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Growing Hope for 25 years
Fall/Winter 2024
While sitting on metal folding chairs in the back of the sanctuary of Wiley Heights Covenant, just outside of Yakima, Washington, a church I was then pastoring, something “dangerous” happened. In conversation with Jim and Carol Sundholm and a staff member from Growing Hope Globally, I heard about this organization they were so fond of, and it changed the direction of my life and career.
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The hawthorn tree
Spring/Summer 2020
I’ve been reading a book about a favorite painter of mine, Harlan Hubbard, an impressionist from Kentucky, who lived on a shanty boat. One of his paintings is titled “The Hawthorn Tree.” In the image, a lone hawthorn tree blooms among all the darker and taller trees in the woods. The river has recently flooded and the water is going down, leaving smooth mud. As the water drops, spring begins, and that is when this tree blooms.
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Pietists without apology
Spring/Summer 2015
Dr. Olson recently took some time to answer a few questions about pietism from Rev. Mark Swanson, a member of Pietisten’s Board of Directors.
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BOOK REVIEW: Wendell Berry & Religion
Spring/Summer 2010
Wendell Berry is a Kentucky farmer and a writer of poetry, fiction, and essay whose name seems to be showing up everywhere. He is claimed as a voice in politics, ecology, agriculture, economics, and religion. And what is probably most striking is that he is claimed by those who fall across a wide spectrum in each of those arenas. Berry speaks as an agrarian and that informs his approach to the subjects at hand.
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Prairie Eyes: In Gratitude to Bill Holm
Summer 2009
Bill Holm passed away on February 25th. He was a poet, essayist, and musician, who filled a six foot, eight-inch Icelandic-American frame. His home, when he was not in Iceland, was Minneota, Minnesota, a small town in the southwest corner of the state. And he taught me how to love the plains.
