The second most influential book in my life has been Ellen G. White’s (1827-1915) Desire of Ages and Jerry D. Thomas’ amazing paraphrase of that book, Messiah. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BOTH. Thomas has done a masterful job paraphrasing White’s classic.…
Author: Duane Covrig
I teach leadership and ethics at Andrews University. I am a Seventh-day Adventist eager for the Second Coming of Christ and positive about His judgment hour work (Rev 14:6-12). I use that reality to understand morality and ethics.
Duane’s Top Ten Books
I have been reading books for about 50 years. The next few posts review the most influential books in my life. This list has shifted over time as I have added new readings. I will spend more time on my…
Series: Doing a Christian Ethic of Love from a Bible full of Bloodshed.
When I present my services as a Christian ethicist, I immediately feel several insufficiencies. My lack of love meter twitches in my mind as lower than desired: Why even talk about a love ethic, when I am so far from…
Christian Influence
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matt 5:16 This is probably the best single call to… leadership, self-development, vocation, Christian living, Christian influence and the abundant…
Risk: Nothing Ventured-Nothing Gained
A recent post on my favorite blog–Institute for Faith, Work and Economics,– corresponded with my morning devotion. I thought I would share ideas from both. Tim Hoerr’s post on Why Worship Involves Risk shows how it takes initiative and risk…
He Saw My Potential
He knew I had a heart for him. He saw my potential. He knew that I would listen to his crazy ideas about “blessed are the poor” and “turn the other check.” He saw my potential. He knew I would…
Following Jesus: What to do with the 10 Commandments?
Andy Stanley is one of my favorite authors, youtube preachers and DVD study creators. He is an amazing communicator. He has lead me to a better experience of God, to love my family and others in a deeper way, and…
Following Well or Eventually
There is one social competency more difficult than leadership. That is the ability to follow well. It takes deep intellectual and emotional preparation and skills to follow well. A friend told me one time that if a person thinks they…
Individuality and Mutuality in Christian Leadership
Within our Adventist educational community, one Ellen White often quoted passage is Education p. 17: Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator– individuality, power to think and…
Grace & Truth: What Does God do with Bad Goat Leaders
There are millions of leaders in the world. Not all of them do us good. Last week, one of these leaders was sentenced to up to 175 years for sexually abusing girls. This sentence was based on 7 counts but…
How can you shepherd if you are one of the sheep?
The Lord is My Shepherd, sang David. He sang it well. He knew its truth. All sheep know the truth. We know our fragility (at least we should). We can’t see very far. We get tired easily. We suffer raging…
Diversity in Moral Leadership
Not all leaders look the same. Some are quiet. Some are loud. Some plug away at their tasks and draw interested and committed followers by their steadiness. Others use charisma to move crowds to action, using a splash of personality…
Judges, Kings and A Better Leadership Plan
1 Samuel 8 tells us when the Israelite’s asked for a good king it displeased Samuel and God. God’s advised Samuel how to respond: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have…
Moral Development: Plan A and Plan B
God is the source of all good. He creates moral reality because morality emanates from his character. He is love and justice, he is regal and humble, and as such he defines the ideal. But interestingly, that which he is…
Cultivating A Good Protest!!!
1517-2017 The 500 Year Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Have you got excited about the celebrations sweeping through our campuses, nations and world? I have!!! Our local community in Berrien Springs has been alive with amazing conferences. The Seminary took…
Fast Moving Fires: Lessons on Sparks and Flames
This last week I watched from a distance over the horizon of media as my beloved California burned. It was sickening. My wife and I made our first home in Napa. We lived in a little cottage near a grape…
Individuality in Community: The Lesson of Mutuality
“Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator—individuality, power to think and to do. The men in whom this power is developed are the men who bear responsibilities,…
Male and Female, In His likeness
The creation story, God creating Mankind in His own image and likeness, is retold often in the Bible. We need to hear it even more often these days as our identity is hid deeply within that story. In Genesis one…
Investing as a Moral & Social Responsibility
Solomon was one of the most materially successful leaders of all time. Granted, he had a great jump start–very privileged–in that both his earthly father and his heavenly father gave him lots of resources to get him going…stock piles of…
Through Sorrow to Joy
There is a lot of learning needed to lead successfully and maybe even more to follow whole-heartily. Doing both well involves moving through sorrow to joy. Both leading and following operate in a social space where courage, deep commitment and…
The Gift of Voice and Self-Distrust
“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” Is 5:21 One of the signs of moral maturity is self-distrust. We have learned we can be wrong, especially when we thing we are…
Burying or Bearing Institutions
I have gone to or worked in schools, colleges and universities for over 45 years. I have attended church for over 50 years. I have been in a family for all my life. These three great social institutions have sustained…
God’s Telling His Story through Yours and Mine
Dan Allender, in his books and youtube videos and traveling/retreat ministry, helps people discover, write and tell their full stories. His work is fascinating and healing. He encourages people to tap into their life stories to see God’s powerful gospel…
Him who Justifies the Ungodly
Would you work for a boss who rewarded lazy employees? Would you follow a leader who paid people more after they stole from the company? Would you admire a leader who let people talk bad about him, abuse him, walk…
The Love in Ethics
God loves us. One way He showed that love to us is He gave us His Son Jesus (John 3:16) as a propitiation for sins, a mediator of grace and power and a soon coming ruler. What a relief and…
Prophets and Prayer: Believing God Interacts with His World
Our contemporary mindset has a hard time conceptualizing and relating to “prophets” or to the”prophetic” gift. Recently I was reading two individuals who studied Ellen White’s prophetic gift for their dissertations. One used psychological research, specifically psychotherapy, and saw many…
American Beastly Leadership (5 of 5)-The Last in Long Series
This post summarizes the main ideas of a long series of 17 posts on Servant vs Beastly Leadership. This concludes a subseries of 5 on American beastly leadership. Servant leadership I equate with the “Lamb” leadership of Christ. This has…
American Beastly Leadership (4 of 5)-#16 in Series
This series has contrasted servant and beastly leadership. The last 3 posts brought Adventism and America into this contrast. The prognosis of Revelation 13 is that America could abandon its role as servant leader. How? Here, I explore four ways…
American Beastly Leadership (3 of 5) #15 in the Series
In the last 14 posts, I nuanced differences between servant (godly) leadership and beastly (satanic) leadership. The last 2 posts extended that contrast to America and Adventists. I used Revelation 10-14 and Ellen White’s Great Controversy to show how Adventists…
American Beastly Leadership (2 of 5)-#14 in Series
In post #13 on “servant” or “beastly” leadership, I used Revelation 10-14 to show the emergence of Adventists and America in prophecy and as agents of servant leadership. The strongest match was made for Adventists. The identifiers were:Â use of…