July Retreat, Bonhoeffer Seminar & Senior Projects!

NRSD

June 29, 2012

Greetings, Cohort!

I hope you are having a delightful summer so far – Isn’t this just the best time of the year?

One of the sad things right now for me is that we have to say good-bye to Chana and Zach. They are packing up and I believe their departure date is set for July 5^th. Maybe they can post on the blog for us and give us up to date information about their plans. We are happy for them to be setting out on this new adventure, and praying God’s choice blessings to come their way!

The July 27-29 NRSD retreat is bearing down on us, Cohort! I hope you are making progress on your reading and studying. Here are some reminders:

·        Have your year-end review ready to share. What have you learned? How have you grown?

·        This month I have to hear from each one of you concerning your ideas for a senior project. At the retreat everyone will have their turn sharing their project plans, so you have to come prepared and able to tell us how can we help you accomplish your goals.

As I announced, Dr. Joel Lawrence from Bethel Seminary will be presenting a seminar on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He will be presenting on Saturday morning, July 28, at 10 a.m.

NRSD extends an invitation to anyone who is interested in hearing Dr. Lawrence present. Cohort, I encourage you to invite friends and family to come that morning to learn about Bonhoeffer.

You might also invite people you think are interested in learning more about the school. They are welcome to hang out for the morning and/or afternoon classes as well as the Bonhoeffer seminar to get a taste for what the school offers.

We have had several inquiries about a new cohort beginning in the fall, so it is a distinct possibility that we will start up a new class then rather than waiting until 2013. Now is the time to bring the invitation to your friends. We will need at least 10-15 committed people to form a Fall 2012 NRSD Cohort.

I will be eagerly awaiting your call or visit so we can get your Senior project going. You all have had Marilyn Gleason’s invitation to register for her blog. She is regularly posting on the blog along with another more personal piece as her senior project. It is a wonderful project that will help her find her personal and prophetic voice. Support her by registering on her blog site.

I am getting really excited already about the wonderful July retreat. Be preparing and praying!

Love and hugs,

Joan Tyvoll

Norwegian Ridge Retreat

NRSD

June 4, 2012 Finally!

Monday, June 04, 2012

Greetings NRSD Cohort!

I apologize for neglecting this blog for so long. It has been a busy spring, but our garden is in, and I am ready to focus attention back to our lovely school and all of YOU lovelies. It won’t take long for July 27-29 to sneak up on us.

I finally have the books and assignments posted for those of you IPHONE gen people who don’t keep track of handouts well (J).

Our July retreat will be packed, as usual, but I am so excited for the topics up for discussion. I hope you have found a Bible handbook that will help you as we start doing our Bible survey (OT for 2 retreats, then on to NT for the last 2 retreats.) How is the Otis book going for all of you? Big stuff, but so important…

I know we are OVERLOADED with books and reading for the July retreat, but I do want to tell you about JUST ONE MORE BOOK… A dear friend of Ben & Kaaren Tyvoll’s has graciously agreed to do a special workshop on Dietrich Bonhoeffer! Dr. Joel Lawrence Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Bethel Seminary. His PhD is from Cambridge, England. He did his dissertation on Bonhoeffer, is a member of the Bonhoeffer Society, has published a book about him and teaches a Sem course on him. This link takes you to Bethel Sem, http://www.bethel.edu/stories/begin/seminary/making-links; and the second link takes you to a Wheaton Conference where he presented a paper on Bonhoeffer. 

http://www.wheaton.edu/WETN/All-Media/Lectures-and-Conferences/Wheaton%20Theology%20Conference

There is a new book out on Bonhoeffer (Eric Metaxas and Timothy J. Keller, 2010) which Dr. Lawrence says is somewhat controversial because the authors “do not have a good grasp of Bonhoeffer’s theology”. A better biography is 1000 pages long (I couldn’t face it!), so his recommendation is for us to read “Life Together”. This book is about community and is Bonhoeffer’s shortest book and “easiest” read, although any book by this man is not what you would call "easy". 

What a blessing to have Dr. Lawrence do this workshop for us. This short intro does not do him justice, but we will get better acquainted with him in July. Steve and I are really excited to have this special treat planned for the school.

Remember Ben Colbenson and his Nav team in your prayers. They will be in Indonesia from June 20^th – July 28^th. Dayn Lukes is in Asia right now as well.

We want you all to be reviewing your first year as NRSD students. When we meet in July we will share our thoughts about this first year. And then of course a big deal is our senior projects. Each of you should have a plan for your special Senior Project. I will be contacting each of you in the next few weeks to go over your ideas with you so that when we meet on July 27-29 you will be good to go with your plans.

Another big item on my “to-do” list is to get a NRSD publicity document together that we can share with people who might be interested in starting a new NRSD class in September 2012 or September 2013. We are praying and discerning what God might want us to do. If there were enough interested people, we could start a new class this September.

So here is our request: please be praying about anyone you might know who would like the kind of school we are doing here. I will be sending you a doc you can email to anyone you might think of. Please pray for us as we discern God’s leading in this.

I promise to be better about blogging here in the next weeks. As always, you are welcome to visit, call or skype with us.

Love and Hugs,

Joan & Steve T