophets call for social justice and true, heartfelt worship, as opposed to mere ritualistic practices. It emphasizes that religious ceremonies are meaningless to God if they are not accompanied by moral and ethical behavior, especially towards the less fortunate and marginalized in society.”

Via ChatGPT 4

How are we acting to come out of our places of privilege to:

• Provide access to health care for those who don’t have it?
• Where are we acting ourselves to channel God’s righteousness?

”Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”“

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25‬:‭34‬-‭46‬ ‭RSV‬‬

I don’t think God calls us to be overwhelmed by the enormity of needs and suffering we see in the world. I think God calls us to do the work in front of us, to do the work he has prepared in advance for us to do. We are called to walk and live in faith, that God calls us to do this work together.

Crisis Assistance Ministries

“The  mission  of Crisis Assistance Ministry is to  provide assistance  and advocacy for people in financial crisis, helping them move toward self-sufficiency.

Our  vision  is to inspire our community to justice and generosity as we provide help, hope, and understanding to people struggling with limited financial resources.”

From CrisisAssistance.org

#HealOurCulture 

Full Old Testament reading:

”“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, I will not accept them, and the peace offerings of your fatted beasts I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream. “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You shall take up Sakkuth your king, and Kaiwan your star-god, your images, which you made for yourselves; therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.“

‭‭Amos‬ ‭5‬:‭21‬-‭27‬ ‭RSV‬‬

Consider the way Eugene Peterson expressed these ideas and sentiments of the prophet Amos:

”I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.

‭‭Amos‬ ‭5‬:‭21‬-‭24‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“Justice begins with God!

Justice requires that everyone shares in the resources of our culture and community.”

by Rev. Dorothy J. Killian

Social Justice = Full participation in society

Only when the lives of all worshippers are congruent with the ideals of God’s justice is God pleased.

This Sunday is the celebration of the holiday of Epiphany, which in Christian traditions celebrates “the visit of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus, and the wedding at Cana.” Rev Killian reminded us that as a society and in our culture, “We also follow stars!” Whether pop stars like Taylor Swift of Beyoncé, or sports starts like NFL or NBA athletes, we often pay an undue amount of attention to these “stars.” However, it’s important to consider, “Where are those stars leading?” Who and what are these stars attempting to “point us to” in our lives? Where do these stars lead? By encouraging us to consider “Whose star we are following?” Rev Killian powerfully juxtaposed the sermon text from Matthew 2:1-12 with ominous headlines from contemporary news and popular culture.

Rev Killian encouraged us to “NOT be afraid to ask for signs & directions.” We should be continually watchful for God, for He is present and at work all around us! We can see God in the beauty and wonder of His creation, but also in the ways we love and care for each other in this troubled world. God calls us to invite his Holy Spirit to provide us with directions for our lives, and he provides guidance when we seek Him in prayer, through Bible study, and through fellowship with other Christian followers of Jesus Christ.

Rev Killian received applause during her sermon when she pulled out an “old school” paper map, and reminded the congregation, “When we encounter the living God, we reset our GPS.” Whether we are using analog or digital tools to find our way in the world. encounters with God can have a powerful and positive re-directing and “re-orienting” influence on us. As an undergraduate geography major and someone who grew up learning about maps and orienteering in Boy Scouts as well as in Air Force survival training at the Air Force Academy, this analogy really resonated with me!

I also loved Rev Killian’s encouragement to “Look for God and listen for His voice.” For over 10 years now, I’ve been blessed to participate in “Spiritual Direction” with Curt Gruel, through HeartPaths OKC. Even after we moved to North Carolina in 2022, my monthly meetings with Curt have continued via Zoom! “Spiritual Direction” is all about “looking for God,” and meeting with a mentor who can help us identify, see, and interpret “God sightings” in our lives. This is an important message every day, but seems particularly appropriate as we start 2024 and a new calendar year with different ideas for resolutions and new habits to adopt.

Rev Killian’s final exhortations were to ask “Who are the ‘Herods’ in your life? Who is sowing fear in your journey of faith and life?” As I consider the ways I want to develop the “Heal Our Culture” project in the weeks and months ahead, these questions are both challenging and prescient. There are many voices on YouTube, in mainstream news, and in social media which encourage us to adopt a spirit of fear rather than an attitude of joy, hope, and abiding faith.

I want to follow the star of Jesus, and I’m thankful for these words of encouragement from Rev Killian today!

Here’s the “BIG BIBLICAL IDEA” I took away from this excellent video as well as my (relatively) recent related theological readings: Through Jesus Christ, God calls us to reject the human hierarchies imposed and enforced by authorities and cultural influencers. As we read in the closing verses of the third Chapter of Galatians, written by the Apostle Paul:

‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

Galatians 3:23-29

Rejecting the cultural norm of “hierarchies” is both challenging and radical. Most societies “teach” that hierarchies are real, natural, and should be both expected and embraced. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, however, rejects this. Throughout history, including the Jewish faith and the Christian faith, however, we see how many church authorities and leaders have MISSED this critical idea and value from Jesus, Instead, these “authorities” have worked to impose hierarchy and establish it as a universally accepted constant. As a follower of Jesus Christ, however, I understand that perspective to be heresy / heretical.

I’ll try to explain what I mean.

In this context, when I speak of “hierarchy” I’m talking about a perception or understanding that human beings are NOT equal and should not be accorded equal treatment. This is a cultural value in most human societies. In the infamous words George Orwell from Animal Farm, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Orwell was literally writing about animals, but he was metaphorically explaining hierarchy in human as well as animal societies / communities. Hierarchy is common and often accepted, even when it is (often) oppressive and destructive to the goal of human flourishing.

According OxfordReference.com: hierarchy is:

A type of social organization in which individuals are ranked according to their status or dominance relative to other group members. This affects their behaviour in various ways, e.g. by determining their access to food or to mates. Many vertebrate animals and some invertebrates live in hierarchical social groups.

Hierarchy. (n.d.). Oxford Reference. Retrieved December 19, 2023, from https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095935499

Although Jesus Christ taught his disciplines to love one another without regard to hierarchical status or privilege, human authorities relatively quickly moved to co-opt Christianity, make it a “state religion,” and pervert it so it enforced rather than dissolved hierarchical divisions and separations in society. 2 years ago, for fun, I read Paul Stephenson’s 2010 book, “Constantine: Unconquered Emperor, Christian Victor,”  I wrote a lengthy reflection about the book and things I learned from it, titled, “Lessons about Constantine & Ancient Rome.” As I highlighted and attempted to explain in that post, these ideas relate directly to conceptions of “Christian Nationalism” and the ways we see Christianity continue to be perverted and mis-represented in contemporary U.S. politics.

As a follower of Jesus Christ and a student of the Bible seeking to be led by God’s Holy Spirit, I understand that:

1. God does not condone or support the enslavement of human beings.
2. God does not bless or endorse the oppression of women, or the patriarchal discrimination of women by men.
3. God opposes discrimination and discriminatory treatment of human beings based on ethnicity or perceptions of race (which are, btw, in the case of “whiteness,” entirely culturally constructed)
4. God does not condemn or exclude from full participation in His family any human being based on a self-identified label of gender or sexual preference.

This past week, I finished listening to Heather Cox Richardson‘s outstanding book, “How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America.” I need to both record and write a full review of the book, similar to the post I shared about Stephenson’s book on Constantine. There are SO MANY important and outstanding ideas and perspectives on history which Richardson shares in that book which deserve both amplification and further reflection.

Here’s my main connection to this book and the topic of hierarchy in the Christian faith: As followers of Jesus, we are NOT called to be disciples of oligarchy or hierarchy. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to view every human being on our planet as a child of God, a unique and miraculous creation of our Heavenly Father both deserving of love as well as every right and privilege as everyone else. We are all sinners, and all fall short of the grace of God. We all stand as equals, WITHOUT DIFFERENTIATING HIERARCHY, before the throne of God.

”But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—“

Romans 3:21-25

Here’s one final reflection, returning to the words of Paul in Galatians 3. In verse 23 we read, “nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Let’s consider what that means in the context of our ongoing culture wars in the United States. There is an enormous focus by some political actors on hierarchies based on gender and sexual preference. Those individuals and groups repeatedly preach a false and heretical gospel of hierarchy and condemnation of fellow citizens and human beings on our planet. Those voices proclaiming these divisions and perspectives, “endorsing hierarchical values,” do NOT speak for God or Jesus Christ. Rather, they are false prophets, and need to be called out as such.

”But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.“

‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Here ends today’s sermon as blog post.

For more resources relating to these ideas, see my growing resource list for my inquiry project, “Heal Our Culture.”

Go in peace. My God’s Holy Spirit fill our hearts and minds this day, and may we all speak and act in kindness and love, representing the radical and transforming grace of Jesus Christ in a suffering world in desperate need of His embrace.

Since I purchased a Kindle version of Nye’s book and was able to convert it into a non-DRM PDF, I used the following AI prompt this evening to generate a lesson handout for tomorrow:

As has happened multiple times in the past 10 months, I was blown away by the speed, accuracy, and quality of the AI result to my query. Here’s a link to the 2 page handout Claude helped me create this evening, which includes:

1. A short summary of Chapter 2 of the book
2. Some main ideas
3. Some vocabulary terms
4. Some suggested discussion questions

AI truly can give each of us “superpowers” relative to the skills and abilities we had without it. Teaching (and learning) will never be the same, IMHO.

To learn more about AI, AI tools, and my analysis of what this means for teaching, learning, our culture and society, check out and SUBSCRIBE to the (almost) weekly podcast I co-host with Jason Neiffer, “The EdTech Situation Room.”

Addition: I also asked Claude (in the same chat thread” the following question: “Please analyze chapter 2 of the attached PDF, and list the Bible verses which are specifically mentioned by author Kevin Nye in that chapter.” Claude’s answer:

Here are the Bible verses specifically mentioned by Kevin Nye in Chapter 2 of the book “Grace Can Lead Us Home”:

• Psalm 24:1 – “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it”
• 1 Corinthians 10:26 – “For ‘the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it'” (Partial quote)
• Philippians 2:6-7 – “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.”
• Romans 5:20 – “But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:21 – “Test everything; hold fast to what is good”

In this chapter, Nye references these Bible passages to support various points in his discussion of housing and theology. Psalm 24:1 and 1 Corinthians 10:26 establish that the earth belongs to God, not individuals, which relates to his arguments around property and land ownership. Philippians 2:6-7 highlights Christ’s example of giving up power and privilege for others, which Nye connects to housing justice issues. Romans 5:20 supports the idea of responding to homelessness with grace rather than judgment about who deserves help. And 1 Thessalonians 5:21 encourages taking what is good from existing programs and philosophies while leaving behind what is unhelpful.

Via Claude.AI

Women are full human beings and should be accorded FULL human rights. This goes for ALL people by the way. Check the Universal Declaration of Human Rights if you or someone you know is unclear about this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights

Both in secular and religious contexts, women have full rights (just as men do) to live, lead, and serve as human beings irrespective of their sexuality or gender identification. HUMAN RIGHTS. These rights are foundational, unconditional and irrevocable.

Jesus did not come to our earth, live among us for 30 years, willingly submit to crucifixion and death on a cross, and bodily resurrect from the dead so that His followers could “keep women in their place” or His followers would act as legalistic jurors presiding over tribunals on the basic rights of fellow humans.

Jesus came to our earth for many reasons, but principal among these was to teach us (as humans on this planet) how to LOVE and better care for each other. He also came to free us from the legalistic and oppressive rule of religious groups like the Pharisees, and offer us a NEW covenant based on grace, love, forgiveness and community.

It’s really quite remarkable and wonderful. We can all even read about it in our own language today!

Some Southern Baptist Protestants “need a heads up” on these topics.

Southern Baptists’ Fight Over Female Leaders Shows Power of Insurgent Right (NYTimes, 16 June 2022) – Gift Link :

http://wfryer.me/44j

This line of personal inquiry continues to be catalyzed by my slow reading of “Fundamentalism and American Culture” by George M. Marsden

My first query:

Briefly summarize “the Baconian tradition in Scottish Common Sense Realism.”

ChatGPT4’s response:

“The Baconian tradition in Scottish Common Sense Realism refers to the influence of Sir Francis Bacon’s empirical and inductive approach to knowledge on the philosophical movement of Scottish Common Sense Realism. Developed by key figures such as Thomas Reid, George Campbell, and Dugald Stewart in the 18th century, this school of thought emphasized the importance of everyday human experience, common sense, and self-evident truths as the basis for understanding the world. By combining Bacon’s inductive methodology with an emphasis on common sense, Scottish Common Sense Realism aimed to counter the skepticism and excessive rationalism prevalent in other philosophical traditions of the time, such as those associated with Descartes and Hume.”

My follow up query:

“Continue with more details, elaboration and examples of this philosophy’s impact on the overall arc / development of Christian theology and philosophy in the United States.”

ChatGPT4’s response:

“Scottish Common Sense Realism had a significant impact on the development of Christian theology and philosophy in the United States, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries. Key proponents of the movement, such as Thomas Reid and George Campbell, sought to reconcile religious beliefs with reason and empirical knowledge.

The influence of Scottish Common Sense Realism on American Christian theology can be seen in the following ways:

1. Princeton Theology: The Scottish Common Sense Realism was adopted and adapted by theologians at Princeton Theological Seminary, which became a major center for American Presbyterianism. Key figures, such as Charles Hodge, Archibald Alexander, and Benjamin Warfield, combined Reformed Calvinist theology with the principles of Scottish Common Sense Realism to argue for the rationality and coherence of Christianity. This approach, known as “Princeton Theology,” influenced generations of American theologians and pastors.
2. Opposition to skepticism and deism: The reliance on common sense and empirical evidence provided a robust response to the rising influence of skepticism and deism during the Enlightenment. By emphasizing the self-evident truths of human experience, proponents of Scottish Common Sense Realism sought to counter the arguments of skeptics like David Hume and deists like Thomas Paine, who questioned the rationality of traditional religious beliefs.
3. Moral philosophy: The emphasis on moral sense and innate moral principles in Scottish Common Sense Realism helped shape American Christian ethics. Thinkers like Francis Wayland and William Paley drew on this tradition to argue for the existence of a universal moral law, which they saw as evidence of God’s design and authority.
4. Apologetics: George Campbell, a prominent figure in the Scottish Common Sense Realism movement, wrote an influential work called “The Philosophy of Rhetoric” (1776), which provided a basis for Christian apologetics. Campbell emphasized the importance of appealing to common sense, reason, and the evidence of the natural world when defending religious beliefs. This approach influenced many American theologians and apologists, including Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College, who employed these methods to defend orthodox Christianity against the challenges posed by the Enlightenment and rationalism.
5. Education and social reform: The emphasis on reason, empiricism, and morality in Scottish Common Sense Realism influenced American education and social reform movements. Many American educators and reformers, inspired by the ideas of this philosophical tradition, sought to promote moral and religious education and address social problems through rational, empirically informed approaches.

In summary, the Scottish Common Sense Realism movement left a lasting impact on the development of Christian theology and philosophy in the United States, shaping key areas such as Princeton Theology, moral philosophy, apologetics, and education. By promoting the compatibility of religious faith and empirical reason, this tradition contributed to a broader intellectual framework that helped Christianity navigate the challenges posed by skepticism, deism, and the Enlightenment.”

My third / final query in this series:

How do “Scottish Common Sense Realism” and “Princeton Theology” continue to shape contemporary Christian theology and particularly modern conceptions of Christian fundamentalism? How do these philosophical frameworks intersect with conceptions and beliefs about “premillennial dispensationalism,” Biblical literalism, and debates over Creationism and evolution?

 GatGPT 4’s answer:

Scottish Common Sense Realism and Princeton Theology, while rooted in the 18th and 19th centuries, continue to influence contemporary Christian theology and shape modern conceptions of Christian fundamentalism in various ways. Their impact can be seen in the areas of biblical interpretation, theological conservatism, and the relationship between faith and reason.

1. Biblical Literalism: Both Scottish Common Sense Realism and Princeton Theology advocated for the plain, literal interpretation of the Bible. This approach to biblical hermeneutics has been adopted by many modern Christian fundamentalists, who assert the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible. By emphasizing the self-evident truths and common sense in interpreting Scripture, these fundamentalists resist allegorical or symbolic readings of the text.
2. Premillennial Dispensationalism: While not directly related to Scottish Common Sense Realism or Princeton Theology, premillennial dispensationalism shares some similarities, such as an emphasis on literal biblical interpretation. This eschatological view, which emerged in the 19th century, divides history into distinct periods (or dispensations) and posits that the Second Coming of Christ will precede a literal thousand-year reign on earth (the Millennium). The literalist approach to interpreting biblical prophecy, often associated with Christian fundamentalism, can be seen as influenced by the hermeneutical principles of Scottish Common Sense Realism and Princeton Theology.
3. Creationism and Evolution: The commitment to biblical literalism and the belief in the harmony of faith and reason have contributed to ongoing debates over creationism and evolution. Many Christian fundamentalists, drawing on the principles of Scottish Common Sense Realism and Princeton Theology, argue for a literal reading of the Genesis creation account and reject the theory of evolution as incompatible with Scripture. These debates have led to the development of various creationist positions, such as Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism, and Intelligent Design.
4. Theological Conservatism: Princeton Theology, in particular, sought to defend traditional Reformed orthodoxy against the rise of liberal theology and higher criticism. This emphasis on theological conservatism and the defense of orthodox doctrines can be seen in the development of modern Christian fundamentalism, which seeks to preserve the core tenets of the faith in the face of perceived threats from secularism, modernism, and liberal theology.

While Scottish Common Sense Realism and Princeton Theology are not synonymous with modern Christian fundamentalism, they have undeniably influenced its development in various ways. The shared emphasis on biblical literalism, theological conservatism, and the harmony of faith and reason provide a philosophical framework that continues to shape contemporary Christian theology and debates over issues such as premillennial dispensationalism, biblical inerrancy, and the relationship between creationism and evolution.

(There ends ChatGPT 4’s responses to my curious questions this morning.)

A final thought from me on ChatGPT, AI, inquiry, truth and curiosity: As a teacher, I strive to encourage my students’ own senses of curiosity, wonder, and desire for inquiry. What a rich and amazing, yet challenging context, AI and ChatGPT presents for this style of “seek and find learning!” We need to remind ourselves, “ChatGPT is a language model, not a truth model or search engine.” Its scope of knowledge and ideas is breathtaking today, however, and that scale and depth will only increase (exponentially, by the way) in the days and months ahead.

We all need to be “playing with ChatGPT” today, to better understand, process and grapple with its capabilities, limitations, and pitfalls.

Welcome to the future.

I created over 40 annotated photos of quotations and excerpts from Chapter 4 in preparation for today’s lesson and discussion, but just talked about six of them during class. All of those annotated photos are available in this Flickr album.

