Recent Activities

One of the good things for me is having the opportunity to be involved in activities beyond my normal sphere of work. Here are some examples.

Last week, I was the featured program for the Chaplain's Association at the Habersham County Medical Center. Being in a rural county means the hospital does not have a paid staff of chaplains and depends upon local clergy to be on call to provide pastoral care. The Chaplains meet every quarter to receive updates on news about the hospital and to have an 'enrichment' type provided. That was me, last week. I did a presentation on issues about which to be aware in providing pastoral care for patients from other religious traditions besides Christianity. In other words, an attempt to provide some 'do's and don't's' if the patient is a Hindu or Buddhist or Muslim or Jew.

This week, I have been invited to speak to one of the MBA classes that is looking at International Business issues. My assigned topic is "The Import of Religion Upon Doing Business Abroad: With Emphasis on Islam." I get to look at the broad relationship between religion and business, as well as give some info about Islam and principles from the Qur'an that would affect business transactions.

This morning, I was asked to provide an additional workshop presentation for the "Bible and The Liberal Arts" initial conference in February. This is the initial offering in what Piedmont College plans to be an annual event. Barbara Brown Taylor will be the featured speaker. A variety of workshops will be offered for Saturday afternoon. [By the way, full details on the conference can be found at www.piedmont.edu.] Registration is going so well that we have expanded from 4 workshops to 6. I think I will do something relating to the Bible and other sacred texts informing our values.

It looks like things will be busy for the next few weeks.