By: Adam Harris on February 9, 2023
Twelve years ago, I drove to Ohio to interview a man who claimed he died and experienced “the other side”. Months earlier I had finished his book, My Descent into Death that described his spiritual journey while in France with his wife and college students. Howard was an art professor at the University of Kentucky…
By: Todd E Henley on February 9, 2023
While reading How to Read Numbers, I received two notifications on my phone about 15 seconds apart. The first one read, “Thousands Killed in Turkey-Syria Earthquake” [1]. The second one read, “40% of American children have a parent who works outside the traditional daytime schedule.” [2]. Normally, I would have responded to the second notice…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on February 9, 2023
My Relationship with Numbers Are you good with numbers? Are you a numbers person? Are you a writer or mathematician? I’ve heard these questions asked many times. It always felt a bit limiting to me. I never understood why you had to be one or the other. But I just accepted that being good at…
By: Mathieu Yuill on February 8, 2023
And I have the mugs to prove it. After the 15th consecutive year I had this honour bestowed on me unanimously by the judging panel, I made the decision that I would wait until I hit the 20 years or maybe even when I eclipsed the quarter century mark that I would start to speak publicly…
By: John Fehlen on February 6, 2023
I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was about 30 years old, had been a senior pastor for 3 years, and God was doing good things in our ministry. I was asked to preach at what would be the largest gathering of people that I had ever been in front of. It was…
By: Kim Sanford on February 5, 2023
I’ve just turned over the last page of How to Read Numbers; I’m vacillating between writing a cheerful blog post or a doomsday one. On one hand, that was a delightful read. Tom Chivers and David Chivers explain a complicated topic in a very approachable way. The sprinkling of dry humor and clever examples didn’t…
By: Jana Dluehosh on February 3, 2023
This last Wednesday was Feast of Saint Brigid, both a Celtic pagan festival and a Saints Day for the Irish Catholic Church. “Rites of initiation and installation, then, teach the lesson of the essential oneness of the individual and the group: seasonal festivals open a larger horizon;” [1]. This feast day and festival is for…
By: Dinka Utomo on February 3, 2023
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frighten us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of…
By: Adam Harris on February 2, 2023
Wow. Where to begin with Joseph Campbell’s, The Hero With A Thousand Faces? This is one of those books that has been on my radar for years after reading The Power of Myth, but I never quite got around to reading this one. It is dense, complex, and pulls together multiple fields of study to…
By: Mathieu Yuill on February 1, 2023
I was excited to tackle the reading this week. I’m a StoryBrand[1] Guide and use the hero’s journey as one of the introductory workshops we take clients through at my marketing and communications company, Leading With Nice., when we onboard them. I was familiar with Joseph Campbell’s[2] work the same way a lifelong Christian might…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on January 30, 2023
The Hero With A Thousand Faces is a book about discovering ourselves through myths and stories. It was my intention to complete the reading and the blog a week ahead to give myself time to pay greater attention to the posts of my cohort. I have discovered that writing on Thursday does not allow me…
By: John Fehlen on January 30, 2023
From 2004-2010 American television had a show that ran for six seasons on ABC. The show was called LOST, and I, along with my family and close friends, were HOOKED. Each week we would tune in live, or watch it downloaded from iTunes, to see what was gonna happen to Hugo, Sawyer, Jack, Sayid, Kate,…
By: Kim Sanford on January 30, 2023
Joseph Campbell’s seminal work points to an underlying reality that myth and story speak to the human heart (or as Campbell would call it, the psyche). Through story we instruct, we connect, we inspire and persuade, and we even rejoice. It’s also how we deal with our imperfection, our brokenness. As Campbell says, “Modern literature…
By: Dinka Utomo on January 27, 2023
A year ago, my son and daughter (9 and 7 years old) asked me, daddy is there any portal in this world for us to go to another dimension? Then the next question that surprised me quite a bit was, daddy, is there any portal in the world for us to go to heaven and meet…
By: Adam Harris on January 26, 2023
After reading this week’s material and watching Robert Coven’s TED talk on threshold concepts, I can’t help but share my personal journey of struggling through certain thresholds regarding my faith, and in particular Scripture in higher education. I have a deep love and respect for the Bible. I couldn’t always say this, but I appreciate…
By: John Fehlen on January 23, 2023
I considered titling this blog post “Threshold Concepts for Dummies” because after reading these two extensive and comprehensive books I felt like, well…a dummy. I’m not being self-deprecating; I honestly felt dumb. I’ve been reading, thinking, studying, and pontificating large biblical/theological concepts for many, many years, and yet I have not been exposed to this…
By: Kim Sanford on January 23, 2023
The term threshold concepts inherently speaks of movement and flow from one place to another. Learners have a “transformative” experience where they understand previously “troublesome” knowledge, often by “integrating” concepts from multiple disciplines. The result of this experience is an “irreversible” clarity that is nonetheless “bounded”[i]. If that definition was a bit opaque at first,…
By: Mathieu Yuill on January 23, 2023
I wondered while watching the TEDx video if Dr. Coven has the gift of prophecy as he described the idea of a threshold concept as he used the example of a new driver learning to drive. My son is 17 and about to embark on in-car driving lessons. However, the journey to get him to…
By: Dinka Utomo on January 19, 2023
Many people in the world, including Christians, struggle with what is their purpose in life. People often ask themselves or their pastors this question. The difficulty in discovering the goal of life can have further harmful effects on many people. We can say feeling worthless or feeling empty without direction and purpose in this life.…
By: Adam Harris on January 19, 2023
Anyone ever told you there are no stupid questions? Mining for Gold may challenge that idea. Tom Camacho claims “There are great questions, OK questions, and terrible questions.” (Camacho, 70) At least when it comes to coaching. The journey that introduced Tom to coaching was raw and inspiring. It involved some real pain and I appreciated…