Caldwell Presbyterian Church of Charlotte is in the midst of a multi-year project they call “Easter’s Home,” which involves the conversion of the church’s old education building into a 21 apartment, permanent supportive housing facility for single adults in the Charlotte community experiencing homelessness. The need for this type of affordable / supportive housing in the Charlotte urban area is tremendous. Around 3000 adults in Charlotte are homeless each night.

After summarizing and highlighting key points from the chapter in today’s class, I shared some personal connections to the ideas and themes Dr. Dunlap raised. I talked about Positive Tomorrows, which is the non-profit and school serving families in Oklahoma City experiencing homelessness where Shelly (my wife) worked and taught for 4 years. I also shared an audio podcast Shelly recorded with her students in November 2015 at Positive Tomorrows, talking about things for which students are grateful. I didn’t have enough time to fully play the podcast in class today, but I did include it in the 30 minute summary video linked above.

In the after-class video recording, I also mentioned Storychasers and the different types of digital stories highlighted on the Storychasers “Examples” page. I did not mention, but probably should have) the “Christian Digital Storytelling” examples page I created recently. I think there are good possibilities for the ways members of the Caldwell Presbyterian community might use digital storytelling in the weeks and months ahead both to educate their own congregation about the complex issues involving people experiencing homelessness, their needs, and the respectful (as well as safe) ways members of the church community can act in service and support of these marginalized members of our community.

The last thing I will note is that I was able to share a little of my own experiences reading and studying the pedagogy of Paulo Freire, whose ideas about empowering and transforming the minds and lives of the most marginalized and oppressed members of our communities connect directly to the themes and invitations of Susan Dunlap in her book, “Shelter Theology..” In addition to studying John Dewey for a semester with Professor Doug Simpson at Texas Tech University when I was working on my PhD, I also studied Paulo Freire for a semester with Dr. Simpson. It was a challenging and motivating experience, and continues to shape my thoughts as well as aspirations on the subjects of diversity, inclusion, equity and social justice.

Midjourney is one of several generative AI image tools available publicly now, including DALLE-2, Stable Diffusion, and others. The Quick Start Guide to Midjourney can help get you started. You will need to setup a free account on Discord, but you can use the web-based interface if you don’t want to (or cannot) download and install the software. This was my first AI-generative image attempt, using the query, “baptize with fire john the baptist.”

“MidJourney Generative AI” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

I chose to UPSCALE the fourth image (bottom right corner) and make some variations.

“MidJourney Generative AI” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

I again chose to UPSCALE the fourth image, and this was my final result I went with for the Bible Verse InfoPic.

“MidJourney Generative AI” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

More information about creating Bible Verse InfoPics is available in Chapter 6 of my book, “Pocket Share Jesus: Be a Digital Witness for Christ.”

To learn more about Generative AI models and the revolution they are rapidly bringing to our connected society, check out the “Hard Fork Podcast” episode, “Generative AI is Here. Who Should Control It?”

In 2020-21 I taught an adult Sunday School class at First Presbyterian Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, focusing on the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. We used John Lennox’s new book, “2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity,” as one of our course texts. My lesson slideshows and recorded lesson videos (mostly over Zoom) are archived and available.

This afternoon I collected and shared examples of “Christian Digital Storytelling” on a new page on the Storychasers website, which is now a personal passion project of mine as a media literacy educator and follower of Jesus.

The page now includes 16 embedded videos created and/or recorded at FPC Edmond through the years. Here are several of them!

Our Light Has Come (A [Sunday morning] performance from the musical “One Incredible Moment” at First Presbyterian Church of Edmond Oklahoma on December 7, 2014.)

Miracle in the Manager (Children’s choir at First Presbyterian Church in Edmond, Oklahoma on December 24, 2012.)

Jesus Joy Of The Highest Heaven (A song by the youth choir at First Presbyterian Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, on December 24, 2012.) [featuring soloist Sarah Fryer)

Happy Birthday Jesus (This was the rehearsal for “Happy Birthday Jesus,” sung by Rachel Fryer on December 24, 2011, at First Presbyterian Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. Rachel shared this at the 5 pm family Christmas Eve service.)

PreSchool Christmas Program 2007 (This Christmas program stars preschoolers at First Presbyterian Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. This video was filmed and created in December 2007.)

Rolling Green Outreach Ministry (A short video describing the Rolling Green outreach ministry of First Presbyterian Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. Special thanks to Shelly Fryer, Rachel, and Sam Carothers for sharing their perspectives on this opportunity to fellowship, love and serve others in our community.)

I added this examples page from the Storychasers website to my “Christian Website Projects” page of my Christian blog.

Here’s the script we wrote and used for this 7 slide “Narrated Photo Story.” More examples and resources for creating Photo Story videos and other kinds of digital stories are available from Storychasers.

When we lived in Oklahoma City, through our church, we had several opportunities to serve in a wonderful prison ministry called, at that time, “Redeeming the Family.” It has since been renamed, “The Oklahoma Messages Project.” (slide 1 image)

We went into Oklahoma prisons to work with moms and dads experiencing incarceration, helping them record messages of love for their children at home during special times like Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Valentine’s Day. (slide 2 image)

This was the first time either of us had ever set foot into a prison. It was a bit scary, but we had some prior volunteer training from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. (slide 3 image)

We helped parents select books for their children, and filmed them reading the books to their kids, along with supportive messages of love and affirmation. (slide 4 image)

These messages were recorded with digital camcorders, and put on DVDs that were mailed to each family and child to watch at home. Many of the kids receiving these video messages from their mom or dad would watch them over and over again. (slide 5 image)

When a mom or dad is missing from their family home, it is natural for children to worry.  It is very important for children to know that their parent is safe and OK. It is also very important for children to hear messages of affirmation and love, when they are separated. (slide 6 image)

We both thank God for the opportunity to serve, even just a few times and in some small ways, with the Oklahoma Messages Project. We encourage you to find similar organizations and nonprofits in your community which are serving children, parents and families. (slide 7 image)

(/end of script)

Learn more about “Christian Digital Storytelling” in my chapter on “Narrated Slideshows” from “Pocket Share Jesus: Be a Digital Witness for Christ.”

Roof Above is looking for a variety of food items, details are in the attached screenshot and in this Instagram post.

From their website:

“We believe that home is critical to provide safety, stability, and dignity in people’s lives. Each day, we serve 1,200 people in our community –half we serve through our homeless services, and half are formerly homeless served through our housing programs.

It’s not just about what we do but how we do it. Our approach is personal; relationships drive our services and help to heal the trauma of homelessness. We strive to honor the profound worth of each life, and for our work to reflect that belief.”

Learn more about “Roof Above” and their work by watching this new (4 days old) two minute video, “Uniting the Community to End Homelessness in Charlotte.”

“Roof Above” is the “operational partner for Easter’s Home,” which is an outreach ministry of Caldwell Presbyterian Church in downtown Charlotte.

Follow Roof Above on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RoofAbove/

For more background on this journey, see my December 2021 post, “Called to an Inclusive & Affirming Church.”

“Charlotte Church Shopping” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Searching for a new church is NOT something I have done very many times in my own life. I grew up in the Presbyterian Church, living in five different states before our family settled in Manhattan, Kansas, and found First Presbyterian Church at 801 Leavenworth. That was my home church most of my life growing up, and it was a wonderful place to learn more about God, the Bible, and gain some insights into the life of Jesus Christ. It was also the sponsor organization for my Boy Scout troop, Troop 74, led by Ray Hightower. I am thankful to be an Eagle Scout of Troop 74.

“A proud family with Alexander and his co” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

One of my most vivid memories of FPC Manhattan was from 8th grade Communicant’s class, following a Wednesday evening lesson that our pastor, Phil Gittings, had taught on “The Prodigal Son.” I stayed after class to ask him about it, because it just didn’t make any sense to me. It was not fair. It was not “just.” I couldn’t understand it. I remember Pastor Gittings mainly telling me, “That’s just the way God is.” It didn’t resolve my confusion, but that memory stayed with me. That cognitive dissidence has transformed into more understanding with the passage of time and my own life experiences as a husband, father and teacher.  FPC Manhattan certainly was (in aggregate) a great church to grow up in.

When I went to the Air Force Academy in 1988, we thankfully had chapel services, and I found great solace there during the challenges of basic training and my freshman year. Since our youngest daughter is currently attending prep school at Randolph Macon Academy as a Falcon Scholar for the Air Force Academy, I’ve been reflecting much more on my own years at USAFA. 

“Rachel Fryer at RMA” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

I sang in the Protestant choir my freshman year at USAFA, and I remember making a memorable trip up to New England and singing in the state house in New Hampshire or Vermont. But in my upper class years, my chapel attendance slackened, and I didn’t attend church much at all.

Upon graduation from the Air Force Academy, I had a choice: Go directly to pilot training or accept a Fulbright scholarship to study Latin American security issues in Mexico City. I chose the latter. In addition to attending Catholic worship services with the family of Vern Conaway, one of my Academy classmates (who were also assigned at that time to the US Embassy in Mexico City,) I found an English-speaking Protestant congregation in downtown Oklahoma City. Again, I found a sponsored Boy Scout troop at the church, for whom I served as an assistant scoutmaster that year, and my friend, Paco Araujo.

“Wes Fryer in Mexico (1993)” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

When I moved to Lubbock Texas, to start pilot training at Reese Air Force Base in the summer of 1993, I found Westminster Presbyterian Church. The church family at Westminster loved and cared for me in transformative ways, through some of the darkest and most difficult seasons of my life. Through it all, I met my wife, Shelly, in 1995 on a mission trip to Tijuana, Mexico sponsored by WPC. All three of our children were baptized at Westminster and had wonderful formative experiences in the loving congregation there. Shelly served as an elder at WPC, I served as a Sunday school teacher, and we both grew in love and fellowship as a family and as a member of the church community.

“Our Family in 2008 at the Westminster Pr” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

When we moved to Oklahoma City in 2006, we immediately visited First Presbyterian Church of Edmond. One of our friends at WPC Lubbock had come from that church, and on their recommendation it was the first church we visited. It also turned out to be the only church we visited, because the Sunday we first came, we met Jim and Carol Hartzog. They took us out to lunch after the service, and shared how FPC Edmond was looking for a full-time preschool ministry director. At WPC in Lubbock, Shelly served as the nursery coordinator on a volunteer basis, and then on a paid, quarter time basis. God opened the door for Shelly to enter full-time ministry at FPC Edmond, and she served as the Director of Preschool Ministries there for seven years. I eventually was ordained as a deacon at FPC Edmond, and then as an elder. I later became a Sunday school teacher, and remained active in the FPC Edmond men’s group throughout our 15 years of membership there. FPC Edmond was the church where all our children grew up, they all attended Communicant’s class, and they all experienced God‘s love through the church.

“Our Family at Christmas 2021” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

In 2021, anticipating our departure from Oklahoma and move to North Carolina, I did not expect to be church shopping. But, the Lord put it on our hearts to seek an inclusive and affirming, as well as more ethnically diverse, church, and we found Saint Augustine’s of Canterbury. Jason and Traci Elliot, who had been longtime members at FPC Edmond, had joined St Augustine‘s a couple years earlier with their son, Josh. 

At the time, I thought this church change (which was very challenging by the way, since I was in the midst my third year of adult Sunday school teaching with a dear class community at FPC Edmond we absolutely LOVED) it was primarily for the benefit of our children, who would (eventually) be on their own to find a local church, when they moved away from us. I thought this process would be instructive for them: How to look for a church, discern the Holy Spirit as well as a focus on Jesus Christ, and find a church community that could invite them into authentic worship, disciple them in their continued growth as followers of Jesus, and also be a community that could support and love them through whatever circumstances they found themselves.

“Curiosity & Questions: Jesus and Science” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Time will tell if that expectation was on target. But what I know now is that the experience of seeking and finding St Augustine‘s, Father Joe, and the wider Episcopal church community was incredibly powerful for me personally. When I served on our church session in Edmond during the time we left the PCUSA denomination and joined ECO, I was told we were doing that because the PCUSA congregations that were in the majority in General Assembly were not “Jesus focused.” I had the impression, which I admittedly did not research and check out myself, but “accepted on authority,” that these churches were more “Universalist.” Shelly and I did visit one of these churches in Santa Fe, New Mexico, back when we lived in Texas, when we were on a retreat weekend with WPC. The name of Jesus Christ was never mentioned in the sermon, and Christianity was presented as one of a multitude of pathways to finding God. Jesus was not preached as “the gate.” My understanding was that the confessing church movement within Presbyterian circles was focused on encouraging a prioritization of Biblical reading and Scriptural authority, as well as the primacy of Jesus Christ in His message of salvation by grace.

Another aspect of this departure from PCUSA to ECO involved beliefs and treatment of the LGBTQIA+ community. As a member of our session at that time, I was told that this departure was inaccurately being portrayed in the media  as an “anti-gay movement.” We were told it was not, it was rather focused on scriptural integrity and the holiness of the Bible. But as one of our children later brought to my attention through close reading of ECO policy and theology, the denomination is absolutely NOT affirming or inclusive. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that at that time, I did not seriously interrogate these issues and important beliefs for myself, I just accepted them on authority from other leaders in our church.

What I learned in the process of searching and finding a new church in Oklahoma City is that there absolutely ARE inclusive and affirming Christian churches which DO focus on Jesus and his unique and exclusive claims about eternal salvation. It is not true that every church that is inclusive and affirming of the LGBTQIA+ community is universalist.

“God Loves You. No Exceptions!” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Through my seven years of working at Casady School and being a part of the community there, I was introduced eventually (along with Shelly) to Episcopal faith traditions. The three OKC Episcopal churches we eventually found which ARE Jesus focused, Bible exalting, and inclusive as well as affirming are Saint Augustine’s of Canterbury, Grace Episcopal of Yukon, and St Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Oklahoma City. This discovery was a huge “a-ha moment” for me personally, and has had a significant impact on me as well as Shelly as we search for a new church home here in North Carolina.

“St Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

With this background and these recent experiences in mind, we have embarked on the journey to find a new church home and church family here in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. Both Shelly and I now love Episcopal traditions and worship, but as lifelong Presbyterians, I am drawn to want to find a Presbyterian congregation if we can. I absolutely loved teaching adult  Sunday school the last three years we were at FPC Edmond. (I had also served as an adult Sunday school teacher for awhile at WPC in Lubbock.) I feel an undeniable call on my life to integrate my affinity for technological communication, teaching, and evangelism for Jesus, and I sense my opportunities to do that are greater within the Presbyterian Church unless I would attend seminary and formally enter ministry in the Episcopal world. I do not anticipate doing that at this point. So, as of today we have visited two Episcopal churches and two Presbyterian churches in the Charlotte area. Here are a few reflections on each one.

Saint Peters Episcopal Church

Our dear friend Sarah Emily, at Saint Augustine’s back in OKC, taught school and lived in the Charlotte area for several years before moving to Oklahoma, and gave us a number of recommendations when she learned we were moving to this area. One of them was to check out Saint Peters Episcopal Church, which is an inclusive and affirming congregation, and perhaps the oldest Episcopal church in our area. I think it is kind of a “mother church” to others here, (I’m still not completely clear on how hierarchy works in Episcopal circles.) I visited Saint Peters in March 2022 when I came for my interview at PDS, and it was the first church we attended on a Sunday as a family (Shelly and I, along with Sarah and Rachel) after moving here in early August.

That Sunday we made an unlikely connection to a teacher who had taught for years at Casady, and knew many of the same longtime teachers there that we do. It was a wonderful service and a wonderful embrace by the community during the fellowship time following the service.

“Charlotte Church Shopping” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

St John’s Episcopal Church

St John’s Episcopal was a warm and welcoming community when we visited several weeks ago, very vibrant and full considering we are still coming out of COVID. We are really missing the ritual of weekly Eucharist, and there is so much comfort and familiarity in the Episcopal traditional service. The congregation is not very diverse, however, and while they are Episcopal, there was not any “signaling” that they are inclusive or affirming in the service, or in any of their social media online. Since the Charlotte Pride Festival was at the end of August, it was pretty obvious to see which churches are inclusive and which are not. Most made no mention of Pride. 

St John’s could be a very comfortable congregation to be a part of, but I suspect it may be a “don’t ask, don’t tell” community when it comes to LGBTQ+ folks and issues. We really like this church, and because of those factors (lack of an overt commitment to ethnic diversity and inclusivity) I’m not sure we’ll be back.

“St John’s Episcopal of Charlotte” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Caldwell Presbyterian Church

Caldwell Presbyterian in downtown Charlotte is a very unique congregation and one whose services I watched online this summer before we moved. They are explicitly committed to racial diversity, inclusivity, and social justice. The first Sunday Shelly and I attended, the primary pastor was still on sabbatical, and they had a guest pastor who was excellent but was probably the most liberal and progressive Christian pastor I have ever heard. I have actually studied critical pedagogy quite a bit, as part of my PhD program at Texas Tech. I studied the philosophy and pedagogy of Paulo Freire, author of “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” for an entire semester. The liturgy and sermon that Sunday was strongly influenced by both feminist and Afro-theology (if I am saying that correctly) and it was extremely different from anything Shelly and I had ever experienced in church. But nothing that was said was anything we really disagreed with, and it was Jesus focused. We found the worship experience overall to be refreshing and Jesus-focused, and the story of the church is extremely compelling.

That first Sunday we visited Caldwell we stayed afterwards for fellowship and refreshment time, and learned from some longtime members the church’s story of “resurrection and rebirth.” The congregation had dwindled to only about 10 or 12 members, but on the Sunday the pastor announced they would be closing, some visitors asked if they could join. They were challenged to bring friends, and the next Sunday they did. The church was “reborn” thanks to the hard work of a small group of people, who decided to redefine the church with its present focus: ethnic diversity, inclusivity, and social justice. It is also focused on sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is not Universalist. This is a very unique and special church.

Trinity Presbyterian Church

Of the four churches we visited initially, Trinity Presbyterian Church felt the most comfortable and familiar. One of the teachers at my school, Brian Fields, had mentioned it during a lunch conversation, and also mentioned that he was part of a committee in the church that is seeking to establish a new vision statement and focus for the church. The church is physically a very large building, but the congregation has dwindled over time, especially during COVID. Shelly and I attended Sunday school a couple weeks ago prior to service, and absolutely loved getting to connect with many people and have some great conversations. We also learned about an upcoming Church retreat to Montreat, which is the mountain camp in Asheville which Shelly attended three summers growing up, and is part of the reason we moved to North Carolina in the first place. The service was good, and remarkably, the sweet man sitting right in front of us during service is the father of my principal, Lee Tappy. We had good connections with many church members at Trinity, and felt very positive about the church overall. I know we are going to go back, and Trinity is on our short list of churches to possibly join here in the Charlotte area.

So today for church, we were faced with the question: Do we visit a new church, or revisit one of these four? Our next-door neighbors have invited us to visit their Baptist church, and I think we will do that one Sunday, but I don’t think any Baptist churches are inclusive or affirming, so it is unlikely we would join. But it will be nice to visit and we really like these neighbors.

