Transformed & Transformational: Recent Episodes
TeachBeyond
What does it look like to "be transformed by the renewing of our minds"? How do we live intentionally for Kingdom impact? Join co-hosts Heather Brown and Keane Fine every Friday to learn from our guests about how we can grow in Christ and impact the world.
This show is brought to you by TeachBeyond, an international Christian mission organization focused on transformational Christ-centered education serving individuals and communities.
In this bonus episode, Keith Carey shares about his work with Joshua Project, defining unreached people groups, and reaching the unreached through prayer.
- Learn more about Joshua Project!
- Learn more about the 10/40 Window here.
- “We’re praying according to God’s will because He wants every one of those tribes, tongues, and nations to be reached.”
- Perspectives on the World Christian Movement
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Painting bedrooms in his house
- Heather: Vegetables growing from seed
- Keith: The Holy Spirit and cross-country running through desert scenery
Weekly Spotlight: 10/40 Window and the SEND Campaign
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does it look like to wait with intentionality rather than apathy or impatience? For the final episode of season 5, co-hosts Heather and Keane are joined by TeachBeyond Executive Vice Presidents Howard Dueck and Brian Delamont as they reflect on Acts 1 and waiting with urgency.
- Acts 1:4-26
- “Waiting for something definitive is so much different than waiting for something that’s undefined.” -Brian Delamont
- “The fact that they are together in the waiting brings growth to one another in that time.” -Brian Delamont
- Romans 8:22-25
- Pursuing God’s Will Together by Ruth Haley Barton
- “It’s our transformation in the waiting that actually enables us to act with love and wisdom in the world. There’s no quick and easy way to get there.” -Brian Delamont
- “He has given me accountability and responsibility to be involved in some level of decision making, but the Kingdom does not hinge on the decision I’m about to make in that moment, and that helps right-size the decision for me.” -Brian Delamont
- “Our hope isn’t on ourselves or our plans, but it’s on the Lord.” -Howard Dueck
- The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith by Janet Hagberg and Robert Guelich
- “Take this period of waiting as a period of eager anticipation of what God [is] going to do next, as opposed to slipping into apathy or impatience or precipitated action. That’s where our whole soul is being shaped in that time.” -Howard Dueck
- “God is combusting something new within us.” -Howard Dueck
- “Rather than being stuck in this empty void of life, we have the opportunity to do what we can do because in God’s sovereignty, in His love and care for you, in His shepherding, you are right where you are and He’s right there with you.” -Brian Delamont
- “There’s this inner compulsion that builds with the waiting [...] and this growing our longing and capacity for the fullness of the Spirit so that then He can speak through us.” -Howard Dueck
- “Who you are wherever you are in that waiting stage is exactly what you’re going to be able to bring to wherever that other place may be.” -Brian Delamont
- “This is your time. Seep yourself in Scripture, in your craft that you’re learning, become all that you can be within your time of waiting. This is your apprenticeship.” -Howard Dueck
- Matthew 25:14-30
Complete our Season 5 survey here. Thanks for your feedback!
MONTH Reflection: What am I waiting for?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Kids packing their own lunches
- Heather: Savannah Bananas baseball on streaming platforms
- Brian: Learning from and doing life with others in TeachBeyond
- Howard: Grandparenting
Weekly Spotlight: TeachBeyond Opportunity Board
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Have you heard the term Fernweh (German “fern-vay”) or Wanderlust? What if God is calling us beyond a desire to explore far-off places? TeachBeyond member Natalie Kardol shares her story of longing to travel the world before she knew Jesus and longing to reach the world with the Gospel now that she does. Natalie’s story invites us to consider how we are using our gifts for God’s glory, whether at home or far away.
- “As long as I can think of, I always had this longing to go.”
- “When I became a Christian, I thought, ‘Wow, I wasted all these years traveling to these different cultures just because I wanted to be there, and I wasted it and wasn’t able to share Jesus [...] If I ever have a chance again to do anything like this, then I just want to do it for the Lord and share the Gospel with people around the world.’”
- “I don’t think it has really changed; I just didn’t know in my younger years that it was God’s calling on my heart.”
- Check out TeachBeyond’s Annual Report!
- “I translated the annual report, and that just opened my eyes, and I saw more and [thought], ‘Wow, this is an amazing organization.’”
- “God is working in the background.”
- “However fast or slow the process works, God is in charge. I cannot take credit for it; I am not fully responsible for the outcome of it.”
- “It’s an honor when you can connect people. It’s not about you.”
- “I don’t know what God is all of a sudden deciding to open up or not. I’ve learned by now that I cannot [...] plan what God has in store for me. It’s okay to not have it all figured out.”
Complete our Season 5 survey here. Thanks for your feedback!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Better Internet
- Heather: Working from a friend’s house during a power outage
- Natalie: Ability to travel with her husband on his work trips
Weekly Spotlight: Short-Term Opportunities
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
How are you commemorating the end of the school year? What does it look like to reflect, celebrate, and anticipate rest? Listen in for inspiration from our Season 5 guests and a special reflection from Mark Giebink, TeachBeyond’s Director of Global Member Care.
- Ruth Chou Simons: Begin thinking now about how you will rest by learning something new.
- George Durance: Daniel 12:3
- Wyndy Corbin Reuschling: Do something different and get some rest.
- Heather Powers: It’s okay to admit that you’re tired and looking forward to a break.
- Brian Delamont: Do something accomplish in 15 minutes or less.
- Katy Boatman: How you spend your time outside of school is just as important as your time in school. A more rested you will be a more impactful teacher.
- Lori Neumann: Your impact is well beyond how it may feel!
- Ruth Mbennah: You have the opportunity to impact lives.
- Emmanuel Mbennah: 1 Corinthians 15:58
- Kevin McClintock: You are respected and loved more than you know.
- Mark Giebink: Keep a healthy doable pace, keep your eyes focused on God, and serve as an act of worship.
- Dave Totman: Philippians 1:6
Complete our Season 5 survey here. Thanks for your feedback!
Weekly Spotlight: Guided Journal
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Dr. Arianna Molloy shares hopeful and practical guidance as we seek to understand and live out our calling. Arianna defines key terms, unpacks professional research, and shares personal anecdotes to cast a vision for a healthy, reflective practice for flourishing in work and in relationship with the Caller.
- Healthy Calling by Dr. Arianna Molloy | Learn more from Arianna Molloy
- “As believers, our primary calling is to love God and love others, and to do that well in everything that we do.”
- “[God] is a personal, intimate designer, and He has equipped each of us with skill sets and passions.”
- Work as a calling: meaningful, identified Caller, skill set and passion, and pro-social
- “Passion alone is fine, but it makes you a great fan; passion and skill set make you a great employee.”
- “It becomes unhealthy when we confuse our relationship with the Caller with the calling, when we become so consumed with the calling that we forget about the people that we’re impacting on the other side.”
- “An unhealthy kind of calling in the workplace is not work as an expression of who I am, but work as the definition of who I am.”
- “The virtue of humility enacted [...] keeps us on the healthy calling path.”
- Micah 6:8
- “Deep shame comes from the idea that work is a calling, and when you don’t want to do it anymore, it’s not the task that you don’t want to do anymore, it’s that relational connection that feels severed [...] It’s not ‘I don’t like what I’m doing anymore, it’s I don’t know who I am anymore.’”
- Communication when stressed: withdrawal, reduced awareness, physical tension
- “Burnout doesn’t go away on its own, so we have to stop romanticizing pushing through.”
- Saundra Dalton-Smith’s Seven Types of Rest
- “Sabbath is not meant to just be for a day; we’re meant to live a Sabbath lifestyle. Sabbathing is turning our hearts and minds to the Lord, and remembering that all of the time all of the resources that we have are His, and we are not God and He is enough.”
- “Because calling is a process, even jobs that don’t feel exciting at all can teach you something about yourself.”
- Make Your Job a Calling by Bryan Dik and Ryan Duffy: task crafting, relational crafting, cognitive crafting
- “Calling is about relationship. Focus on and pursue the relationship, and the Lord will clarify your calling.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: The Power Broker by Robert Caro
- Heather: Yuka app
- Arianna: Voice messaging with her husband
Weekly Spotlight: Residence Life Positions
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Brian Delamont returns to the podcast as we explore the Biblical theme of creation, beginning in the garden of Eden and culminating in the city of God. Drawing from voices like Alistair McGrath and Albert Wolters, we consider what it means to live as faithful stewards of God’s world and reflect His image in our spheres of influence. From Genesis to Revelation, we are invited to participate in God’s ongoing work of transformation, restoration, and renewal.
- Listen to “Christ Be Magnified” by Cody Carnes
- Genesis 2:8-20
- Creation Regained by Albert Wolters
- “God gives humanity the occupation of partnering with Him in order to bring this garden to the fullness that God envisions for it, to partner with God in transformation.”
- Revelation 22
- Psalm 19
- Romans 1:20
- “God’s revelation of Himself is so clearly seen that humanity is without excuse to know that there is a God and that He exists.”
- Romans 2:15
- “To be created in God’s image means that we have these echoes of God’s design and God’s intention innately connected and integrated into our humanness.”
- “God wants us and created us and designed us to live integrated lives. There’s nothing that doesn’t have His fingerprint on it.”
- “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’ - Abraham Kuyper
- “The Kingdom has come – it’s here – and yet there is more to come.”
- “When we bring care or compassion or provision to others, we’re making small transformations that point to the King and point to the Kingdom, both now and the Kingdom to come.”
- Creation by Alistair McGrath
- “Stewarding creation is an expression of love for God because God loves what He has created.”
- “We don’t worship nature or creation, but we esteem it.”
- The Parable of the Faithful Steward in Luke 12:42-48
- Jeremiah 29:4-7
- “When we try to make God look like us, we are miscreating, but when we understand that we are created in God’s image, it enables us to integrate our faith, our spirituality, with the physical world, because that’s the way He intended it from the very beginning, all the way through Scripture.”
- “Science is never going to threaten God. How we apply science can threaten our understanding.”
- “What evidences do I see in creation for Him? What evidences, like Psalm 19, do I see in the law of God?”
- Revelation 21:1-5
- “What started in a garden does become a city.”
- “In God’s city, there is life and light. The river that flowed in Eden now flows from the throne, and it’s the water of the river of life that is there for all nations. It’s part of our inheritance, it’s part of our sonship and daughtership with God.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:17
May Reflection: Am I actively engaging in God’s creation mandate for the part of the world that I’m able to influence? What sphere of influence has God given me? What am I stewarding?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Water flavor drops
- Heather: Marking Bible passages while watching The Chosen
- Brian: Springtime and tulips blooming
Weekly Spotlight: Bible Teacher Positions
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
On this Good Friday, author Justin Schell traces the mission of God as seen in the sacrifice of Christ – to reveal Himself to humanity so that we may know Him in the world He’s made – and calls the Church to witness to this Master who invites us to feast with Him.
- Learn more about Lausanne’s Younger Leaders Generation
- “Mission is one of those things in ministry and in Christianity that so easily can become about other things than about God.”
- “The mission of God is Him revealing Himself to humanity so that we might know Him in the world that He’s made.”
- “That’s our role as a Church – we are witnessing to the God who has made Himself known.”
- John 12:23-24, 31-32
- “You want to see the glory of God? You want to see the defeat of evil? Look at the cross.”
- “The cross is ground zero for the mission of God.”
- 2 Corinthians 2:14
- Romans 12
- “Our suffering isn’t a hindrance to the Gospel going forward; it’s actually the way it goes forward.”
- “God will use your fragrance, your sacrificed life, to bring men and women to know Him and to join the procession.”
- “There is no Christian ministry that isn’t cross-shaped. There is no such thing as true Christian ministry that’s not a dying to ourselves so that Christ might live through us.”
- “What will we do for Him if we will not feast with Him?” - Richard Sibbes
- “We can only serve the master for so long if we don’t actually enjoy Him.”
- “Don’t pray for perseverance, pray for joy, because you’re going to persevere in anything that you have joy in.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:17
- John 11
- “The Church is growing and being missional, even in the midst of their suffering.”
- “Christ is worth everything, and when things get hard, that’s a time to be on mission. We can be confident calling the world to Jesus, no matter what it costs, because it’s worth it.”
- “If you feel insignificant, you might finally be prepared to be someone who can witness to the all-sufficient God.”
- Luke 14
- “The Master’s heart is set on a feast.”
- “Do you know how good the Master is? Do you delight in Him? Do you think you could have a ministry of inviting people to a feast? If so, that’s what mission is.”
- “Whatever capacity you think you need, whatever brilliance you think you need to develop or that you’re missing – that’s not what you need. You need to know the heart of the master, and then with joy, go out and invite men and women [to] come [...] That kind of evangelism is Biblical evangelism.”
- “If you can spend your days allowing your heart to be warm in the sunlight of Jesus and then go out and invite people to enjoy Him with you, then you’re ready to be a missionary.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Sons learning to ride bicycles
- Heather: Microsoft Translator app
- Justin: Discovering a jazz radio station and sharing the book God Shines Forth
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Humor is one way to build rapport with your students, but there’s more to it than just being the “fun teacher.” Kevin McClintock – better known as Mr. McTiktok – shares from his experiences as a teacher and social media influencer, underscoring the importance of consistent boundaries and connecting with your students.
- Follow Kevin: Instagram | TikTok
- “When the kids come into class and they know what’s expected of them inside the class, we can get stuff done. We still can be funny, but we have certain goals.”
- “When you are kind of an entertainer, there’s always going to be this ebb and flow. Sometimes you have to be more direct.”
- “If they know that there are boundaries, they feel safe. That’s when you get to be silly, that’s when you get to be goofy and it’s not a detriment to class.”
- “My advice is to not just throw in humor but to get to know the kids. You have to observe them, you have to know their interests.”
- “Consistency is the key. Consistently pouring into those kids, you will break down their barriers.”
- “Consistency and showing interest in your students [are] way more important than just being goofy.”
- “The one thing that I miss [about teaching] is the relationship with the kids.”
- “You can’t teach a subject to someone that’s not willing. When you know them, that’s when they’re going to want to learn.”
- “I’m not going to get them to try to love history, but they know that I love them.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Replacing older shirts
- Heather: Messaging with her cousin’s daughter
- Kevin: Getting diagnosed with ADHD
Weekly Spotlight: Social Studies positions
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Are you moving internationally or returning to your passport country? Have a friend who will be relocating soon? Worlds Here and There is a guide for navigating this significant life transition. Listen in to hear from one of the creators of this resource, Paul Snider of MK2MK, as he shares about how this book came to be and the importance of processing the impacts of moving abroad, whether upcoming, recent past, or many years ago.
