This Is Spinal Tap is one of my all-time favorite movies. The 1984 mockumentary follows the heavy metal band, Spinal Tap, on tour. Lead guitarist, Nigel Tufnel, brilliantly played by actor Christopher Guest, is giving director, Marty di Bergi, a tour of the band’s equipment. Nigel shows off some of his guitars and then turns… Continue Reading→

The Fall Archives and History Meeting which was originally scheduled for October of 2020, will not be meeting in person, instead we will have a zoom meeting on October 10th at 10:00 am to elect officers for 2021. You can join us through this zoom link. Also you can find the September issue of the… Continue Reading→

Systems Thinking I believe that our very survival depends on us becoming better systems thinkers.Margaret Wheatley Thinking about systems can help us understand stubborn resistance to change. Systems resist change because systems seek self-preservation. Self-preservation can be found in what is familiar to the system. Typically, the way “things have always been done” is what… Continue Reading→

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” This saying is probably familiar to many of us. It is actually a translation of a French phrase coined in 1849 by writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr. The epigram is often said with an air of resignation as a wry comment on the difficulties of deep… Continue Reading→

Before COVID-19 hit the United States, I was posting about Bowen Family Systems Theory. I described family systems and argued that religious groups operate like family systems. I had listed the eight concepts of Bowen Theory and was explaining them one by one. I haven’t been posting about Bowen Theory lately. I figured we all… Continue Reading→

When we are in the midst of conflict, we may struggle to feel the presence of God. Marisa Sifontes, a student at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, recently reflected on the presence of God in conflict. Marisa’s reflection was her video final exam for a directed study with Dr. Ellen Ott Marshall, Associate… Continue Reading→

The North Carolina Conference Archives has recently received two nice gifts. The largest gift ever received came from the estate of the late Rev. L. Franklin (Frank) Grill; former historian and Archivist of the North Carolina Conference. This gift consisted of most of his library and all of his personal and research papers on various… Continue Reading→

Differentiation of Self is a core concept in Bowen Family Systems Theory. Bowen borrowed the concept of differentiation from cell biology. All cells start out presumably as stem cells. As cells mature they specialize in different types of cells. These specialized cells perform different functions. Our bodies contain skin cells and blood cells and brain… Continue Reading→