[00:00:00] Hey, everybody. Welcome to the EquipCast, a weekly podcast for the Archdiocese of Omaha. I'm your host, Jim Jansen. Now let's dive into some encouragement and inspiration to equip you to live your faith and to be fruitful in your mission. Let's go. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the EquipCast Coach's Corner, where I break down important topics to equip you and your team for mission in your family, in your church, and in your ministry.

My name is Jim Jansen and today I'm going to talk about how to learn from the world. What do I mean by that? How to learn from the world? Well, for many of us, as we approach the start of the calendar year, our thinking goes to goal setting and what do we want to accomplish and how are we going to fulfill our mission?

And whether you formally set goals or not, I think many of us use the turnover of the calendar year as a new beginning. [00:01:00] But we have to be honest, the thinking that got us here, although good, is not going to get us where we need to be. That all of us have to learn and grow if we're going to continue to improve, to give glory to God, and our families, and our churches, and in our ministries.

And so, I want to introduce to you an extended metaphor by a guy named Origen, one of the early church fathers, but I'll credit Andy Dejka for finding it and pointing it out. Origen. One, how can we learn from the world? How could, like, secular business, how can we take that wisdom and apply it to the kingdom of God for the glory of God?

You see, the metaphor goes like this. When the Israelites were first leaving Egypt in the Exodus, they took the Egyptians gold and silver. God gave them favor in their eyes, and they plundered the Egyptians. And that gold and silver that they took [00:02:00] could be used for good, or it could be used for ill. It's that same gold and silver that ends up being made into the Ark of the Covenant, and all of the beautiful furnishings of the tabernacle for worshiping God in the desert.

But it was also that same gold that was used to make the golden calf. So how do you take the good and lead the bad. Many of you probably have a pretty healthy instinct about this, that when you think about using business or secular resources, maybe scientific research from a particular discipline, you kind of know that Yeah, I can't take this undiscerningly.

I have to be careful. Right? Or as Origen said, you know, if you're going to visit Egypt, just be careful that you don't come back with a golden calf. Many of us, whether we would use this language or not, recognize that there's sometimes hidden assumptions, uh, philosophical positions. Assumed within [00:03:00] secular leadership that if undiscerned and not rejected can actually cause more harm than good.

So how do you sort out the good from the bad? Well, I want to talk about two things. One, how do you find the wisdom of the world in an effective, efficient manner? And then two, how do you discern and keep the good and get rid of the bad? All right. So how do you find the wisdom of the world? Well, most of us develop kind of a favorite niche, a favorite way we like to learn and a favorite thing we like to learn.

Maybe it's entertainment, maybe it's history, maybe it's business, sports, but many of us just gravitate to a particular place. What I would encourage you to do is to read and listen more broadly this year. Make sure that you're touching on history and business and sports and science. Try and go as wide as you can.

In disciplines that aren't necessarily familiar to you. Now that can be daunting. Nobody's like, well, I think I'm going to go to the library and pick up a [00:04:00] 300-page book and just see if I like it. This would be good for me. At a practical level, try starting with TED Talks. They are famously short. They are the synthesis of the thinking of writers and authors, some of the best intellectuals, and it gives you a chance to quickly sample and see whether or not this person, this field of discipline might have something helpful for you.

And then you can always dive deeper and read a book or get deeper into their, their thought, their work, and their writing. I want to offer a couple of recommendations, books that I've read over the last year in various disciplines that have been very helpful for me. One is the book called Supreme Commander.

It's a biography of General Dwight D. Eisenhower by Stephen Ambrose, fascinating look at a Midwestern man of very ordinary upbringing. Who accomplishes an extraordinary act of unity and military prowess as he leads the allied forces in the [00:05:00] conquering of Nazi Germany, and in particular, the planning and direction of the D Day operation.

Great book. Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden. If you don't know who John Wooden is, he won 10 national basketball championships in 12 years. His accomplishments as both a player and a coach. are really unparalleled at any level of professional athletics. Of course, he was coaching the UCLA Bruins, uh, not a professional team, but professional collegiate.

You're really hard pressed to find anyone who's been more successful as a coach than John Wooden. Good to Great by Jim Collins. Jim is not a Christian. His work has found a huge following amongst the nonprofit, particularly Christian and church leadership. He does research into companies, uses research based off the information publicly available for publicly traded companies, stock exchange [00:06:00] information, other information about CEOs and et cetera, does extensive research and then begins to categorize and say, what are the lessons for those in this case, the book, good to great companies.

Started good and made the jump to greatness. It's a fascinating blend of history and research into what really makes organizations great. Uh, another fun book, Different Discipline in the Sciences, by Joseph Bergo. Why do I do that? How psychological defense mechanisms shape our lives. Just a really fascinating look for those of you who don't spend a lot of time, uh, in the psychological sciences.

All of us are people, all of us have thoughts and emotions, and turns out, uh, maybe defense mechanisms too. Really great look at that discipline. The big question is, how do you discern, right? How do you keep the good and lose the bad? I want to offer just a couple of things. Some key questions first. [00:07:00] Does this work, the thoughts, the ideas that it presents, does it honor the dignity of the individual?

Does it foster unity? Is it true? Is it kind? Is it helpful? Those are very basic but fundamental questions to ask as you approach the thoughts that you might find in the secular world. Remember, you have the Spirit of God, and if you are indeed a well-formed Catholic Christian person, You should have the ability, with help, to sort out the good from the bad.

You want to know the hierarchy of truths and laws in the church. Right, so the stories of scripture should always have pride of place. Again, great book, I'd recommend The Real Story by Ted Sri and Curtis Martin, just as a great summary of the story of salvation presented to us in the scriptures. You want to know the doctrines of the church.

The catechism is fantastic. Just as a quick for instance, John Paul II said that the [00:08:00] life giving love of the Trinity is the key to understanding reality. So, you want to know the truths of our faith, and you want to know them in hierarchy. Finally, you want to keep the mission of the church in mind, right?

The salvation of souls is the supreme law of the church. We have lots of laws, and we cover every in and out of what it means to be a part of this Organization that the Lord has established, both human and divine. The fundamental mission of the church to evangelize, to make disciples, needs and can be a guiding compass for us, to help us sort out what is true and good and helpful in the wisdom of the world.

All right, so what are your thoughts? Respond back in the chat at equip.archomaha.org. I'd love to hear your recommendations of wisdom that you have found in secular or non-Christian sources. I'd love to, yeah, I'd love to hear more about [00:09:00] how you sort out and discern and what you plan to learn this year.

Let me pray for us. Lord, I ask that you would send your Spirit of God to enlighten our hearts and minds, to providentially lead us To the wisdom that you have for us as a gift, even when that wisdom comes from a surprising, uh, source, an unlikely place, a place where we don't spend a lot of time, Lord, we trust that you would send us your spirit to wisely and prudently discern.

Uh, what is offered us to keep the good and to discard the bad. Amen. Thanks for listening to the EquipCast. We hope this episode has inspired you to live your faith and equip you to be fruitful in your mission. Stay connected with us by going to equip.archomaha.org. God bless and see you next time.