I have also found First United Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, which is an historically African-American congregation. I have watched part of their services online and read some of the writings of their pastor. Interestingly, the church does not have anything about its theology or beliefs on its public website. Again, there is no signaling of inclusivity, so I am doubtful this is the church for us. But I love the history and the vibrant worship of the congregation, so it is tempting to visit, and we still might.

Myers Park Presbyterian is the largest flagship Presbyterian Church in our area, I think, and while it is tempting to visit, both Shelly and I are pretty convinced we want a smaller church. So that rules out Myers Park.

Last week I also learned about a new church that has just launched this weekend, Doxa Deo Charlotte. (Formerly Ridge Church.) It is non-denominational, and for the little I have learned about it so far, reminds me of Life Church back in Oklahoma City. Again, it seems like a larger congregation than what we are looking for, and there is no indication of inclusivity in their social media or on their website. But it was still interesting to learn about. They are the sponsors of a co-working facility that I will be using in about a month for a digital storytelling workshop, and I think that kind of community engagement is wonderful and laudable.

This weekend, Shelly and I ventured up to Hickory on Friday night and Saturday for some furniture shopping, We got back Saturday night for dinner with some friends and to be ready for church on Sunday. We decided to attend Caldwell Presbyterian again today, and their main pastor, John Cleghorn, was back in the pulpit. They baptized two children today, and had a special ceremony of thanks for many of the church members as well as staff who helped sustain their operations during Pastor John’s sabbatical this summer. It was an absolutely wonderful, spirit filled worship service, with a congregation that was diverse in every way. Sarah attended with us.

We love the commitment of the Caldwell congregation to ethnic diversity, inclusivity, and to serving the needs of the poor in our community. They are in the process of converting their historic education building into a multi-unit housing space for the “houseless” in the area. I have loved learning more about their mission from their blog, including this recent article Pastor John wrote in Presbyterian Outlook magazine, “Churches use property and resources to care for the houseless.”

So, that’s a lengthy share about our church hunting in Charlotte so far. I am energized and thankful for this opportunity to discern God‘s will for our family, and I can’t say for sure today what church we will join. But there are many good options, and I am so thankful to continue on this journey together with Shelly and Sarah.

“Charlotte Church Shopping” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

(I also cross-posted this to Medium)

Yesterday I had an opportunity to tour the USS Requin In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the Carnegie Science Center. I have thought about “radar screens” on ships and submarines for some time now as a metaphor for the digital screens we use to both access and share digital information today. In this series, I want to reflect on the intentionality with which submarines are designed for specific functions and outcomes, and how this can relate to us living our lives in an increasingly digital world. There IS a lot of “pollution and noise” in our highly-digital world, but also opportunities to encounter and be transformed by amazing people and powerful ideas. We need to make good choices as we “train the algorithms” around us to share images and media WE want to help shape our hearts and minds.

"USS Requin Submarine" (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Check out all 57 of my photos of the USS Requin in this Flickr album.

Find more channels to follow and learn with me on: wesfryer.com/after

Learn more about my theology as a follower and disciple of Jesus on: wesfryer.com/theology

View all the videos in this “Submarine Sermons” series in this YouTube playlist.

Visit my merchandise store: store.wesfryer.com

“Chosen During Lent” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Two weeks ago, I flew to Charlotte, North Carolina, and interviewed for a new teaching position at Providence Day School starting in August 2022. Moving to North Carolina after our youngest child’s high school graduation in June has been our ardent prayer as a couple for many months, so this was and is both an exciting and emotionally-laden time. I shared more about this on Facebook March 13th.

I flew into Charlotte on Saturday afternoon, Thanks to the recommendation of Sarah-Emily Steinhardt, the Member Engagement Coordinator at St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church in northwest OKC, I went to church Sunday morning in Charlotte at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church downtown. According to the “History” page on St. Peter’s website:

Considered by many to be the “mother church” of the region, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church was the first Episcopal Church in Charlotte, organized in 1834 and recognized as a parish in the Diocese of North Carolina in 1844. Area churches including St. Martin’s, Holy Comforter, St. Mark’s, St. Michaels, St. Paul’s in Monroe, and Christ Church all trace their roots to St. Peter’s.

History. (2012, January 30). St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. st-peters.org/history

I went to the mid-morning workshop service at 9 am at St. Peters, and then attended the “Adult Forum” / “Adult Formation” class offered at 10:30 am, led by the Father Jacob E. Pierce and Mother Amanda C. Stephenson. During Lent, they are reading and discussing “The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Final Days in Jerusalem” by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan.”

I am about halfway through the book now, and am REALLY enjoying the “deep dive” which authors Borg and Crossan provide into the Gospel of Mark. I’ve focused most of my own Gospel-specific study and Sunday School class lessons (back when we attended Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lubbock, Texas) on the Gospel of John, and to a lesser extent the Gospel of Matthew. Last fall when I was teaching our adult Sunday School class at FPC Edmond, “Finding Jesus in Media,” we used videos from “The Bible Project” as well as multiple Bible translations and interpretations to dive deeper into Matthew’s Gospel. But until the last couple weeks, I haven’t spent as much time studying the Gospel of Mark.

One of many things which the book’s authors are encouraging me to reflect on more deeply is the theological construct of “Substitutionary atonement.” This is a very familiar theological idea to me, having grown up in the Presbyterian church and “Reformed tradition” of churches and pastors strongly influenced by Martin Luther and The Protestant Reformation. It’s interesting to read Mark’s Gospel with greater attention and see its emphasis on Jesus’ invitation to all his disciples to join him on “the way” which leads to Jeruselum.

Reading #TheLastWeek is encouraging me to think more deeply about the theological construct of “substitutionary atonement,” versus the emphasis of the Gospel writers of Mark on joining Jesus on THE WAY, the journey to Jerusalem. /5 #Lent pic.twitter.com/xtXju9bfkD

— Pocket Share Jesus (@PocketShare) March 19, 2022

This is the journey we’re invited to take during the season of Lent, which culminates in Holy Week and Easter. I’m not sure I’d thought as much about how Jesus invites his disciples to not merely WITNESS his confrontations with the Roman and Jewish church authorities during Passover in Jerusalem, but ultimately JOIN HIM in participating in this confrontational series of events that culminates in his arrest, crucifixion, resurrection, and ultimately ascension into heaven.

The two key “themes of Lent and of the Christian life” #HolyWeek #TheLastWeek #dw4jc pic.twitter.com/IJRJjQuL0u

— Pocket Share Jesus (@PocketShare) March 13, 2022

Jesus does not call us to merely be PASSIVE OBSERVERS. Jesus calls us to be active participants with him in our faith, our journey of faith together to the cross and ultimately to God Himself. This is a journey of sacrifices, faith, and persistence despite frustrations and many reasons to both be seized by fears and turn aside.

In addition to reading “The Last Week,” I’ve also enjoyed re-watching the first two episodes of “The Chosen” this week (Season 2) with Shelly. We watched the entire series together last year, but it’s amazing how many details as well as “broad strokes” of the television series I either missed or am just seeing again now “with fresh eyes.”

I LOVE how the series writers are providing such a “deep dive” into the personalities and individual characteristics of the disciples, as well as Jesus himself. Based on the Gospels and the other books of The New Testament, the script writers, actors, and others involved in the creation of these films have created a RICH media tapestry that is both insightful and challenging to us as followers of Jesus and students of his life. I have particularly enjoyed the relational dynamics between Peter and Matthew, as well as Phillip and Matthew. Seeing the series a second time has encouraged me to “see” and think more deeply about the past experiences and perspectives of different disciples, considering how each one had been uniquely prepared by God for the work they eventually were called to do with Jesus and for Jesus after his resurrection.

The scene at the end of Season 2, Episode 2, when Nathaniel first encounters Jesus and is called by Jesus to follow him (thanks in part to the friendship with and guidance of Phillip) spoke to me particularly loudly today.

I can relate directly to Nathaniel’s story of being alone, at “the end of my rope,” calling out to God for aid, assistance, comfort and direction. That is a personal story I am not going to share here right now, but perhaps will some day. It can be both powerful and emotional to see threads of “our own stories” in the Bible narratives, and to understand a little deeper how God has and continues to work through our lives to bring us closer to Him and to places where we can choose to follow His commands. To respond to His invitations. To “join Him on THE WAY.”

Praise God for the access we have to Holy Scripture, for the opportunity to intersect with the people, events, and stories of the Bible through media interpretations like “The Chosen,” and for a break from school and work over Spring Break when I’ve been able to dive more deeply into the themes, traditions, and ideas of Lent.

I pray you will join me in seeking God this day and in the weeks to come. Check out the book “The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Final Days in Jerusalem” and consider reading it, and DEFINITELY watch (or re-watch) “The Chosen.”

God is at work all around us, and invites us to join Him in building His kingdom today on earth!

“Chosen at Lent” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

“Waiting for ballots” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

I was initially ordained as a deacon and then an elder at FPC Edmond when our congregation was part of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) denomination. On January 27, 2013, our congregation voted “for gracious dismissal from PCUSA to join the ECO denomination, the “Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.” With the rest of our elected elders at the time, I accepted ordination following that vote into ECO as an elder. At that time, I had not and did not personally grapple deeply with the question of whether or not we, as followers of Jesus Christ, and leaders of His church, are called to be inclusive and affirming. When I say “grapple deeply” I mean that I did not seriously question the leadership and direction of our senior pastor at the time and our other elders. My only Christian blog post at that time addressing these issues was from January 26, 2013, “Commenting Publicly About Our Church’s Congregational Vote.”

This failure to grapple deeply with the beliefs about and treatment of LGBTQ people at that time may strike some as odd, since the question of how the church addresses homosexuality was a significant and common issue for churches (like ours) choosing to leave PCUSA for another Presbyterian denomination. Around the same time as our congregation joined ECO, the church where Shelly and I met in 1995 (Westminster Presbyterian Church of Lubbock, Texas) also chose to leave PCUSA, but they joined the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). EPC is even more conservative than ECO as a denomination in some ways, as they state in their “distinctives” the following:

“the decision to elect women as pastors, ruling elders, and deacons is left to the discretion of the presbytery and congregation, respectively.”

Distinctives of EPC

The ECO denomination, as well as our FPC church home of the past 15 years, is not inclusive or affirming. This is not a secret. On page 30 of the 2020 ECO Confessional Standards we read:

Q. 87. Can those who do not turn to God from their ungrateful, impenitent life be saved?

A. Certainly not! Scripture says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit

the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters,

nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor

drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians

6:9–10).

2020 ECO Confessional Standards

Following our congregation’s decision to leave PCUSA and join ECO, one of our assistant pastors (Matt Jones) along with one of our church members and small group leaders (Curt Gruel) led a wonderful Wednesday night class focused on the book “Love Is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community” by Andrew Marin. In all my life up to that point and since, that class was the ONLY time I’ve had an opportunity in church to discuss issues and theology relating to LGBTQ people. At that time, I setup a website titled, “Faith Discussions,” and shared resources there related to the class. That site is now offline, but you can view information about the class as well as Curt’s welcome and class overview via the Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive. I posted notes from that class twice to this blog, “Love is an Orientation: Session 1” from January 9, 2013, and “Session 2: Love is an Orientation” from January 17th. As a related and significant aside, Curt Gruel has generously served (on a volunteer basis, I will point out) as my “Spiritual Director” in the Heartpaths OKC program for at least the past 7 years. Curt’s mentorship and discernment skills have been HUGE parts of my own spiritual development in the past decade, and I am incredibly thankful for his leadership, guidance and loving service to me and others through this amazing program.

Today I am sharing with our Sunday School class our decision to leave FPC Edmond so we can both worship Christ and serve others with an affirming and inclusive Christian congregation. Shelly and I no longer feel we can worship God in spirit and in truth at FPC Edmond. FPC Edmond is a “don’t ask, don’t tell” church when it comes to homosexuality and LGBTQ people, and we want to worship and serve in a Christian church congregation which is both inclusive and affirming to everyone, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

I have not wanted to share this decision privately or publicly with any emotions of anger, hurt, frustration, or pain. This is an ongoing journey which is not over. Shelly and I are both confident, however, that God is leading us and our family in a new direction.

We have been active members and leaders at FPC Edmond for the past fifteen years. Shelly served on the staff of FPC for seven years, leading our church nursery staff. Her leadership and ministry work through Children’s Ministries at FPC eventually brought her into relationship with many people both experiencing homelessness and serving the homeless in Oklahoma City. Our church’s “Rolling Green Outreach Ministry” at that time was a significant catalyst which eventually brought Shelly to serve as a teacher at Positive Tomorrows in OKC for four years. We have raised our children at FPC in Edmond, it has been our church home and our family. Contemplating leaving has been difficult and sad.

Yet we know God is calling us to a new chapter in our lives, and we are ready to answer. As I continue to apply for assistant professor positions to start a new professional role in summer 2022, we are not sure if we’ll be staying here in Oklahoma City or moving to a new place. It’s a time of waiting and praying. We are confident God is answering and has already answered our prayers.

“Pentacost Sunday in Edmond, Oklahoma” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

I have started to read Paul Stephenson's 2010 book, “Constantine: Unconquered Emperor, Christian Victor” – Sadly not available as a Kindle eBook on Amazon, but thankfully on the Google Play Store:https://t.co/tdh5yj4v5V#Constantine #Christianity #history #ChurchHistory pic.twitter.com/UUvwQ4zZ6p

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) May 30, 2021

There were three primary catalysts for my decision to read this book about the Emperor Constantine.

1 – Christian Nationalism Historically and Today

Our mainstream and social media channels in the United States have amplified “Christian nationalism” to the point where it has become a significant political and cultural force. The rhetoric of Christian nationalism has militaristic / jingoistic overtones, and I am not only interested in these contemporary strains of Christian heresy (which was and remains after reading this book my perception) but also the movement’s historical roots. I suspected I would learn more about this studying the history of Constantine’s rule over Rome, and I was correct. Presbyterian Pastor Tim Keller’s article, “A Book Review on the Topic of Christian Nationalism,” is an excellent overview of these topics and issues from a contemporary perspective.

Add this to your reading list, whatever your religious / faith beliefs or perspectives are. So many important points & ideas here: "A Book Review on the Topic of Christian Nationalism" by @timkellernyc https://t.co/q4NahIh5V7#polarization #politics #Christianity

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) March 19, 2021

In part through my research and work supporting the “Conspiracies and Culture Wars” media literacy project, I’ve been alarmed by the way Christian conservatives have been mobilized as well as deceived to support the QAnon conspiracy theory and political movement. My desire to have a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of the history of Christianity and its theological foundations were also motivators for me to learn more about Constantine and his Christian legacy.

2- Portrayal of Ancient Rome in “The Legacy Imperative”

Our Friday Morning Men’s Group at the Presbyterian Church we attend in Edmond, Oklahoma (FPCE) just finished a 10 part video series this summer called, “The Legacy Imperative.” I have wanted to write a blog just summarizing my thoughts and responses to that series, and still may do so. While there are many good ideas and exhortations in the series (like it’s good for Christian grandparents to share Bible stories with their grandchildren, read to their grandchildren, and share stories about their faith and beliefs with them) there are also some political as well as theological ideas woven throughout the series with which I have substantial issues with and criticisms to offer. Early in the series (maybe even in episode 1, the videos are locked behind a paywall so I can’t link directly to them) the author extols the Roman Empire, their wholesale destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, and paints overall a picture of Roman history which is romantic, nostalgic, and dangerously disconnected from many facts from history. At one point, the video series producers included a clip from the 2000 Russell Crowe movie, “Gladiator,” to cast a dramatic vision of the role today’s grandparents (allegedly) must play if their grandchildren and “this entire generation of lost souls” will be saved from hell and oblivion. So my experiences watching that entire series (as the youngest member of our group, it fell to me to ‘make the technology work’ over Zoom for most of our meetings) were additional catalysts encouraging me to learn more about Constantine and Roman history, especially as they intersected with Christian faith and early church history. For more on this topical thread, I highly recommend the Angry Planet podcast episode, “Rome Was Always in Decline” with author Edward J. Watts, who wrote the 2018 book, “Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny” as well as “The Final Pagan Generation: Rome’s Unexpected Path to Christianity” in 2015.

Listening to ⁦@angryplanetpod⁩ [PODCAST “Rome Was Always in Decline” with Edward J. Watts #history #politics #Rome #Roman https://t.co/QXRL215Xjt

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) July 31, 2021

3- Battle of the Milvian Bridge Artwork

The third primary catalyst for my decision to read this book was Pieter Lastman’s 1613 painting, “The Battle of Constantine and Maxentius” which is shared on the Google Art & Culture website. I was looking for an image of “Crossing the Rubicon,” and instead ended up learning a bit about “The Battle of the Milvian Bridge.” Like so many works of historical art, this image is a mix of state-sponsored propaganda, myth, and real historical events. I used this image in my March 7, 2021 Sunday School class lesson, “Introducing Tim Keller & “The Reason for God.” (It’s slide 28) I had never previously heard of that battle or its significance, and I was interested after my brief digital exposure to this artwork to learn more about this history.

"Christian Siege Culture & Belief in the United States" (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

With those three primary reasons for reading this book in mind, let’s dive into some of the key takeaways / learning points I had as a result of reading this book.

4- Persecution of Christians

First of all, I was a bit surprised to learn that the era of “Christian persecutions” in the Roman empire was as long as I’d imagined. It’s incredible to consider that Roman history spanned almost 2000 years, when the histories of both the western and eastern Roman empires (Byzantium) are combined and the early “Roman Kingdom” is included. Christians faced different types and levels of persecutions under Rome after the death and resurrection of Jesus, but those persecutions “mostly” came to an end during and following the rule of Constantine the Great. There was “one more pagan emperor in Rome” (Julian the Apostate) but Christianity’s official status within the Roman Empire during and following the rule of Constantine put an end to the types of Christian persecutions (death by lions in the colosseum, etc) which I’d learned about previously. 300 years may seem like a long time to us in the United States, since our nation is not yet that old, but in the span of Roman history it’s relatively shorter. I don’t intend to minimize the terrible reality of those years of persecution, but somehow in my mind I’d imagined Christians persecuted for many more centuries. So this was one thing I learned.

The early 300s (AD) featured “the Christian Persecutions” in Rome, when the pope was “called” to sacrifice to pagan idols & was later brutally beheaded after he recanted / repented. What a wild era. Not very long lived (for Christian persecutions.) More: https://t.co/vqyp7jRsEh pic.twitter.com/Rk5LlGQntr

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) July 3, 2021

5- Religious Toleration in Rome

Throughout his reign as Roman emperor, Constantine continued (and enforced) official Roman policies of religious toleration. Although those policies definitely changed under different rulers, I was interested to learn that the Roman Empire generally permitted a variety of different religious practices throughout its history. Roman military units practiced “religio” rites, which at times were manifested in worship of the emperor himself, and at times these were impossible for Christians to follow because they required the elevation of one’s loyalty and allegiance to the emperor over God. They also could, at times, require sacrifices to be offered to the god of the emperor at the time, which Christians regarded as prohibited.