- Worlds Here and There: An Activity Book for International Transition
- MK2MK
- “How can we name and grieve the things that they’re losing [...] and look at what they’re entering into?”
- “Here and there is really about the magnitude of both places and naming all of the different parts of both places.”
- “It’s never too late to grieve a past transition.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Trading kids with neighbors during spring break
- Heather: Having her voice back after a cold
- Paul: Goodreads and reading more
Weekly Spotlight: Puebla Christian School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does it look like to bear with one another? What message are we proclaiming, and how does the message dwell within us? Brian Delamont returns to the podcast this week to unpack Colossians 3.
- “Learning is actually so rich and so all-encompassing. It’s not just hearing a tidbit of information or being able to do a single skill; it’s understanding and applying that skill in context, in community, in relationship to other things that are happening.”
- “It’s our churches, it’s the community of Jesus followers that we find ourselves in, that can be greenhouses and accelerators for transformation. They’re the places where we can really grow and mature together.”
- Colossians 1:28
- “When they welcome Onesimus back, this group of Jesus followers proclaims something. They proclaim that there is forgiveness. They proclaim that there is repentance. They proclaim that there is acceptance, regardless of what your social status is or what you may have done. You are welcome in this community. That is a proclamation because it’s verified by their actions.”
- Colossians 3:12-17
- “Bearing with one another is a continuous process.”
- “When we worship well, we let the message of Christ dwell among us.”
- “Worship, by its very nature, means that we submit our thinking, our voices, our bodies to God and align together with His truth. There’s a willing submission to participate with the larger group.”
- “Just as God is omnipresent, in everything and everywhere, there’s no space or action in our lives where He should not be, where His Name, His character isn’t seen and proclaimed.”
March Reflection: As a community, what do we proclaim to those around us?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: More frequent visits from his brother with the Frontier Airlines annual pass
- Heather: Rewatching episodes of The Chosen during Lent
- Brian: Using Pinterest for a home renovation project
Weekly Spotlight: HopeSeed School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Emmanuel and Ruth Mbennah serve as TeachBeyond leaders in Tanzania with an amazing story and vision for their country. Hear how Emmanuel’s childhood experience with school and Ruth’s background as a teacher play into their ministry today.
- “Where I was born and where I grew up, there was no church, there was no school, there was no hospital, there was no road going to that place.” -Emmanuel
- “No matter the circumstances in which one grows up, education can really define the destiny of the person. Education is key, education is possible. People regardless of where they are born and where they are raised; they have the potential to pursue education.” -Emmanuel
- “I was fortunate to have a teacher who also had a heart to expose us to the Word of God, and then somehow God used that to propel me into a further search.” -Emmanuel
- “You need education, but one that acknowledges and makes space for the learner to encounter the exposure to the Gospel so they can change.” -Emmanuel
- “I celebrate telling this story because I see the hand of God in my life.” - Emmanuel
- “We want teachers to know the Bible and to be able to transform students, and also students can transform communities.” -Ruth
- “The Gospel story is actually our strong instrument when we talk about transformation.” -Ruth
- “This is the kind of ministry that carries the mechanism that can lead to the realization of the promise of education.” -Emmanuel
- “We want them to know this is a very unique opportunity for the transformation of communities through the Gospel, using education. So I would like to impact schools, owners, managers, teachers, to have the philosophy of transformational education become the philosophy of education for Tanzania.” -Emmanuel
- “Everyone who has access to education must have access to education that can transform their lives.” -Emmanuel
- “I’m not in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am a product of divine orchestration to be here now to do what I’m doing.” -Emmanuel
- “I was not just lucky. God was up to something, and that something was for today, for such a time as this.” -Emmanuel
- “I want the Gospel to transform every group that I meet when I train using Sparrow Project strategies.” -Ruth
- “For us as believers, it’s not so much accomplishments as much as the grace of God that has propelled us to this point.” -Emmanuel
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Online book club
- Heather: Visiting a friend from university
- Ruth: Sparrow Project techniques
- Emmanuel: Speaking at a retreat and reflecting on his level of commitment
Weekly Spotlight: Sparrow Project
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Dr. Benny Fong joins co-hosts Heather Brown and Keane Fine to share perspectives and tips for leveraging AI as a teacher. Dr. Fong provides practical applications, ethical considerations, and how AI, when used wisely, can help minimize the mundane and allow educators to focus on relationships for Kingdom impact. What are your experiences with AI in your classroom or school? Share with us at podcast@teachbeyond.org.
- Episode 147: Being Human in the Age of AI
- “The misconception is that the kids will just shift totally to using an artificial teacher or something. [...] We know that book learning is really only one part of learning. The bigger part of learning comes from a mentor, a teacher, a guide to light that fire of curiosity.”
- “The whole idea of generative AI is to generate new content based on past context and experiences and information.”
- “You have to treat it as a new technology, emerging technology. What are you comfortable with?”
- “As with any technology, we [have] to know the ethical boundary and the privacy first,”
- Suggestions for practical application:
- ChatGPT for lesson planning with differentiation
- Perplexity or Copilot search engines
- Real-time translation
-
Multi-modal feature
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“We don’t want to shortcut the process for beginning teachers to become good teachers. We don’t want to shortcut the process for students to learn their content.”
- “I think the danger obviously is always viewing tools as good or bad. It’s always nuanced. I think that the more that we understand the tool [...] the better we can wield this tool [...] for God’s work and for His Kingdom.”
- “As educators, we are lifelong learners.”
- “AI is really just the latest in terms of tools that forces us as educators to be flexible in how we engage our stakeholders.”
- “Education leaders have to start [...] They need to recognize that things are changing. They need to work with the teachers and parents and students to formulate prudent policies first to get on the same page. Then, once things are on the same page, then that frees up the teacher to the next step, which is to innovate and learn.”
- “We want to build [...] salt and light and ambassadors to the world that needs the Gospel. What does that look like with the help of AI?”
- “Minimize the mundane stuff so that I can maximize the relationship.”
- “Real leaders are created through mentoring and through relationship. So, what I feel is that AI, if used properly, can actually maximize that relationship building and mentoring aspect with those around us.”
Learn more about TeachBeyond’s Transformational Teaching Conference here.
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Doodling on a Boogie Board LCD writing tablet
- Heather: HabitShare app
- Benny: Being reminded about grace at a recent marriage conference
Weekly Spotlight: Belize Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Thinking of serving in missions someday? Hear from co-host Heather Brown, along with mobilization coaches Rachel Schmitt and Amanda Cameron, about practical steps you can take now as you consider missions for the future – and in the meantime, make an impact where you are and continue to grow in Christ!
- Pray.
- Operation World
- Joshua Project
- Serve where you are.
- “How can I be plugged in? How can I use what God’s given me and actually build and grow those skills that could be used in the future? Those things can be used now, too, and benefitting the communities that we’re in. It can help with our discernment in the future, but also has an impact now.” -Heather
- Take a trip internationally.
- “I love that God is the same God everywhere.” -Heather
- “It was a great opportunity for me to see life outside of my own small little bubble that I had grown up in, to expand my horizons, to learn more about what it looks like to live in another country, to see how things are done differently, and to see how the church functions in other countries.” -Rachel
- Learn more about TeachBeyond’s short-term trips here.
- Get involved in a missions-minded church.
- “I remember feeling inspired, like, ‘I want to go to Africa. I want to be at a school in Africa.’ That stirred in me that desire, and it wasn’t until years later that God opened the door for me to actually do that.” -Amanda
- Seek wisdom from others.
- “With wisdom and discernment, bring people in who can help you with wisdom and discernment.” -Heather
- Befriend internationals.
- “There’s such a value to spending time with people and learning about their cultures.” -Amanda
- Give sacrificially to missions.
- “We cultivate a heart for missions as we invest in missions.” -Heather
- Attend a missions conference or class.
- Urbana Missions Conference
- Perspectives on the World Christian Movement
- Read, listen, and learn.
- A Life Overseas
- Mission Smart by David Frazier
- Follow TeachBeyond on social media: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn
- Missionroadmap.org
- Download our free Next Steps journal!
Closing Advice:
- “Be proactive [...] and move forward and God will reveal where He wants each of us to be.” -Amanda
- “As long as you’re continuing to move forward, He’ll guide you and lead you in the direction that He wants you to go.” -Rachel
Want to connect with a mobilization coach? Fill out this quick form to begin a conversation!
Read the article related to today’s conversation here.
What’s changing our lives:
- Heather: Gather25
- Amanda: Thrift stores
- Rachel: Pacas socks
Weekly Spotlight: Sign up to receive TeachBeyond News
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Brian Delamont, TeachBeyond Vice President, returns to the podcast to share from 2 Corinthians 5 about what it looks like for our personal, internal transformation to impact culture – “getting out of our heads and into our neighborhoods.”
- Romans 12:1-2
- “Every culture, every sub-culture, has patterns of thinking, patterns of behavior.”
- Corporate Cultures by Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy
- “For everyone everywhere, there’s a ‘way that we do things around here.’ So what people think moves then from internal to external because it’s the values that drive the action. What you value in your thinking is going to exhibit itself in what you do.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
- “Transformed thinking leads to transformed practices.”
- “Trying to make people behave in the ways that Christians behave without the transformation of Christ is impossible. You can’t make an old creation behave like a new creation.”
- “Because you have been made new in Christ, the life that you live should look different.”
- Christ and Culture by Richard Niebuhr
- Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.
- Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch
- Galatians 2:20
- “A life shapes culture because it lives out the transforming values of what it believes.”
- “Our lives matter more than we know because God, in His sovereignty, is working through the symphony of lives that is the single tone of each Jesus-follower combining with His global Church to reveal His glory to the world.”
February Reflection: Where is the Holy Spirit prompting me to bring more of the culture of His Kingdom coming? What step will I take to be the influence that Jesus is giving me the opportunity to be?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: YouTube video about loading the dishwasher
- Heather: Networking with new and old connections (and check out the Head of School search here!)
- Brian: Preparing legos from his sons’ childhood to play with grandchildren
Weekly Spotlight: International Christian School of Togo
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
This episode covers a lot of ground as co-hosts Keane and Heather talk with Pastor Dave Totman. Dave shares about his experience growing up on the mission field, his own calling to missions, and invaluable suggestions for anyone considering serving in missions. He also unpacks what it means for a church to “hold the ropes” for its missionaries and the blessing of having his adult daughter now serving in missions.
- Listen to some of our previous Third Culture Kid episodes.
- “When [my dad] was told no, he trusted that what God was doing in his heart and in his life, that God was going to make it happen.”
- “Where we are weak, where sometimes we feel like or have even been told that we don’t have what it takes, God can overcome any of that stuff.”
- “God can use me with my interests and my gifting in a very different way than my dad.”
- Third Culture Kids by David Pollock and Ruth Van Reken
- “It was not a couple of days or couple of weeks thing; this was actually a couple of years. It took a while for me to realize what God was doing.”
- “Any decisions have to be saturated in prayer.”
- Operation World and Joshua Project
- “The process of praying through and considering those different things and the conversations that that led to around the dining room table - that was where God was working and shaping our hearts.”
- “You open up your hands to God, and you say, ‘Anywhere, anytime, anything. I just want to be obedient. I’m going to follow You. You made me in Your image, and You’ve designed me to bring You glory, so I want to bring You glory, and I’ll do it anywhere, anytime, I’ll do anything to bring You glory.’”
- “Looking for wise counsel around you [...] that’s a really vital piece of discerning God’s will.”
- “We are called to reach our neighbors, we are called to reach our wider community, but we are also called to be the Gospel light around the world.”
- “We’ve been the recipients of seeing a church be faithful to [holding the ropes].”
- “We need to know our missionaries, we need to care for our missionaries, and that’s way beyond caring for just their financial needs.”
- “One way to support is to read the prayer updates carefully, and then we’re all humans, so let’s engage at a human level with compassion.”
- Dave’s suggestions if you’re considering missions:
- Pray!
- Ask others to pray with you
- Consider taking a short-term mission trip
- Read missionary biographies
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Serve where you are
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“For a boat that’s tied to the dock, the rudder is worthless [...] Once you push off, the rudder can direct the boat anywhere. I don’t want to be a boat tied to the dock asking God to lead me.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Lego sets
- Heather: Instagram feed of only those you’re following (here’s how!)
- Dave: Learning from Charles Spurgeon this year
Weekly Spotlight: Sahel Academy and International Christian School of Budapest
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Is teaching just about the information, or is it more than that? Co-host Keane Fine sits down with Dr. James Enns for a conversation about how Christocentric education can impact on our desires and captivate our imaginations.
- Contact podcast@teachbeyond.org if you’d like to access a copy of Facets of Transformational Education!
- “Is it just information? How does formation happen?”
- Desiring the Kingdom by James K. A. Smith
- “We can know the right thing to do, but that doesn’t guarantee we’re going to do it.”
- “We are desiring beings before we are cognitive, reflective beings.”
- “We see visions of the good life that appeal to our loves well before we articulate it in any kind of worldview or philosophy.”
- “We need to understand that all good education comes out of a relationship.”
- “What we do with our bodies matters, and we learn through embodied actions, even when our rational conscious faculty isn’t tuned into them.”
- “We have to get to know the script to know how to act as improvisational characters consistent with the plot line.”
- “It takes a great deal of creativity and being less a slave to get through the curriculum and more let’s enjoy the ride as far as we go.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Phone Minimalist app
- James: Being a grandparent and meditative prayer
Weekly Spotlight: Christian English School of Torino
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Since 1974, the Lausanne Movement has hosted several Lausanne Congresses, momentous gatherings focused on the state of the Great Commission and collaboration for the future of global missions. In September 2024, over 5,000 believers from over 200 nations assembled in South Korea for the Fourth Lausanne Congress. Hear from two TeachBeyond members - Susie Njogu from Kenya and A. S. from a creative access location - about their experiences and where they hope this will lead in the future.
- Learn more about the Lausanne Movement
- “There’s no one particular organization or person that can advance this Great Commission by themselves. Together we can do better to advance the Gospel.” -Susie
- “Unless the Church comes together, we cannot fulfill the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ.” -A
- “Education is a very powerful tool [to] reach unreached people groups.” -A
- “[The Great Commission] is not a command or a mandate for people just in a certain region; it’s for all of us.” -Susie
- Article from CBN
- “Collaboration can help us to reach more diverse people and unreached people groups.” -A
- “Persecution is there, yes, but God continues to protect His people and have His work advance.” -Susie
- “We have to continue sharing the Word of God to people whom we meet, wherever they are.” -A
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Reading The Chronicles of Narnia to his children
- Heather: Taking a break from leading a small group
- Susie: Reading The Body Keeps the Score with her book club
- A: Teaching theology, specifically salvation
Weekly Spotlight: Arbor Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What keeps you up at night? What thoughts play on repeat in your mind? In this episode, Brian Delamont joins us to explore how God transforms our thinking—especially when it comes to anxiety and security. Drawing from Scripture we discuss how trusting in God's care can reshape our worries and bring lasting peace. Tune in for a thoughtful conversation on seeking God's Kingdom first and allowing His truth to guard our hearts and minds.
