tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28809213.post285068295169807746..comments2023-05-16T08:21:43.605-06:00Comments on iMinister: Going DeeperChristine Robinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02291622244158872449noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28809213.post-48717329461575896512009-01-15T16:35:00.000-07:002009-01-15T16:35:00.000-07:00"iMinister has a bunch of ideas about how that mon..."iMinister has a bunch of ideas about how that money could be used but that's not what he's asking for."<BR/><BR/>Foolish me. I'd love to hear iMinister's ideas about how to spend the money. I have to say, though, I'm having a hard time getting used to the idea of a UU only answering the question that was asked.Doug Muderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04666144843949850394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28809213.post-64958951542522385492009-01-15T11:12:00.000-07:002009-01-15T11:12:00.000-07:00Thank you for providing this link.I was particular...Thank you for providing this link.<BR/><BR/>I was particularly struck by these words of the speaker, Daniel Aleshire of the Association of Theological Schools: <BR/><BR/>"As you might expect, 'excellent ministry' is more likely to become an issue when there<BR/>are fears that something is not going well. When the question is being asked in earnest,<BR/>my hunch is that it is often a symptom of some underlying dis-ease. . . . My hunch is that<BR/>'excellence' is a topical way of getting at some other question, maybe some worry."<BR/><BR/>I'm going to hazard a guess at the nature of this worry. As a child and adolescent of UUism in Washington, DC, in the 1950s and 60s, I saw us riding high on the impetus of A. Powell Davies and others. Returning to UUism in the 1990s, I've wondered whether UUism is stuck in a bad remake of "The Incredible Shrinking Man" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050539/), where everything around us (and most other Mainline denominations) is growing while we have remained the same size.<BR/><BR/>My personal interest -- found at my blog "Calling Ministers" (http://callingministers.blogspot.com/) -- is what role our processes for formation and examining of ministers might be playing in this phenomena.Rev. Earl W. Koteenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10005561101579907650noreply@blogger.com