I had the joy of joining with Jordan Michalski, pastor at Soul Sanctuary in Winnipeg, to talk about the question “Why Do We Preach?” Jordan, who is one of my former students, is in the midst of leading his congregation through a series of sermons reflecting upon what they do when they gather as God’s people to worship.
I was reminded during a faculty meeting yesterday of a talk I gave to the Providence University College faculty a few years back, which I subsequently published with Living Church on their Covenant blog. The presentation dealt with what it might mean to be a Christian university. Since the beginning of a new semester is just around the corner, it seemed appropriate to re-share this piece.
Continue reading On Being a Christian UniversityI decided to do a little experiment to get a handle on the state of contemporary AI. Since I’m preaching on the call of Abram in Genesis 12:1-9 this Sunday, I thought I’d ask ChatGPT to generate some sermons on this biblical text in the style of several prominent preachers and theologians. See if you can guess who ChatGPT thinks it is imitating in the following sermons. Feel free to leave your comments in the chat and share with others you think might be interested. I’ll reveal the pseudo-identities of the “preachers” in upcoming posts, as well as share a few observations about where ChatGPT goes wrong.
Continue reading Some Fun with ChatGPTThe Rev. Jinsil Park conducted a short interview with me about my current writing project prior to my preaching at Westwood Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg this past Sunday. You can watch the interview below.
I recently appeared with my former student Jordan Michalski on the Soul Sanctuary podcast. They’ve been doing a sermon series on essential Christian doctrines. After each sermon they’ve been recording a podcast in response to questions they’ve received from the congregation. Jordan invited me to join him to talk about questions emerging from his sermon on human personhood. You can listen to the podcast here or watch the video below:
The month of May has flown by. On May 7, I had the privilege of preaching at Kleefeld Christian Community, which is pastored by my former colleague Ed Neufeld. Two weeks later, on May 21, I returned to Grace Bible Church in Winnipeg to preach on the Ascension. This coming weekend I am the speaker for Kleefeld Evangelical Mennonite Church’s Family Camp. I will giving a series of talks entitled, “Immersed in the Mystery of God” that will be engaging with the Apostles’ Creed.
On the academic front, I recently delivered a paper entitled, “Re-imagining Ethical Preaching” at the Canadian American Theological Association annual meeting in Toronto, where I was also elected Vice President for the coming year. I also attended the first two days of the Canadian Theological Society meetings. Being back in Toronto for a few days also allowed me to catch up with some old friends.
It’s been a busy month, but it I am thankful to be in good health and to have good work to do.