Amicus Dei

The joke that Ronald Reagan told on himself after his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s was that with Alzheimer’s "you meet new people everyday."  That’s true in the missional world as well (although I don’t think I have met Earl Creps before…or have I?).  I ran across Earl when I clicked on the Amazon banner (left side below) to get more info on his new book, Off Road Disciplines:  Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders.  Check out Earl’s Amazon Plog as well as his website for some interesting stuff he is doing in theological education, conferences, etc. 

But, I like what Earl says in his Amazon Plog about writing —

"The Doctor of Ministry Team at AGTS spends many hours helping our participants become better writers. After five years of trying to sort out the issue of academic writing we have developed resources, tools, teams of editors, training experiences and a host of other aids.

This month I tried something new suggesting to our participants that they ask someone to lay hands on them believing that the Holy Spirit would pour the grace of written expression into their lives and ministries.

Some of the strain of writing comes from the idea that it involves only technique applied by arduous effort. Where is the grace in that? Where is the power of the Spirit? 

The most important thing to happen this week for me was a change in my perspective on writing that developed out of a conversation with one of our participants. We need to think of writing as a spiritual discipline, not just a professional practice."

I like Earl’s approach.  Let me know what you think. — Amicus Dei.