I’m learning about Roman military “religio” rituals: “The Feriale Duranum is a calendar of religious observances for a Roman military garrison at Dura-Europos on the Euphrates, Roman Syria (224–235 AD).” https://t.co/i3II2heGAy#Constantine #Christianity #history #ChurchHistory pic.twitter.com/XRzhaVF3fy

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) May 30, 2021

The overall “bend” of Roman religious history, which I understand more deeply because of Paul Stevenson’s book, was to support and allow diverse worship practices through religious toleration.

Although Constantine stopped the persecution of Christians & supported religious toleration, he did NOT tolerate theological questioning or diversity of beliefs within Christendom. (He also ushered in an age of militaristic triumphalism cloaked in Christian blessing) #history pic.twitter.com/oe560gT9rI

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) August 7, 2021

Constantine had less toleration for dissent within Christian communities, however, he resorted to calling councils of bishops on multiple occasions to try and resolve disputes of theology and belief. The Nicene Creed, dates from the ecumenical council convened by Constantine in 325 A.D., and is still used by our Christian denomination as a foundational profession of faith. Because of the challenges of studying ancient history and particularly ancient personalities (even emperors) it’s difficult to have full confidence in any historian’s account of an individual’s temperament and personality traits. As Stephenson synthesizes the historical records about Constantine, however, it appears his ideas and opinions about Christian theology varied considerably depending on who his confidant(s) and trusted advisors were at the time. He was unable to force Christian leaders to “follow orders” and conform precisely to his will, as he could and did as a military commander, and resorted to ecumenical councils on multiple occasions to try and resolve differences of opinions and beliefs in Christendom. It is from this historical legacy “orthodox” Christianity emerged, and many of the articulated beliefs we (in the reformed Christian tradition) regard as foundational to our faith. I found it fascinating to learn more about these aspects of Christian history in this book.

6- History Can Be Tricky

One overall perception I took from Stephenson’s book is how extremely difficult and tricky it can be to seek “historical truth” among so many authors who were writing with overtly biased agendas (like writing an official history for a particular ruler / emperor) and the fact that many conquering emperors (including Constantine) sought to deliberately malign the historical records of their predecessors and opponents to expunge their legacy from history.

7- Constantine Was Not a “Good Guy”

Since he is credited as the Roman emperor who ushered in “the golden age” of Roman Christianity and originated “Christian orthodoxy,” I think Constantine is errantly regarded by some people as a hero and a “good guy.” He was not. Certainly Constantine was a consistent VICTOR in military battles, and this was the primary way he established his right to rule, claiming his victories proved that “the highest god” / the gods were on his side. Eventually he substituted “the Christian God” for Sol Invictus, the Roman Sun god, as the author of his divine blessing and right to rule. But we should not delude ourselves by overlooking facts of history or whitewashing the historical record as experts acknowledge with consensus. I was surprised to learn Constantine not only executed one of his wives (Fausta), he also killed one of his sons, allegedly because of an affair involving them both. Constantine was a brutal and effective military commander, which incidentally was historically a common denominator among most “successful” (relatively long lived) emperors of the Roman Empire. Of course my opinion here may incite criticism that we should not bring our twenty-first century moral sensibilities to bear in judging historical figures and specifically leaders from antiquity. We need to be aware of and acknowledge our own biases as well as beliefs in studying any topic, including history, but I think we are foolish to check our ethics and sense of morality at the door in these analyses.

8- Christianity Was Thriving and Diverse Before Constantine

One of the big misconceptions which Stephenson’s book addresses and debunks is the idea that Constantine’s embrace of Christianity was the primary factor in its “success” and growth throughout the Western world. While the official recognition of Christianity as the state religion in Rome, and in the Roman military, certainly did contribute in significant ways to its growth and popularity, Stephenson documents how Christianity was growing and thriving both inside and outside the Roman Empire before Constantine. It is important to note Christianity, even then, had a variety of sects / groups / theological adherents, which would eventually manifest after the Reformation in different denominations. As Christians seeking to follow Jesus Christ, we have always been a diverse and opinionated lot. We’ve never been just a single, “orthodox” religious group all “on the same page” which every element of belief or religious practice.

9- Constantine Co-oped Christianity to Serve His Imperial Purposes

This is perhaps one of the most important takeaways from Stephenson’s book and hopefully from anyone’s careful, historical consideration of Constantine: He was NOT a faithful follower of Jesus Christ throughout his life, and WAS a ruthless Roman emperor who co-oped the rituals, trappings and projected authority of the Christian faith to serve his own imperial purposes as an absolute monarch of a vast and diverse territory.

Here’s where the mythology and story of “The Battle of the Milvian Bridge” outside of Rome comes in. Stephenson clearly demonstrates not only by citing historical writings, but also the coins which were ‘struck’ / created by Constantine at different times and in different places throughout his rule to commemorate events and project his desired vision of the moment of himself as Rome’s supreme ruler, Constantine demonstrated a gradual, progressive move from pagan imperial worship to his own manufactured, Roman-state-supporting version of Christianity. In the stories which were spun by state sponsored historians, as well as later artists like Pieter Lastman’s 1613 painting, “The Battle of Constantine and Maxentius,” Constantine is portrayed as having a sudden conversion experience to Christianity, known as a literary plot technique called “peripety.” We must all beware, even today, not to fall under the misleading and openly manipulative spell of historians and artists who (often with deft artistic skill) portray the facts of history through not just “colored glasses” but rather through outright “distorted lenses.”

New term & vocabulary word for me: “peripety” or “Peripeteia”https://t.co/u6o8JylmUC

Referenced in the context of the “dramatic conversion of Constantine before the Battle of the Milvan Bridge” in 312 AD, before he conquered Rome. pic.twitter.com/vMs7Aq70sf

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) July 11, 2021

Where I might have considered Constantine a heroic historical figure in the past, I do not consider him to be one now after reading this book. He certainly advanced important ideas and causes throughout the Roman Empire and world during his rule and life, and I do see how God worked through him in bringing us priceless articulations of our Christian faith like The Nicene Creed. But given his ruthless actions and nature, I would not consider Constantine to be a “hero of the Christian faith” or Christian tradition. To the contrary, I think Constantine perverted and usurped the powerful, authentic and original teachings of Jesus Christ and created an “orthodox institution” in the Catholic Church (as well as its subsequent iterations) which took the people of God / Christians / “the church” farther away rather than closer to an authentic understanding of Scripture, the nature of God, and our calling as God’s children.

The historical record, however, supports a more gradual conversion to Christianity for him, and specifically a “triumphalist” interpretation of Christianity which was a continuation of the common (Roman) belief that God / “the gods” conferred their favor through military victory.

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) July 11, 2021

10- Roman Emperors Ruled From Outside Rome Too

I never took a course in high school or college specifically focused on just Roman history, so my background in this area is admittedly limited. I had, however, mainly conceived of Rome as the primary seat of power for the Western Roman Empire, and Constantinople s the primary seat of Eastern Power. However, Stephenson’s book revealed that throughout the centuries, Roman emperors made their palaces and seats of power in different parts of the empire. I was able to travel to Turkey on a two week bus trip in the early 1980s, but I’ve never been to some of the other places mentioned by Stephenson in this narrative about the life and legacy of Constantine. Among others, now I want to visit Trier (in Germany) and Nicomedia in northwest Turkey. I LOVE history and storytelling, and the idea that “places have stories to tell.” Reading this book has invigorated my desire to travel internationally more, and hopefully further deepen my own understanding of history including the Roman chapters which left ruins and artifacts that can still be studied today.

Another intriguing historical rabbit hole: The history of ancient Trier, a city in modern Germany: https://t.co/lKQc0xICEn

The horrific & lamentable Trier witch trials https://t.co/B8SN6bVCDW which make the Salem Witch Trials in the U.S. look like a minor affair indeed… pic.twitter.com/ANr6Cx6PJz

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. (@wfryer) June 30, 2021

11- Vicars Were Roman Bureaucrats

At our Episcopal chapel services at school each week, I’m now used to prayers being offered and references being made to our ‘vicar.’ I learned that in the Roman empire, vicars were “officials subordinate to the praetorian prefects.” A substantial part of the “genius” of Roman government and a key to its relative long lasting history was the intricate bureaucracy which the state developed and maintained. It’s not a life changing fact, but I was very interested to learn more of the etymology of “vicar.”

12- Oaths of Allegiance

It’s very important to consider who we believe we owe and pledge our allegiance, both individually and collectively. One of the most important lessons I learned in Boy Scout Troop 74 in Manhattan, Kansas, growing up, under Scoutmaster Ray Hightower, was that we’re called to have our allegiance and loyalty first to God, then to country, then to state, community and family. I’m not saying family comes last, but I AM saying that God is FIRST and our nation / our Constitution is second.

Annual rituals of “renewal and rededication” were extremely important in the Roman military#Constantine #Christianity #history #ChurchHistory pic.twitter.com/W2yrA3Nb4M

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) May 30, 2021

In Stephenson’s book =, I was very interested to learn that no pre-Constantine military oaths of allegiance which Roman soldiers were required to take and annually reaffirm survived antiquity. Stephenson explained that Christian pacifists as well as other Christ followers refused to pledge their highest allegiance to the Roman emperor above God, and this led to some of the persecutions of Christians in the pre-Constantine Roman world. By refusing to fight under arms or sacrifice to the gods of the emperor / the military, some Christians historically brought down condemnation and even death upon themselves. They were martyrs for the Christian faith. Christians refused to swear oaths of equal allegiance “to two masters.”

Christian Roman soldiers were historically the first (“according to some writers”) to evince an unwillingness to swear oaths to two masters#Constantine #Christianity #history #ChurchHistory #ConCW #civics #authoritarianism pic.twitter.com/SYIxgrJKhO

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. (@wfryer) May 30, 2021

13- Infanticide of Female Babies Was Common in Ancient Rome

I didn’t know it was common for Roman families to kill female babies. Stephenson explains the value Christians placed on ALL loves, including female lives, was one of the factors contributing to its explosive growth in the years prior to Constantine’s rule.

Yikes, how did I miss this? Infantcide of baby girls was very common in ancient Rome. According to this author, the better life Christianity offered to women was a major reason for its eventual exponential growth before #Constantine#Christianity #history #ChurchHistory pic.twitter.com/Bcf3TUfGsC

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. (@wfryer) June 2, 2021

14- The “Rain Miracle” of 168/169 AD

Before reading Stephenson’s book, I had never heard of “The Rain Miracle” of 168/169 AD during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Of course like all stories from history, we need to read this with “our filters on and up” for how tales are told and myths promulgated. Still, it’s a fascinating tale and would make a great children’s picture book. I wonder if anyone has made one?

A fascinating story from Roman history in the winter of 168/169 AD: “The Rain Miracle” https://t.co/3904Plb1yC#Constantine #Christianity #history #miracles

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. (@wfryer) June 30, 2021

15- “The Tetrarchy” which preceded the rule of Constantine

In yet another sign of my general historical illiteracy about ancient Rome, I hadn’t previously heard of (or remember hearing about “The Tetrarchy” in Rome which preceded the rule of Constantine. It’s fascinating to me that in some cases, Roman Emperors successfully utilized multiple rulers and both peer as well as subordinate authorities. The title “Augustus” was for the senior emperor / emperors, the title “Caesar” was for the junior emperors. Reading these chapters of history, it’s easy for me to have the names blur together, in part because I don’t have a mental picture (or much mental schema overall) to understand the described events and people in context. Still, my historical understanding and literacy of ancient Rome was deepened a little bit by Stephenson, in his references to The Tetrachy.

I’m learning about “The Tetrarchy” which preceded the rule of Constantine in Ancient Rome https://t.co/EyTvMS7NZd#history #Rome #Roman #RomanHistory #government #Christianity #Constantine #ChurchHistory pic.twitter.com/8i6yrjTLnt

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. (@wfryer) June 30, 2021

16- Christian Triumphalist Theology Contradicts Martyrdom

This is one of the most important points I think Stephenson makes convincingly in his book, and I probably should have elevated it far earlier in this post. The “Christian Triumphalist Theology” of Constantine, which we see shades of today in modern “Christian nationalism” in the United States, is contradictory to the lives and life claims of Christian martyrs. In the Constintinian / triumphalist view, God always intervenes in history to impose His will on the world. In the worldview of the Christan martyrs (as well as both orthodox and reformed traditional Christianity, from what I understand) God can and sometimes does choose to miraculously act in our lives to save, heal and redeem. However, God is not a ‘vending machine,’ and in His divine reality and nature He does allow both suffering and death, which can both bring Him glory and work out his ultimate purposes for humanity. These are big issues here: The existence of evil and faith in our God who is simultaneously omniscient and omnipotent is challenging both philosophically and theologically. I won’t comment further on these topics here, but definitely want to highlight this contradiction for the “Triumphalists” which Stephenson identifies.

An excellent insight by Paul Stephenson: The contradiction between a “Christian triumphalist theology” based on the Old Testament & 2 Maccabees, or the faith & beliefs of the Christian martyrs… It’s either 1 or the other, you can’t put God in both frames #dw4jc #Christianity pic.twitter.com/fG6vsswSgK

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. (@wfryer) July 2, 2021

17- Constantine: A Successful Book Burner

I’ve always found it fascinating to imagine what documents of heresy and unorthodox / forbidden writings might lie in the dark recesses of the Vatican Library. (I imagine it has dark recesses… perhaps it does not!) One of the works which is NOT in the Vatican Library or apparently anywhere else, because Constantine succeeded in his efforts to have all complete copies destroyed / burned, is “Against the Christians” by “Roman-Phoenician Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry of Tyre.”

As I previously mentioned above in reference to Constantine’s toleration for non-Christian beliefs and practices, but intolerance for “unorthodox” Christianity, his rule over the Roman Empire was characterized by these challenging dynamics. I wonder if a full copy of “Against the Christians” will ever be uncovered in a European, Asian or African castle library or other archive, as the Waldseemüller map was in 1901?

18- Arias & Arianism

At some point, I may read further into the history of “Arias & Arianism.”

To better understand the orthodox / Catholic (as well as “reformed”) theological interpretation of “the Holy Trinity,” it is helpful to study the historical record of Arias & Arianism. As with so many other topics, Wikipedia provides a helpful launchpad https://t.co/q25GlaOdny pic.twitter.com/eYSWmxE7af

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. (@wfryer) July 27, 2021

According to the current English WikiPedia entry for “Arius:”

Arius (256–336) was a Cyrenaic presbyter, ascetic, and priest best known for the doctrine of Arianism. His teachings about the nature of the Godhead in Christianity, which emphasized God the Father’s uniqueness and Christ’s subordination under the Father, and his opposition to what would become the dominant Christology, Homoousian Christology, made him a primary topic of the First Council of Nicaea convened by Emperor Constantine the Great in 325.

“Arius.” Wikipedia, 14 July 2021. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arius&oldid=1033618333.

The prospect of studying Arianism to better understand orthodox and reformed Christianity reminds me a little of discussing “critical race theory” today in 2021, when that entire topic has been declared taboo by our state legislature in Oklahoma as well as in other states. To better understand a topic, idea or concept, it’s not just important but also VITAL to consider counter-arguments and objections others have raised and do raise to it today. So at some point, I’m going to learn more about Arianism.

Closing Reflections

If you’ve read this entire post up to this point, kudos to you. I’m writing this in part for myself, to better clarify and solidify my own learning from reading this book about Constantine by Paul Stephenson. But I’m also hopeful people I know or others just interested in this topic will find this post helpful, and if you’re in that category, please let me know by commenting on Facebook, leaving a comment on this post below, by reaching out on Twitter, or another electronic contact method.

Here are my closing reflections.

Reading this book makes me want to return to Turkey and Istanbul, but also travel in Italy, Germany, and other parts of the former Roman Empire. I can’t wait for COVID to end and (hopefully) my wife and I to have more opportunities for international travel.

On a more theologically serious note, reading this book draws into sharp relief the sad truth that Constantine and the architects of the Roman Catholic Church basically ignored the essential words and writings of Jesus Christ in developing an institution which was focused much more on social control and projecting support for the legitimacy of governing authorities than sharing the simple, transformative truth of the Gospel. Yes Constantine (in his subsequently legacy) made “Christianity the official religion of Rome,” and ended centuries of Christian persecutions. There are definitely good and valuable elements to those actions. Yet Constantine did those things at a tremendous cost, perverting and re-architecting for earthly goals the Gospel message and Truth of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for The Nicene Creed and the vital clarifications which the Council of Nicea and other ecumenical councils called by Constantine provided to counter basic heresies within early Christian faith traditions. I regret, however, that the Catholic church with its relics and associated superstitions, its prescription to pray to God through a member of the clergy rather than directly to God the Father through Jesus Christ, its focus on ornate and expensive cathedrals, its history of indulgences, its sponsorship of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the “conversion” of non-Europeans literally at sword point, and so much more.

Given all these misgivings about the history of “The Christian Church” post-Constantine, it might not come as a surprise that I’m eager to “lean further into my own theological roots” in the Protestant Reformation and the ‘reformed understandings of theology’ which resulted and continue to guide my life. I’ve really enjoyed and continue to enjoy worshipping in the Episcopalian traditions thanks mainly to our school chapel program, but it would be difficult for me at some point to altogether leave this “reformed Christian heritage” about which I feel and believe so strongly.

Finally, reading this book about Constantine and reflecting on the history which he shaped makes me want to continue DIRECTLY reading the Holy Scriptures of God’s Word, and continuing to seek the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit as I seek to know Him and understand the calling of His Son, Jesus Christ, on my life. I am awed by the arc of history and by our fortunate place in it today in 2021. I want to continue seeking and finding God at work in our world, to join Him in His ongoing struggle to bring the good news of Jesus Christ, with healing and wholeness, to our suffering world filled with darkness and beset by so many devils.

May God use us to further his kingdom and bring His light into all the dark places of this world.

"Eaglebrook-School-2017-Candlelighting201" (CC BY 2.0) by EaglebrookSchool

‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. ‘

Genesis 1:1-5 (NIV)

The slides for this presentation are also available.

Our scripture passages were:

• 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NLT)
• Genesis 11:1-9 (NLT)
• Genesis 2:15-17 (NLT)

Here’s the link to the TED Talk video I mentioned and recommend watching about CRISPR. It’s about 10 minutes long:“What you need to know about CRISPR | Ellen Jorgensen” (from 2016).

This video and others are included in this YouTube playlist. Several other excellent videos from scientific / secular perspectives on CRISPR and Genetic Engineering in it. Check out the “Media” page of our Sunday School class website, “Curiosity and Questions: Jesus and Science” for additional related resources!

