Missional Mandate: Fill the Earth, Subdue the Powers, and Shepherd the Creation

April 26, 2023

Texts: Acts 6:7; 4:23-31; 12:24; Revelation 5:9-13 Days 65-67 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. When God created the cosmos, God invested in humanity a particular vocation:  fill the earth, subdue the chaos, and shepherd (rule) the creation (Genesis 1:28). As participants in the new creation, the people of God extend this human vocation […]


Human Identity and Vocation

October 11, 2022

Days 5-8 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days Text: Genesis 1:26-28 Who are we as human beings? What is our identity, and what is our responsibility and function on this earth? The long history of spirituality, which is evident in today’s Western culture, has included a search for the authentic self. It seems we […]


Embracing Creation

April 27, 2017

The Ray Evans Seminar, an annual event at the Alameda Church of Christ in Norman, Oklahoma, was held March 31-April 2, 2017. The general topic was Embracing Creation, which is also the title of the book I co-authored with Bobby Valentine and Mark Wilson. The book is available here. I gave six presentations as well […]


Theodrama: Act I, Scene 3 – God Invests Humanity with Dignity and Mission

October 28, 2015

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” Genesis 1:28 The Lord God took the adam and rested […]


Joel 2:18-27 — The Promise of New Creation

April 23, 2014

Joel’s propehtic liturgy previously announced the coming of the great “day of the Lord,” which functions at multiple levels. On the one hand, it envisions any impending disaster that is coming upon Israel–whether it is a locust plague, an invading army, or some other communal crisis. On the other hand, it describes an apocalyptic event […]


Noah the Movie: Part I

March 29, 2014

Before the movie, first the biblical story…or at least my reading of that story…. This is not a children’s story. The animals going into the ark two by two do make a classic VBS song and it certainly makes a great flannel graph. But this story is more like a horror movie than a Disney […]