Radically Happy

Category: Leadership

  • Meet the Dragons of Knight Club

    The great challenge of manhood is learning to harness our emotions to serve a good purpose. As I mentioned earlier, I believe we need to harness (not slay) these Four Dragons of Manhood: Desire, Fear, Anger & Pride.  Here’s a more comprehensive summary of my current understanding: Dragons Color Green Yellow…

  • “Who is God and What Does He Want?” Preschool Theology, Book I

    My goal for this summer is to turn my 36-week Bible study “Growing Church Leaders” into a three-volume series of picture books for my preschoolers.  Here’s my first cut at text for the first one, “Think Biblically”, written one tweet at a time:

  • Knight Club #1: 4 PM, Sat June 16 at Newhall Park, San Jose

    Calling all Fathers and Sons: Rohan and Davey invite you to join us in a couple weeks for “Knight Club” – a time of physical and spiritual exercise for boys and dads* 4 PM to 5:30 PM Saturday, June 16th Newhall Park, San Jose (the corner of Newhall Street and Campbell Avenue)…

  • The Knight’s Chant: The Promise of Holiness

    I AM A KNIGHT (fist straight up in the air) KNIGHTS DO WHAT’S RIGHT (pound fist in hand) I KNOW WHAT’S RIGHT (salute) I WANT WHAT’S RIGHT (fist over heart) I CAN DO WHAT’S RIGHT (fist forward) WE ARE STRONG (make muscles) WE USE OUR STRENGTH (hands on waist) TO…

  • Knight Club: How to Ride a Dragon

    Yesterday I gave my son Rohan (age 3 and 5/6ths) a set of colored dragons and attempted to explain my four-dimensional system for emotional maturity.  He grasped the basic idea quite quickly, though I had to modify some of the terms (e.g., “Obedience” instead of “Humility”). Dragon Spurs Reins Fear…

  • Knight Club: Moral Authority and the Fourth Dragon

    One of the ways I tackle “wicked problems” is by exploring different possible answers in order to help clarify the essential question. My posts on flying and mastering the dragons of manhood have been useful in helping me recognize that the two main questions Knight Club is trying to answer are:…

  • Knight Club: Flying the Dragons of Anger, Fear, & Desire

    In my previous post, on mastering the three dragons of manhood, I discussed the ideal masculine character as harnessing the: Red Dragon of Anger Green Dragon of Fear Gold Dragon of Desire In this post, I want to explore using anger to go fast, fear to go straight, and desire to…

  • Knight Club: Mastering the Three Dragons of Manhood

    In Sheila Walsh’s Will, God’s Mighty Warrior, there’s a scene where Will and his buddy Josh are pretending to be on a quest against monstrous beasts. They run into Will’s large English sheepdog. Josh is starting to defend himself, but Will assures his friend that “I have tamed this wild creature,…

  • Knight Club: The Vicious Virtues

    I often feel I owe my success more to my “vices” than to my “virtues.” What is a virtue? What is a vice? Impatience Anger Rebelliousness Restlessness Infatuation Daydreaming Desire Goofing Off Subversive Activity Laziness Quitting Boredom Fighting Delusions of Grandeur Society — especially school, but the church is arguably worse…

  • Knight Club: Levels of Love

    The first rule of Knight Club: you must talk about Knight Club. In the comments on my first Knight Club post, my friend Jor Bratko talks about “raising adults”, and points out that: the legitimacy of my authority like all legitimate authority comes from love: the care of the other…

  • Knight Club: The Knight’s Code

    The following is based on 1 – Introduction – The Training of a Knight – Age of Chivalry – Thomas Bulfinch, adapted surprisingly little to match the challenges of a preschool boy in modern America. Knights: Respect their elders Serve the church Help their friends Protect the weak I added the…

  • Knight Club: Where Fathers and Sons Learn to Win Life’s Most Important Battles

    Recently our church has been wrestling with what it means to be “missional” — a family on mission together.  My wife and I have been struggling with the same question, particularly with regards to raising our precocious (and sometimes rebellious) 3-and-5/6ths year-old son Rohan.  I knew he needed to be…

  • Growing Church Leaders now on Amazon

    I should have mentioned this awhile ago, but I am very excited to have my new book available on Amazon.com <http://amzn.to/growchurch> in both softcover and Kindle editions. Amazon.com: Growing Church Leaders: A Study in Practical Holiness (9781449707620): Ernest N. Prabhakar: Books

  • GCL A.6 Father’s Kingdom: His World, His Image

    The overriding theme of our journey has been exploring what it means to be “baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Having dealt (however superficially) with the ontological aspects of that “name”, we now focus on the narrative aspects. In particular, we will focus on the…

  • GCL A.7 Man’s Rebellion: His Law, Our Sin

    When God created the world, He gave us as humans dominion over all the plants and animals. But it was not an unconditional grant: rather, we have a responsibility to take His already “very good” creation to the next level, by filling the earth with His image. And if we…

  • GCL A.8 Christ’s Salvation: His Pain, Our Gain

    Our series so far — indeed, the first half of human history — is but a prelude to the coming of Jesus Christ. In Christ we have the word of God made flesh, the perfect revelation of God’s character, a tangible representative of the Trinity, and a reminder of what…

  • GCL A.9 Spirit’s Conviction: Connect, Chastise, Convey

    This week we move from the Father and the Son to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. This also continues our theme of God restoring His Image by saving us from our rebellion. And as usual, there is a heavy price to be paid…

  • GCL A.10 Soul’s Sanctification: His Call, Our Destiny

    In Which We Are Set Apart For Obedience And Suffering, To Become Holy This week we round out our discussion on salvation and conviction by focusing on sanctification and holiness, words that include both being “set apart” and “made righteous.” The overall idea is forming God’s character and purpose in…

  • GCL A.11 Christ’s Body: The Church

    In Which We Become the Church, As We Grow Into Christ Our Head Via His Gifts Continuing the theme of Sanctification, we explore how we are discipled into the name of Christ through His body — the Father’s principle vehicle for forming His Kingdom, by His Spirit. Specifically, we see…

  • GCL A.12 Christ’s Return: His Judgement, Our Reward

    In Which Christ Comes Back to Judge and Remake the Earth, and We Receive Our Reward The End. Christ’s Return is the completion of our theology. Faith will be made sight, all nations will bow before Him, and we will dwell in the fulness of the Father’s eternal presence as…