The slides from my presentation are available and also linked in the shared presentations folder on followjesus.wesfryer.com

This was and is an important conversation, and it was challenging to put together in-part because of the polarized society in which we live. Like our wider church family, our Friday Morning Men’s Group includes a cross-section of people with varying perspectives and opinions about politics and current events. Generally we do not directly address political topics in our group, we focus on Bible lessons and teaching. I believe it was appropriate and indeed vital that we talk about these issues together, however, and our ‘leadership team’ for our group which met on Tuesday had consensus on this.

I have not received much feedback on this lesson and these ideas yet, but the limited feedback I have heard surprised me. At least one member of our group found the opening article I shared, which was an op-ed written by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to be offensive “hate propaganda.” (“Op-Ed: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Don’t Understand the Protests? What You’re Seeing Is People Pushed to the Edge.” Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2020. www.latimes.com, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-05-30/dont-understand-the-protests-what-youre-seeing-is-people-pushed-to-the-edge.)

My intention in starting with this article and reading directly from it was certainly not to share “propaganda” of any kind, and certainly not ‘hate propaganda.’ One of the last things I want to do with anything I say or share is to encourage hate or a perception that I am promoting hate. To the contrary, my purpose was to share Jesus and share love, and to encourage us all (myself included) to listen with intention to the voices of others in our community and nation so we can better understand and better ascertain how we can better understand and should respond in this time of upheaval.

I was surprised this article and these words from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were perceived in such a different way than I read and heard them, by at least some in attendance. My purpose was to share the perspective of an articulate and well-respected African-American / black American whose perceptions of both our society and culture, and the specific events involving George Floyd’s death, are different from my own. We all look at the world from own own vantage point. There is a great deal I do not understand about the world and about current events, but I definitely DO know that I can’t and don’t see the world the exact same way others do. This is not only true for my brothers and sisters of color, but also true for “other white men” who are hearing about and watching the same events happening in other parts of our country and world, as well as in our own community in Oklahoma City.

I am hopeful that in the not-too-distant future, there will be face-to-face opportunities to discuss these issues. I certainly had not planned (before last week) to present a Men’s Group lesson which would directly address race relations in our nation. This is not, incidentally, a topic which I feel overqualified to speak about publicly. But this was and is a situation and issue which we all need to discuss and process, and hopefully figure out how to explore together even when we disagree.

There is much to process here. I did not have time to share this video during our lesson on Friday, but I did include it in the slideshow and commented about it to the men in our group Friday. This is Pastor Jim Cymbala (of The Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC) sharing a short, 3.5 minute mid-week message with his congregation about George Floyd’s killing and our responses as Christians. I heartily agree with his point that we must put our ultimate faith and trust in God, not in other human beings, in this time and always.

View this post on Instagram

A message from Pastor Cymbala

A post shared by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Church (@thebrooklyntabernacle) on Jun 1, 2020 at 11:45am PDT

In addition, I want to share and commend two other videos. This first one is the panel discussion at our church from June 2nd with Larry T. Crudup of Tabernacle Baptist Church, Rev. Dr. Major Lewis Jemison of St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church in OKC, and D. Lavel Crawford of Avery Chapel AME Church. Pastor Eric Laverentz from our church (First Presbyterian of Edmond) facilitated the conversation. This was an outstanding dialog and I plan to watch it again. Our family was able to watch it live at lunch together on Tuesday.

Finally, here is another panel discussion video about these issues, shared by Herman Stevenson, who is a member of our Friday Morning Men’s group and also participated in the panel. Panelists included Nathan Phifer, Herman (Steve) Stevenson, Jason Robinson, and Derrick Sier. Nathan’s purpose in organizing this panel was to build empathy and understanding among members of our Oklahoma City community.

"What Does the Gospel Demand that we do in response to the death of George Floyd?" (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

1. A number of guys are struggling with the lack of social interaction and their empty schedules.
2. Some men have already started taking advantage of virtual connection opportunities, reading daily from a novel to their grandchildren, for instance.
3. Many are finding it difficult to have their grandchildren close by, but not being able to be with them / hug them / interact with them “in person.”
4. Many are finding it difficult to not know how long this situation will go on, and are very eager to get back to “normal schedules.”

“My ooVoo Day With… John Wall” (CC BY 2.0) by klessblog

During the course of our videoconference and conversations, six things stood out to me as ways we can safely serve each other during COVID-19. There are clearly a LARGE number of needs we have within our group and in our larger communities. Finding tangible ways to serve and help each other during this disruptive time of crisis is important and can be a healthy addition to our schedules and lives.

1. Setup Virtual Family Dinner Connections

At least two of the guys in our group have already setup a “virtual family dinner” meeting via a Zoom videoconference. We did this with a friend and school colleague about a week ago, and it worked well. We connected to him via a Google Hangouts Meet videoconference on my iPad, and then put the iPad at our dinner table at the place where he’d sit if he was with us in person. Tomorrow for Easter Sunday, we’ve scheduled “dinner together” with my parents in Kansas and my sister and family in Missouri This reminds me of the Biblical exhortation we read in Hebrews 10:23-25:

‘Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. ‘

Hebrews 10:23-25

2. Invite Others to and Consider Leading a Small Group

The COVID-19 pandemic has moved us as individuals, families, and communities into a season for many new things. Remote learning for school, or closing schools. Staying at home with family perhaps more than ever, cooking and spending more time together. Finding more ways to share our resources with others in need, via non-profits like our Oklahoma City Regional Food Bank and Project 66 in Edmond.

I want to suggest it’s also the SEASON for virtual small group meetings. We have outstanding, free tools to facilitate small group interactions and meetings at a distance. These include FREE (40 minute or less) videoconferencing with Zoom, and Facebook Groups. While Zoom specifically has drawn a lot of recent, negative media attention for conference security problems, these have been addressed swiftly. If you have access to another collaborative videoconferencing platform or are willing to pay for one, by all means go for it. But if not, Zoom is a viable and good option for small group virtual meetings.

Our adult Sunday School Class, “Curiosity and Questions: Jesus and Science,” has continued to meet the past month as we’ve started “sheltering in place” as a city and a state. We’re meeting over a videoconference at our “regular time” on Sunday mornings between our church’s virtual worship services. We’re using both a private Facebook group and Google Classroom to share resources and updates. Our church’s recent move to “Realm Software” as a church-wide information system has empowered individual teachers (like me) to directly email and contact our group members. I don’t think our church small group connections should end with Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings, however.

In addition to considering JOINING a virtual small group, I want to encourage you to consider STARTING one. Start a book club. You might do this by:

1. Choosing a new book you want to read, or a book you love and want to share with others.
2. Creating a Private Facebook Group, which you can moderate and control (both members and posts)
3. Deciding on a weekly meeting time for your virtual book club.
4. Creating a free account with Zoom, and creating a repeating meeting / videoconference at your desired time.
5. Creating a REPEATING EVENT in your Facebook group, including the Zoom conference JOIN instructions.
6. Inviting your friends and acquaintances to join your small group / book study.

As we each grow more comfortable and proficient at meeting over videoconferences, the number of available small groups will grow. Your group does not have to have a large number of members to be “successful” and beneficial, to both you and other members. Small groups should be all about connecting, relationships, interacting, as well as learning.

Step out and create your own small group, for a book study or other purpose. The ideas you discuss together with your small group members and the connections you make in upcoming weeks can be IMPORTANT pieces of the wellness / self-care plan we each need to not only survive but also THRIVE in this COVID-19 pandemic season.

3. Utilize Daily Devotion and Bible Reading Apps

We all can benefit from daily “quiet time” to pray, read scripture, meditate, and seek the voice of God. I have been using the free “Pray as You Go” app and website for the last couple years, and highly recommend it. Pray As You Go is a project of the Jesuits of Britain, Each day they post a 15 to 20 minute meditation which focuses on a different Bible verse or series of verses, which are repeated twice during each devotional.

Use a Bible reading app like the YouVersion Bible, which includes a variety of Bible Study reading plans, the ability to connect to others for prayer and encouragement, and videos from amazing Christian theology and evangelist media creators like The Bible Project. The verse of the day feature, the ability to highlight and share scripture verses, and even create Bible Verse InfoPics right within the app are fantastic and powerful ways to focus our minds above “on the things of God” when so many current events “down below on earth” seem chaotic and troubling.

4. Keep a Daily Written Journal

Journaling about your life, your day, your fears, your hopes, your dreams and other aspects of your thought life can be an extremely healthy and healing activity at any season of life. Particularly as we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, something no one alive today has previously experienced, journaling can be a constructive and beneficial activity. When I was in college and after college graduation, I was an avid journal writer. Then sometime around 2003, I discovered blogging. “Writing in public” on a blog or via a social media platform can be beneficial in similar ways to keeping a private journal, but there are more complexities to digital, shared, interactive writing. When deciding whether or not you’ll keep a journal during COVID-19, remember the benefits of your writing times may not be limited to you. Your grandchildren and other descendants may read what you write this week! We are literally living through history, so why not document your journey in detail for your benefit and the potential future benefit of others?

“written in slumber” (CC BY 2.0) by matryosha

5. Engage in Oral History Projects with Family Members

There’s no time like the present to start a family oral history project. A few weeks ago, I shared a one hour free webinar on “Family Oral History Projects” which was recorded and is now available on YouTube along with several others.

The full description of that March 19, 2020 virtual workshop was:

Who tells your story? You are the best person to tell it, and there’s no time like the present to get started.

6. Be a Digital Witness for Jesus

As Christians, we are called to not just share the story of OUR lives, but also the story of how GOD has moved and continues to move in our lives. Check out my 2020 book, “Pocket Share Jesus: Be a Digital Witness for Christ,” for more ideas and project suggestions about how to do this. The full book is available free online. It will be available for sale on Amazon soon.

“Bible Verse InfoPic” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

The video of recorded audio and synchronized slides for this lesson is 50 minutes and 20 seconds long.

Here are the slides from our lesson, which include embedded links to referenced videos and books.

Our focus Bible verse was Philippians 2:5-11:

‘In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ‘

Philippians 2:5-11

“Philippians 2:5-8” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Some of the images of Jesus I used in this presentation are shared in the Google Arts and Culture article, “Representations of Jesus Christ in Art and Paintings.”

I mentioned and recommended Alec Ross’ (@alecjross) book, “The Industries of the Future,” during our lesson, and also mentioned his 3.5 minute video for Big Think in 2016, “Genome Mapping Will Expand Our Life Expectancies.”

I also mentioned (but did not play in class) Joe Hanson’s (@DrJoeHanson) 2017 video for PBS Studios show, “It’s OK To Be Smart,” (@okaytobesmart) titled “CRISPR and the Future of Human Evolution.”

In addition to genetic engineering, in vitro fertilization, and Somatic cell nuclear transfer, we also discussed a variety of “body enhancements” including Neil Harbisson, who “…is best known for being the first person in the world with an antenna implanted in his skull and for being legally recognized as a cyborg by a government.” I referenced the 2016 Business Insider article about Neil, “I talked with a real life cyborg, and now I’m convinced ‘cyborgism’ is the future,” and the included 4.5 minute video.

During our lesson I also mentioned a favorite book of mine, “Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology” by Neil Postman.

Next week we’re going to take additional time to discuss BioEthics, and most likely watch the 36 minute Braincraft video, “The Ethics of Gene Editing.”

During our lesson, I also mentioned the remarkable November 2019 PBS Frontline documentary, “In the Age of AI.” It’s two hours long, and I’m planning to spend one of our upcoming Sunday School lessons discussing it and watching a short excerpt. It’s possible I may be able to lead a multi-week study and discussion of this video over the summer, likely in June. AI is already reshaping some aspects of our society and the way we live, and it’s projected to transform even more in the years to come.

"In the Age of AI: PBS Frontline" (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

I hope these resources are beneficial for you as you learn more about bioethics and the topics addressed in this presentation. In addition to these resources, you can follow me on Twitter @pocketshare (my Christian channel) and @wfryer, (where I share things generally related to educational technology and learning.) You can also access my book, “Pocket Share Jesus: Be a Digital Witness for Jesus Christ” on pocketshare.pressbooks.com.

It’s good to be reminded of The Hubble Deep Field photograph, which is staggeringly beautiful and mind blowing in its implications for not only astronomy and science but also cosmology and faith. Created in 1995 as a composite image from a very small portion of the night sky using the Hubble Space Telescope, the Deep Field image powerfully conveys how vast our universe is, and how little we can literally glimpse of it from our position on earth on the outer rim of the Milky Way galaxy. It’s truly an awe-inspiring image that can be a catalyst for wonderful conversations about the origins of our universe and BIG questions of faith as well as science. How did we get here? Did God create all of this? How can we know about things like “Who created the universe” or “Why are we here?” “Are we alone in the vastness of space?” Science can encourage and provoke us to dive into these questions, but ultimately, there are a number of questions “modern science” (as we’ve learned to understand it the past 400 years of human history) can’t answer.

“AST XDF Hubble eXtreme Deep Field 201209” (CC BY 2.0) by rmforall@gmail.com

One of the lessons I’ve enjoyed sharing with my 5th and 6th grade students this year involves creating and sharing InfoPics. One of my 5th graders, Masha, commented to me last week how looking at images of the universe and our galaxy “makes her feel so small.” This is one of Masha’s InfoPics she shared on our class Seesaw blog. Her expressed sentiment is laden with cosmological and theological questions. It is to these questions as well I’d like to turn now.

In his video, ““GOD vs NO GOD – And the Winner Is?”, David Eagleman correctly points out the folly in dogmatically claiming that a creation story from any culture fully apprehends and describes the processes and observations of cosmology. Here are a few important elements he either omits or gets wrong in his talk about beliefs, science and the origins of our universe.

Creation Stories Were Not Crafted to Compete with a Scientific Worldview

David Eagleman conflates the Biblical creation story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with the Kuba Kingdom’s Creation story in the Congo. and his connections elicit laughter from his audience. The paraphrase of his message here is, “How can any rational human in the 21st century actually subscribe to such a patently incomplete and false story of cosmology?” Eagleman fails to grasp, or at least communicate to his audience in this 2016 presentation, that the Jewish creation stories (because remember, there are two of them in Genesis) were not formulated and should not be interpreted today to be comprehensive texts summarizing all that is known and needs to be known about cosmology (the origins of the universe). The Bible as a whole, and the Pentateuch specifically, are not “books of science.” Portraying Biblical cosmology as a “fail” because we have learned so much observationally about our universe in the past 400 years risks misunderstanding the value and purpose of these stories and literature. For more on these perspectives, I commend “The Bible Project” videos to you and specifically the six minute video, “The Book of Genesis – Part 1 of 2.”

Not All Faith Derives from Predominant Culture

David Eagleman misses another extremely important point about faith and belief in this talk, when he tries to explain to his audience how we understand where religion comes from. Eagleman asserts that predominant cultures imbue faith and belief, and this cultural transfer of cosmological perspectives is understandable from an anthropological / scientific perspective but not valid from the viewpoint of scientific truth. Eagleman’s observation can be more accurately stated this way: MANY people DO adopt their beliefs and faith perspectives from their parents, family, and predominant community culture. HOWEVER, some people “break” with their family and culture, and take on beliefs which are different and even bear a huge physical cost. The testimony of our former pastor, Mateen Elass, who grew up as a Muslim in Saudi Arabia and eventually came to faith at Stanford University after traveling to India and studying Buddhism intensely is a case that comes to mind. The faith of C.S. Lewis, who documented his journey from atheism to Christianity as a follower of Jesus in his book, “Mere Christianity,” also provides a counterpoint to Eagleman’s assertions about the origins of faith. Francis Collins, the leader of the Human Genome Project and author of “The Language of God,” grew up an agnostic but came to faith in Jesus. Orthopedic surgeon Curt Gruel, who spoke to our class on September 15, 2019, has a similar story of “being a disciple of science” but through his lived experiences coming to know and follow Jesus Christ. A couple weeks ago we heard from a Christian missionary working in Iran about the ways God is revealing himself to Muslims through visions and dreams today. Here’s the point Eagleman misses, and it’s very important when we discuss faith and cosmology. Not all faith and beliefs about God derive from a predominant culture / environmental pressures.

We Have Sources of “Knowing” Outside of Science

Another vital point which David Eagleman missed in his 2016 talk is the idea that as human beings, we have sources of “knowing” outside of science. Certainly science has tremendous value to us as a systematic way to not only understand our world but also creatively project our own ideas into it. Engineering is the application of scientific principles to design and build structures as well as solve problems. Your reading of this blog post right now is the result of technological innovation built on scientific principles and understanding. Yet the replicability of experimental conditions in a controlled setting / laboratory only provides PART of the ways we know and understand reality as human beings. Our ‘lived experiences’ can inform us and also reveal to us fundamental truths about our world, ultimate reality, and God. My own journey of faith, which included a dramatic ‘near death experience’ in undergraduate pilot training in the US Air Force, is a part of my own story and powerfully shaped my acknowledgement of and understanding of God’s reality in our world. Curt Gruel shared a similar “journey of faith” story with our Sunday School class in September. These experiences are not scientifically replicable in a lab setting where variables are tightly controlled. They are still, however, valid “ways of knowing” and point to the importance of understanding that “scientific knowledge is not the only type of knowledge which exists or points us to truth.”

Our Faith in God and Jesus is More than a “God of the Gaps” Understanding

One of the important points author and scientist Francis Collins makes in Chapter 4 of his book, “The Language of God,” is that Christian faith or any other faith in God as the creator of the universe should not hinge on a “God of the Gaps” understanding. In other words, we certainly DO regard the universe with awe. Our world IS still filled with mysteries which we do not understand, to the extent that we don’t have comprehensive or even “good” insights into the processes which define and explain phenomena we observe.

I’m not sure if there is a more generally acknowledged term for this, but it seems this dynamic throughout history has gone like this: “The more things we can NAME scientifically, the less space we have in our minds for God, his active role in our lives and world, and even His very existence.” In other words, as “the gaps” in our understanding of our world and universe have started to “fill in” through scientific inquiry and discovery in the past 400 years, we’ve (naively) convinced ourselves that we no longer need God. That God is a human, psychological and cultural creation. As Nietzsche said, “God is dead.” The Enlightenment and the scientific revolution which followed it have provided “science” as a replacement for religion and faith.

Thankfully, the God of our universe is not dead, and our perception of Him, our understanding of Him, and our faith in Him and his goodness need not hinge on a “God of the Gaps” understanding. Charles Darwin himself alluded to this in his concluding sentences in “The Origin of the Species,” when he observed:

“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning, endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.”

Charles Darwin, concluding The Origin of Species, as quoted by Francis Collins in “The Language of God,” pp. 98-99.

In his 2016 PopTech talk about God and science, David Eagleman omits this important perspective that acknowledgement and understanding of, and faith in God, can be compatible with the rhetorical answer to scientific questions, “I don’t know.” One does not have to be a “Possibilianism,” to have and regularly express this kind of humility in the face of the universe’s mysteries. One can, in fact, be a Christian and follower of Jesus. Humility and acknowledging our inability to ever fully apprehend the fullness of God’s reality is, in fact, an essential in the Christian life.