- Get Out of Your Head by Jennie Allen
- Proverbs 12:25
- The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
- “Anxiety can flow from what we expose ourselves to, and it can be addressed or mitigated by what we expose ourselves to, as well.”
- Luke 12:22-34
- “God will take care of what is in His hands. Every good father watches over his children. The Father knows what you need.”
- “God’s Kingdom is where He rules and He reigns. It’s the wonder of the garden creation and the splendor of the new city with the Lamb of God and its centerpiece and light. Think about seeing God’s Kingdom in relationship to anxiety and security. When I seek His Kingdom, there is no fear in this task. It’s God’s Kingdom, and He rules, so I don’t need to. He invites me to be part of that dominion, and the starting point for God’s Kingdom coming is my heart and mind. If I give Him me, then his Kingdom will begin to be seen in me because I’ll reflect it. And God knows what we need.
- “Our Shepherd will provide care; therefore, I don’t need to be afraid to do what He has called me to do.”
- “Transformation is a change in how I think.”
- Psalm 127:2
- “God will accomplish His purposes. No amount of hard work, early mornings, late nights are going to gain a thing if God’s not in it.”
- “Rest is one of the gifts God has given us to counter anxiety and release control.”
- Philippians 4:6-8
- “God is offering us peace, even in persecution which is beyond a normal human response… It’s God setting up a fortress of peace around your heart and your mind.”
- The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
- Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard
January Reflection: What am I thinking most about?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
- Heather: Cordless rechargeable lamps
- Brian: Reflecting on what he is thinking about
Weekly Spotlight: Christian Academy in Mozambique
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Chloe Powell, university student in the USA, shares about her summer internship experience with TeachBeyond - learning about the organization, using her gifts to serve, and deepening her understanding of global missions.
- “Whether you’re the missionary being sent or you’re the sender offering your support, those roles are all needed.”
- “You hear a lot about missionaries and they’re the ones who are going out on the mission field and serving, but there’s so much that happens behind the scenes, and those people are still considered missionaries, as well.”
- “I witnessed a practical approach to be able to contextualize the Gospel message in a way that’s understandable cross-culturally while still valuing that person’s cultural identity.”
- “Displaying humility and being willing to ask questions can really lead to beautiful relationships.”
- “When you ask lots of different TeachBeyond members about what TeachBeyond is, they are likely going to give you many different answers. Through my internship, I was able to get a glimpse of a variety of those different descriptions and see the different parts that make up TeachBeyond.”
- “Knowing that I don’t have to do it on my own and that the Lord has prepared the way and He has prepared me and equipped me with all that I need to be able to do that, that was so encouraging to hear.”
- “Pursue whatever the Lord is placing on your heart and continue to walk through those doors that the Lord has opened for you, and just trust that His plan is great.”
- “It can be so easy to want to stay in your own comfort zone, but it’s in those moments when we’re out of our comfort zones that we experience the most growth.”
- “Being part of something bigger than myself and knowing that the Lord can use me to help transform lives and communities around the world is just such an exciting thing.”
- “My generation has a great access to understanding and wanting to learn more about people who are different than ourselves, and I think that’s something that we can really bring to the mission field.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Heather: Creating stickers on iMessage
- Chloe: Time with family and friends over the holidays
Weekly Spotlight: Internships with TeachBeyond
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What exactly does a Head of School do? What does your school leader wish you knew? Hear from two school directors, Walter Hopkins and Lori Neuman, about their experiences leading Christian schools, from big-picture vision to the everyday details.
- “What the vision was initially – to reach Spain – has been expanded to reaching the nations with the Gospel message.” - Walter
- “The Lord has placed a shepherd’s heart in me, and that’s what I love to be able to do - to be able to shepherd the staff and the students.” - Walter
- “It’s a big mix of the day-to-day little minute things but also the big picture and the direction that the school is going, so it’s a fun mix. Each day is unique and full of new things that I have no idea will come, and that’s honestly what makes it fun – it’s always different.” - Lori
- “God gives us little by little additional responsibilities and ideas and opportunities. So, I think it’s important to say ‘yes’ and trust God with what He’s giving you, and seek Him in all of it.” - Lori
- “I never ever twenty years ago would have imagined myself sitting in this chair.” - Walter
- “When they see a school leader not being fazed by things or not letting their emotions get in the way of leading, that makes a big difference to them.” - Lori
- “If I’m asking things of the staff that I myself don’t want to do or don’t think I have time to do, then that’s probably a good check that I don’t think this is a good thing to be asking of the staff.” - Lori
- “It’s healthy to delegate because you can’t do it all. I can’t do it all, and even though I think that I can, that’s just pride.” - Lori
- “One of the most important ways that someone can support a school leader is through prayer.” - Walter
- “To see what is happening outside of our school building, where parents are doing life on life with other parents, and they’re out there in the plaza outside of the school sometimes for hours and hours, and the love of Christ is being shared – that’s a beautiful thing to see.” - Walter
Click here to learn more about current school leadership openings with TeachBeyond!
What’s changing our lives:
- Heather: New baby niece
- Lori: Finding a quicker route to get home from work
- Walter: Balancing graduate classes with work and life
Weekly Spotlight: LIFE International School in Spain and GDQ International Christian School in Albania
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Author Katy Boatman shares about how to come alongside pre-teens with the truth of God’s Word and the reassurance of His presence as they navigate fear and anxiety.
- Learn more about Katy Boatman here!
- Resources from David Thomas and Sissy Goff
- “We’re dealing with an anxious generation. To be aware of it is important, but also to help them navigate what they are truly feeling is really important.”
- “Reminding them that they’re not alone is one of the most important things [...] There is a God that is truly with them.”
- “When we say the phrase ‘you can rest’ and ‘you can trust,’ my hope is that, to these kids, it is a reminder that they’re not alone, that God is with them, and that He does have a plan.”
- “The Lord is my shepherd, I have what I need.” Psalm 23:1
- “Thankfully, we have the story, we have Scripture in front of us. So, we know where this thing is headed, we know how the story ends. But, that takes a daily kind of surrender to self and a daily reminder that God is good, that God is with us [...] He’s in control, and you’re not alone.”
Check out other episodes we mentioned:
- Episode 19: Emotional Health & the Mood Meter with Amy Massingale
- Episode 72: Processing Loss with Sarah Fine
- Episode 46: Processing Trauma with Annie Stepanenko
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Playing four-square with his sons
- Heather: Journal app
- Katy: Pickleball
Weekly Spotlight: International School of the Caucasus
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
For our first episode of 2025 we are digging out an episode from the archives! Enjoy this conversation from 2021 discussing how to move into the new year with intentionality.
Are you setting New Year’s Resolutions or goals for 2021? Join us for this conversation with Mark Giebink, TeachBeyond’s Director of Member Care, helping us shift our focus from striving for success to hope-filled surrender.
- Reimagining the Examen App
- “Silence and Solitude, things that we tend to ignore in our busy lives, help us to make space for that reflection to give us time to look back, but then also to look forward, to really have a conversation with God about what we want life to look like.”
- “If COVID has given us a gift, I think it’s been to slow us down a little bit. It’s exposed our interiors. As our outside world is iffy and unstable, it has exposed our hearts.”
- “We can rearrange the furniture in our lives, but the real change happens inside us, in our hearts and in our minds.”
- “Three key ingredients to transformation are honesty, God’s presence, and a loving environment.”
- “God lives and works and meets us in reality. He doesn’t meet us in what we wish were the case or our fantasyland; He meets us in real life. That’s the beauty of the incarnation.”
- Romans 15:13
- “Hope is a huge ingredient for change. If we don’t have hope, we’re not going to do it.”
- “Love is so much greater a motivation to change than fear.”
- “Celebrating every success is important, breaking that big overarching goal into small steps.”
- “Hold resolutions with open hands and make them an ongoing conversation with God so that it’s not a one-time conversation.”
- “There are two circles in life: things we can control and things we can’t. We have to make sure our resolutions are related to things we can control.”
- “To know that we are known and loved by God, that’s a great motivator for transformation.”
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Rocket book
- Heather: Snuggly Sweater candle
- Mark: Chickens and grandkids
Weekly Spotlight: Dakar Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
In the final episode of 2024, Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to talk about transformed direction. Repentance isn’t just a one-time event at the time of salvation but a daily surrender and redirection.
- Joel 2:12-13
- “We can rationalize or explain just about anything in our behavior and our thinking rather than truly commit to a transformed direction.”
- “God is longing for us to genuinely change, for us to live lives fully integrated and aligned with Him.”
- Hear more about VIM on Episode 157
- Listen to “Come, Thou Fount” here and read more about the story behind the song here
- Acts 2
- “Repentance is not a one time for all time thing, but it is an ongoing act of our relationship with God.”
- “To repent is turning from sin and turning to God.”
- “It’s impossible to underestimate the power of a transformational change in direction. It can break generational patterns of behavior and bring freedom to entire family lines, entire communities.”
- A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson
- “God does give us moments, like mile markers along the way, that show us progress.”
- Mark 1:15
- “Transformation is not me mustering up enough grit or resolve to somehow change my life. Rather, I become a new creation in Christ Jesus. And this is made possible through the very life of Christ, the Holy Spirit living in me, pouring His life into my life in every way.”
December Reflection: What do I know needs changing? What do I need to repent of, so that I live fully into God’s future for me in the coming year?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Neighborhood friends
- Heather: Doing “sprint” work on projects with her team
- Brian: Eggnog in his coffee
Weekly Spotlight: GDQ International Christian School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
From playing music with his family to his calling into missions work to touring through Germany, musician Danny Plett traces the story of God’s provision and faithfulness in his life. Danny pulls back the curtain on dark seasons of his life and gives a behind-the-scenes look at his Christmas tour in Germany.
- Learn more about Danny Plett here!
- “My prayer had always been: ‘I want to be able to provide for my family, I want my ministry to affect people for Jesus Christ, and I want to be able to not burn my family out.’”
- “God’s economy is just so different. What we consider big and what we consider successful is maybe great for some people, but it’s a bit of a misnomer in the economy of God’s Kingdom. I began to see things very differently. I began to see success and see what was significant, what was important, in a completely different way.”
- “In those seasons of vulnerability, the enemy comes and he really tries to ramp up, turn the volume up on fears.”
- “There’s a lot of material that I can choose from to write songs from – songs of hope, songs of lament, songs of joy because the dark days are over, songs of praise and worship, songs that talk about my doubts and my fears, and many, many people can relate to that.”
- “There’s a handwork aspect of songwriting that many people can learn, but then you have to put soul into that container. You have to put authenticity and a kind of realness that impacts people on a deeper level.”
- “Christmas is really just my favorite time of the year. It’s when the Savior of the universe entered my world, and there’s so much material there that can be written in countless songs.”
- “I want to write songs with depth. I want to write songs that go to the true spiritual meaning of Christmas - and for that, for the unplumbable depth of what took place at Christmas, for that reason, I love Christmas.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Starting a new journal
- Heather: Hobby nights with friends resuming
- Danny: Going slower and being in shape
Weekly Spotlight: International Academy of St. Petersburg
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
In this episode, TeachBeyond educators reflect on the profound significance of the incarnation in the classroom, exploring how Jesus’ full humanity and divinity shape Christian teaching. Through personal insights and Scriptural wisdom, we discuss embodying Christ’s love, the power of living out the Word, and practical advice for celebrating Advent with joy. Join us as we consider how the incarnation transforms not only our hearts but also the way we educate.
- Sign up for TeachBeyond’s OnPractice newsletter here!
- “Hills of the North Rejoice”
- “When Love Came Down” by Point of Grace
- “In Jesus is the full expression of God but it’s Jesus’ full humanity. A central Christian claim is that Jesus was fully God and fully human [...] We only know what God is like through Jesus’ full humanity.” - Wyndy
- “While not bound by time, there is significance about the particular ways in which God chose to show up.” - Wyndy
- “Jesus was Jewish, Jesus was working class, Jesus had to flee for His life at some point as a political refugee, and those things seem to matter. They matter to the Gospel writers.” - Wyndy
- John 1
- “The incarnation is Word made flesh. While we will never fully be incarnate because God is God incarnate, God became flesh, we are called to be like Jesus. We are called to incarnate the word that He has given us.” - Becky
- “Jesus lived out what it means to be love on earth.” - Becky
- Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics by Samuel Wells
- “How do we know how to make these improvisations? How do we know how to act? It’s by studying the script.” - Becky
- “If I want them to see Jesus in me, that means I have to have Jesus in me. I have to be spending time in the Word and have the Word dwelling in me in order for my students to see that.” - Heather
- The Soul of Ministry: Forming Leaders for God’s People by Ray Anderson
- “Lean into it, have fun with it. Let’s just rejoice in this time period of a little more crazy. There’s so much fun in it, too.” - Heather
- “Advent is the beginning of the church year. It now sets the season for everything that is to come.” - Wyndy
What’s changing our lives:
- Heather: Compassionate time management
- Wyndy: Focus on rest in this season
- Heather: Using her walk to and from school to be still
- Becky: Exploring the topic of “the city” in Scripture while working on a course
Weekly Spotlight: Positions in Art, Drama, and Music
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
How do you picture the nativity scene? Jessica Jenkins shares historical and cultural insight into the birth of Jesus and shares encouragement for telling the story of Christmas.
- Follow Jessica Jenkins at We Who Thirst
- Read about the Historically Accurate Nativity
- “In a house birth, Mary would be surrounded by family and neighbor women and possible midwives, and so you have this whole community surrounding Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. Rather than them being shamed and ostracized and pushed away, it’s the gathering in and caring for them.”
- “Luke tells us that this house had a guest room. That word in Greek, ‘kataluma,’ is often what is translated in many English translations as the ‘inn.’ Where we’re used to reading in Luke 2 ‘there was no room for them in the inn,’ the Greek word there is ‘kataluma,’ which really means ‘guest room.’”
- Luke 22 and Mark 14
- “It’s not going to be sparse, like our typical stable scenes, where it’s just Mary and Joseph and a sheep. You’re going to have aunties and hosts and hostess and kids running around screaming and maybe a chicken flying through.”
- “You mean Jesus came to be one of us? He’s not born in a palace?”
