Sunday night is the kick-off for the Fall 2010 Semester at Kilns College.
Some of the best classes we’ve ever offered are lined up!
If you live in Central Oregon, whether you’re a college student or willing to audit a class as an adult, make sure to check out the Fall courses and get your registration in!!
So the Kilns Fundraiser and Concert from a week or so ago pulled in $7,000 plus 4 recurring donors, a Reformation History Trip student and a slew of fall students.
Pretty sweet!!!!
The only hiccup was that the raffle seemed to be rigged – Trisha Lavik pulled her dad out of the bin for the Breedlove Guitar who promptly gave it to Justin Lavik. Shady.
Anyway, already looking forward to next year!
Here’s a pic of Joel Owen from the PawnShop Kings during the concert courtesy of Marianne Bach.
Check out the poster below…
Kilns College is having their 2nd Annual Summer Fundraiser on Sunday, June 13th.
There will be a concert from the PawnShop Kings, food catered by Baldy’s BBQ, over 60 silent auction items, poor man’s raffles, drinks and more!!
We’ll also be spotlighting classes for this fall and other upcoming events at Kilns College.
Absolutely no reason not to come!!
Click here or on the poster below to read more and purchase tickets online.
Check it out!!
The site is now up for the Reformation History Trip we are doing through Kilns College this October/November.
The trip is all inclusive – including local tour guides in each city. I’m so stoked… you’ve got to visit the website and check out the trip itinerary!!
Click here or on the picture below to register – the first 20 people get to go!!
I just powered out all the class notes and PowerPoint slides for tonight’s lesson in my History and Philosophy of Atheism class.
Super fun stuff to cover… no video though – so you’ll have to make a note to take the class next year!!
Guess what this map is???
That’s right!!! It’s the trip map for the Reformation History Trip that I get to host this October / November through Kilns College.
Stay tuned!!
Here’s a little blurb from an e-mail I received earlier today.
I asked permission to share it as I think it is a really cool testimony to what is happening at Kilns College.
There are so many cool things going on these days – but the coolest thing is when you see it show up in a note…
Just wanted to touch base for a second and let you know what’s up. After taking the Critical Thinking class with Rick last semester, my eyes have been opened to a lot of things. My head about exploded there for a while but after a few weeks I was eating it up. That class CHANGED my life and my way of thinking about a lot of the beliefs I had. It showed me that my faith was defendable, logical and reasonable in a way that I had never heard before. I have since had a much better idea of how to accurately and truthfully talk about my faith to others. It gave me tools to handle even the most skeptical people and their questions. It was awesome! The Holy Spirit has been working on me big time the last few years and that class put me over the edge. (In a good way)
This is a little early to be letting the cat out of the bag, but I’m pretty excited about it.
We’ve been slowly working on a conference for February of 2011 that will be a bigger version of the conferences we’ve done in the past.
It will be called The Justice Conference and will be co-sponsored by Kilns College and World Relief NEXT.
Today we received confirmation from our second main speaker – Adam Hochschild. Dr. Hochschild is the author of King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa and Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free and Empires’s Slaves.
In addition to Dr. Hochschild, we have received confirmation from authors Mike & Danae Yankoski. Mike took a break from college to live on the streets with America’s homeless and wrote the book Under the Overpass to share what he learned. Mike & Danae jointly released Zealous Love: A Practical Guide to Social Justice this past month.
There are several more invites still open – so you’ll have to wait to see what the full list of speakers looks like. We’re only 1/3rd of the way there!!
Mark your calendars now and plan to pre-register at the upcoming Apologetics Conference in February for a special discount price.
The History and Philosophy of Atheism class that I’m teaching at Kilns College starts Tuesday night.
I’m really kind of looking forward to it. The subject is essentially Philosophy of Religion, which is what my first Masters degree was in. It’ll be fun getting back into it. There’s a crazy cool reading list for the class and some fun topics we’ll be covering – like Church History, The Inquisition, Debate, the Media and Culture in religious thought and much more.
There are two spots left for regular students and a wait list for students looking to audit.
Fun times!!
Connie Gabbert is teaching this Spring’s Art Practicum class at Kilns College.
Connie is an accomplished artist (and new mother) and will be teaching basic drawing.
If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to sketch, draw or illustrate – now is your chance!!
Just go to www.kilnscollege.org and click on “register now.”
Spring classes start next week!!
If you own a business or are in charge of marketing for a business, would you consider sponsoring the 2010 Apologetics Conference?
Last year there were 400 in attendance and this year we expect close to 600. The conference is put on by Kilns College and is being hosted this year by Westside Church.
Title sponsors are only $500 each and will be added to the conference handbill below. E-mail me at ken (at) antiochchurch.org if interested!
Good marketing… great investment!!