‘He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. ‘

Micah 6:8 https://my.bible.com/bible/111/MIC.6.8

Scientific Uncertainties and Discoveries Need Not Threaten Our Faith in God

Finally and importantly, David Eagleman omits the idea in his talk that scientific uncertainties and discoveries need not threaten our faith in God. This perspective was summarized well by Saint Augustine, who lived from 354 to 430 AD. He wrote:

“In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on the one side that, if further progress in the search for truth justly undermines this position, we to fall with it. “

Saint Augustine, “The Literal Meaning of Genesis,” translated and annotated by John Hammond Taylor. Quoted by Francis Collins in “The Language of God,” page 83.

“Saint Augustine on “The Literal Meanin” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

As David Eagleman encourages us in this 2016 video, we can and SHOULD be in awe of our universe and the mysteries it holds. We need not abandon faith and our belief in God, however, because we realize religious texts and Biblical stories fail to fully capture scientifically understood observations of and theories about our cosmology.

For more thoughts and resources related to these topics, I encourage you to check out the public website for our Sunday School class, “Curiosity and Questions: Faith and Science.” If you have feedback about this post or that site, you can leave a comment for me below, reach out on Twitter to @wfryer or @pocketshare, or use my online contact form.

I created a “Twitter Moment” of the 9 tweets I shared during and immediately after Curt’s Sunday School presentation on my primary / professional Twitter account (@wfryer):

“Curt Gruel Presenting at our Sunday School” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Here are some of the important concepts and terms Curt mentioned, which I plan to explore in a bit more detail in tomorrow’s Sunday School class recap:

1. Empiricism
2. Process Theology
3. Biblical Inerrancy
4. Johannes Kepler (We should reference both Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei)
5. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

To help us better understand the context and history of both theological and scientific thinkers as well as their ideas, I’ve started a timeline using the Knight Lab’s Timeline tool. I’ve titled it, “Faith and Science.” It is embedded below. I’ve started with five dates, the resurrection of Jesus Christ (33 AD), the fall of Jeruselem (70 AD), and the years of death for the three scientists mentioned above: Copernicus (1543), Kepler (1630), and Galileo (1642).

Here are the slides from today’s lesson, which include links to referenced videos and articles:

The video which we analyzed and responded to is, “Stephen Fry on God | The Meaning Of Life” from 2015:

Ian Paul points out in his article, “Stephen Fry and God,” that Fry was likely referencing a David Attenborough interview and video (“Sir David Attenborough’s view on Science & Religion – Life on Air“) from 2008 when he discussed the eye boring parasite.

Before closing our lesson today with “Joys and Concerns” and prayer, we watched Sean McDowell’s video, “How Do We Know God Is Good? 3 Reasons.” If you watch any of the videos linked and referenced in this post, this is the top one I recommend!

“Responding to Stephen Fry’s Arguments” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

‘This was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, “Who are you?” “Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?” “No,” he replied. “Are you the Prophet we are expecting?” “No.” “Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?” John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Clear the way for the Lord ’s coming!’” Then the Pharisees who had been sent asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?” John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. Though his ministry follows mine, I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.” This encounter took place in Bethany, an area east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.’

John 1:19,21-28

Later, as we discussed the importance of having direct access to the Bible and these words from the disciple John, I mentioned Vatican II (“The Second Vatican Council”) in the context of the Catholic church making fundamental reforms in the way Mass is and was conducted. (The priests turned around to face the congregation instead of the altar and cross at the front of the church, and the mass changed from being shared in Latin to the local vernacular language of the congregation.) Again, I thought Vatican II took place during the 1960s, but I confirmed by asking Google Home… it was held from 1962 to 1965.

It’s wonderful to have access not only to the Internet, but to a search assistant via Google Home during Bible study!

"My free (from my Pixel 2 order) Google H" (CC BY 2.0) by robertnelson

As an example of a bumper sticker message with which I disagree: We don’t simply need to require / mandate prayer in public schools to remove all ills, like drug abuse or premarital sex from teen and adult culture. I happen to work at a school that mandates chapel for all students, and I can tell you this is not received well by many of the students. At some point I will write a blog post reflecting on mandatory chapel. I am definitely a fan, and I love having chapel services at our school, but it is recklessly naïve for people to think we simply need to mandate prayer and Bible reading in schools and this will heal all of our society’s ills like a magic wand. God has the power to heal any of us at any time, but the mechanism of his healing for our culture is not via a mandated school Bible curriculum in public or private schools. If you’re a little fuzzy on historic problems with mandated religion, refer to the English Wikipedia article for the “European Wars of Religion:”

"Christian Bumper Stickers" (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

It is true bumper stickers on our cars can provide an opportunity to encourage people to think about questions of faith, morality and propriety. I don’t think putting a bumper sticker on your car is going to realistically lead to immediate, life changing decisions for people to turn their lives over to God and reject evil, but it’s worth considering whether or not this is something you want to do. Check it out: www.christianbumpersticker.org

I think a more random selection of these bumper stickers could be used as a catalyst for excellent conversations in a Sunday school class, about our beliefs and the ways in which we are called to advocate for and work for God‘s kingdom on earth.

“Notes from the first part of our study of the Apostle Paul” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

We started by using the KWL strategy about Paul’s life and conversion: What do we KNOW, what do we WANT to know, and what have we LEARNED?

Some of the things class members shared that they know about Paul, his life and his conversion to become a follower of Jesus were:

1. Saul was a persecutor of the early Christian church
2. Saul was highly schooled (reminded us of Pastor Mateen Elass)
3. He was “a Pharisee’s Pharisee” (someone who ardently followed all the directives and prescriptions of Jewish law)
4. He was born a Roman citizen
5. He was zealous
6. Paul wrote most of the letters included in the New Testament
7. Paul had important arguments with the Apostle Peter, over the historic requirements of Jews to follow dietary restrictions and men to submit to circumcision
8. Paul went on several important missionary journeys
9. Saul was a tent maker by trade
10. God annointed Paul as His missionary to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the Gentiles (non-Jews)
11. Paul’s letter to the Galatians addresses the toxic organizational structure of that early church, and includes his teachings on how to properly handle church leadership and organization

Things we WANT to know include:

1. Where was/is Tarsus? (a historic city in south-central Turkey)
2. How did a person become a Roman citizen?

We read the 9th chapter of the Book of Acts from the New International Version, which is the first of three accounts of Paul’s conversion which are included in Acts. (The others are in Acts 22 and Acts 26.) After reading this chapter, we watched the 5.5 minute video, “The Road to Damascus – Saul Takes his Journey.” Since this video was published by the Mormon Church, I shared the same disclaimer I have before when sharing Mormon videos: Some of the videos shared by the LDS church (like this one) are outstanding, but my use of them in teaching does NOT constitute an endorsement or recommendation of LDS theology.

After watching the video, we discussed in small groups and then shared together things which stood out for us, after reading Acts 9 and watching this video. Some of the standouts were:

1. Paul’s conversion experience was VERY dramatic
2. The events detailed in scripture and depicted in the video required obedience on the part of both Paul and Ananias.
3. The video did a good job portraying the tenderness of Paul after his conversion experience, it’s both understandable and reasonable that he was extremely humbled by this experience on the road to Damascus.
4. In his communication to Ananias, God reveals his plan for Paul to be his missionary to the Gentiles, bring them the Gospel of Jesus Christ
5. Paul’s response to his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus included baptism, an act in which his old identity (Saul) was washed away and he was reborn into his new identity (Paul)

This coming Sunday (tomorrow) we’ll continue our study of Paul, his conversion experience, and the lessons we can glean from this powerful Gospel encounter with Jesus Christ!

“Rembrandt, The Apostle Paul; 1633 or 1635” (CC BY 2.0) by Prof. Mortel

“Biblical interpretation and Christian views on the roles of women” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

A friend of mine on Facebook had asked me some excellent questions regarding the role of women, and specifically some of the verses from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians this past January. After seeking direction and counsel from both our lead pastor (Eric Laverentz – @ericlav) as well as Dave, I recorded and shared a 10.5 minute video for him of my best understanding of these passages and the overall perspectives of Christians on the roles of women in the church.

Women have and continue to play extremely important roles of leadership, service, teaching, and prophesy in the Christian church. If you are seeking answers yourself to questions about this topic, I hope this video and the verses Dave Moore shared with our Sunday School class are helpful and instructive to you.

‘“ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. ‘

Acts 2:17-18 (NIV)

Building on the four part framework for sharing your story / sharing your testimony that our church staff wrote back in August in the post, “Going Deeper Into Your Story,” I am encouraging members of our Sunday School class to use this model to frame their stories of “everyday Gospel encounters” as well as “bigger” stories, like our testimonies of how we came to faith in Jesus Christ.

We used Psalm 71:15-18 as our focus verse today, recognizing how God calls us to witness to others about his acts and powerful works in our lives. This is a verse I’ve included on the “Why” page of the dw4jc.com website.

‘My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long— though I know not how to relate them all. I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord ; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone. Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come. ‘

Psalm 71:15-18

In “Going Deeper Into Your Story,” we are encouraged to use a four part framework for composing and sharing our Gospel encounters with Jesus: Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension. Each of these phases are explained in the post. It can be challenging to know how to share our stories of faith, and this framework can be very helpful as a “template” we can use to fill in our background and the significant events in our story which we want to share with others in a concise, effective way that points primarily to Jesus, God, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

“4 Part Framework for Sharing Your Gospel” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

I definitely like and have used this four part framework, but the second element, “crucifixion,” suggests that this model is only focused on stories about the darkest and deepest valleys of our lives when God intervened. Those are stories we may be called to share, but there are also important Gospel encounters which may not fit under the dramatic category, “crucifixion.” For that reason, today I suggested also thinking about and praying about Gospel encounters in our lives we can share which are more everyday events. God is at work all around us, all the time. Our busy lives and full schedules can be impediments to our ability to discern and “see” God’s work in our week. With this in mind, I substituted the word “crucifixion” with “encounter” in this four part framework.

“Encounter Instead of ”Crucifixion”” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

In my secular work with teachers and students using digital storytelling, I’ve found it helpful to break the process down into a few, simple steps. Today for our class, I shared the following 4 steps for creating a narrated slideshow as a digital story:

1. Brainstorm your topic and story.
2. Script: Write your story in chronological order, keeping in mind Adobe Spark Video limits you to 30 seconds of narration per slide. This is likely the most challenging and time consuming step of this workflow.
3. Find Photos: Either locate photos you have taken and save them to the device you’re using to create the digital story. In my case, this was the Photo Roll of my iPad. If you don’t have photos, Adobe Spark Video lets you search for icons from The Noun Project. You can alternatively find copyright-friendly images from websites like Unsplash. Insert these photos into Adobe Spark Video.
4. Record: Find a quiet spot and record the audio narration for each slide of your story. Then export your final video and upload to YouTube for sharing via social media, email, a website, etc.

“4 Steps in Digital Storytelling” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

After watching my example narrated slideshow about my friend, Bob, I asked class members to respond. We used “the two lenses of analysis” for digital storytelling which I learned about presenting lots of workshops from 2006 to 2009 for Storychasers. These lenses are “content,” when you focus on elements of the story, and “technical,” when you focus on technology details and process elements.

“The lenses of analysis for digital stories” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Our closing challenge in today’s lesson was to think about Gospel encounters we can share in the weeks and months ahead, either in person or as short, narrated slideshow videos. I’m hopeful I’ll be able to offer a Saturday morning workshop in February or March this year on the process I modeled and explained today using Adobe Spark Video.

Here are the slides we used in today’s lesson. If you find these ideas helpful, have questions or feedback, please reach out to me via Twitter (@wfryer) or my electronic contact form, which will send me your message via email. I pray God will empower you to be bold and courageous as you share your stories of faith, walking with Jesus Christ.

The Lumo Project video for Luke 22:14-38 is not embeddable but is freely available / viewable via Bible.com. Learn

I will not likely share the audio from this video and speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in tomorrow’s class, but have included in our slides (slide 10) and will embed it below. I LOVE this exhortation from Dr. King, which is based (I think) on this passage from Luke 22. Yes indeed, “We all can serve!”

“Historical Context of Jesus’ Crucifixion” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

After reading this scripture together, we will watch this six minute depiction of the Last Supper with Jesus and his disciples, focusing specifically on what Jesus SAID and DID during this time.

If we have time, we may watch The Lumos Project’s video about Matthew 26:1-35. (It’s free to watch from the previous link, but not embeddable or readily downloadable.) In the Lumos Project version, a narrator reads the words of the scripture while actors re-enact the scenes. Both are powerful and valuable for better understanding this pivotal episode in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. I’m choosing to share the LDS website version (the video embedded above) because it is a more detailed and theatrical presentation, which seems to provide a more immersive peek into the world and life of Christ. (As noted in my slides, the use of this LDS video should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the Mormon Church or LDS beliefs.)

I plan to focus some of our discussion on both the Old Testament and New Testament contexts for “atonement,” and will show The Bible Project’s excellent six minute video, “Sacrifice and Atonement.” Note a freely downloadable version of this video is available on their project website, which does not include the request for project donations included in the YouTube version.

If you live in Edmond, Oklahoma, or the Oklahoma City area and are able, please visit our church (First Presbyterian of Edmond) and consider attending our Sunday School class! You can check out past lessons as well as our upcoming schedule, continuing our focus on “Gospel Encounters” both historical and contemporary, by visiting pocketshare.speedofcreativity.org/ge/.

“The Last Supper” (CC BY 2.0) by Waiting For The Word

I referenced a video about part of my testimony which I recorded and posted to YouTube in September 2011, titled “God Answered My Prayer in Pilot Training.”

I initially wrote about this on my professional blog in August 2006, before I created this separate space as my “Christian blog.” It was initially named “Eyes Right,” before I changed it to “Pocket Share Jesus” to align with the “Digital Witness for Jesus Christ” book and evangelism empowerment project.

This was the first time I shared parts of “my story” publicly which followed the events described in the above video. Those experiences from my life in February 1994 are likely things I will never put online and share digitally, but I am glad to have an opportunity to share them in person with others with the hope and prayer they will serve as an encouragement which points others to Jesus Christ.

I hope and pray today’s lesson highlighted the ways God has and continues to be active in my life and the life of our family. I also hope it was an encouragement to us all to share our own Gospel story with others. Check out 7corepractices.com for more inspiration and practical suggestions about ways we can serve and share Jesus Christ in our homes, workplaces, and communities. Also check out www.dw4jc.com for suggestions and strategies for how we can share scripture, our stories, and our witness of God’s Holy Spirit being active in our lives using digital media.

“Gospel Encounters” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

* Added 27 October 2018: I shared a modified version of these slides, with a few photos from pilot training which I dug out of our garage, in a presentation for our Friday Morning Men’s group on October 26, 2018.

‘“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.’

Here are the slides we will use during class to discuss and explore these verses.

Starting at the 1:16 timestamp, we will also view this depiction of these teachings by Jesus.

In the interest of time, I will likely just reference but not play the following videos, which include some of the cultural references to “a city on a hill” for me. These include President Ronald Reagan in his farewell address from the White House.

Another reference these verses bring to mind is the lighting of the warning beacons of Gondor in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel trilogy, “The Lord of the Rings.” This is the depiction in Peter Jackson’s third movie in the series, “The Return of the King.”

Last of all, the well known children’s song, “This Little Light of Mine,” has a very important second verse, which proclaims, “Jesus is the Light.” We will discuss tomorrow how this is a vital distinction. Unlike ancient and modern gnostics, as reformed and evangelical Christians we believe Jesus is the light of the world, and it is only through his grace and power that we can come to know our Father in Heaven and receive forgiveness for our sins. We are not the light, but we do seek to share and reflect the light of Jesus in our lives to a dark world hungering for truth, righteousness, love and all the fruits of God’s spirit.

“Gospel Encounters – Salt and Light (Matt” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

After Joys and Concerns, I’m sharing the free Life Church / YouVersion iPhone app, “Bible Lens.”

Just discovered the @YouVersion @lifechurch iOS app "YouVerse Bible Lens" https://t.co/NIZPfJ3Yh6

Perfect for creating Bible verse infopics! https://t.co/4fkReNnzBm #dw4jc

— Pocket Share Jesus (@PocketShare) September 16, 2018

This app makes it super-easy to take your own smartphone photos and create Bible verse “infopics” with them.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,”
Hebrews 10:24 NIVhttps://t.co/hZbqhfl6yk #dw4jc pic.twitter.com/F9e2pBgcsB

— Pocket Share Jesus (@PocketShare) September 16, 2018

Learn more about creating Bible verse infopics in that chapter of the “Pocket Share Jesus.”

Here are the slides for our lesson on The Beatitudes of Jesus, shared in Matthew 5:1-11.

“The Beatitudes: Jesus’ Teaching of The S” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

[powerpress]

The session description was:

This workshop will empower you as a Christian to share the transforming reality and love of God with others around the world through multimedia and social media. By creating and sharing Bible verse “infopics,” creating sketchnotes and narrated sketchnotes and recording “quick edit” video interviews on mission trips, we can digitally amplify and share God’s Word and work with others.

Slides for this session, which include live hyperlinks, are embedded below and also available on wfryer.me/mo2018. This presentation is also linked on the main project site for “Pocket Share: Be a Digital Witness for Jesus Christ” www.dw4jc.com. Videos shared and referenced in this presentation are also embedded below. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to many referenced resources from this session.

Show Notes:

1. Presentation Slides on Google Slides
2. MoRanch Men’s Conference
3. Contact Wes Fryer
4. Wes Fryer’s Christian Twitter channel: @pocketshare
5. Wes Fryer’s professional Twitter channel: @wfryer
6. Wes’ Bible Verse InfoPics on iCloud: wfryer.me/bible
7. Photos on Instagram tagged #dw4jc
8. Wes’ Flickr album of Bible Verse InfoPics
9. YouVersion Bible App
10. InfoPics Chapter of Pocket Share Jesus
11. Recommended website source for royalty free/remixable photos: unsplash.com
12. Adobe Spark Post (online version)
13. Adobe Spark Post: Poster Maker for iOS
14. 7 minute [VIDEO] tutorial – App Smash: Bible Verse Infopics
15. Sketchnotes Chapter of Pocket Share Jesus
16. Flick album of Sketchnotes by Wes Fryer (includes sermon sketchnotes)
17. 63 second [VIDEO] tutorial: Tips for Sketchnoting
18. The Noun Project (great source for icons)
19. Best TEDx Talk Ever: “Drawing in Class” by Rachel Smith (@ninmah)
20. John 15: Bearing Fruit for Jesus (Narrated sermon sketch note)
21. Narrated Sketchnotes Chapter of Pocket Share Jesus

“Sketch note on John 15:1-9” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

One idea which emerged during our class discussion yesterday is this: While we often (or always) “come up short” understanding the grand plans of God and how individual cases of pain or suffering fit into them, as Christians we often DO experience situations where God empowers us to serve others through our trials and through the trials of others. As one of the speakers in the longer video we watched yesterday explained, often our best response when someone comes to us in pain and suffering is to embrace them and cry with them. We may not have “the answers,” but do have the capacity to love and support each other. We can embrace others and embrace God through faith, and have confidence that God is the one opening the door for us to love each other through our struggles and our dark valleys.

