What Makes Those Roller Girls Skate? @NJShorePatch

Jersey Shore Roller Girls season opener gives this longtime fan a glimpse into what propels so many of us to love roller derby.

Jersey Shore Roller Girls 2011 Season OpenerIt was a standing room only crowd for the Jersey Shore Roller Girls season opener at Convention Hall in Asbury Park Saturday night.

The Anchor Assassins scored a decisive win (163-134) over Murder Beach Militia. It was redemption after losing to the team by five points in the 2010 championship bout. …

The bout was fun, but what I really wanted to know was what motivated these women to pursue the flat track version of a sport I vicariously competed in when I was watching bank track bouts on Saturday afternoons back in the 1970s. …

Find out what keeps them and us hooked at NJ Shore Patch.

 Posted on March 30, 2011 by

 Community, Culture, Family, Friendship, Public Square, Vocation

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Lessons from Elite Leaders: What Have We Learned? Part 8 of 8 @TheHighCalling

Highlights from the series.

For seven weeks, The High Calling has engaged with the ideas Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow D. Michael explored in his new PLATINUM Study on elite leaders.

In “Limits, Accountability, & Marriage,” we learned that setting limits on ambition, being accountable to peers, and getting married are important contributors to career success. A regular practice of Sabbath rest, for example, differentiates people who are successful over the long haul from those who experience significant difficulty creating life/work balance. We also learned that small groups can provide the kind of personal support leaders need, but only if we allow ourselves to be vulnerable to our peers. Finally, we learned that a strong social support networks like marriage are vital to managing the challenges of demanding leadership roles. …

Find out what else we learned at The High Calling.

 Posted on March 30, 2011 by

 Capitalism, Community, Ethics, Faith, Family, Leadership, Public Square, Social Action, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

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Iron Chef Got Her Start as “Girl Next Door” at Lacey Township High School @LaceyPatch

Home Economics classes were catalyst for Dena Marino’s culinary career.

Although food was a central part of life for acclaimed chef Dena Marino’s Italian American family, it was in Home Economics courses at Lacey Township High School that she realized she could aspire to a culinary career.

In January Marino competed against Masaharu Morimoto on on The Food Network’s popular show, Iron Chef America. She’d previously appeared on Gordon Elliot’s show, Follow that Food and Tom Colicchio’s Eat, Drink, or Die, but those experiences were nothing like competing against a champion opponent and a ticking clock. …

Find out how the local girl made it big at Lacey Patch.

 Posted on March 16, 2011 by

 Community, Culture, Family, Vocation

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Lessons from Elite Leaders: A Theology of Power for the Workplace, Part 6 of 8 @TheHighCalling

How can powerful leaders be effective and responsible?

In a 2009 Journal of Religious Leadership article, Laity Leadership Senior Fellow D. Michael Lindsay wrote that evangelicals populate halls of power, but generally “have no theological framework for managing the privileges that accompany the mantle of public leadership.” He then outlined a theology of power that can help us consider how to wield power effectively and responsibly.

“Christians in public leadership would be wise to pursue their lives in ways different from the dominant culture, especially in terms of their consumption practices and workplace politics,” he said. Lindsay drew this conclusion after analyzing anecdotal evidence that suggests “whatever suspicions non-religious colleagues may have of these Christians emerge not from hostility toward the teachings of Jesus but from the lifestyles of those who claim to be his followers.”

For example, two business leaders, MCI WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers and Enron Corporation CEO Kenneth Lay, have been depicted as notoriously corrupt. Yet both were active in their churches. Conversely, when Tyco International needed to “renew its commitment to ethics, it hired Eric Pillmore as senior vice president of corporate governance. Obviously, Pillmore’s faith and work is the public witness we want to emulate. But how do we ground such a witness theologically?

Find out the answer to that question here.

 Posted on March 14, 2011 by

 Community, Ethics, Leadership, Public Square, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

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Lessons from Elite Leaders: Speaking in Different Registers at Work, Part 5 of 8 @TheHighCalling

People are afraid of evangelicals. Why? Laity Leadership Senior Fellow D. Michael Lindsay says his latest research shows that those outside the evangelical fold have fears about evangelicals based on two things:

  1. They’re afraid evangelicals won’t do the  things they say they’ll do.
  2. They’re afraid evangelicals will do some of the things they say they’ll do.