- “Jesus is the One who draws near. He is with you.”
- “It’s really amazing to think about how God just surrounds these people, and He just puts Himself right in the middle of everyday happenings. The angels come and announce in a big way, which it’s definitely worth announcing, but He’s also just coming in the absolute simplicity of birth and day-to-day life.”
- “The typical nativity story is God not with us. God’s away in a manger. He’s pushed out, He’s far away, He’s not really with us, He’s over there. But Emmanuel is God with us.”
- “Figuring out how to teach kids about Jesus can feel really overwhelming. Don’t feel like you have to do it all at once.”
- “God came to be with His people, including children.”
- “If we can ground our kids [in the truth] that Jesus is near them, rather than being a far-off distant God ready to reject them at a moment’s notice for a failure, but He’s a God who draws near, that will fundamentally change how they view God and their ability to attach to God and trust God.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Staffs made out of dowels for his kids
- Heather: Meet-up with other Christian women in her area
- Jessica: Sweatshirts
Weekly Spotlight: ENLACE English Language Center
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Brian Delamont talks with co-hosts Heather and Keane about how God often works through difficult circumstances to transform us: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16).
- “He’s in control, and He is good. He leads us into this opportunity to have difficulties and trials become part of the transformation that He longs for us to experience in order to become all that He intends.”
- “We’ve been given this amazing gift of the Holy Spirit, the glory of God in us, to move us towards transformation.”
- 2 Corinthians 3:18-4:1
- “Transformation means difficulty, and difficulty can mean transformation, if we choose to let it work in us the way God intends it to.”
- Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer
- “It’s not a matter of instant change. There is no experience in the Christian life that will reproduce His image in a moment. It is a process, not a crisis.”
- “You and I are not fully transformed the moment we decide to act on Jesus’ invitation to become His apprentices. It’s this ongoing process.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:6-10
- “Spiritual growth and transformation doesn’t mean we have fewer and fewer challenges. It means that when the challenges come, when I’m hard pressed, for example, my response is that it’s more like Jesus. There’s the fruit of the Spirit.”
- “Am I suffering because I’m doing things that are contrary to God’s best design for my life, or am I suffering because I’m doing things that are going to reveal His greater glory?”
- 2 Corinthians 4:15-18
- “In the transformation process we don’t run to difficulties, or foolishly seek out persecution or ridicule. This is not the life Jesus modeled for us at all [...] Suffering itself is not the purpose. If that were the case then God would be tremendously cruel.”
- “God has good outcomes for us in mind: Our transformation through difficulties, our growth in joy, perseverance, character, hope, and in being refined to reveal the glory of God.”
- 2 Corinthians 3:2-6
- “Our sufferings, our difficulties do more than transform us as individuals. They can transform our friends and our family, our community, as we share and journey through these experiences together.”
- “It’s not instant happiness [...] it’s walking with God through these difficult times. And we know the difficulties are actually a given if we follow Jesus.”
- “In walking through these difficulties that transformation becomes so much more visible. It reveals the genuine power of the gospel in the midst of my difficulties, in the midst of our suffering together. And yet in these challenges, we do not lose heart.”
- “God is in control. He is sovereign. He sees you, and He is also running the universe in the way He wants it run – in a good way, ultimately, because God is not just sovereign, He is good. And we can rest in that so that we do not lose heart.”
- Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering by Timothy Keller
November Reflection: What do You want to transform in my life right now as I face this difficulty?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Sticker door
- Heather: Functional strength training
- Brian: Having a rare, non-cancerous tumor
Weekly Spotlight: Asunción Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Jack Stenekes has been serving with TeachBeyond (formerly Janz Team) for over 50 years, first on the stage and then behind the scenes in administration and finance. What stories and wisdom does he have to share? Listen in to hear his heart for evangelism and faithful obedience to the Lord.
- Learn more about the history of Janz Team and TeachBeyond in Episode 159: The Roots of TeachBeyond with George and Beverley Durance.
- “Music was to undergird and support the work of evangelism, and it always was meant that way.”
- “We’d have up to 80% unchurched kids that would come out for these events, and I think in those occasions, I realized, ‘Wow, God is doing something very remarkable through our presentation of the Gospel through music and through the preaching of the Word.’”
- “Even though changes were there, doors of opportunity also became available.”
- “It’s not necessarily a person’s ability, but a person’s availability.”
- “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” - Corrie Ten Boom
- “When you do look back, you see it in perspective, and that’s not possible when you’re in it. With all of the changes that took place, I’m just so grateful that the Lord impressed upon me just to stick with it and do what you need to do at the moment.”
- “Let’s do this together. The Lord has a way forward. He has solutions for us, and I’m happy to be part of it. A person doesn’t have to be in the limelight; that’s not necessarily where it’s at.”
- “Anticipate that God is going to continue to give you a means to serve.”
- “Our vision and our purpose should be to reach people for Christ.”
- “That’s my prayer for the organization - that we actually aim for the heart of people, not just for their minds.”
- “God is going to provide what we need for the moment in the times of challenge.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Getting a large white board
- Heather: Stories from the 70th anniversary episodes
- Jack: Getting older and learning a new pace
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Persevering through difficult seasons often brings new perspectives on God’s faithfulness and provision. In this episode, two school leaders - Steshire Buyinza in Uganda and Ellen Kujawski in the Dominican Republic - share about their experiences pioneering in establishing new schools and how they have seen God at work amidst challenges. Don’t miss the special 70th anniversary story from TeachBeyond’s first teacher!
- Learn more about Arbor Christian Academy ( serve | give | follow ), Butambala Christian Learning Center ( learn | give | follow ), and Black Forest Academy ( serve | give | follow )
- “We started this school out of the need that we saw in the community for young people to have something that they could do and feel like they mattered in the community - but as well, preach Christ to them, preach the living hope to them, give them the love of Christ, for them to know that they are loved, they are not alone.” - Steshire Buyinza
- “Is this where God has called us? Is this what we’re supposed to be doing? And He just over and over affirmed that, ‘Yes, I have called you to San Francisco.’” - Ellen Kujawski
- “We didn’t want to be the people who came in with our vision of what we thought a school should be. We really wanted to be sure that it reflected the needs and desires of the local community.” - Ellen Kujawski
- “I have learned that God is good and He is good. I have learned that when you trust God, everything is possible.” - Steshire Buyinza
- “What I have really learned from persevering through these difficult things is that God is faithful.” - Steshire Buyinza
- “It’s so easy for us to forget the things that God has done because in the moment they are such big concerns, and then I’m learning to celebrate when God does meet those needs instead of just moving on to the next concern.” - Ellen Kujawski
- “This all belongs to God. He is the one who called you and He is faithful [...] This is His work. Whatever we are doing, it is all for His glory.” - Steshire Buyinza
- “You’re not alone. You’re not the only one who is facing these kinds of situations.” - Ellen Kujawski
- “You’re doing a great job. God has trusted you as a vessel to reach out to these children, to reach out to these young people. May God bless you.” - Steshire Buyinza
What’s changing our lives:
- Heather: New routines with shorter days
- Ellen: Raising a 15-month-old
- Steshire: Reading through the book of Genesis with her students
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
This year, we celebrate the 70th anniversary of TeachBeyond! TeachBeyond was actually formerly known as Janz Team Ministries for over 50 years, changing its name to TeachBeyond in 2009. Listen in to hear more of the story of how TeachBeyond came about as we talk with George and Beverley Durance - well known for their family ties to the original Janz Team and their roles as former TeachBeyond President and Donor Services.
- “Being part of the Janz family played a huge, positive role in my life.” - Bev Durance
- “We said, ‘Wow, we would really like to do something for God, and we don’t want to get old and wonder what it would have been like to do that.’” - George Durance
- “The biggest motivator [..] was just strictly a deep desire to say the same thing in the 21st century that our forefathers had said in the 20th century, and if we were going to do that, we had to change how we said that.” - George Durance
- “We started by praying. I think this has become a real hallmark of TeachBeyond – that we pray.” - George Durance
- “When you have faith, you always act. Faith is never sitting on your backside. You ask and then you act.” - George Durance
- “When you put your foot on the accelerator, don’t take it off because you’ll never find it again.” - George Durance
- “If you’re going to cast a vision, you have to actually have a vision.” - George Durance
- “We see transformed lives, we see people changed across the globe, based on an educational initiative that the Holy Spirit has empowered and used.” - George Durance
- “Who would have guessed that I would follow in my mother’s footsteps to process the donations to support this work?” - Bev Durance
- “We determined that we would take every opportunity to develop relationships with the donors […] Our job was to give the organization face for the many people who wanted to support the work.” - Bev Durance
- “I just love seeing God's hand of provision at work every day, and that transforms a person.” - Bev Durance
- “So how does one keep going? How does one persevere in doing good? As we know, we will reap the harvest if we keep persevering, and one of the ways is to remember right from the beginning that God has gone before and prepared hearts and that you’re in the center of His will, no matter how hard or discouraged you feel.” - George Durance
- “Our missionaries are doing this – communicating the Gospel and discipling students in educational settings around the world – and I think my uncles would be so pleased to see the work they started continuing in this way.” - Bev Durance
Learn more about TeachBeyond’s annual Day of Giving here!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Scheduled phone calls with his brother
- Heather: Visiting her mentor from a past season
- Beverley: Entering retirement and more time with family
- George: Keeping busy in this season of life
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Can missions really have a positive impact on diplomacy? Dr. Phil Dow, Head of School at Black Forest Academy, shares about his research and personal experience with faithful missionaries whose impact expanded beyond what they could have imagined.
- Phil’s book, Accidental Diplomats: American Missions and the Cold War in Africa
- Special Providence by Walter Russell Mead
- “I’ve grown up within the missionary community; I have a passion for seeing that work thrive, seeing God honored through the Great Commission around the world. Missions was everywhere around me.”
- “The history books actually have a lot to do with people’s misconceptions.”
- “When I looked around the peers of my parents, the work that they were doing, what I saw was people that were there not getting wealthy, not in with the rich and powerful, not politically powerful or aiming for that, so the reality was very, very different from the stereotype.”
- “They were going truly to the ends of the earth. And so, if they were going for wealth and power and influence, they went to the wrong places.”
- “These missionaries went out to share their faith and to love their neighbor, and not to do that at the center of political power, and yet they end up having a massive influence.”
- “How in the world did they have such a huge influence? The answer is really because they simply were doing the work that God had called them to.”
- “Christianity as a global faith has been a twentieth century story, and that is intimately connected to the story of evangelical missions, and Africa is the most obvious glaring example of that.”
- “It was because they didn’t care about political power that they were so influential. It’s because they were simply being obedient to God’s calling on their lives that they were trusted because they weren’t seen as manipulating or power hungry.”
- “What excites me is the future of the Global South in the Great Commission.”
- “I’m optimistic about the continuing role of the US and Canada and countries that have been traditional sending countries to continue to play a role, even if it looks a little different than it did thirty, forty, or fifty years ago.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: A crawling baby and an office full of plants
- Heather: New mug from a Germany pottery market
- Phil: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
Weekly Spotlight: Black Forest Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
In this episode, Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to talk with Keane and Heather about Romans 12:2 — what it means to be transformed by renewal of our minds, rather than being conformed by the world.
- Romans 12:1-2
- “God is the master designer of all transformation. Since He created humanity in His image, He has the most precise and the most boundless understanding of what we can become in His design.”
- 1 Peter 1:14
- “It’s a moment by moment discipline to think and live in the Holy Spirit’s path for us.”
- “This is what He intends for us – not to be squeezed into something we’re not, but rather to have every aspect of our lives be everything He knows it can be.”
- “metamorphoo” - Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Matthew 17:2, Mark 9:2
- “The glory God has for us is revealed as we do the things our Father does and live the lives He intends for us to live. Our transformation shatters the power the mold of conforming wants to put on us and reveals more and more of the glory of God in our lives and in our world.”
- Vision (the desired outcome), Intention (deciding to do it), Means (the way or ways to achieve the desired outcome)
- Titus 3:5
- “Transformation challenges all of how I live as a human, and for renewal to happen I need to make a commitment to transformation.”
- “Changed thinking both comes from and results in a changed brain - literally, a renewed mind.”
October Reflection:
- What is your vision? (Do you genuinely want to be transformed?)
- What is your intention? (You must decide to change.)
- What is your means? (What action steps will you take to move towards the change God has for you?)
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: A crawling baby
- Heather: The Gift of Limitations by Sara Hagerty and the boundary lines falling for us in pleasant places (Psalm 16)
- Brian: Stretching his skills as a musician
Weekly Spotlight: Ukarumpa International School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Have you ever felt pressure to figure out your whole life? Do you ever wonder what God is doing when you look at the fragmented pieces of your story? Gabriel Klein, TeachBeyond member in Brazil, shares how God has led him from a teenage dream to play in a band to go to seminary, learn video editing, and become a missionary.
- “For lots of students, what impacts them the most is listening to other students talking about what happened, talking about how God changed them, how God worked in their lives. So right now I have the chance to be the one listening to the stories and like recording them and editing and sharing them.”
- “What God is doing is a lot bigger than what I can see and what I can put in a two-minute video.”
- “God uses different things to transform people’s lives… God uses our gifts, no matter how different they are.”
- “I don't need to have this huge crisis every time I need to make a decision because He's taking care of it.”
- “It’s not about what I do but about being someone that loves Him and growing in my relationship with Him, and remembering that He is doing it and not me. It’s His job, it’s His ministry, it’s His story, after all. I’m just a part of it.”
- “I was looking at my calling and my future as something that was like a mystery that I needed to try to solve so that I could understand God's will for my life. Right now, I can see that He has been guiding me all the way through here, through all these transitions, through all these different jobs and different experiences.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Playing street soccer with his sons
- Heather: Dahlias blooming late
- Gabriel: The Common Rule by Justin Earley
Weekly Spotlight: English Camps
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does it look like to cultivate a classroom environment that fosters integrity and responsibility? Rosemary Openda, seasoned educator and TeachBeyond member in Romania, shares relatable stories and practical tips for teachers to approach this topic intentionally.
- Rosemary’s Article | Sign up to receive OnPractice
- “It’s not just giving them knowledge; our very own lives should reflect Christ and should be a model that a student can emulate.”
- “When you cultivate integrity in your class as a teacher, you give the student room to learn, room to be themselves and to value them, and also to understand that failing is not the end of it.”
- “Communication is both verbal and nonverbal. How you communicate to your student matters a lot.”
- “A teacher is a role model in class and outside class. So when I’m speaking to my student, they are able to see the authenticity in me.”
- “Honesty is not just a matter of the classroom; it’s a matter of the heart.”
- “I have value in them as a student, as a person, and that changes the way they look at things, and it promotes a positive attitude.”