This is also one of the most important ideas which emerged for me yesterday during our lesson: God invites us to call upon him and use the name of Jesus to bring strength, peace, healing, and love into our darkest and most painful moments. I have experienced times like these in my own life, when I have literally cried out to God for help and assistance to bring me back from the abyss of despair. It’s a bad place to be, and an especially bad place to be ALONE. But that’s exactly one of the key messages of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: We go nowhere alone. God goes with us, and he promises to never abandon us or forsake us. What good news this is to everyone facing the suffering and trials of this life! We may be uncertain about the timetable of God’s cosmic plans and how our lives fit into them, but we can be certain about His reality and His provision in our times of need.

The name of Jesus is powerful! Do not hesitate to call upon the Lord when you are feeling isolated or alone, when you are suffering and full of despair. Call upon the name of Jesus to fill you with God’s Holy Spirit in all circumstances, whether they are filled with light or darkness. This is the Good News of the Gospel, that Jesus came to save us from our sins and the destructive power it has in our world. God wins. And we’re on God’s side. This is good news.

A couple more items from yesterday’s lesson.

Here’s the short video I shared with our class, as I gave a brief summary and enthusiastic recommendation of The Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. Sarah and I were able to spend about 4 hours there last week during our visit to the area, and it was fantastic!

Here is a 44 second time lapse version of my sermon sketchnote yesterday, on Eric Laverentz’s (@ericlav) message, “The Problem of Sin.” I drew this and exported this video with the ProCreate app for iPad. Learn more about creating sermon sketchnotes in this chapter of “Pocket Share Jesus: Be a Digital Witness for Christ.” I added quite a bit more to this chapter over the weekend, but still need to add more to the chapter on “Narrated Sketchnotes.”

It worked well to use the website mentimeter.com yesterday to get members of our class to respond to a question using their smartphones. I used this as an opening question on the screen when class members came into class, “What is your favorite encouraging Bible verse?” This was a good way to start a relatively “heavy” lesson on pain and suffering.

“Favorite Encouraging Bible Verses” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

May God bless you richly this week as you seek Him and strive to better understand His call upon your life. Make no mistake, God will open doors for you to not only draw closer to him in relationship, but also serve others with whom you have contact today and this week as you ask Him to.

Praise God for His love and the revelation of His truth through His Holy Word. Have a great week!

We are using the website mentimeter.com for today’s interactive polling questions. A copy of our printed handout is available.

Video 1: Pulse of the World on Pain & Suffering

1. Did you identify with anyone’s expressed views in the film? If so, who and what resonated with you?
2. Was it surprising to learn that the top question people would ask God is, “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?” What would be some of the questions you’d ask God?

Video 2: The Curiosity Collective: Why Does God Allow Pain and Suffering?

1. In what ways can you identify with any of the stories in The Curiosity Collective? What did you find intriguing or compelling?
2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how difficult is it for you to reconcile the existence of both suffering and God (1 = easy; 10 = impossible)? Why?
3. One of the Pulse speakers noted, “Some of the best lessons I’ve learned in life . . . came from very painful times.” In what ways might good come from bad? Do you have any experience with this?
4. If there’s a God, why do you think he allows evil in the world?
5. In the video, what did you think of James’s suggestion that God “understands our suffering . . . [and] is seeking to heal it”?

Recommended videos and resources related to our topic today include:

1. Video: What Is the Reason for Suffering? (5 min)
2. Video: What Is God’s Role in Pain and Suffering? (3 min)
3. Book: The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis
4. Book: Evil and the Justice of God by N. T. Wright

A wealth of additional resources relating to the topics of pain and suffering are available on the ExploringGod.com website.

“Christian Cross 26” (CC BY 2.0) by Waiting For The Word

I was raised in a Presbyterian church attending family, and I professed faith and joined our church as expected at the conclusion of “communicant’s class” in 8th grade, but it wasn’t until pilot training when I was 23 years old that I had a true “come to God” moment which was transformative for my personal faith. Eating my eggs and bacon in the chow hall at Upper Heyford that morning, I don’t think I had anyone to discuss these ideas with, but they made a vivid impression in my mind which persists today. Unlike my 20 year old self, however, I have better answers for this important and perhaps eternal question which Amy Grant encouraged me to ask:

How can God be real, good and powerful when bad things still happen?

Yesterday our family was almost involved in a very dangerous and destructive high speed automobile chase in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I posted about it on Facebook afterward. In the post, I gave thanks to God that we were not injured. Someone posted in reply, “Why didn’t God protect the other people who were involved in the accident?” I shared a brief response, but didn’t have time then for a more extended answer which this question deserves. This post is my attempt at that longer response.

“Why didn’t God protect the other car…” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

When we hear the news which is almost universally filled with stories of tragedy, crimes, war, and people generally acting poorly toward each other, it can be easy to be pessimistic. Bad events happen every day. The world is filled with darkness. How can this make any sense, alongside a conception that a supernatural, creative force in the universe exists who has the power to intervene in human affairs? Why would God act to save people in some cases, but appear not to act in others?

We can ask this question in the specific circumstances of our own lives, or as we look at the broad brushstrokes of history. Why did my wife lose her husband to cancer when she was just 26? Why did my friend’s father commit suicide in 1989? Why did Hitler and the Nazis kill millions of Jewish people during the Holocaust? Why did whites almost exterminate native people when they came to the Americas in the 1500s onward?

There are a lot of things I don’t know and won’t claim to know, but here are some insights I’m confident of today which help me face these questions and make sense of them.

1. I know God exists, is real, and responds to my prayers because of an ongoing relationship I have with him, as well as specific things he has done in my life which “he has given me eyes to see.”
2. I do not know how God decides when and where to intervene in human affairs and the events of planet earth, but I strongly suspect that is a divine mystery we will never be able to fully comprehend in this life.
3. I know that when we choose to seek God and ask Him to reveal Himself to us, He answers and responds. God communicates to us through our prayers, through His Word shared in the Bible, and through other people. There are many ways we can be led astray and down ill-conceived paths if we seek “religion,” but if we seek God through the power of his Holy Spirit I know he can and will respond to reveal Himself, His nature and His truth to us.

When we are faced with bleak tragedy in life: the loss of a loved one, the loss of a life’s dream, a crippling injury, or something else, we sometimes come to this choice more directly and abruptly than at other times in life. Will I choose to believe in God and his goodness, or will I reject God because the circumstances of my life are simply too bad to imagine that a loving God would ever allow to exist?

This is the step of faith. Faith is believing when I cannot see, and trusting when I cannot know the outcome. Faith is a gift from God, but it is a gift we can ask for and receive, just as he is gracious to give us all good gifts. The fruits of His spirit are good:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV)

Amy Grant asks and answers this same question about which I am writing in her song, “Ask Me.” God does not always answer our prayers in the ways we expect or want. God is not a vending machine. God DOES promise to always be with us and never forsake us, even when the darkness surrounds us and we are overwhelmed with fear, pain, and sorrow.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

I have experienced those emotions in my life, and God has walked with me through those dark valleys. Those experiences have strengthened my faith, once feeble and timid, to the point today where I see and acknowledge His goodness when it is manifested in my life.

Evil exists in the world, and yes, God has allowed that evil to remain. But that is not the final state for humanity, and in the end, evil does not win out. As we learn in the Bible, the existence and persistence of evil is closely tied to our human pride. And even though evil may seem to triumph at times in this world, God has overcome evil and the world through his Son, Jesus Christ, whose life and teachings serve as a blueprint for our actions as Christian believers.

My encouragement to you, if you have found this post and are struggling with questions about God’s existence and his goodness, is to seek Him. Seek God through prayer, and seek Him through your own reading of the Bible. Start with the Gospel of John. Seek God through the counsel of trusted friends whom you respect, and who profess faith in God and Jesus Christ.

Pray to God that he will give you eyes to see and ears to hear. Many who have heard and hear today the words of the Lord do not comprehend them, but he offers the promise of understanding and of FAITH to those who seek Him. As we read in Matthew’s gospel:

‘The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. (

Matthew 13:10-16)

I pray this day God would give us, as seekers of His truth, ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to understand his goodness.

Amen.

Their website is well designed and invites visitors to explore and experience more of their music in different “theater venues.” After listening to a couple of their songs, I’m ready to hear their entire 2016 Christmas album!

“Pentatonix Holiday Village” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Since our family already subscribes to Apple Music for $15 per month, we already have access to this $8 Christmas album! I’ve added it to my Apple Music Library and downloaded all the tracks to my iPhone. Many thanks Dr. Emerson!

“A Pentatonix Christmas” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

You can access the full, printable, 1 page “Family Faith Story Sharing Challenge” as a Google Document.

“Family Faith Story Sharing Challenge” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Please share this document and project with others! To facilitate easier reading and sharing of this project, I’ve copied and pasted the text of the Google Document project description below.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Why: God calls us to praise Him, to share the reasons for the joy we have, to show & tell the love of his Son, Jesus, and to be his witnesses in our communities and around the world. (More on www.dw4jc.com/why/)
When: As you gather with family this holiday season…

What: Take some time to:

1. Audio record at least a five minute faith story with an iPhone
2. Ask for your interviewee’s permission to share their story with others online
3. Share the story electronically by either:
   1. Posting it as a video to Facebook
   2. Emailing it to other relatives

How:

1. Download the free iPhone app “Voice Record Pro” (wfryer.me/vrp)
   Press the red REC (record) button to start recording, then START in the upper right corner.
2. Ask good open-ended questions like these:
   1. How do you know God is real?
   2. Who do you believe Jesus is?
   3. How have you seen God act in your life?
   4. Tell me a story about your life when you have needed God the most.
   5. How has your relationship with God changed as you’ve gotten older?
3. Press STOP (square icon) when finished.
4. Tap the CAMERA icon to add a photo if desired. (optional)
5. Choose SAVE IN PHOTO ALBUM – SAVE.
6. Select the desired template which will show date/time info and a photo if you added one.
7. Tap CONTINUE.
8. SHARE your recorded interview as a video:
   1. On Facebook by uploading it to your profile with a short message. Add the hashtag #dw4jc
   2. By emailing it to other family members

Tips:

1. Step out of your comfort zone to accept this challenge! God calls us to be bold and courageous!
2. Find a quiet room to record your interview.
3. Share the questions you will ask with your interviewee in advance.
4. Take a photo (selfie) of you with your interviewee before you start recording.
5. Consider also uploading your audio recording (saved as a video) to YouTube.
6. Ask someone else for help if you get stuck on any technical issues.
7. Access examples of faith story interviews on faithstories.speedofcreativity.org.

Image Attribution: Turkey icon by IconFactoryTeam on The Noun project. Microphone icon by Edward Boatman on The Noun Project.

I created a 7 minute narrated screencast demonstrating these steps as well, which I published to YouTube.

These resources are now included on the InfoPics page of the “Digital Witness for Jesus Christ” website, as well as the “Pocket Share Jesus” page where I’m sharing presentation slides on the topics of this project.

This is a work in progress! Please send feedback / suggestions to @wfryer on Twitter or via webform.

If I can get the audio speakers to work in the morning, I’ll also share this short video clip of Francis talking about some of the key themes of the book.

“Bible Verse Infopic” (CC BY 2.0) by  Wesley Fryer 

1. Don’t hide God’s good news about Jesus Christ!
2. Remember God calls us to SHARE with others
3. As disciples we should be reproducing: Helping GROW other disciples!
4. People can’t follow Jesus if they haven’t heard about him from someone
5. Remember those who POURED their lives into you as a believer, and resolve to “pour yourself” in a mentor/apprentice relationship into others
6. It’s good for God to create TENSION in our hearts: Encouraging us to SHARE JESUS with others!

“Sermon Sketchnote on Psalms 78:1-8” (CC BY 2.0) by  Wesley Fryer 

Dear God,

We come to you this day thankful for this holiday weekend, but remembering our need and desire for you amidst our busy schedules, our many commitments, and our own agendas. We give thanks to you this day, oh God, that you are real, and active, and alive in our lives and in the life of our church. We pray that you would peel back the scales from our eyes, so that we could fully behold you in your glory. After the mix the storms and humidity and clouds of last week Lord, you provided a beautiful Saturday for us yesterday. Help us see the beauty and majesty of your world every day not only in your creation that we can see, but in the relationships we have and the simple conversations in which we can engage this day. Help us to have the eyes of children this day, oh God, to see your creation with a fresh perspective. We give you thanks God for your provision, for our daily bread, and for the daily dose of faith you provide which helps us keep our eyes on Jesus instead of the crises and chaos of our world. It is in the holy name of your son, Jesus, that we pray, Amen

“Prayer Awakens” (CC BY 2.0) by  Kevin Shorter 

The wifi connectivity at MoRanch this year was better than ever, and both of the sessions I presented as well as attended were in the “Trull classrooms” below the main registration building. They are equipped with built-in ceiling mounted projectors as well as wifi connectivity, so I was able to tweet my learning at the conference as I’m now in the habit of doing at educational technology conferences. This afternoon on our 8 hour car trek home to Oklahoma City, I created a Storify archive of my tweets and retweets, which I mostly shared from my Christian twitter channel @eyesrightblog. I also shared a few tweets during the weekend from my primary @wfryer Twitter channel.

Before embedding that Storify archive, I’ll note that a big highlight of this weekend was getting to know Steve Bickley better. Steve works for the amazing Museum of the Bible. It will open in Washington DC in November 2017 just blocks away from the US Capitol and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, but has its headquarters in Oklahoma City. Steve is in our Sunday School Class, and shared several sessions at MoRanch this year about the museum.

“MoRanch 2016” (CC BY 2.0) by  Wesley Fryer 

I shared a session at MoRanch this year I titled, “Pocket Share Jesus.” The slides and an audio recording of my second session yesterday in the afternoon are available on my “Digital Witness for Jesus Christ” book project website.

I’m very thankful that I was elected again to the MoRanch Men’s Conference Council for another 3 years as well. We have a fall planning session each year at the ranch, and I look forward to continuing to participate in that and bring Shelly down with me as well.

Praise God for another great weekend of worship and fellowship at MoRanch!

“Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭3:1-8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Sermon Sketchnote: Psalm 3” (CC BY 2.0) by  Wesley Fryer 

“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭2:1-12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Psalm 2 Sketchnote: Remember The Lord Re” (CC BY 2.0) by  Wesley Fryer 

“Wes and Tom Fryer at Mo Ranch” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by  Wesley Fryer 

I am going to share a workshop this year which continues the book and media sharing project, “Digital Witness 4 Jesus Christ.” Since most of the conference attendees are older men, however, it’s vital I choose a session title and focus which is not intimidating or scary. Otherwise (as I’ve learned in past years) not many men will come to the session.

Here’s what I’ve come up with for this year, with the help of my wise wife. The title will be, “Pocket Share Jesus.” The description is:

Come learn how to share your favorite Bible verses with your children and grandchildren, using your phone or iPad. Learn how to share inspiring quotations from a Kindle book you’re reading from Amazon. Practical and hands-on steps! This session is designed specifically for grandfathers who are not tech savvy! Resources on www.dw4jc.com

This is what I shared for my conference bio:

Wes Fryer is a follower of Jesus Christ in Oklahoma City. He is active in his church men’s ministry, kids ministry, and adult Sunday school class. He is an ordained church deacon and elder. He is a member of First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma. Wes’ background includes service in the US Air Force and work as an elementary school teacher. He is currently the Director of Technology for Casady School in OKC.

Last night I added two more chapters to the #dw4jc project website, one for “eBook Quotations” and one for “Narrated Sketchnotes.” I’m going to also add one for Bible quotations, primarily using the YouVersion Bible app. In my Mo Ranch workshop this year, I think I’ll focus on the “Bible Quotations” and “eBook Quotations” skills, along with a little about why we should digitally share our faith.

Compelling words from Jesus, to all those who are heavy burdened https://t.co/XusF7e2gPD via @YouVersion @sfryer pic.twitter.com/Uhpeol4bNZ

— Pocket Share Jesus (@PocketShare) February 23, 2016

Rather than focus on “outside sharing” with social media, however, I think I’ll focus on “inside sharing” with family and friends. This builds on some ideas I shared in a secular / educational conference setting last Friday in Tulsa. I’m looking forward to another spring weekend with other Christian men at Mo Ranch!

"God comes to people through people. You are a SENT people. You are to GO!" Acts 1:1-9 via Jen Howat @fpcedmond https://t.co/G1qDDOdlKF

— Pocket Share Jesus (@PocketShare) February 21, 2016

“…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, & in all Judea & Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:5, 8 NIV https://t.co/dBODuRGzj4

— Pocket Share Jesus (@PocketShare) February 21, 2016

“Called to BE the Church” (CC BY 2.0) by  Wesley Fryer 

#Sketchnote on John 16:31-33 https://t.co/GHXgXxknvF @fpcedmond @eco_pres #Jesus #SundaySchool pic.twitter.com/iDeteEi3NB

— Pocket Share Jesus (@PocketShare) February 7, 2016

Weight of Darkness – Joy of Light #sermon #sketchnote https://t.co/PPSaDDU6Hp @fpcedmond @eco_pres pic.twitter.com/B50ynt0n8G

— Pocket Share Jesus (@PocketShare) February 7, 2016

Dear Heavenly Father,

We come to you this day as your children living in the storms which rage on our planet and in our homes. In our atmosphere, our international politics, our national elections, and in the interactions of our daily lives at work, at home, at school, and even in church, it is so easy for us to be caught up in the chaos, the winds of change, and in foreboding rumors of catastrophe. The earth around us literally shakes, but we come to you knowing you are the rock of our salvation, and your strength never fails. Help us this day, oh God, to focus our hearts and minds upon you. We invite your Holy Spirit to descend upon us in this place, to speak to us as we praise you and give thanks for your son, Jesus Christ. Lord I pray you would anoint Carl, members of the choir and our worship team, to communicate your story this day as we open the word which you have given us in the Holy Scriptures. Give to us a fresh understanding of your son Jesus, the example he set for us on earth, and the Commandments Jesus gives us this day to be still, to listen, and to obey your commands. We ask and pray all these things the holy name of your son, Jesus Christ, Amen.

“Hurricane Blanca Strengthens” (CC BY 2.0) by  NASA Goddard Photo and Video 

The Kindle eBook version of “The Story” is just $1.99, so that’s the one Shelly and I ordered to read on our iPads. As I’m trying to do with more frequency, I used the app ProCreate on my iPad and an Adonit Jot Pro stylus to create a sermon sketchnote today during the service. I’m continuing to add my sketchnotes to this Flickr album. I also exported the sketchnote from ProCreate as a video, imported it into iMovie for iPad, and slowed it down to 50% speed before adding some audio narration. The final video is 83 seconds long.