For example, people don’t believe it when an evangelical leader says, “I draw on my faith; it gives me a sense of meaning and purpose; it sacrilizes my work and helps me face some of the challenges that come my way, but I’m not here to convert you or force faith down your throat, or manipulate the work place so that it becomes like a church.”

Likewise, if they’re asked a generic question like, “Do you think evangelicals are trying to take over the country?” they may say yes. But when they’re asked about particular evangelicals they have encountered in leadership, they generally express positive attitudes. The exception is in the political realm, where Lindsay finds significant polarization. He says, “I bracket that off because I don’t know how, as a social analyst, to separate out someone’s faith from their politics. I think so much of how we respond relates to how those things work hand in hand in the political sector.”

He says we need to learn how to “speak in different registers” at work in order to alleviate these fears. …

To find out what he means, read the whole article at The High Calling.

 2 Comments

 Posted on March 7, 2011 by

 Community, Culture, Ethics, Leadership, Politics, Public Square, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

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Jersey Shore Churches Preparing for a Celebration @NJShorePatch

 

Long before MTV popularized a negative caricature of the Jersey Shore with its Seaside Heights reality show, a fourth grade teacher from Belford was worried about what kind of community his three young children would grow up in.

Robert Talmage took that worry and turned it into a lament that he emailed to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). He really didn’t expect a response.

“I was more opining than I was anything else,” Talmage said with a laugh. “It’s just funny how one thing led to the next. They actually got back to me.” …

To find out how a BGEA event comes to fruition and for details about how you and your church can participate, go to NJ Shore Patch.

 Posted on March 2, 2011 by

 church life, Community, Culture, Education, Faith, Family, Leadership, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

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Lessons from Elite Leaders: Faith Postures in the Workplace, Part 4 of 8 @TheHighCalling

Whether a leader takes a pragmatic, heroic, circumspect, or brazen approach in the workplace, there are risks and benefits to be considered. Laity Leadership Senior Fellow D. Michael Lindsay identifies these four faith postures that leaders take at work and says none of them is necessarily better than the others, but each presents different challenges and opportunities for leaders who seek to be faithful in their calling.

Ninety-three percent of the leaders that Lindsay interviewed for his new PLATINUM Study said their coworkers know about their faith, but many of them take a pragmatic approach to expressing it in hostile work environments. In “Accounting by Faith,” a 2010 article published in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Lindsay and co-author Bradley Smith wrote, “Pragmatic elites prefer a strategy of incremental witness to all-or-nothing conversion campaigns.” …

Go to The High Calling to find out how Sherron Watkins’ faith informed her Enron whistleblowing, how a That 70s show producer feels about his work, what it doesn’t cost an NFL player to be a bold witness, and more from prominent Christians living out their faith at work.

 Posted on February 28, 2011 by

 Ethics, Faith, Leadership, Public Square, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

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Race to Economic Recovery Goes to the Tortoise @LaceyPatch

State of the Chamber 2011 keynote speaker forecasts solid job growth by summer

After a new slate of Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce officers was installed and elected officials from local municipalities spoke, Joel Naroff, president and founder of Naroff Economic Advisors, delivered a cautiously optimistic business forecast at the 2011 State of the Chamber Meeting in Manahawkin on Feb. 24.

Naroff, who had addressed the group at the height of the economic downturn two years ago, said there’s been significant change since then.

“The problem we have with this recovery is that it is really slow, but it is also the recovery we were always going to get,” Naroff said.

“If you think of a recovery as a race, what we wanted was the hare and we got the tortoise. But the tortoise is steadily making its way towards the finish line,” Naroff said. …

Read the Christie administration advisor’s forecast and news about proposed solar and wind farms in Southern Ocean County here.

 Posted on February 25, 2011 by

 Community, Democracy, Politics, Public Square, Social Action, Travel, Vocation

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A Religious Treasure Trove at Princeton University @NJShorePatch

Who knew the Ivy League gem offered a wealth of free public religion events?

