Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Leadership

Worship Services in the Early Church

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I’m currently preaching through 1 Corinthians 12-14 to our youth ministry, Nine37, on the topic of spiritual gifts. As I was preparing my message for tomorrow’s service, I stumbled upon 1 Cor 14:26 and began wondering what worship services looked like in the early church.

1 Corinthians 14:26 NIV – “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.” [Read more…] about Worship Services in the Early Church

Where to go to Seminary? A preliminary comparison between seminaries in Canada, the United States, and Korea

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This post arises out of a unique journey of mine. Believe it or not, I am actually enrolled in 4 seminaries at the moment, pursuing my Masters of Divinity (M.Div) at all of them! Okay, before I qualify that statement, I am actually only taking courses at one of the four seminaries, but I still have student numbers at all of the other ones.

Let me briefly explain my  journey, and then I’ll do a brief and preliminary comparative analysis between three out of the four seminaries. [Read more…] about Where to go to Seminary? A preliminary comparison between seminaries in Canada, the United States, and Korea

Discovering Myself and My Calling Through Writing

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I recently began to write for a monthly devotional publication – Living Life: A Journal of Spiritual Formation & Reflection (It is published by Duranno and the English version is translated into Spanish and Russian), and guess what I’ve discovered about myself? I love writing. I even consider writing to be a potential strength for me as well – albeit I do still need to improve many aspects of this skill.

In Marcus Buckingham’s Go Put Your Strengths to Work, he considers there to be four S.I.G.N.’s of a strength.

  • S uccess
  • I nstinct: How you feel before the activity
  • G rowth: How you feel during the activity
  • N eeds: How you feel after the activity

Based on these SIGN’s, I can deduce that writing seems to be a strength of mine.

  • S uccess: When I write assignments, I typically receive A’s.
  • I nstinct: When I even think about writing or having the opportunity to write, I get really excited.
  • G rowth: As I write, I can easily concentrate and get into the zone. Even if I am interrupted, I can easily begin writing again.
  • N eeds: Afterwards, I feel such a sense of accomplishment and joy.

But it wasn’t always like that…I didn’t always like writing.

Here’s my story… [Read more…] about Discovering Myself and My Calling Through Writing

A Method of Teaching for the Online-Degree Generation

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I recently saw a fascinating proposal by the Dean at Southern Methodist University, Jose A. Bowen. He proposes a different way of teaching that is radically different from the traditional way of: 1) Come to class; 2) Listen to the Lecture; 3) Discussion.

He proposes that you:

1) Podcast your lecture.
2) Have your students listen to the lecture before coming to class.
3) Have a quiz at the beginning of the class to ensure that they listened to the lecture
4) Have Discussion and important points, etc. for the majority of the class

This methodology, he believes, will promote on-site degrees, rather than online degrees because of the clear benefits of live participation.

 

Dangerous Worship

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Worship is not about a powerless people coming together to sing. Worship is dangerous because it is the children of God coming together, in the name of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the praises of the high king of the universe. As a result, when individuals worship, they are submitting themselves completely to God. It is not to gain anything or to coerce God to give them something. However, while humans relinquish their agenda, their will, and their power, they actually exchange that for the heart of God and the power of God. Thus, the power of God is proclaimed and unleashed into this universe (spiritual and physical) through the words, prayers, and actions of the worshiper. As a result, worship is not just humans singing, but it’s spiritual warfare.


What is your definition of worship?