Michael Gulker is President of The Colossian Forum. Michael has a longstanding interest in the intersection of faith and culture and how both thrive best when rooted in worship. A native of West Michigan, he studied philosophy and theology at Calvin College, has a divinity degree from Duke and is an ordained Mennonite pastor. Before coming to the Forum, Michael served as pastor of Christ Community Church in Des Moines, Iowa. He and his wife Jodie have two young children.
Hard Problems, Wicked Problems, and Easter….
During Holy Week, I spent a day with Dr. L. Gregory Jones, a member of The Colossian Forum’s Advisory Board. Dr. Jones is an accomplished theologian, the former Dean of Duke Divinity School, and currently serves as a Senior Strategist for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity School. During our visit, one key distinction Dr. Jones [...]
TCF & “Emerging Adults”
Last week, Rob Barrett, Brian Cole and I had the pleasure of meeting with a number of Chief Academic Officers and Senior Student Development Officers from Christian colleges across the country at a leadership conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The conference speaker was a highly respected sociologist by the name of Christian Smith. Smith has been [...]
Hope: the end and the beginning
This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to hear a terrific sermon on hope, drawing from 1 Peter 1:13-16. The pastor quoted the recent movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in which the comically terrible circumstances of the protagonists are constantly put into perspective by the hotel manager who continues to proclaim “Everything will be ok in [...]
Book Review – The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions by Karl W. Giberson and Francis S. Collins
Before reading The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions, one needs to appreciate the difficult task Karl Giberson took up in putting this book together. The raw material for the book originated from a set of “Frequently Asked Questions” Francis Collins responded to…
Reflection – Praying the Divine Office with The Colossian Forum
Isn’t prayer the place where we come to God just as we are, unadorned by other thoughts or notions of how to be with God? Most of us at The Colossian Forum grew up in a tradition that believed praying, to be authentic, had to come from our hearts and our hearts alone. “Authentic” prayer had to be spontaneous…