As a girl growing up in Point Pleasant Beach, I didn’t give much thought to Princeton University. It was the 1970s and I was, shall we say, distracted. If I thought about our state’s Ivy League jewel at all, I saw it as an inaccessable, dusty treasure chest full of academic stuffiness and snobbery.

If we’re lucky, we grow up and find out the world’s gems are much more accessable than we ever imagined. What a delight it was then, a few years ago, to learn that Princeton has a thriving faith community and offers a bounty of free public religion events.

It’s a pleasant 45 minute drive west on Route 33 and across Route 1 to the university from coastal Monmouth County and a great way to spend an afternoon or evening while enriching one’s understanding of the religious landscape. …

Read about some upcoming events here. Plus, where to park, eat, and shop in Princeton.

 2 Comments

 Posted on February 23, 2011 by

 Art, Beauty, Buddhism, Capitalism, Community, Culture, Education, Ethics, Faith, Humanism, Leadership, Philosophy, Poetry, Politics, Public Square, Social Action, The Huffington Post, Theology, Travel, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

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Who Gets the Money? @UrbanFaith

Are Christian donors less likely to write checks to minority-run ministries? Anecdotal evidence from the world of nonprofit fundraising suggests there’s a race-based disparity in giving.

Trust is vital to any relationship, but when it comes to funding African American-led urban ministries, it can mean the difference between success and failure. At least that is what Urban Faith heard from several notable leaders who identified lack of trust as a key factor in race-based funding disparities.

Brian Jenkins is director of Entrenuity, a ministry that helps urban youth start their own businesses. Although the organization has been featured on public television and has trained more than 700 adults and 4,000 youth since 1993, Jenkins says, “What I have found is that when it comes to people saying ‘we’re brothers and sisters in Christ,’ that’s fine, but when it comes to supporting my work and me as a minister in Christ, that’s where the breakdown occurs.” …

Read what Jenkins (and four other leaders) had to say about this important topic at Urban Faith.

 Posted on February 22, 2011 by

 church life, Community, Culture, Faith, Friendship, Leadership, Public Square, Race, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

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Lessons from Elite Leaders: Bearing Witness at Work through Generosity, Part 3 of 8 @TheHighCalling

People of faith are called to use their influence and power to work toward the common good. Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow D. Michael Lindsay says his new PLATINUM Study on elite leaders tells an important story about how leaders can work toward the common good through workplace generosity.

The story of David Grizzle, Chief Counsel for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), stood out to Lindsay from his interviews of some 500 leaders. Grizzle had a long career at Continental Airlines, retiring in 2008 as senior vice president of customer experience. (The High Calling interviewed Grizzle in 2006.)

In the late 1990s, Grizzle brokered a landmark marketing deal between Continental and Northwest Airlines that transformed the industry, according to Lindsay. Continental and Northwest sold seats on each other’s airplanes and shared reciprocal agreements in their frequent flyer programs that laid the groundwork for the mergers and consolidations that have since become standard in the airline industry. …

Read the whole thing at The High Calling.

 Posted on February 21, 2011 by

 Ethics, Faith, Leadership, Public Square, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

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Training Elite Athletes with a Jersey Shore Ethos @NJShorePatch

How performance coach Todd Durkin uses hometown lessons to lead elite athletes to victory:

The first time I met superstar performance coach Todd Durkin he was on his bike, slinging a newspaper across my family’s front lawn. Then his sister and I married a couple of Bricktown brothers and we became family. Last week, for the second time in two years, one of Durkin’s clients led a team to victory in the Superbowl.

In an interview with Yahoo! Sports this week, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers talked about what a tough and effective trainer Durkin is. In the forward to Durkin’s new book,The Impact! Body Plan, last year’s winning quarterback Drew Brees credits the trainer with helping him grasp the elusive trophy. While Durkin expresses gratitude to these and other professional athletes for helping to make him a success, it’s his family and legendary Brick Dragons football coach Warren Wolf who get top billing in the acknowledgements. …

Read the whole thing here. …

 Posted on February 16, 2011 by

 Books, Education, Faith, Family, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

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