- “Our words are very powerful.”
- “God has entrusted me with these students for such a time as this, and I must be a good steward.”
- “Healthy competition allows the student to learn something from the other student that is positive.”
- “What are the things that this generation needs from us as forerunners? This has given me an opportunity to always, always search my heart and walk right with the Lord.”
- “I am so much transformed in a way that I want what is inside me to come out as sweet waters to my students.”
Click here to learn more about the Rise Up Summit!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Reading a monthly book with a mentor group
- Heather: Listening to an audiobook
- Rosemary: Continuing to be a role model for students from summer camp
Weekly Spotlight: Bucharest Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
We are back for season 5! Author and artist Ruth Chou Simons joins Heather and Keane for this first episode of the season focused on finding our home in Christ, wherever He leads us.
- “I care about words as art.”
- “‘The heaven declare the glory of the Lord,’ the Bible says. Ultimately, we are not just believing that God is on high and He is sovereign and He’s the ruler of all and Creator God; we don’t just think that and believe it, we experience it when we see the sunrise and the sunset.”
- “The more we know that God is God and we are not, the more we start really being able to worship Him for who He is.”
- “When you make your home with God, you’ll never be far from home.”
- “Sometimes we associate home with location or environment or kind of furniture or the smells… Nothing can truly satisfy the way my relationship with Jesus can.”
- “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” C.S. Lewis
- “God offers to all of us a sense of belonging, home, and absolute security, regardless of where you live… It doesn’t matter where God takes you, if He’s the one that you’re walking with, you actually have access to your true home.”
- “The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord.” George Mueller
- “Everything that is scary out there, I’m sheltered from ultimately by the blood of Christ, but also I have safety and comfort under the shelter of God’s wing. And that shelter is true home.”
- “Throughout Scripture, when we see God pursuing His people, when we’re being offered a relationship with Jesus, it’s always through presence.”
- “He is our shepherd as in He is caring for us, He holds us, we are close to Him.”
- Hebrews 11:16
Learn more about Ruth Chou Simons here and find her new book here!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Community photography class
- Heather: Changes to her church small group
- Ruth: FaceTiming her sons in other states and ginger turmeric shots
Weekly Spotlight: Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Looking for practical suggestions for beginning the school year well? Megan Randolph, TeachBeyond’s Director of School Services, shares doable tips to prepare for the year logistically and spiritually. This is a great episode to share with your friends in education!
- “The rhythm of an academic year is necessary for the longevity of teachers.”
- “At the end of the first week of school, what do we want our students or our learners that are in our care to know? We want them to know that we care about them, we want them to know that we value excellence, and we want them to know that we’re passionate about our work - the content and also the work of education.”
- “If you can do that bigger picture planning now at the start of the school year, I think that will save so much time and allow you freedom later on to pivot as you need.”
- “Plan, put effort into it, pray about it, approach it in a positive manner, and then just make the best with what you can and with what you have because, at the end of the day, actually how you approach the first day of school is really going to set the tone for your students.”
- Tips from past guests:
- Linda: Have a plan for classroom management
- Esther: Have students share a special item from home
- Anna: Give each student a fresh start and view them as children of God
- Jonathan: Keep the students the main focus over the lesson plan
- Lindsay: Welcome each student personally as they enter the room
- Tosca: Take time to reflect and remember that God is writing your story
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Sons back in school
- Heather: Watching the Olympics
- Megan: Packr app
Weekly Spotlight: Belize Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
For International TCK Day we are going back in our archives to our conversation with Michèle Phoenix from Season 1, Episode 22. Michèle is known around the world as an advocate for Third Culture Kids (TCKs) and the children of missionaries. Listen in for a glimpse into the world of TCKs! * “Passport culture plus adoptive culture(s) equals Third Culture Kid (TCK).” * “Because I have those two cultures in me, my closest sense of belonging is with others who are, like me, multiculturally formed in their formative years. There’s a misconception that third culture is actually my individual third culture that I form out of the two that shaped me [...] but actually the term means that we find belonging with others who are also third cultured.” * “My differences were similar to their differences, and that I wasn’t weird; I was a TCK.” * “Mostly belonging in multiple places increases their skillset; it makes them bridge builders.” * “To ask them to figure out what is uniquely one culture and uniquely another in the way they think and in the way they think, even in the way they speak, is going to be a real challenge for them.” * “Something that feels fairly minor to a monocultural adult who has lived multiculturally for a while might feel like this tidal wave of all of these emotions coming back to the TCK or MK.” * Article: Nine Tips for Living Well in a Season of Grief * “The enormity of the blessing and the strength that comes from growing up as a TCK is immeasurable. You have blessed them in ways that you probably won’t ever be able to fully realize.” * “Generalizations about TCKs are not always entirely helpful, but knowing what the majority of them tend toward I think can be a really helpful thing in mentoring them and walking with them.” * “Because of our experience seeing things done differently in other parts of the world [...] we can start to draw people from their highly selective clusters toward each other.” * Learn more about Michèle’s ministry here!
What's changing our lives: * Keane: Reading more than one book at a time * Heather: The Next Right Thing Journal by Emily P. Freeman * Michèle: Four Tiny-Small Questions for the Quarantine-Weary + What small thing can I do that will make me feel alive in this moment? + What small thing can I do to take some sting out of this day? + What small thing can I do to make today feel purposeful? + What small thing can I do today that will connect me with God?
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org.
For this special summer episode we are re-releasing a past episode from Season 2.
Keane talks to Liz Steggall-Lewis, Director of Beyond Borders, about World Refugee Week and God’s heart for the refugee. We also hear about the work Beyond Borders is doing to serve the most vulnerable.
- "The character of God shines in these stories of displacement."
- "In Malachi it talks about the way that you treat foreigners, orphans, and widows is a sign of your righteousness."
- "The whole Biblical command is to care for those who are vulnerable and to welcome and love the foreigners among us."
- Resources:
- World Refugee Sunday - Exodus World Service
- World Relief
- Refugee by Alan Gratz
- Beyond Borders Sponsorship
- Life Jacket Documentary
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Summer Traveling
- Liz: Pizza
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
TeachBeyond President, David Durance, joins Heather and Keane for the final episode of the season! Keane reveals the season-long mystery message, David shares about the TeachBeyond Way, and, of course, all three share what is changing their lives. Keep listening to hear clips from past episodes in this Season 4 Finale!
“For us to be on mission together, it’s not just enough to know what we’re doing and where we’re going, but how we’re going to get there. And the TeachBeyond Way gives us this wonderful starting point, so that as we go and live out the mission around the world, we know this is the common thing that makes us TeachBeyond.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Becoming a foster parent
- Heather: Rabbits in the yard
- David: Reading through the Bible at a slower pace this year
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
As followers of Jesus, our leadership flows out of His transformational work in our lives. Heather and Keane talk with Brian Delamont about five things that leaders do: advance the mission, build teams, communicate, develop self and others, and evaluate. Also, don’t miss the final mystery word of the season!
- Download the Core Competencies Cube here!
- “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” -John Maxwell
- “As a leader, when understood in a Biblical worldview, I’m actually first a follower, I’m a disciple, I’m an apprentice of Jesus. That’s the foundation of leadership.” -Brian
- “It all flows out of who we are as followers of Jesus. If we are being transformed by Him, if we’re choosing to intentionally follow Jesus and allow Him to transform our hearts, then these behaviors flow out of that. They’re not behaviors to learn, but they’re happening as fruit when we are living and leading as God intends because good leadership always reflects God’s good leadership and God’s good design.” -Brian
- TeachBeyond Core Competencies of a Leader:
- Advance the Mission
- Build Teams
- Communicate
- Develop Self and Others
- Evaluate
- “Mission and vision will always take you into the unknown.” -Brian
- “When new people join the team, you make sure they catch the vision, they can understand where you’re trying to go, and then you’re able to release them.” -Keane
- Episode 146: Doing Life Together
- “As followers of Jesus, we want to never stop growing; we never arrive. We’re never fully complete because God always has more to do in us.” -Brian
- Episode 15: Growth Mindset
- “We can participate in developing ourselves and others by being open to what the Holy Spirit’s doing and modeling that we’re all on this journey together.” -Heather
- “Leadership is the outcome of discipleship.” -Brian
May Reflection: Which Core Competency will you start with, and when will you do it?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Eating fresh vegetables and making salsa
- Heather: Growing a cut flower patch
- Brian: Being in a season of waiting
Weekly Spotlight: Belize Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Katherine Haschig shares about student teaching abroad, choosing to stay at that school as a classroom teacher, and seeing the Lord at work through Gospel-centered transformational education all across Africa.
- “I’ve definitely always wanted to be a teacher. That’s been in my heart for forever, but living overseas was not really something I envisioned or planned on doing.”
- “I was at this pivotal time where I could really do anything.”
- “I’m not a super adventurous person; I kind of really like my comfort zone. This was really shocking for everyone - including myself.”
- “That’s really my favorite part - getting to be with the teachers, getting to take school visits, see their schools, see what they’re like, and train the teachers with this curriculum we have.”
- “I have had the privilege to take what I just learned sort of recently [in university] and add that into part of our curriculum.”
- “We have no idea the ways God is going to lead us and guide us and direct us.”
- “God, here I am. I’m here to serve You in whatever capacity that looks like.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Geocaching
- Heather: Playing the board game Wingspan
- Katherine: Reading books on a Kindle
Weekly Spotlight: Student Teaching with TeachBeyond
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Our guest this week shares from his personal experience with and research about the Indian church specifically, as well as the global Church as a whole.
- To learn more about the International Day for the Unreached, listen to Episode 109: The Alliance for the Unreached.
- “The Church is influenced by society [...] and yet, we are also different because of the human-Divine meeting in the church. It is not just another human plane of belonging, but there is this coming together with the Divine in the church, which gives us another dimension of being.”
- “Ultimately, we are united through one Lord Jesus Christ [...] but we are also enlivened by the Holy Spirit, who is present everywhere, and He speaks to us all in our languages in our own spaces, and we are all adopted as sons and daughters of one Father.”
- “There is no other way for the Church to be but connected in the local and the global; if it’s not connected, then it’s not the Church because then there’s no one Jesus Christ, there’s no one Father, there’s no one Holy Spirit. And yet, we are also diverse and different also because of where we are.”
- “An ideal vision is that all would be equal - all would have equal opportunities, equal passports - but that is not the reality that we experience.”
- “If we are one Church, one people, one body of Christ, [we are called] to share and participate deeply in the needs, the pain, the joy of the other also.”
- “How does the Church reach out in mission? To be very simplistic, by being Church.”
- “If I were to point out one thing [that the global church could learn from the Indian church], it’s maybe the capacity to be okay with the knowledge that you will be persecuted. [...] Being okay with that does not mean that I am saying there is no pain, there is no suffering.”
- “Life has been difficult from a human perspective, but in the midst of all of this, I have experienced God in a new way.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: A network of children’s museums
- Heather: Hard-boiled eggs
- Sonam: Watching his son grow and learning to be more flexible
Weekly Spotlight: TeachBeyond Opportunity Board
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
As the end of the school year approaches, listen in for tips from some of our Season 4 guests!
- Linda Kardamis: Step back and consider what you want to accomplish before the end of the year.
- Christy Biscocho: End the year with a dance party!
- Jessica Moulding: Pay attention to student needs, stay focused on year-end goals, and give yourself grace.
- Savana Duke: Create space for all students to process upcoming transitions.
- Tami: Take time to enjoy your students, and write down everything you need to accomplish.
- Jacob Cavett: Plan well for the summer.
- Cesar Valdez: Spend time in the Word of God.
- Kelly Crandall: Take opportunities to identify feelings and encourage kindness.
- Clarence Yau: Enjoy each day, and say yes to being intentional with people.
- Lindsay Nimmon: Emphasize relationships with students.
- Bastiaen Norel: Make a check-list for final tasks. Then, enjoy your holiday!
- Tosca Nathan: Look back and celebrate where you saw the Lord at work.
- David Platt: Make the most of every moment, knowing that your impact is far more than you can see now!
- Sonam: Take time to slow down with God.
- Brian Delamont: Ask yourself: What will you celebrate and how? What do you need to leave behind? What conversations do you want or need to have before the end of the year?
- Keane Fine: Savor the moment and appreciate the time you have.
- Heather Brown: Plan special activities to conclude the school year together.
Weekly Spotlight: HopeSeed School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What are the potential benefits and dangers of Artificial Intelligence? How can we approach AI through a Biblical worldview? Perhaps you’ve been asking these questions, too. Thorsten Marbach shares helpful insight in navigating the world of AI as humans created in the image of God.
- “The further into the future we look, the more divergent the possible scenarios and predictions are.”
- “What does it actually understand? There’s a very clear answer to that, and the answer is nothing.”
- “We need to catch a wake-up; we can’t just let this thing slide. This stuff is developing very fast, and we need to be on top of our game to make sure that it’s going to a good place.”
- “Previous technologies were very good at disseminating existing ideas, whether that was the printing press or the radio or the Internet, but now here we have something that’s creating - or at least seems to create - new ideas. That’s new.”
- “Engaging with AI has everything to do with what it means for us to be human.”
- “If one just were to look at those three things in which we can understand our humanness - identity, dominion, relationship - or if you want, it’s basically just saying being, doing, relating [...] those are exacting the three areas we need to think through and work through when it comes to what we do with AI at an individual level and at a societal level.”
- Dominion questions: Is this pulling me to a place where I’m doing better at dominion, or is it actually pulling me into a space of domination or a space of abdication? Is this AI thing going to increase or mitigate inequality?
- “Don’t abdicate your creativity to AI.”
- “AI might simulate moral agency, but it doesn’t have true moral agency.”
- Relationship questions: Is it helping me relate in a better, deeper, wider way, or is it actually shutting down my relational capacities? Is this helping me love God and neighbor more or less?
- “It’s not an AI world; it’s still God’s world.”
- Identity questions: What does it mean to be a human being, and what is consciousness?
- “We have a very valuable identity, but it’s a derived identity; it’s not a self-made identity.”
- “One of our key roles as Christians would be to challenge and perhaps give an alternative to some of the more reductionistic understandings of what it means to be a human being.”
- “We can know who we are. We can know whose we are. We can know that nothing is going to derail God’s big story of creation, fall, redemption, eternity. No matter what AI does, no matter what happens, it’s still God’s story.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Using the arc browser
- Heather: Getting a new duster
- Thorsten: Learning from others in a weekly gathering that he coordinates called TGIF
Weekly Spotlight: International Christian School of Togo
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does it look like to honor God and others while living in community? Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to share about the foundation of prayer, the path through problems, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
- “Doing life together will connect you with prayer, with problems, and with power.”
