Contributor List, Biographies, and Suggested Resources
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- Volunteer outside your church. Do something at your kids’ school, or
with sports leagues, or within community organizations not connected to
your church. This is part of being a good neighbor. - Share your life with others, whether they are friends or family or both.
They need you as much as you need them. - Exercise outdoors. Get off the treadmill or cardio machine and go run on
a trail, walk along the sidewalk, or ride your bike outside. I don’t know
why, but I swear this makes you a better human being. - Don’t be afraid to do something because it’s fun and it makes you happy.
Not everything has to have spiritual signifi cance. And anyway, it’s often
the things that seem the least spiritually signifi cant that end up having
the most impact on the world around you.
Contributor: Jim L. Robinson
Professional title: Ordained minister (retired), transitional minister, grandpa,
dedicated bass fi sherman
Bio: I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church in the 1950s, where my
inquiring mind was a distinct liability. I was particularly frustrated at the lack
of ecumenical cooperation, which sometimes went so far as limiting coopera-
tion between other Southern Baptist congregations. My discontent peaked
when I married a woman from a mainline denomination (a baptized believer)
and my church required that she be “rebaptized.”
I fi nally found my ecclesiastical identity while doing voluntary work
for a Navy chaplain (a Disciple) in Vietnam. After military service, I earned a
Master of Divinity degree (1972) and a Doctor of Ministry (1976) degree from
the Graduate Seminary of Phillips University (now Phillips Graduate Semi-
nary). I served pastoral ministries in Oklahoma and Arkansas until retiring in- I currently work with churches in transition, and spend as much time as
possible stalking the elusive largemouth bass (micropterus salmoides).
Recommended Books, Web Sites,
Blogs, and Other ResourcesEdward H. Hammett, Reaching People under 40 while Keeping People over 60
(Chalice Press, 2007). Deals competently and constructively with the
challenge of reconciling differences across six generations.
Maria Harris, Proclaim Jubilee (Westminster John Knox Press, 1996). Harris
explores the implications of applying the biblical Jubilee (Leviticus 25) in
today’s culture—for example, every fi fty years the land would lie fallow
for one year, all debts be forgiven, captives be freed, and a celebration
held.