I added this video to a new YouTube playlist of my narrated sermon sketchnotes. This is the eighth one I’ve created and published to Youtube. For more information about using media to share your journey of discipleship with Jesus, see the project website for “Digital Witness 4 Jesus Christ” (www.dw4jc.com).

“Sermon Sketchnote on Chapter 22 of ”The Story” (CC BY 2.0) by  Wesley Fryer 

“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭21:1-4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Also:

““Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:19-21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

   by  Wesley Fryer 

“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?””

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭13:2-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I am also reminded of the 8 minute documentary “Clouds Over Sidra,” which is an immersive VR story sharing the life and perspectives of a 12 year old Syrian refugee. I shared that yesterday in an after school workshop on “Virtual Reality and Google Cardboard.” We need to find ways to promote empathy and understanding for the war/crisis in Syria and those caught in the crossfire.

   by  Wesley Fryer 

Watching the last movie in  “The Hunger Games” trilogy and the scenes of civilian caught in the crossfire last night, I was also reminded of the contemporary relevance of these issues.

The author of the book of Hebrews reminds us that we are called to show hospitality to others and serve those who are in prison. These verses challenge me to think and consider the ways I am living my life. It also reminds me of the importance of reading Scripture daily, to keep my focus on God and Jesus instead of the depressing world news of the day.

Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Chapel Talk November 5, 2015 by Wesley Fryer

Good morning.

It is both an honor and a blessing to have an opportunity today to share a few words with you in this beautiful chapel, at our wonderful school. As a relative newcomer to our Casady family, I am still very much in awe of the amazing opportunities we have together as a community to not only learn and work, but also worship and grow spiritually. When I was growing up and going to elementary, middle and high school, my family moved five times. I lived in Arizona, Colorado, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, and Kansas before I finished the sixth grade, because my father was in the Air Force and was assigned to a new base every three to four years. Whenever we move to a new place and find ourselves in new surroundings, we slowly get used to a “new normal.” There is so much to be thankful for as a member of our Casady community, and I give God both thanks and praise for these blessings.

This morning I’d like to talk to with you about ideas that are both basic but also revolutionary. This is the reality of God’s existence, and the invitation that God extends to us through his Son, Jesus Christ, to have a relationship with him. This may sound like an overly simplistic message: After all, we are here in a Christian chapel, and some people might assume that everyone here acknowledges God’s reality and knows his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. In my life, however, I’ve learned that just because someone grows up in the church, and regularly attends church services, does not necessarily mean they believe God is real, or that they acknowledge and know his son, Jesus Christ.

If you have a Bible and can open it, I invite you to turn to the Gospel of John, in the 1st chapter, where I will read the first fourteen verses. I love all the gospels, but I particularly love the way John starts his gospel, reminding us that God has always existed, and always will exist. As finite beings, which have a mortal beginning and will have a mortal end, this is extremely hard for us to understand. Yet with God’s help and through faith, we can. In John 1 we read:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Thanks be to God for this reading of his Word.

As our human race has developed more knowledge and named more of the amazing dynamics which we find on our marvelous planet, some people have and continue to believe that “our need” and “the space” for God in our world has diminished or even gone away altogether. I stand before you as a witness today, however, to tell you that perspective on God is mistaken. God is very real and very present today, as he was yesterday, and as he will be tomorrow. His son, Jesus Christ, stands at the door of our hearts this day, this morning, even right now as I share these words with you, knocking and asking to come in.

While God is always present around us, sometimes we are too busy or just don’t have our eyes open to see him and the work he is doing. I’d like to close my comments today by telling you a short story, when I dramatically witnessed both the reality and the saving power of God.

After I graduated from the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, I lived and studied for a year in Mexico City before starting pilot training in Lubbock, Texas. I had flown about 40 hours in the T-37, which is a twin engine sub-sonic jet aircraft, when I had my first opportunity to fly solo (by myself) to the area where we were authorized to perform a variety of aerobatic maneuvers. These included things like an aelieron roll, a split – S, an immelman, a clover leaf, and other maneuvers that I could explain better if I used my hands and you could see them clearly. I’ll summarize by saying it was very cool to be able to fly a jet by yourself up to an area of empty airspace over the plains of West Texas, between 10,000 and 25,000 feet above sea level, and have about 20 minutes worth of jet fuel to burn doing aerobatic maneuvers.

Once I got into my area on my first solo flight away from the air base’s traffic pattern, I decided that I wanted to try doing three aelieron rolls in a row. One aelieron roll was a permitted procedure, but more than one in a row in a T-37 was not. In other more aerodynamic aircraft, you can simply push the stick to one side of the cockpit and do as many rolls as you want to without losing much altitude or airspeed. In the T-37, however, it was necessary to pull your nose up 30 degrees before doing a roll, because the nose dropped during the procedure. What ended up happening to me on a February day in 1994 when I tried three consecutive aileron rolls was that I got into a nose low, inverted dive and found myself zooming toward the ground at over 250 knots of airspeed. Instead of rolling wings level and pulling back to recover, I pulled back my throttles and pulled back on my control stick. This led to a dive recovery in which I exceeded 9 G’s. I did not black out, but I did completely lose my vision as the G forces pulled the blood down out of my head. I saw my airspeed going over 250 as I lost vision, and as I applied back pressure to try and recover my plane from the dive I prayed to God that he would save me.

No one actually knows how close to the ground I came in recovering my aircraft that day, because of the delay in the radar sweep from the air traffic control center monitoring aircraft in that area. What we do know is that I was well below 10,000 feet, and the G meter on my aircraft was maxed out to over 9 G’s. The maximum allowable G’s for T-37 pilots is 6.67 G’s. I landed my aircraft, did not zero out the G meter, and reported what happened knowing that could very well have been my last flight in pilot training. It was not, I was able to continue flying and solo again to the area several weeks later, but I certainly did not try doing three consecutive aelieron rolls in that airplane again.

I am sharing a brief part of that dramatic story with you today, because it clearly dramatized to me the reality of God and how he is able to answer our prayers when we call out to him for help. In your life, if you have not already, you are going to study and work with some extremely smart people who do not believe in God or that he even exists. I am a witness who can tell you that God is not only real, but He’s present with us right now, right here, today. Whether you find yourself now in a difficult struggle or just another “normal” day of school, God is available and wants to be the co-pilot of your life.

I encourage you to seek God and pray to Him this day, not only in the difficult times, but in the good ones as well. Thanks be to God for his grace, his love to us, his children who do not deserve it, and for his son who came to teach us how to live.

God bless each one of you this day. May today be filled with kindness and joy, and may we each share the love of God with each person we meet.

   by  Wesley Fryer 

During our planning day yesterday and following this morning’s church service, I recorded several video interviews with other members of our men’s council to create two videos. The first one is 4.5 minutes long, and is a promotional video for the men’s conference which takes place the first weekend in May each year.

   by  Wesley Fryer 

The second is 3 minutes long, and is a promotional video encouraging other men to join our Mo-Ranch Men’s Council.

I have wanted to create “quick edit videos” like these the past two years at Mo-Ranch, but hadn’t had the courage to take the initiative and volunteer to do so. This year I did, and I think they turned out well. Hopefully they will be used to help more men become aware of the wonderful annual Mo-Ranch Men’s Conference, as well as the opportunity to serve on the council.

I shot these with my iPhone 6S and edited them with iMovie on my iPhone this afternoon, during a leg of our return car trip when my wife drove. I really like this quick-edit video format, which includes multiple people sharing related thoughts in different short clips.

   by  Wesley Fryer 

“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:42-45 (NIV)

A conversation and workshop
For artists and creatives
Telling the story
Of gospel collision
With human lives

I’m not sure exactly how many people attended, but I’d guess around 75. The morning started off with musician and worship leader, Charlie Hall, explaining the background and vision for the Story Workshop.

   by  Wesley Fryer 

I hadn’t pre-planned doing this, but I realized shortly after the workshop started it might be good to broadcast and archive some of the event via Periscope. Last week I learned about and registered with Katch, which is a free cloud service that archives Periscope video broadcasts so they remain online and archived longer than 24 hours. I didn’t Periscope Charlie’s initial comments, so I’ll attempt to paraphrase.

Basically, some of the leaders within Frontline Church have been planning this Story Workshop as a way to encourage networking and collaboration among artistic creatives within their community as well as the larger Oklahoma City metro area. We all have different gifts from God, and I liked what Charlie had to say about how the things we make with our gifts do NOT define who we are… yet that is a tendency we all have as human beings. Charlie encouraged us to lay our gifts at the feet of Christ, and seek to find ways to collaborate together to creatively share SNAPSHOTS of life as followers of Christ to a world in need of the hope which God offers. I love Frontline’s core mission: “To love God, to love others, and to push back darkness.” The Story Workshop is a way to invite and empower a diverse group of creative individuals to intentionally focus on telling God’s story in our community through a variety of voices and mediums.

I started to Periscope the opening session as filmmaker and videographer Derek Watson (of Lampstand Media in OKC) shared about the power of story and introduced a short video collaboration he created with Kori. I later cross-posted this video to YouTube.

I hope they will post that video online at some point, and if they do I’ll definitely update this post and insert it. It was powerful. Kori is an amazing “spoken word” poet and performer, and the video featured prose she wrote and shared.

After the introductory session, we each selected a different breakout session. The choices were Film, Visual Art, Performance Art, Writing, Photography, and Music. I was going to attend Film, but Shelly asked if I was going to writing… she was planning to stay for film. She’s helped her 3rd and 4th graders at Positive Tomorrows the past two years create and share some wonderful videos on their classroom YouTube channel,  and wanted to get some ideas for elevating their digital storytelling projects. Since I’m continuing to help organize the local “Write Well, Sell Well Conference” for writers in Oklahoma City, it did make sense for me to join the writer’s breakout… and I’m very glad I did.

   by  Wesley Fryer 

We had a great turnout of over twenty people for the writing group, and we started (similar to a WordPress OKC Meetup) by having everyone briefly share about themselves and their current writing project(s) or interests.

   by  Wesley Fryer 

I have worked on a variety of Christian-related media projects and websites the past 9 years, since we moved to Oklahoma, but this month I got the idea of naming the book project I’ve been wanting to write “Digital Witness for Jesus Christ.” I registered this domain on August 8th (dw4jc.com) and decided the corresponding hashtag (#dw4jc) would be both unique and good since it’s so short. I brainstormed and wrote down about seven book chapter titles, and then set aside this project to work on later.

During Saturday’s Story Workshop, I was struck (again) by how important it is for writers to have both catalysts for writing and accountability partners. I often create because of deadlines: Conferences at which I present or deadlines which are related to upcoming professional development events.

At times I need both a catalyst & accountability partner to encourage me to write & create. The #StoryWorkshop at #FrontlineOK is doing that

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. (@wfryer) August 22, 2015

During our writing time in the breakout session, I uploaded and configured WordPress on the dw4jc.com website, but didn’t have time to write much content on it.

Inspired by the Story Workshop, last night I spent about five hours installing CommentPress, creating the chapter pages for the “Digital Witness for Jesus Christ” book project, and writing some content on each of the pages so early visitors could get a partial look into the focus and ideas of the project.

Four years ago when I was teaching one day per week at the University of North Texas and writing the first three chapters of my dissertation, I thought of the “3 Minutes About Jesus” project and registered a corresponding domain. In the succeeding years, I recorded and shared several videos on the site… but it wasn’t something that “took off” or I spent lots of time trying to develop.

When I thought of the dw4jc.com domain earlier this month, I also thought it would be good to use the October 23-24, Write Well, Sell Well Conference as a deadline to get an initial version of the book finished to share in printed form. This may seem like an unrealistic deadline, but it’s similar to timelines I’ve followed previously for other books I’ve self-published. I’m not positive if I’ll make that deadline, but the Story Workshop certainly served as a catalyst for me to take significant steps in this writing project.

Here’s the Katch archived Periscope video of the Story Workshop closing session with Charlie Hall. It’s also cross-posted to YouTube.

Like Kori, I’m looking forward to seeing where this collaboration is going to take us!

Moved by the gospel to action. Can't wait to see what is next. https://t.co/Z6CjnZ7qTW

— DieKindlicheKaiserin (@misskorilyn) August 23, 2015

Here’s a Storify archive of all the tweets sharing during yesterday’s workshop.

“And they steadfastly persevered, devoting themselves constantly to the instruction and fellowship of the apostles, to the breaking of bread [including the Lord’s Supper] and prayers. And a sense of awe (reverential fear) came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were performed through the apostles (the special messengers). And all who believed (who adhered to and trusted in and relied on Jesus Christ) were united and [together] they had everything in common; And they sold their possessions (both their landed property and their movable goods) and distributed the price among all, according as any had need. And day after day they regularly assembled in the temple with united purpose, and in their homes they broke bread [including the Lord’s Supper]. They partook of their food with gladness and simplicity and generous hearts, Constantly praising God and being in favor and goodwill with all the people; and the Lord kept adding [to their number] daily those who were being saved [from spiritual death].”

   by  Wesley Fryer 

This is a narrated sketchnote I created by importing the video of my sketchnote, from Procreate, into iMovie. I slowed it down four times to give me more time for the narration, which is about two minutes long.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

Ecclesiastes 3:11-14 (NIV)

Every time I read or hear others read these verses from the prophet Isaiah, I am reminded of speeches given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. which I have heard via recordings. God has and does ordain prophets to speak his word and share his message with his people. We are called to not only listen to these words, but to go forth into the world and act on them through the Spirit and with the guidance of Jesus.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn…

Isaiah 61:1-2 (NIV)

[powerpress]

   by  Yashna M 

For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. (Ephesians 2:14-16 NLT)

   by  Christopher Combe Photography 

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:13-16 NIV)

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV)

   by  Markus Grossalber 

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters…

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” ) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-29, 35-39 NLT)

   by  Kashyap Kinshuk 

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV)

   by  hickory hardscrabble 

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:17-19 NIV)

Things I’m thankful for:

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hebrews 11:3 NIV)

   by  Mr. Physics 

And also in Colossians we read:

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:16 NIV)

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” (NLT)

   by  Wesley Fryer 

I created these sketchnotes on my iPad using the free app “Forge” by Adonit and the black pencil stylus by PaperFiftyThree. I imported the final image into the iPad app “Explain Everything” to create this 3 minute narrated sketchnote version.

For more information about sketchnoting check out my eBook single on “Visual Notetaking” as well as my public resource page on visual notetaking / sketchnoting on ShowWithMedia.com.

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:36-38 NIV)

I am practicing my sketchnoting skills (feeble as they are) with a new iPad stylus (the Paper53 “pencil”) and the iPad app Paper53. I don’t like it as well as ProCreate, but since it is free (ProCreate is not) and I’m sharing a presentation on visual notetaking this week, I decided to practice a bit. I can’t get the “undo” function of the app to work, so some of the unintended smudges I made on this drawing persist. I do like the watercolor brush though, and will likely use it more in some Sketchnotes I’ll make at the conference this week.

   by  Wesley Fryer 

I pray God will give me faith to believe in the truth and goodness of his promises, and not doubt them as Zechariah did when the angel Gabriel foretold the birth of his son, John.

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” (Luke 1:18-20 NIV)

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

   by  Images_of_Money 

This endowment is NOT intended to take the place of our operating budget or existing stewardship programs. As a result of congregational concerns, a presentation has been created to explain the rationale and proposed setup / operating procedures of this endowment fund.

Here are a few key points from the presentation:

Endowment Gift / Types:

• Undesigated: Bequests received which are not designated for a particular purpose or restricted in any way
• Missions, Evangelism, Outreach
• Scholarships: First preference for active members, either high school graduates or those seeking advanced degrees
• Christian Life Development: Youth program expansion, camp scholarships, leadership training, etc.
• Music, Worship, Arts: Enhance the worship experience
• Building: Provide capital improvements, repairs, equipment, etc.

I liked these comments from one of our elders at the meeting:

Our tax laws were not around during the time of the 1st century church.

Also:

Many of us are [financially] worth far more dead than we are alive.

There are stories being shared of members of our church who gave to endowments for other area churches in the past in their will/trust, rather than to our church, because this giving option was not available at our church. I know a little about the value of endowments because of the work my dad has done with our local community foundation in Manhattan, Kansas.

This is the current, proposed flowchart for how the church endowment would work.

   by  Wesley Fryer 

“This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The GOD of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, GOD will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.'” (Isaiah 58:6-9 MSG)

These verses are on my heart as I think about the challenges schools so close to our home face, and my own prospects for teaching in the year to come.

   by  Jhong Dizon | Photography 

1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 “Why have we fasted,’ they say,
“and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Here is an audio recording of the sermon, which ran just under 20 minutes. I recorded this with iTalk Recorder on my iPhone, which displays elapsed time, so I used this to make sure I didn’t run over the suggested 15-20 minute time limit for the meditation. After transferring the file to my laptop tonight, I uploaded it to Auphonic to normalize and compress it into a 32 kbps mp3 file.

The most powerful part of the service for me was participating with our three pastors in the “imputing of ashes.” As church attendees came forward to receive communion, we first marked a cross on their forehead with ashes from a small bowl. I have been very moved as a participant in this service in past years, but it was even more moving to help lead it. Young and old, people I knew and did not know, I said “From ashes you came, and from ashes you shall return.” A sobering but important reminder of our own mortality, and our universal need for God and the saving grace of his son, Jesus Christ.

Praise to God and thanks to God for his blessings, love, and grace. Praise and thanks to God for the opportunity to be a part of our church community of faith.

"penance" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Sarah Rosenau

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 619-20 NIV)

   by  Wesley Fryer 

I used iMovie for iPad to create a narrated version of this sketchnote.

I am testing a post-by-email option for WordPress, and I need to activate this on our family learning blog as well.

My connection to tonight’s bowling and “Eyes Right” is this: Just as we need to keep our eyes on Jesus each day, going bowling with your daughter is all about watching every frame with her. At any time, she could get strike or a spare, and she wants to share those moments with me. It is also important to see frames where she is not as successful, including the occasional gutter ball. Every frame, she is looking back to see if I have watched her and what she did.

I think our own kids, and our spouses, are probably constantly looking at us in the same way even when we are not bowling. Did you see me? Are you watching what I’m doing? Are you experiencing this moment with me?

It is a lot easier for me to use Siri on my iPhone to dictate this post than type it on my laptop or iPad. Bowling time like this is not about having your eyes completely on a screen. It’s about keeping my “eyes right” on Rachel & her bowling lane!

Today a good friend recommended one of her books, and I’ve added it to my Amazon wish list. I definitely agree that vulnerability is a key element in friendships and relationships. I also resonate with the idea of this title, that we stop trying to force ourselves to live in an image someone else has created for us, and instead discover and embrace the person God created us to become. I don’t think Brene wrote this from a religious standpoint, but I can certainly project that into her thesis just as I have with the “Essentialism” book I finished listening to on Audible a few months back.

Sent from my iPad