- Philippians 1:3-7, 9-11
- “When we do life together, that’s when God gives us this wonderful, awkward, uncomfortable opportunity to grow, to take what I see is lacking in someone else’s life and to pray about it, to thank God every time I remember them, to pray that their love for God will abound more and more.”
- Philippians 1:27, 29
- “God grants, in His sovereignty, these problems so that on behalf of Christ we see the work of God moving forward towards the completion He intends for us.”
- Philippians 4:2
- “Resolving conflict, forgiving, giving up our rights for the sake of another - that’s hard. And this is where God, by His Spirit, forms genuine community.”
- “The only way that we can live this out is when we connect our lives with the life and power of Christ.”
- Philippians 2:1-5
- “Being united with Christ will lead us to be like-minded, to have the same love, to be one in spirit and one in mind.”
- Philippians 1:6
- “He who began a good work in you, the One who has intentions for you, for those you are doing life together with, He will carry it on. He himself is the ‘how’ to lead you to transformation.”
April Reflection:
- How will you strengthen your connection to doing life together?
- How will the problems you’re facing strengthen your connection as you do life together?
- How will you live confidently in the power of the One who began a good work in you and is still moving that work forward until the day when everything and everyone becomes all that God intends?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Sons beginning extracurricular activities
- Heather: Sensible Shoes book series
- Brian: Getting a new coffee maker
Weekly Spotlight: ENLACE LinGo Centre
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
How has God gifted you to serve? Hear from a TeachBeyond member about his experience leaving Canada to teach English in Asia.
- “[Teaching] a wide range of things means a lot of really great opportunities to hang out with the kids and give them the best of what I know, best of what I have and share with them as best I can what it means to know God and be a part of what He’s doing in the world.”
- “The stakes are really high. We can’t really afford to not care about this. We’ve got to go! If there are people who haven’t heard, then people need to go.”
- “It’s not me that really made the impact [...] it’s God’s Holy Spirit in them.”
- “My answer is pretty simple: I’m here for you.”
- “There’s real purpose in all the weird puzzle pieces that don’t seem to make sense at first.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Losing his wallet
- Heather: The new default Microsoft font, Aptos
- Jonathan: Road trip to visit former students
Weekly Spotlight: English Teacher positions
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What’s your story, and why does that matter? Long-time educator Tosca Nathan shares about the significance of knowing your story and connecting to God’s bigger story, especially as teachers.
- “Like any story, our life stories have a path, they have a trajectory, and it’s full of meaningful events, defining moments, key relationships, trials and disappointments, dreams and aspirations, passions and discoveries.”
- “How coherent your life story is and how coherently you can talk about your life story has been seen as a factor in well-being.”
- Coherence of time, thematic coherence, and contextual coherence
- “Your life story never exists in a vacuum. It is always part and parcel of a bigger story.”
- “In the telling itself, every time you tell it, there’s more meaning making that happens, so it’s important to tell your story.”
- “If teachers are not fully aware of who they are and have exercised all of the areas of coherence, they will not be as effective in their teaching.”
- “The teacher, with what they do or how they relate, helps the student understand how their story connects to bigger things.”
- “You can’t give what you don’t have.”
- “To realize that scholarship is part of that grand story completely changes why I even engage in research or why I engage in teaching and learning, and then on top of that, it elevates it to the level of worship.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Playing the board game, Sorry
- Heather: Reaction buttons on emails
- Tosca: Reading the Bible through the lens of the grand story and watercolor painting
Weekly Spotlight: Lingo
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Do you have a big life transition looming ahead? Is someone you know planning to move away? Lindsay Nimmon provides a Biblical framework for saying goodbye well, then gets practical, walking through the RAFT acronym and five tips for applying these transition principles.
- “When you’re living overseas, you’re bound to say more goodbyes and experience more grief as a result of those goodbyes than any monocultural or non-mobile peer.”
- “People are eternal beings who are not meant for endings, so goodbyes hurt, but we hear God’s call to us as Christians to go into all the world and make disciples, and so we trust that He can and does use this grief to shape mobile people into His likeness and give people full lives.”
- Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds by David Pollock
- Safe Passage by Douglas Ota
- “It is possible to form and help our families form healthy, Christ-centered life patterns surrounding transition, loss, grief, people, the world, and learning through the process of learning to say goodbye well.”
- “Saying a good goodbye to a place and a community is part of cultivating personal health and recognizing that we are loved by God.”
- Moving On: Beyond Forgive and Forget by Ruth Ann Batstone
- RAFT: Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewell, Think Destination
- “Reconciling then, thereby fostering humility, reliance on God, and merciful attitudes, paves the way for a better exit from one community and a more open posture upon entering another community.”
- “Be specific about what you see God doing in the lives of those around you, and take this moment to encourage their souls.”
- “Tokens of the affirmation we want to give people during times of transition allow the affirmation to be revisited over and over again and help quiet the negativity that can come when people are feeling isolated.”
- A Life Overseas Blog
- “Even as we are in the process of saying goodbye to one people and place, we can begin looking ahead to the people and place we are going.”
- “It is good to begin to let your heart and the hearts of your children float on the RAFT across the ocean to the destination, trusting that Jesus is leading you there to love a different part of His creation and a different group of people for His name’s sake.”
- “Doing all of the right things doesn’t necessarily guarantee the future outcome, but it doesn’t mean that we give up either […] It does something to our own hearts even if it doesn’t create the outcome we were hoping for.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Joining a church mentoring program
- Heather: Hair getting long
- Lindsay: Loneliness
Weekly Spotlight: Asunción Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Pastor and author David Platt joins us for this Good Friday episode, where we focus on the Gospel and its centrality to missions. What makes the Gospel the good news, and how can we be part of sharing it with others? Listen in for an inspiring story about Gospel impact on a community and be challenged to take up our cross and follow Jesus.
- “We are made for life in relationship with God.”
- “He rose from the grave, conquering sin and death, so that anybody anywhere in any nation, no matter who you are and what you’ve done, if you will repent and believe, turn from your sin and yourself, put your trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, then God will forgive you of all your sin and restore to relationship with Him forever. That is the greatest news in the world.”
- “The beauty of the Gospel is that it’s not based on what we do; it’s based on believing, trusting in who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us.”
- “Gospel flows directly into mission: When you believe this Good News, you want to spread this Good News.”
- “We all have a unique and significant part to play in the spread of the Gospel to all the nations.”
- “It should be totally intolerable to us as followers of Jesus that there are thousands of people groups in the world that have little to no access to this Gospel.”
- “This is actually what it means to be a follower of Jesus - not just to say a prayer or believe some truths, but to die to ourselves, pick up a cross, and to live with Him as Lord of our lives in every way.”
- “He’s called us to die to the dreams of this world in order to live for a much greater dream, a global dream, the spread of His glory to the ends of the earth.”
- Philippians 3
- “In following Jesus, it may cost you everything, but He is worth it.”
- Luke 9:23
- “If Jesus is Lord of my life and I’m living for the spread of the Gospel and His glory through my life, then what does that look like in my workplace? What does that look like in my home? What does that look like when I think about my future plans?”
- “We need followers of Jesus in every domain in the workplace, filled with the Holy Spirit of God working for the glory of God.”
- “We’re not going to over there what we’re not doing right here where we live.”
- Radical.net
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Writing in his books
- Heather: Spending time with my nephews
- David: Communicating with his 2-year-old daughter
Weekly Spotlight: TeachBeyond Opportunity Board
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to explore the Merriam-Webster Dictionary word of the year – “authentic” – through a Biblical lens. Heather draws a connection to her word of the year from 2023, and Keane shares a profound quote from C.S. Lewis.
- Holiness in Everyday Life by Raphael Haeuser
- The Truest Thing about You by David Lomas
- “It’s crucial to ground identity in something proven and dependable, something that doesn’t shift.”
- Genesis 1:27
- “Humans are inescapably, for all eternity, created in God’s image; it’s inherent in us. Therefore we long for the characteristics that can only be satisfied in Him.”
- Mark 8:35
- “Jesus is inviting us to find our identity in him, and in the presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit, to let this identity of being deeply loved by God shape our desires to align with what He knows will lead to our flourishing, to shalom.”
- “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” -C.S. Lewis
- Matthew 3:17
- 2 Peter 1:17
- Colossians 3:1-10
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
- “When I live in my identity as a person indwelt by God, who loves me, I let Him rule. This anchors me in my authentic identity.”
- Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen
- 1 Corinthians 13:11
- 1 Peter 2:9-10
- “I’m not a solitary individual who chose to follow Jesus; I’m a part of the global community of Jesus followers alive today, and I’m a descendent of every Jesus follower before me. They are my people.”
- Philippians 1:6
- “Until the day God returns to make everything declare His full glory once again, He will be at work in you. And you have work to do in this, as well. You answer the call; you respond by actively becoming who you authentically are.”
March Reflection: As you look at yourself, who are you becoming? What will you do to experience this more fully?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Rediscovering Josh Garrels music
- Heather: Hosting a favorite things party
- Brian: Learning from these podcasts
Weekly Spotlight: International Academy of St. Petersburg
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
How does an Internet search lead to missions work? What is it like to provide literacy training amongst nomadic communities? Hear from Wangūi Maina about her experiences following the Lord to multiple different countries and what it’s like to serve now in Northern Kenya.
- “I felt the Lord say, ‘Forget all of the things you’re trying to figure out. Just trust Me and go.’”
- “Northern Kenya in 2024, still has the highest illiteracy rates in the whole of East Africa.”
- “One of the greatest impacts that I have seen is seeing children who were not interested in school because of the cultural practices that prevail in these communities take up an interest in going to school and staying in school.”
- “Where Christ is preached fearlessly, transformation happens.”
- “Whatever negativity or whatever darkness, it can’t come against the light.”
- “People think God’s calling is some big voice up in the air or you’ll hear some booming, but it’s those impressions that the Lord puts in our hearts.”
- “Start your day with the Lord; it really makes a difference.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Planting the garden
- Heather: Teaching at her alma mater
- Wangūi: Discovering new nearby routes
Weekly Spotlight: Creative Access Locations
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Who says that learning can’t be fun? Hear from seasoned educator Bastiaen Norel, along with several other TeachBeyond teachers, about what it can look like to make learning fun, encourage exploration, provide opportunities for creativity, and celebrate achievements.
- Cultivating a Culture of Love for Learning by Bastiaen Norel
- “We all have a bit of intrinsic motivation for things we love.”
- Drive by Daniel Pink
- “I forget about time, and that’s when ‘flow’ happens. You want to aim at getting children to come to a point where [...] they’re unaware of what’s going on, they’re so intrigued by their subject and what they’re doing.”
- “Keep their interest by changing or mixing your learning styles. I think that is vitally important to get a good response.”
- “If you teach the subject over two or three years, you will build up material that you can use again.”
- “All children are placed in their class for a purpose; it’s not by accident.”
- “We are always on a transformation journey.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri
- Heather: Getting a larger rug for my living room
- Bastiaen: Playing the flute with orchestral background tracks
Weekly Spotlight: Sparrow Project
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Dr. Allen Yeh shares about generational distinctives and provides perspective on how this impacts views on faith, values, church, and global missions.
- “When we talk about culture, it’s not just ethnicity and nationality or even gender, it’s also age. So the different generations are different cultures, even if they come from the same country.”
- “With Gen Zers, it’s harder to reach them with the institutional church. It’s not necessarily that they are less interested in Christianity; it’s just that the traditional methods don’t work as well.”
- True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In by James Choung
- “The four generations each have a gateway question in order to reach them. For Boomers, their gateway question is ‘what is true?’ For Gen Xers, our gateway question is ‘what is real?’ For Millennials, the gateway question is “what is good?’ and for Gen Zers, the gateway question is ‘what is beautiful?’”
- “If you look at Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the numbers of Christians continue to grow, and in the West, the number of Christians continues to decline.”
- “If the Global Church is starting to look more like the first century church, I think this will attract Gen Zers.”
- “We need to be much more sensitive about our language with Gen Z. Maybe a better word than ‘mission’ could be something like ‘witness.’ That is actually a Biblical word.”
- “The chief verb of the Great Commission is not to evangelize; it is to make disciples.”
- “Discipleship is a long obedience in the same direction.” - Eugene Peterson
- “In the West, we often teach that people have to do believing, then behaving, then belonging. But, in the Bible, it’s more belonging, then believing, then behaving.”
- Jason Dorsey, The Center for Generational Kinetics
- “If the older generation always rolls their eyes at Gen Z and denigrates them, then Gen Z is not going to fulfill their potential; in fact, there’s just going to be generational warfare.”
- “Gen Z has such a huge potential for fulfilling mission in this world.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Taking a trip to the mountains in North Carolina to go sledding
- Heather: Unseasonably warm days to read outside on my balcony
- Allen: Job transition
Weekly Spotlight: Thinking Christian International School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does it mean for us to co-labor with God? How can we partner well with others? This episode concludes a four-part series unpacking TeachBeyond’s four core values – humility, excellence, love, and partnership – with Brian Delamont, TeachBeyond Executive Vice President.
- TeachBeyond’s Core Value of Partnership: Understanding our role as co-laborers with God, we intentionally seek to partner with others to promote the work of transformation around the world. We commit to working together in unity and community as a family of faith.
- Genesis 2:15,19-20
- Courage and Calling by Gordon T. Smith
- “God invites us into His action of flourishing and fruitfulness as His creation… He invites us to join Him in his greater work, to see His Kingdom come.”
- Genesis 12:1-3
- Luke 9:1-2
- John 20:19-21
- “As the Father has sent the Son, so the Son sends us! What a high elevation of the Gospel call. It’s more than a task, or a mandate to travel and share good news, it is literally the giving of authority to be sent by the Son of God.”
- Matthew 28:16-20
- Mark 9:37-40
- Acts 2:5-11
- Acts 1:8
- “It takes a lot of intentionality to partner well.”
- Acts 15:7-9
- John 17:20-23
- “Partnership is not built on a foundation of similar likes or similar culture or similar views; it’s built on the love of God.”
- Episode 43: May They Be One with Brian Delamont
- 1 Corinthians 1:10-13
- “The cross is Christ’s unifying action for His body, the Church. It is the work of Christ that is the central unifying factor, not this messenger or that messenger.”
- “Koinonia”
- Acts 2:42
- 2 Corinthians 9:13
- 1 John 1:3,7
- “Missions exists because worship does not.” - John Piper
- Revelation 7:9-10
- “That’s the culmination of partnership - every tongue, tribe, nation, people [standing before the throne].”
- “We can’t have a value without an action.”
