Built to Last: An In-Depth Look at the Multisite Church and Ministry Succession

The multisite church model is a movement that, by all indications, is here to stay. According to Portable Church Industries, there are only twelve single-campus churches listed among the top 100 largest churches in the United States. If multi-site churches were a Protestant denomination, they’d be the fourth largest. 1 The NPO addressed is: Multisite churches are predominantly first generation with personality centric leadership, needing intentionality for sustainability and succession. I serve as lead pastor of Grace Church – a non-denominational church with four campuses in the Houston area. I am in my 28th year of tenure. We transitioned to the multisite church model fifteen years ago. I have experienced phenomenal highs and a few very disappointing lows in those fifteen years. The lows always trace to an ambitious staff pastor with a personal agenda who countered the vision and culture of the church at large. Thus, the need for identifying the most sustainable multisite model and one that is transferrable to other generations of leadership. The final project is a book. The first section presents a look back at the biblical and historical origins of the multisite church, along with the logic and motivation behind this church model. This section offers an overview of the four most popular multisite models utilized today. The second section delves into pastoral succession and the need for a thought out, intentional plan. Focus is given to the difference in raising up followers versus raising up leaders, as well as juxtaposing the difference between succession and transition. Finally, suggested steps and elements for successful pastoral transition will be presented. The working title of the book is Built to Last: An In-Depth Look at Multisite Church and Ministry Succession

Neuropsychological and functional outcomes in recent-onset major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: a longitudinal cohort study

Functional disability is the lead contributor to burden of mental illness. Cognitive deficits frequently limit functional recovery, although whether changes in cognition and disability are longitudinally associated in recent-onset individuals remains unclear. Using a prospective, cohort design, 311 patients were recruited and assessed at baseline. One hundred and sixty-seven patients met eligibility criteria (M = 21.5 years old, s.d. = 4.8) and returned for follow-up (M = 20.6 months later, s.d. = 7.8). Two-hundred and thirty participants were included in the final analysis, comprising clinically stable patients with major depression (n = 71), bipolar disorder (BD; n = 61), schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (n = 35) and 63 healthy controls. Neuropsychological functioning and self-rated functional disability were examined using mixed-design, repeated-measures analysis, across diagnoses and cognitive clusters, covarying for relevant confounds. Clinical, neuropsychological and functional changes did not differ between diagnoses (all P40.05). Three reliable neuropsychological subgroups emerged through cluster analysis, characterized by psychomotor slowing, improved sustained attention, and improved verbal memory. Controlling for diagnosis and changes in residual symptoms, clusters with improved neuropsychological functioning observed greater reductions in functional disability than the psychomotor slowing cluster, which instead demonstrated a worsening in disability (Po0.01). Improved sustained attention was independently associated with greater likelihood of follow-up employment (Po0.01). Diagnosis of BD uniquely predicted both follow-up employment and independent living. Neuropsychological course appears to be independently predictive of subjective and objective functional outcomes. Importantly, cognitive phenotypes may reflect distinct pathophysiologies shared across major psychiatric conditions, and be ideal targets for personalized early intervention

Changing the Ties That Bind? The Emerging Roles and Identities of General Practitioners and Managers in the New Clinical Commissioning Groups in the English NHS

The English National Health Service (NHS) is undergoing significant reorganization following the 2012 Health and Social Care Act. Key to these changes is the shift of responsibility for commissioning services from Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to general practitioners (GPs) working together in Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). This article is based on an empirical study that examined the development of emerging CCGs in eight case studies across England between September 2011 and June 2012. The findings are based on interviews with GPs and managers, observations of meetings, and reading of related documents. Scott’s notion that institutions are constituted by three pillars—the regulative, normative, and cognitive–cultural—is explored here. This approach helps to understand the changing roles and identities of doctors and managers implicated by the present reforms. This article notes the far reaching changes in the regulative pillar and questions how these changes will affect the normative and cultural–cognitive pillars

SITE-SPECIFIC VERSUS WHOLE-FIELD FERTILITY AND LIME MANAGEMENT IN MICHIGAN SOYBEANS AND CORN

Prior research into variable-rate application (VRA) of fertilizer nutrients has found profitability to be lacking in single nutrient applications to U.S. cereal crops. This study examines the yield and cost effects of VRA phosphorus, potassium and lime application on Michigan corn and soybean farm fields in 1998-2001. After four years, we found no yield gain from site-specific management, but statistically significant added costs, resulting in no gain in profitability. Contrary to results elsewhere, there was no evidence of enhanced spatial yield stability due to site-specific fertility management. Likewise, there was no evidence of decreased variability of phosphorus, potassium or lime after VRA treatment. Site-specific response functions and yield goals might also enhance the likelihood of profitable VRA in the future.Crop Production/Industries,

Seasonal stem loss and self-thinning in low marsh Spartina alterniflora in a New England tidal marsh

