Session 9
BYRON BORGER VIDEO AND ARTICLE (35 min)
WOW, YOU ARE HERE AT SESSION NINE. THANK YOU for making this commitment. I have very good news for you. Since you've been so faithful, these last two sessions will be fun and very informative. You get to go (virtually) to our CCO Jubilee Conference and watch two excellent talks given by our main Jubilee speakers.
In each of these two sessions, we will dig a little deeper into the topics of academic faithfulness, vocation, calling, and discipleship. By the end of this Session, I hope you will see that God wants us to tie these all together so they can transform us not only in the way we "see" God's world, but also so that we might "respond" in obedience to His call on our lives.
1) Watch Byron Borger on what academic faithfulness means. (22:16)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFL7kaj3TiM
2) I want to underscore what Byron just said. Please read his excellent short article, "Reading as a Spiritual Discipline." Now that you've heard him speak, I think you'll enjoy it more.
His themes are:
- Reading as Worship
- Reading as Discipleship
- Reading as Mission
- Books Change Lives
He then recommends a number of books in the last third of his article. You can just skim them. If one looks interesting to you, or you'd maybe like to see if it would help you in a class, I probably have it.
REPORTING IN: Just fill out the section below to email Chuck.
I'd like to get a short response to these two questions.... Have you thought about reading as a spiritual discipline, especially as it applies to your vocation? I always seek out books by Christian authors who have been living out a Christian perspective in my field of study for over 20 years. I have so much to learn from them. They can really shorten my learning curve. and more importantly, my "wisdom" curve!!
Are you a “reader”? Why or why not? I am embarrassed to write this, but I had probably only read 3-4 "real" books on my own by the end of my junior year of college. That's when I became a Christian. My library now has almost 1,000 books so I have made up for lost time. Lifelong learning has been one of my spiritual disciplines.
This final point is somewhat ironic. If you just read Byron's article, you probably remember him recommending this book, "How To Read Slowly: Reading for Understanding" by James Sire (Shaw Publishing). I is a guide to reading with the mind, attentive to the worldview and views of the authors. Skip the speed-reading courses and use this as a guide. Very helpful."
All I will say is that there is a time to read slowly, but also a time to read fast. If you are interested, ask me (Chuck) about my speed reading resource. I can now can read a book in 3 hours and have it marked up. If you practice for a total of two hours with some spaced repetition, I’m confident that you will double your current speed. "Only 2 hours of practice" Yep! And you won't even have to wait until summer to get started. Track me down and I will show you how.