February Reflection: Who am I currently partnering with – or who is God prompting me to partner with – to see the Gospel have more influence?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Playing sports in the backyard
- Heather: Navigating time zone difference with Australia
- Brian: Making music and learning to record again
Weekly Spotlight: Puebla Christian School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
From single young adults to parents of teenagers, Clarence and Anna share about their journey of serving with TeachBeyond in Germany in different seasons of life.
- “God brings a new opportunity; I just said yes.” -Clarence
- “I’ve taken all of these spiritual gifts tests, and pastoring or shepherding has always been an underlying theme. My heart is for people. My heart is for people to love each other and love God.” -Clarence
- “How can we come alongside people and guide them and help them thrive?’ -Clarence
- “Being a missionary, it feels like everyone’s supposed to be really good at pastoral ministry, like my husband is. I finally came to a place of realizing, of course I love people [...] but my gifting is more behind the scenes.” -Anna
- “Don’t be afraid to lean into your giftings, even if it’s not what we think traditional missionary giftings are supposed to be.” -Anna
- “You are capable of doing the hard things. Don’t shy away from those things.” -Clarence
- “Intentionally stepping away from the project and getting out of the surroundings here allows you to gain more perspective.” -Clarence
- “Especially as our boys are getting older, I see people that genuinely care about them [...] That absolutely helps our longevity as a family, knowing that there are so many amazing people that are caring for our kids alongside us.” -Anna
- “God knits this community together to continue His work over time, and we get to see it time and time again. It’s a huge privilege to be able to serve the Kingdom in this way.” -Clarence
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Motion sensor lights
- Heather: Hobby nights with friends
- Clarence: Coaching middle school girls basketball
- Anna: The Emotional Lives of Teenagers by Lisa Damour
Weekly Spotlight: Administrative Assistant positions
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
This episode is for teachers, parents, and any caregivers of children! Hear from Kelly Crandall, TeachBeyond educator in the Philippines, about how to create environments, establish routines, and integrate strategies that foster emotional regulation.
- Equipping Students to Manage Strong Emotions article by Kelly Crandall
- “If kids are anxious or upset or angry, there’s not a lot of learning that is getting into their brains. I see talking about emotions or helping students to regulate their emotions as an investment in the rest of their learning.”
- “We do value academics as teachers, but we also recognize that our students are whole people.”
- “As teachers, we have to stay regulated. It can be that when students’ emotions get big, ours get big, too.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Glow-in-the-dark stars
- Heather: Partial meal prepping while cooking
- Kelly: Learning Calculus and being a learner
Weekly Spotlight: Faith Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Be aware and play it safe! Listen in for cybersecurity tips from Matt Johnson, who works in IT with TeachBeyond.
- “The best response to phishing is to be aware that it’s out there.”
- “It’s better to be wrong and not send the information than to be wrong and send the information.”
- “Hang up - you don’t need to continue to engage with somebody if you feel like it’s a voice phishing attack.”
- “You always learn the most by ‘getting got.’ It’s always better to ‘get got’ by your IT person than it is to ‘get got’ by someone that actually has malicious intentions.”
- “The idea of just removing technology from our day-to-day lives is not a possibility, so you need to learn how to use it responsibly and how to prepare yourself and protect yourself the best way you can.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Boxcar Children book series
- Heather: 1000 Hours Outside app
- Matt: Feels Like Home by Lee Eclov
Weekly Spotlight: Dakar Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does it look like for us to love out of the overflow of God’s love for us? Brian Delamont, Executive Vice President of TeachBeyond, walks through Scripture passages and practical examples of what it means to live out TeachBeyond’s core value of love.
- TeachBeyond’s Core Value of Love: “Embracing our identity as a people who are loved by our Creator, we seek to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Similarly, we commit to loving each other and the world around us, learning to do good, seek justice, and correct oppression.”
- 1 John 4:19
- Mark 12:28-31
- “God’s intention for us is to reciprocate the love He shows towards us. We love because He first loved us.”
- Deuteronomy 6:4-9
- John 13:34-35
- Luke 10
- Micah 6:8
- Luke 6:34-36
- “God has shown, and is showing us, what to do. We haven’t fully arrived at goodness, justice, and eliminating oppression [...] but we are learning to do this. We create and live out a desire for these things to become more and more prevalent in TeachBeyond and in the world.”
- Titus 2:11-14
- Romans 5:8
- Psalm 9:8-10
- Psalm 146:7-8
- “There’s no other way for us to be as followers of Jesus than to love. To notice those who are close to us, as well as those who may be far away. To lift the heads of those bowed down. To provide physically, emotionally, intellectually. This is what transformational education can accomplish in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-12
- “We long for the day when the fullness of God’s love surrounds us, when His Kingdom comes and His will is done on earth as it is in Heaven. Until then, as people loved by God, we follow Him in the way of love, which includes sacrifice, learning, listening, and becoming all He intends.”
- Hear a past episode about Deuteronomy 6 here!
January Reflection: What will you do today or this week to show your love for God and to show His love to someone else?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: A new water bottle
- Heather: Helping friends prepare for a move
- Brian: A working furnace
Weekly Spotlight: Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
God often uses our past experiences to shape the opportunities we have to serve others. Cesar Valdez shares his personal story of being raised to value education, choosing to follow the Lord, and having an impact through Christian education across his home country of the Dominican Republic.
- “Education is the perfect tool to share the Gospel, to communicate God’s words, to impact the lives of others.”
- Arbor Christian Academy
- “Sometimes, we are in a position of leading others or giving to others, but at the end of the day, I’m receiving more than what I am giving.”
- “I’m being transformed at the same time I’m trying to promote transformational education.”
- “I had the blessing to become a Christian at a young age, and that was another determining factor in my life. Now, I’m trying to help others to break the line of poverty… That is one of the most exciting things we can do here, trying to help other kids, other students like I was, to have the access, opportunity to have a different life.”
- “Spend more time enjoying God than trying to be an activist.”
- “Easily we can find ourselves doing missions without God.”
- Pray for: Building campaign for Arbor Christian Academy, volunteers to serve in the Dominican Republic, and more Dominican missionaries to serve through TeachBeyond
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Getting passport renewed
- Heather: Peaceful snowfall and not having to drive in it
- Cesar: Playing basketball with his son and a new season of parenting
Weekly Spotlight: Open Schools Worldwide
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Looking for fresh ways to cultivate critical thinking and reflection in your classroom? Tune in to hear Heather talk with three TeachBeyond educators about the value of critical thinking, examples from their classrooms, and practical steps to get started.
- Cultivating a Culture of Critical Thinking by Diane Peneycad
- Cultivating a Culture of Reflection by Leighton Helwig
- “Simply put, critical thinking is what your brain does with facts and information.” - Diane
- “Critical thinking is such an essential part of our image-bearing nature. This is a great privilege we have. We don’t live by instinct like animals, but we get to image God.” - Jacob
- “If we can eat and drink to the glory of God, we can also think to the glory of God.” - Jacob
- “We do want students to ask questions, but we don’t want them to be cynical in an unhealthy way, so I think there’s a good balance to have a teachable attitude.” - Jacob
- “There has to be a balance of responsibility to content and objectives and what’s required for us to teach, while still offering an environment or opportunity for the questioning and the thinking. I think if I would err on the side of one or the other, I would err on the side of thinking and equipping for future consumption of content.” - Leighton
- “There are times we’re going to go really deep, and there are times when it may not, but we can still engage them in the thinking process at various levels… Students need time at various levels of thinking throughout their day and throughout their courses.” - Diane
- “You need to create an environment that’s a safe environment, that they understand that we’re going to be thinking and there may not be one right answer.” - Diane
- Project Zero’s Thinking Routines Toolbox
- “Modeling is super important. We bring our own transformed life into the classroom.” - Diane
- “The best-case scenario is when students choose to use [a tool] on their own for their own learning. That’s how you know it’s been embedded in the way that they are thinking.” - Leighton
- “Never say what a kid can say. In other words, I need to create the environment where I’m asking the right question that the student is then going to frame the response.” - Diane
- “It’s okay to disagree, but how do we do so respectfully? How do we honor each other as image bearers of Christ?” - Diane
- “What makes you say that?” - Diane
- “I think it’s really important for teachers to be willing to seize those teachable moments.” - Jacob
- “God created our minds to think. If we’re not creating environments to have that happen, then we’re not allowing the full potential of what God has created in our classroom.” - Leighton
- “As you develop a school-wide culture of thinking, it just becomes a way of life for teachers and students.” - Diane
- “To be able to go to that deep place of thought, we have to rest. We have to rest to reflect.” - Jacob
- Sign up to receive TeachBeyond’s OnPractice publication here!
What’s changing our lives:
- Heather: Time to journal and reflect
- Jacob: Journaling
- Diane: Being able to ride her bicycle inside
- Leighton: How to Know a Person by David Brooks
Weekly Spotlight: Christian International School of Prague
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Author Marci Renée shares about the adventures of Pierre in her latest children’s book, My Tower Is Tumbling, and her family’s experiences after many years of living overseas. Listen in for stories and practical tips for unstacking the accumulated griefs of Third Culture Kids.
- Marci’s website, The Cultural Story-weaver
- Coloring book for My Tower Is Tumbling - complete this to be entered into a giveaway!
- “What is unique to TCKs is that there is so much transition.”
- “We stuff it all in our suitcase… and we take it to the next place, and it just starts getting heavier and heavier.”
- “If we as parents are able to share some of our own journey of processing our griefs and losses, that’s going to create safety and trust.”
- “We know that there are going to be griefs and losses… There’s something about preparing yourself. It makes the landing a little bit softer.”
- My Tower is Tumbling (faith-based version) on Amazon
- My Tower is Tumbling (secular version) on Amazon
Past episodes related to this topic:
- Third Culture Kids with Michele Phoenix
- TCKs and the Grief Tower with Lauren Wells
- Transitions with Amy Young
- The Practice of Processing with Elizabeth Vahey Smith
- Returning Well with Melissa Chaplin
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Considering the question: Where do you typically see yourself in stories?
- Heather: Fireplace
- Marci: Changes in the lives of her children
Weekly Spotlight: LIFE International School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
As we come to the end of the year, how can we intentionally look back and look ahead? Consider these five questions for reflection from TeachBeyond’s Brian Delamont, Heather Brown, and Keane Fine. Happy New Year!
- 5 Reflection Questions:
- What are you proud of? What do you want to celebrate?
- What do you want to carry with you from 2023? What are you hoping to leave behind?
- What matters this year?
- What feels familiar and different this year?
-
What do you hope this will look like at the end of next year?
-
Leviticus 23 and 7 Feasts that Point to Christ
- Emily P. Freeman’s The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Finishing a journal and beginning a new one
- Heather: Heating pad
- Brian: This podcast!
Weekly Spotlight: Christian Academy Mozambique
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
This week we’re sharing Advent episodes from past seasons! You can find show notes for this episode and other past episodes here. Merry Christmas!
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
This week we’re sharing Advent episodes from past seasons! You can find show notes for this episode and other past episodes here. Merry Christmas!
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
This week we’re sharing Advent episodes from past seasons! You can find show notes for this episode and other past episodes here. Merry Christmas!
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
This week we’re sharing Advent episodes from past seasons! You can find show notes for this episode and other past episodes here. Merry Christmas!
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
This week we’re sharing Advent episodes from past seasons! You can find show notes for this episode and other past episodes here. Merry Christmas!
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Olivia Bomgardner, TeachBeyond music teacher in Spain, shares why Christmas music is special, what it’s like to be a music teacher at Christmastime, and how she became a missionary teacher.
- “Singing is a huge part of my life, but singing about something so significant as Christ’s birth definitely brings a difference in comparison to other parts of the year.”
- “Music has this ability to draw out emotions and speak to us in a different way. It’s a gift.”
- “How far will you go to trust that My plan is better than yours?”
- “When someone asks me who I am, before I went to college, I probably would have said that I’m a musician, I play the piano, and I love that about myself. But after this struggle in my life, I learned to say I’m a child of God.”
- “What can we learn in this waiting season about what the Lord has for us?”
- “The Lord is good – always. His plan is not going to be ours, as He tells us in His Word, but also I would say that the waiting is a good time to focus on Him. As we do that, we are growing in our relationship to Him.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Celebrating Hanukkah
- Heather: Receiving Christmas cards
- Olivia: Dark chocolate-covered cookies from Trader Joe’s
Weekly Spotlight: Evangelical Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
TeachBeyond teachers Tami and Savana join Heather for a round table discussion about Christmas in the classroom. From book recommendations to classroom activities, this conversation is filled with enthusiastic laughter and the truth of the Gospel.
- “I love to really keep what I do in the classroom centered on the kids and allowing them to be a part of it.” - Savana
- “We’ve had some kids really ask such great questions after singing these songs and hearing these words.” - Savana
- “I always have to think about my students. What is going to be the most impactful for me to reach them on a spiritual level?” - Tami
- Book suggestions: The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt, The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg, They Followed the Star by A. E. Dingee, Song of the Stars by Sally Lloyd-Jones, Little Lamb from Bethlehem by Christine Stevens Mower, This Is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten, and Angel, Angel, What Do You See? By Cheri Pless Dittmer
- “What goals do we already have? How could those be accomplished in a way that is fun and meaningful in this season?” - Heather
- “That’s a big thing for me - making it as real to them as possible in different ways, while mixing in the fun stuff.” - Savana
- “For them to really see God through His Son and why He loved us enough to send Him to rescue us is a big deal.” - Tami
- “Jesus is the light of the world. When we put these lights on our Christmas tree every year, we can remember He is the light of the world.” - Tami
- “God’s Word transforms us [...] I get the privilege to see my students take that in.” - Tami
- 1 John 3:8
- “Christ came to expose the darkness. Baby Jesus raged war against sin and against our enemy to conquer him [...] We get to share the beauty of the season because our King has come!” - Tami
What’s changing our lives:
- Heather: Video chatting with nephews
- Savana: Processing how to handle emotions
- Tami: Driving in East Africa
Weekly Spotlight: Belize Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Naturally, we view our faith through our own cultural lenses. There is so much to learn from the theological perspectives of other cultures. Our guest for this episode, author and professor Steve Pardue, shares from his experience growing up cross-culturally, teaching at the university level, and building friendships with people from many different countries.
- Check out the book by Steve Pardue: Why Evangelical Theology Needs the Global Church
- International Graduate School of Leadership
- Asia Graduate School of Theology
- “If you want to look at where the next generation of theological discourse is really emerging and where the church is vital and producing really interesting reflection on Scripture, look toward the majority world.”