Dense monocultures of the grass Spartina alterniflora dominate the low marsh in typical New England tidal marshes. These marshes provide a number of important ecosystem services; thus, it is important to understand the factors that influence S. alterniflora productivity. End of season live biomass is often used to estimate S. alterniflora productivity, but this measure fails to account for stems lost within the growing season and may lead to a significant underestimate. We explored two possible factors that may influence S. alterniflora stem loss within the growing season: 1) density-dependent mortality (self-thinning), and 2) the physical force of moving water via tidal action. At four tidal creeks in the Plum Island Sound estuary, Massachusetts, we found that on average 34% of the S. alterniflora stems present in June were lost by August, but this varied from 11-44% among creeks. This stem loss accounted for at least 20% of the estimated annual productivity. We found little evidence that tidal action drives spatial variation in stem loss. Seasonal stem loss was greater in stands with higher early season density, consistent with self-thinning. As self-thinning occurred, density became more similar among creeks, meaning that end of the season density patterns are not reflective of early season stands. Adding a simple measure of early season stem density can improve productivity estimates by incorporating loss due to self-thinning

The classification of subfactors of index at most 5

A subfactor is an inclusion of von Neumann algebras with trivial centers. The simplest example comes from the fixed points of a group action , and subfactors can be thought of as fixed points of more general group-like algebraic structures. These algebraic structures are closely related to tensor categories and have played important roles in knot theory, quantum groups, statistical mechanics, and topological quantum field theory. There is a measure of size of a subfactor, called the index. Remarkably, the values of the index below 4 are quantized, which suggests that it may be possible to classify subfactors of small index. Subfactors of index at most 4 were classified in the 1980s and early 1990s. The possible index values above 4 are not quantized, but once you exclude a certain family, it turns out that again the possibilities are quantized. Recently, the classification of subfactors has been extended up to index 5, and (outside of the infinite families) there are only 10 subfactors of index between 4 and 5. We give a summary of the key ideas in this classification and discuss what is known about these special small subfactors.The first author was supported by the NSF under Grant No. DMS-0301173 The second author was supported by the Australian Research Council under the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award DE120100232, and Discovery Project DP140100732 The third author was supported by a NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship at Columbia University. All authors were supported by DARPA grants HR0011-11-1-0001 and HR0011-12-1-0009

A Tale of Two Toxins: Helicobacter Pylori CagA and VacA Modulate Host Pathways that Impact Disease

Helicobacter pylori is a pathogenic bacterium that colonizes more than 50% of the world's population, which leads to a tremendous medical burden. H. pylori infection is associated with such varied diseases as gastritis, peptic ulcers, and two forms of gastric cancer: gastric adenocarcinoma and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. This association represents a novel paradigm for cancer development; H. pylori is currently the only bacterium to be recognized as a carcinogen. Therefore, a significant amount of research has been conducted to identify the bacterial factors and the deregulated host cell pathways that are responsible for the progression to more severe disease states. Two of the virulence factors that have been implicated in this process are cytotoxin-associated gene A (CagA) and vacuolating cytotoxin A (VacA), which are cytotoxins that are injected and secreted by H. pylori, respectively. Both of these virulence factors are polymorphic and affect a multitude of host cellular pathways. These combined facts could easily contribute to differences in disease severity across the population as various CagA and VacA alleles differentially target some pathways. Herein we highlight the diverse types of cellular pathways and processes targeted by these important toxins

A Comparison of the Rough Sphere Rotational Diffusion Model with Experimental Results for Liquid Methyl Iodide

No abstract available

Deep Chandra observations of NGC 1404 : cluster plasma physics revealed by an infalling early-type galaxy

The intracluster medium (ICM), as a magnetized and highly ionized fluid, provides an ideal laboratory to study plasma physics under extreme conditions that cannot yet be achieved on Earth. NGC 1404 is a bright elliptical galaxy that is being gas stripped as it falls through the ICM of the Fornax Cluster. We use the new {\sl Chandra} X-ray observations of NGC 1404 to study ICM microphysics. The interstellar medium (ISM) of NGC 1404 is characterized by a sharp leading edge, 8 kpc from the galaxy center, and a short downstream gaseous tail. Contact discontinuities are resolved on unprecedented spatial scales (0\farcs5=45\,pc) due to the combination of the proximity of NGC 1404, the superb spatial resolution of {\sl Chandra}, and the very deep (670 ksec) exposure. At the leading edge, we observe sub-kpc scale eddies generated by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and put an upper limit of 5\% Spitzer on the isotropic viscosity of the hot cluster plasma. We also observe mixing between the hot cluster gas and the cooler galaxy gas in the downstream stripped tail, which provides further evidence of a low viscosity plasma. The assumed ordered magnetic fields in the ICM ought to be smaller than 5\,μG to allow KHI to develop. The lack of evident magnetic draping layer just outside the contact edge is consistent with such an upper limit