{"id":13500,"date":"2017-06-21T14:48:32","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T21:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/a-shared-experience-year-in-review\/"},"modified":"2017-06-21T14:48:32","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T21:48:32","slug":"a-shared-experience-year-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-shared-experience-year-in-review\/","title":{"rendered":"A Shared Experience (Year in review)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a few months I\u2019ll turn 50, a number that is high enough to mean I\u2019ve crested the hill and I\u2019m proceeding down the other side. Why in the world would one take on another responsibility, another degree, when the majority of my professional life is already behind me? What\u2019s the point? Adding to such tension is the all around angst that has for me always come with academics: some people are better equipped for and enjoy academia than I am. \u00a0I came into this Doctoral program with such tensions and the weeks prior to the first Advance in Cape town only served to amp up the stress. I can still remember my first Amazon order with Bayard\u2019s book on \u201cHow to talk about books you haven\u2019t read\u201d<\/em> with its postmodern perspective and suggestions that seemed ethically ambiguous at best and unrealistic \u2013 was this some kind of joke? Pink\u2019s writing didn\u2019t calm any nerves \u2013 while ethnography sounds cool, something I\u2019d enjoy, but her vocabulary was so academic I had to constantly go to my dictionary to sort through a paragraph. What in the world had I signed up for \u2013 heading to my first advance I was seriously considering withdrawing from this program.<\/p>\n

What surprised me was my change in perspective: from filled with doubt and tension to confidence and camaraderie. The Advances, my cohort, my mentor, and GFES administrators made this into one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Years earlier I had joined DMin program from another school that was academically weak, where the teaching, for the most part, was disappointing. I really didn\u2019t want to spend years working on something I wasn\u2019t going to be proud of. I\u2019m proud of the learning that\u2019s being gained and the relationships being built through this program.<\/p>\n

\"Hong<\/a>Relationships make all the difference between wanting to quit and wanting to succeed. This\u00a0was especially true in my cohort. All of us found plenty to enjoy during our time in Africa and Hong Kong; for example, the fun meals in great restaurants like the one on the pier in Cape Town where we relaxed and enjoyed learning about each other. I remember the somber walk around Robben Island, and trying to keep it together on the crossing back to Cape Town. Hong Kong was a different adventure; we had been friends for over a year, so we were more of a community, looking out for each other, learning together. And of course meal times in Hong Kong are naturally a cross-cultural experience. \u00a0Wherever we traveled we processed together what we were seeing and experiencing \u2013 the emotional, cultural and spiritual impact it was having.\u00a0\u00a0 I know the Advances include structured learning through seminars, with local ministers, business professionals, academics and societal leaders, but for me the structured leaning was the framework for these relationships to deepen and flourish and take the learning to a deeper level.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeeper\u201d is another thing that surprised me. The pace of a book a week was initially frustrating; I didn\u2019t see how we could possibly read it all in the time allowed. Skimming for me had always meant shallow reflection. But I soon realized that the mentor lead chats actually made the reading for more impactful and allowed for deeper reflection. Each member in the cohort had a unique perspective on the reading and eventually certain kinds of reflection (contemplative, pragmatic, ironic, insightful, earthy) came to be expected from different members. It was natural that we saw things from difference perspectives. I believe that ultimately meant deeper reflection, if it was at a break-neck speed. Jason, being brilliant, and having reflected deeply on each of these books, also allowed us to glean insights that only come with academic rigor.<\/p>\n

The first two years of this program are finishing up and all that lies ahead are months of writing, rewriting, and defending the dissertation. The \u201cme\u201d from two years ago would look at the challenge of a dissertation with self-doubt and no small amount of worry. Today, I have a measure of confidence because of everyone that surrounds me in this program. Thank you, friends; with you this has been a rich and meaningful experience, and without you I wouldn\u2019t have persevered. At the outset I rather sarcastically ask \u201cwhat\u2019s the point of a doctor of ministry\u201d? I would now respond to a better question\u2014\u201cWhat will you gain from this program?\u201d\u2014with a simple answer: friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a few months I\u2019ll turn 50, a number that is high enough to mean I\u2019ve crested the hill and I\u2019m proceeding down the other side. Why in the world would one take on another responsibility, another degree, when the majority of my professional life is already behind me? What\u2019s the point? Adding to such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}