The week in review. . .

I've done a poor job of taking pictures lately. I promise to return to my pesky, always-taking-pictures, self. I sort of took last week off (as far as blogging goes) because . . . well . . . how exciting would reports of me reading and writing really be?

I'll try to fill-in some details this week. Below you can see that the statue of John Wesley was fitted with armor by some of the students (one presumes it's students) . At first I thought it was just one of those silly things students do from time to time (something I was never prone to doing at Emmanuel!). However, I've since wondered if the action was meant for humor or for protest. The president's situation at Asbury is still quite up in the air (or crashing to earth, as the case may be).As far as I can tell, the heart of the matter is that the board of Asbury is not unified in the direction they would like Asbury to go. Apparently there is a faction of the board that treated the president in a heavy-handed fashion. This upset him and he resigned. . . and then he didn't resign. . . and then a waiting game began.

Those of you who are on the board at Emmanuel or Milligan can imagine how difficult this situation has become for professors and administration and students and board members. At this point I don't know how the president could come back, but that appears to be a possibility.

I wonder if our next class (Leadership!) will advise us to lead in a fashion similar to the current Asbury president and board. . . probably not.

Speaking of classes, we finished our Anthropology for the American Church class last week. Our final report is supposed to be an ethnography of a local church (that means we have to sit down and figure out what the people of a town/church are like).

My first thought was that I would go back home and do an ethnography of Johnson City/Grandview. Then I had a better idea. I asked classmate Bryan Bucher if he would be interested in switching with me. He is the only other Beeson Pastor who is returning to his previous location. The plan is this: I am going to Lima, Ohio to do an ethnography of his church/town and he will be cruising into Tennessee to get a stranger's view of Johnson City/Grandview. He has a great mind and he has promised to be brutally honest. I know you will show him some fine Southern hospitality. I'll make sure the Allmans know when a fellow Buckeye is in town. They may have a secret handshake or something.

On a totally different note, below is a picture of a "game gathering" at the McIntosh's last week. We had a good time playing board games and chatting and eating.


Yesterday (Sunday) we finally made it to Tate's Creek Christian Church in Lexington. I've heard a lot about Tate's Creek over the years because their former minister, Brad Walden, is on the board at Emmanuel. I always enjoy chatting with him. Also, there are some congregational connections (via the Nippers).

Cindy, the girls, and I really enjoyed Tates Creek. There was a guest preacher yesterday. We didn't get the normal week, but it this is the first church we've visited that felt at least a little bit like home.

We'll be back there next week, even though it's a little farther away than we would like.

I have to mention that the Gators are 5-0. They haven't looked unbeatable. And yet, here they are! They beat Alabama on Saturday. They play LSU next week. If they don't play better than they have the past two weeks then they will get beaten by the Bayou Boys. Geaux Gators!
John Parker Wilson is the quarterback for Alabama. I put his picture on the blog because he was talking a lot of smack during the game. He's a risk taker. His gun-slinger attitude served him well several times. He completed some amazing passes, BUT it was his recklessness that cost Bama the game. The Gators intercepted him three times. If he were a smarter quarterback Bama would have won.This picture is just for my Auburn friends here at Asbury. They have to deal with Bama fans on a regular basis. I love this picture. I've never seen a shirtless guy with pits before!