The History and Philosophy of Atheism class at The Kilns this spring only has a few spots left for students seeking credit. They’ve started a wait list for auditing students.
Pretty amazing!!
Worked for an hour or so this morning getting the syllabus organized. I hope people like reading!!
I felt like writing a post and detailing several large and important needs that Antioch and Kilns College have to try and get some help in solving them. I’m always amazed at how big challenges disappear when a lot of people take a little piece. I’m also amazed at how many people want to help and be a part of solutions, but just don’t know what opportunities or needs exist.
Instead of writing everything out and falling into the temptation to “sell” the needs or ideas, however, I thought I would just say that year-end giving to Antioch and the college would be timely and well worth the investment.
You can give to both ministries securely online. Here are some links in case you feel like helping out:
Here’s a cool little micro video with Wes Hurd.
Wes is on the Advisory Board for Kilns College and has also taught for us in the area of Art History. He is the founder of the McKenzie Study Center and the Blue Tower Art Foundation in Eugene, and currently works as a full-time tutor for Gutenberg College.
We’ve talked over coffee about his idea in this video. He calls it the Critical Zone between believers and non-believers. In many ways, it is this “critical zone” that I really enjoy, what motivates the new Q&A Service we recently launched and why I feel it is worth my time to teach a college class on Atheism.
Anyway, it’s a pretty concise and well put together interview. Enjoy!!
I’m gearing up for a course I’m teaching at Kilns College this winter/spring called The History and Philosophy of Atheism.
This class ties together all of my favorite subjects… philosophy, history, religion and science. Can’t wait!!
Here is the course description:
The purpose of this course is to look at the historical development and philosophical arguments of Atheism from the Ancient Greeks to the contemporary New Atheism movement. Along the way this course will address faith, doubt, skepticism, science and religion, and take a look at logic, debate, culture and the media. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the God/no god debate, and will be able to better understand and articulate the reasons for their own beliefs. Students will also develop a deeper understanding of church history, including many of the lesser-known topics such as the Inquisition and the Crusades.
The class starts the 3rd week of January on Tuesday nights from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Click here for more info on courses and spring registration.
Registration is now live for the second annual Kilns College Apologetics Conference this February!!
Click here to register.
The early bird cost is $35 per person, which goes up on January 1st to $45 per person.
Check out the Kilns Bookstore this Friday. You can get Christmas presents and do good all at the same time.
There’ll be live music, hot cider and tons of new merchandise including new books, Tom’s Shoes, Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee and a special “trunk show” by Rise Up (a non-profit in Bend that sells clothing to raise money for vulnerable children around the world.)
Also, the bookstore starts opening this Friday at 7:00 a.m.
I’ve been working all night on a lecture and presentation for the Human Rights class I co-teach tomorrow.
It is a talk on the history, development and theology of the Social Gospel movement, which began in the late 1800′s and blossomed in the early 1900′s.
I don’t think there are many topics in the church today that are as misunderstood. My own position is that of “Social Action” rather than “Social Gospel,” but it is hard to get to a balanced view without unpacking the relevant issues. I had the thought tonight that we understand the cultural conditions of the early 1900′s about as well as we understand what it is like to live in a slum outside Johannesburg today.
That is partly why orthodox churches and conservative theologians only pick at the theology of the social gospel, but fail to recognize the social implications of following Christ and the obligations that love requires – they don’t fully sense the presence of injustice and the urgency of poverty in everyday life.
Anyway, I could type about ten pages on what is wrong with the social gospel as well as what is wrong with our reaction to it. All this is why I get so excited about Kilns College. At the end of the day, there aren’t too many Christians who have the ability to talk deeply about these things in a formal classroom setting. I believe the college serves a vital role in providing this community with opportunities to learn.
Also, if you didn’t get the chance to take the History and Philosophy of Human Rights class this fall – it’s being offered again next fall!!
I just agreed today to teach a Tuesday night class this spring through Kilns College called, “The History and Philosophy of Atheism.”
I’m pretty convinced that the conversation that needs to happen about faith is evolving from what it has been in previous generations. A lot of it used to be in-house Christian dialogue - theology, doctrine, style etc. Now it is much more fundamentally about why believe, why go to church, atheism, the poison of religion and church history, the control and power of pastors and churches. Essentially, the authority and respect of the church is being challenged and needs to be addressed in a well thought out manner that does justice to the questions and the people asking them.
It doesn’t mean that the previous dialogue is meaningless. It simply means that it is relevant to less and less people because of a more pressing conversation or set of questions and doubts.
The History of Atheism course along with the new Q&A based service we’re working on at Antioch are two of the things I am most passionate about right now.
If you have Tuesday nights free this Winter / Spring plan on coming to the Kilns class!!