Oh, fiddle dee dee!

December has been a very exciting month for me and it’s not even Christmas, yet.

On 5 December, I was awarded an honorary doctorate! Yes, now I’m “Dr. Glenn!” I was honored by Midwest Seminary with a Doctor of Divinity degree for the work in ministry, church development and missions that I’ve been involved in all in various and sundry places in world for the last thirty-odd years.

I was quite taken aback when my friend Dr. James Graham, who sits on the governing board of Midwest Seminary, asked if I would be interested in such a thing. I was concerned and a little embarrassed since I have friends who are getting their PhD after years of study and writing, and here I was getting a DD without a thesis. But as Dr. Eddy Brown awarded the degree, he reminded both me and the audience that this was not a gift, but an honor, given because Midwest Seminary recognized the work of my life. I was humbled. Very humbled!

You see every time I began to embark on degrees and other kinds of learning, I was always detoured by God. Really. When I was set on the denominational track, I had a charismatic experience that detoured (derailed!) my move toward denominational seminary. Then of course I was led to stop my college education just shy of diploma and study with a discipler on a day-to-day basis.

And then every time I tried to do something more educationally, I never could get “final clearance” from the Lord. It seemed that He would say, “Learn by doing, so that you can teach others.” I tried to obey. But there were times I had to fight envy of those who had letters after their name…

But recently I read this:

A young theologian named Fiddle

Refused to accept his degree

"It's bad enough being named Fiddle,

Without being Fiddle, D.D."

Once when I was lamenting my lack of scholastic attainment to my dear Jesus-following friend Dr. Willa Valencia (who at the time was Head of the English Department at Valdosta State University) assured me it was okay not to have. “Degrees are obtained by reading books,” she reminded me. “So just read everything you can and learn everything that’s in them.” And I have and continue to do that. Books and the learning curve I experience through them keep me thirsty to know and understand more!

Speaking of books, I’ve just sent in the final draft of Why God Thinks He Can Use You to the publisher. This is the book accompanying the teaching that I do in IGM and have done all over the world. I hope it will be ready for purchase in late January.

I attempted to write it in July of 2008 but failed miserably. This year, I took the month of August and did little else but write. Almost every day I’d spend 6-8 hours in the “cave” of my small study in Valdosta writing. It was a powerful experience. Then Susan Sumner, Linda Sparks and Phyllis took copies and helped me rewrite it in a more flowing and concise way. Phyllis especially refused to allow me to not rewrite and rewrite and rewrite. She pressed me to keep moving forward and to not settle for postponement.

So now the publisher has the final draft and I hope to have it ready for sale and distribution in January or February. It will be available from the Eikon Associates website (www.eikonassociates.com ), the Globe International website (www.gme.org) or Amazon.com. When it’s ready I’ll give out a shout! Probably a very loud one! (Watch for Why God... - not there yet.)

This week I did a short half-hour interview regarding coaching for a local TV show called FYI. Here, I talked about coaching and how that can impact a person’s life by assisting them to remove obstacles and get traction in moving toward their vision. And I answered questions about Why God Thinks He Can Use You. I was able to talk about God’s purpose to use everybody all the time everywhere for His purpose and plan and about our unique place in everything God is doing in the earth! It will air sometime after the first of 2010. Brandi Gottleib made the interview very easy asking great questions and helping things flow. But she kept calling me Dr. Hatcher. It was a little weird.

So now you can call me Coach Glenn, the author, DD! But smile if you do. It’s a little weird.