As you may know, our on-line “think tank,” Koinonia Institute is organized around three avenues of study: The Berean Track, the Issachar Track, and the Koinonos Track.
The Berean Track is primary and focuses on expository study of the Word of God (motivated by our trademark, Acts 17:11).
The Issachar Track focuses on “understanding the times” (1 Chronicles 12:32) and deals with prophetic perspectives and personal stewardship.
The Koinonos Track deals with the practical walk and being a “doer” and not just a hearer of the Word, and is motivated by the Third Commandment (Exodus 20:7), which we believe deals with ambassadorship (rather than vocabulary): if you are going to “take the name of the Lord,” you need to represent Him faithfully and competently.
To provide a unique resource for our members to explore the resources available to the Issachar studies, next month we will be unveiling our emergent “Issachar Data Base.”
In addition to our own internal resources, and as a repository of the “alerts” provided by our own surveillance network, it will also be connected with a large assortment of proprietary-subscription intelligence sources. These will be indexed and catalogued in accordance with our various Surveillance Sectors of interest (see chart, above).
Within the Institute, our members deal with presentations rather than academic term papers and the like, so the IDB is designed to accommodate a large variety of media types.
Software research tools will facilitate the compilation of appropriate resources for a member presentation, which will then be evaluated by the members in terms of the quality of data, the soundness of the analysis, the relevance (Biblically, strategically, or with regards to stewardship), and its ultimate persuasiveness.
It is the interaction of the membership with the dynamically emergent data that justifies the designation of the Institute as a “think tank.” We aspire to the day when we can place a special report on a corporate boardroom table and enjoy the same credibility as one of the Beltway think tanks, except it will be from a perspective that takes the Bible seriously as the inerrant Word of God.
In addition to supporting the various studies of the member-ship, and the continuing publications of the Institute (including eNews briefs, comprehensive briefing packages, and special reports), we anticipate that the resulting asset will also provide a useful resource to pastors and corporate subscribers.
Access to the IDB will be restricted to Bronze Medallion holders and above, and will be formally unveiled at our Annual International Meeting at the Coeur d’Alene Resort on October 24-26, 2008. Come and take a look!