- Majority World Theology by Gene Green, Stephen Pardue, and K. Yeo
- “How does culture matter for theology? And why is that not necessarily a threat, but actually a gift from God for God’s people to use as a Church from every tribe and tongue and nation gets together, worships, proclaims the Gospel, and perceives the Gospel in really deep and rich ways, but very different ways?”
- “Majority world is a way of describing where most people in the world actually live – Asia, Africa, and Latin America.”
- “Christianity has actually always been a global faith.”
- “Even in redeemed humanity, our cultural distinction persists. That’s part of how we worship God.”
- “To the degree we can, we want to encourage authentic partnership and fellowship across the nationals, and that is something that is uniquely Christian.”
- “God comes to earth and speaks with an accent.”
- Langham Literature
- “Be intentional about asking questions, and I think it’ll unfold from there.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Visiting with a college friend
- Heather: Let’s Read the Gospels podcast with friends
- Steve: Remembering the value of relationships in ministry
Weekly Spotlight: Ukarumpa International School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does Biblical excellence look like? Brian Delamont walks us through Scriptures about the difference between performance-based perfectionism as compared to Christ-honoring stewardship as we continue in our series on TeachBeyond’s core values.
- TeachBeyond’s Core Value of Excellence: “Acknowledging that God deserves glory in all that we do, we undertake everything wholeheartedly and to the best of our ability. We approach our calling to excellence with creativity, committing ourselves as stewards of God’s resources.”
- A Call to Excellence: Understanding Excellence God’s Way by Gary Inrig
- “This Biblical view of excellence isn’t rooted in my performance, but it’s rooted in the character and nature of God, who is excellent in every way and who is fully integrated in His nature as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
- 1 Corinthians 12:31
- Philippians 4:8
- Titus 3:8
- Colossians 3:23-24
- “Yes, it is the Lord Christ we are serving, and we do want to bring our very best offering to Him every time, all the time. But, we receive an inheritance from the Lord… And you never, ever have to work to receive an inheritance. I receive an inheritance because someone else has done all of the work, and I am the beneficiary of their love and their generosity. That’s the beauty and power of the Gospel.”
- 1 Peter 1:3-4
- “The best course correction for a false standard of excellence is to look to what God says about Himself and about ourselves.”
- Psalm 18:30
- Psalm 19:7
- “God isn’t insisting on perfection or a twisted sense of my life being excellent or good enough before I can come to Him. He gives me His excellent wisdom by His Word. For me, and I think for all of us, that shifts the weight of responsibility for excellence to the place where it was always intended to be - to have God be the source and sustainer of excellence. He is able, and I am blessed to be His child. ”
- “It’s all about God’s glory. He’s the one who deserves the praise and honor in all that we do. It’s not about me, it’s not about how well a certain school scores in testing, it’s not about whether TeachBeyond is known around the world or not. We recognize that God deserves all glory.”
- Mark 12:41-44
- Matthew 5:43-48
- “It’s not that He’s demanding perfection because Jesus actually came to show us that we could never fulfill the Law; only He would be the perfect offering, the perfect sacrifice.”
- Psalm 33:2-4
- “Doing something well reflects the God we love.”
- Psalm 78:72
- “Excellent leadership flows from a heart of integrity, and it’s done skillfully.”
We are unpacking TeachBeyond’s four core values each month. Listen to the first one here: Episode 121: Following in Humility
November Reflection: What’s your own standard for evaluating excellence?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: A season of his family being sick
- Heather: High-top tables
- Brian: Updates to Microsoft Teams
Weekly Spotlight: Bucharest Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
How does a chiropractor fit in TeachBeyond? Listen to Marcos Reis share his story of finding his place, serving wholeheartedly, and seeing God move in exciting ways in Brazil.
- “I was never a good evangelist, so through camps and retreats, I found a good way to serve in favor of evangelism.”
- “The appeal of TeachBeyond goes far beyond formal classroom education. People with the most diverse initiatives have come to TeachBeyond because God is transforming lives through various forms of education.”
- “Chairing the global board has been an opportunity to see God acting through many people He raised up. I tend to understand that my role in all of this is to facilitate the promotion of a space where people can speak and act according to what God has placed in their hearts.”
- “God is giving us wisdom, God is giving us energy, God is giving us ideas to go through this. It’s amazing being used by God for things He is doing. God is so good that sometimes we can see the fruits of this work. We are not working for fruit, but sometimes in God’s grace, He allows us to see some fruit.”
- “As everything starts with our relationship with God, it continues in relationship with each other.”
- “I believe that God has a special appreciation for doing things in an unlikely time or environment, and this happens all the time in TeachBeyond.”
- “What excites me most is the potential that God has developed through TeachBeyond so that diverse people from many languages, many cultures, many gifts can come together for the expansion of the Kingdom of God.”
- “For many years we were a mission field; now, we are increasingly seeing ourselves as a hotbed of missions.”
- “We are not looking for grow[th] just to grow; we are looking to be excellent, to be loving, to be humble, to act in partnerships. We are looking to our values, and God is bringing people who are inspired by these values, too.”
- “God likes to establish relationships through which we perform actions.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Replacing smoke alarms
- Heather: Scented hand soaps
- Marcos: Parenting and using time well
Weekly Spotlight: Beyond Inglês
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Join us around the table for a discussion about how to intentionally cultivate a culture of love and respect! Seasoned teachers and school leaders Jessica Moulding, Esther Burnham, and Randy Dueck share tips, inspiration, and personal stories from their decades of experience in schools.
- “Cultivating a Culture of Love and Respect in the Classroom” by Jessica Moulding
- “Classroom culture forms naturally. The students are going to form it. It’s all of the expectations and rules - both spoken and unspoken, just as any other culture.” - Jessica
- “As teachers and school leaders, we have the ability to help form that culture.” - Jessica
- “Most students spend a large majority of their time in our classrooms, and so [it’s important to make] that feel like their second home. And then also, when things go wrong, how do we respond?” - Jessica
- “We’re communicating to them directly, ‘You belong here. I notice you. I will see you, I will hear you, I’ve got you. I think every student in the classroom needs that culture with that teacher.” - Randy
- “It is a work of the Holy Spirit. We have a role, but it’s His job.” - Esther
- “In the classroom, working with a whole student means trying to give them a space that is safe enough for them to be human.” - Jessica
- “It’s that ‘doing life together’ and having a shared experience and enjoying little quirks.” - Esther
- “Those kids hadn’t changed, but I had, and my love for them had shifted.” - Jessica
- “There’s just so much power in submission to the Holy Spirit - whether that’s in laughter or prayer or intentional conversations - that when we just keep giving those mundane, normal moments back to Him, He is faithful and just to do incredible transformation through them.” - Jessica
What’s changing our lives:
- Heather: Changes in small group
- Randy: First snowfall of the season
- Esther: Reading a book about the Shantung Revival
- Jessica: Reflecting on God’s faithfulness and changing mindset about the future
Weekly Spotlight: Timothy Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Are you a parent of a cross-cultural worker? Tori Haverkamp talks about her experience as a "Missionary Mama" and shares tips for other parents whose kids are or are thinking about serving overseas.
- The Missionary Mama’s Survival Guide: Compassionate Help for the Mothers of Cross-Cultural Workers by Tori Haverkamp
- Parentsofgoers.com
- “The natural parental thing is to want to have them close, but really the best thing for them is to assimilate into that culture and to call that home.”
- “You raise them to be independent, but then when they all leave you, you feel not needed. And so, your goal has created this ache in your heart.”
- “I couldn’t take offense at what he was wanting to do because it was actually God’s mission for the world, and it was wonderful and honorable and glorious.”
- “I had to reestablish a new pattern of communication with him that didn’t involve my physical presence.”
- “When I was struggling, I was focusing on me, and when I was able to release and believe in God’s mission, I was focusing more on God.”
- Mark 10:28-31
- “You really aren’t in control of your future - you feel like you are, but this just shows you that God’s really the controller of all of our futures.”
- “It’s very helpful to clarify not only what they will be doing and what their goals are, but why they want to do it.”
- “We see Jesus relating to people by asking questions, and I think that’s a really great method when our child is contemplating this really huge life decision.”
- “We had differing, polar opposite expectations, and we had to meet in the middle so that we could both enjoy the home visit. Once we did that, it was much more smooth because everyone knew what to expect and I could actually enjoy them being here.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
- “I had to see these things that hurt right now - these hot spots or these heart blisters - as temporary and light in light of this eternal, glorious, wonderful thing that God was achieving both in me and my child, and in the people that my child is reaching across the ocean. Once I made myself smaller, then God could be bigger and grander and glorious.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Watercolor pens
- Heather: House Rules podcast from Myquillyn Smith (“The Nester”) and bringing the outside in
- Tori: Reflecting on the word equanimity
Weekly Spotlight: GDQ International Christian School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does it look like to follow the humble example of Jesus? Brian Delamont unpacks what Scripture has to say about humility, the first of TeachBeyond’s core values.
- “Recognizing the Lordship of Christ, we consider the needs of others above our own. We approach all situations with the attitude of learners and seek to discern what God is already doing and where He is inviting us to join Him. We contextualize our practices to the cultures in which we serve in order to both represent and present the Gospel of Jesus Christ effectively.” (From TeachBeyond’s Core Values)
- Article by Dan Cable from Harvard Business Review
- “A humble leader increases the success of his or her team by encouraging them to become more of who they are to bring more of their skills, more of their creativity, into their workplace, into their classroom, or into their family.”
- Psalm 8
- “Biblically-based humble thinking affirms both our significance in God’s eyes and in His greater plan for redemption.”
- Proverbs 11:2
- Mark 10
- “We must right-size ourselves in light of God’s plan.”
- Philippians 2:1-18
- John 3:28-30
- Luke 14
- Matthew 21:1-5
- “Humility does not mean that you deny or refuse to be in a position of leadership or a position of authority. God wants to give this to us in His time and in His way.”
- John 13
- “Jesus invites us into life with Him, which inescapably includes a call to humility. It’s impossible to be one of his disciples and to not be challenged and called to humility. Disciples follow their teacher.”
- Matthew 11:28-30
- “He invites us to come to Him in order to be like Him.”
October Reflection: Where is God challenging you about humility?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Learning to tie knots
- Heather: GooseChase scavenger hunts for a birthday
- Brian: Leaders who have modeled humility
Weekly Spotlight: Arbor Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Have you ever wondered if you actually heard from God when things don’t go as expected? Christy Biscocho shares her story of living on three different continents, serving the Lord as a single person and then with a family, learning to trust God in new ways through the journey.
- “I find it so energizing to help people figure out where their gifts fit.”
- “I think it’s time. I think it’s time for me to quit my beloved job and see if I can make an impact around the world.”
- “I was blessed to be able to get to know some of [the missionaries] and to realize that they were just normal people… I got to really see that they were just trying to live out their faith and that they weren’t some sort of superhero, but I don’t think that I ever expected to be one.”
- “I got to the point where I realized that if I didn’t try, I was going to regret it my whole life.”
- “What if it all falls apart? What if I fail? What if I have to come home?”
- “There was a picture of a boat that is moored to the dock, and it just felt like my boat wanted to go. I had to let the ropes go and see where it took me. I really just felt like that was what God was asking of me. And not that it’s been an easy sail - not at all - but it just seemed that resisting was futile.”
- TeachBeyond’s Sparrow Project
- “I was really the only person that was single in my 30s venturing into this environment, and so there was loneliness that I had to deal with.”
- “I was really questioning if I knew how to listen to God and if I could trust Him. It was really different than I had expected.”
- “My counselor pointed out to me all of Jesus’ emotions and that He felt them all, and so it was okay for me to feel fear or anger or whatever it might be. One of the most comforting thoughts to me was that Jesus was human.”
- “I was so willing to just do anything, so when it was ‘just wait,’ that was harder.”
- “I have given sessions at orientation on cultural adaptation, and I was not prepared to culturally adapt, married with kids.”
- “In whatever season you are in, it is essential to have people you can be honest with.”
- Everything Glorious by David Crowder Band
- “He makes everything glorious, and we are His. I would like to tell myself to just relax - He’s making it all glorious.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Drawing illustrations from kids’ books
- Heather: Yoga YouTube videos
- Christy: Facial massages and googly eyes
Weekly Spotlight: Roles with TeachBeyond
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
How can I get it all done? If you’ve ever wondered this before, this episode is for you! Linda Kardamis, founder of Teach 4 the Heart, unpacks a theological framework for approaching work and rest, as well as practical tips for managing a busy schedule. Also, don’t miss the Rise Up Summit to learn more about this topic and many others!
- Learn more about Teach 4 the Heart here!
- “Before the fall, work was good and rest was good.”
- “We can trust Him. We can work from a state of peace instead of anxiety.”
- “The sanctification process should apply to every area of our lives, and I don’t think our time management and our work-life balance should be an exception to that.”
- “We ignore this reality that our time is finite, that our mental energy is finite, that our physical energy is finite - and we just try to do more than we can.”
- “Being realistic about the amount that we can actually do on any given day or any given week is a really important place to start.”
- “It’s not about saying I can’t work, but it is about intentionally - I’m choosing when I’m going to work, I’m choosing when I’m not. That way, you get out of this trap of feeling guilty for not working and feeling guilty for working.”
- Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz
- “The things that I actually treasure are the things I skip when I get busy.”
- Treasure (what do I value?), trash (what can I stop doing?), trim (what can I do less? could I do this half as often?), and transfer (what could someone else do?)
- “Find people who can help repetitively, and then invest in teaching them.”
- “What is a teacher’s core responsibility? In most cases, it’s teaching great lessons. Am I freeing up space for that?”
- “A vacation is great, but it’s not going to magically solve all of your problems.”
- Register for the Rise Up Summit here: Individual Registration / School License
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: First day of school for his kids
- Heather: Favorite coffee shop closing
- Linda: Remembering a friend who passed 2 years ago
Weekly Spotlight: Black Forest Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Have you heard about the partnership between TeachBeyond and Wycliffe Bible Translators USA? We believe that partnering together will strengthen the impact of each of our organizations as we serve in our respective niches in missions. Listen in to this conversation with John Madden of Wycliffe USA to learn more about the work of Bible translation and this new partnership.
- Learn more about TeachBeyond’s partnership with Wycliffe!
- Missions at the Airport (JAARS)
- “Faith in Jesus Christ is not just something for one particular people group or language group; it’s for everybody.”
- “If you don’t have access to the Word of God, you’re going to be really limited in your exposure to the Gospel.”
- “One of the key components of Wycliffe is partnership. We really believe that we have our expertise, we have our niche in the missions world, but we don’t do everything and we can’t do everything.”
- “We can join efforts in providing great education for missionaries and for their children so that their longevity can increase.”
- “Let’s see what we can do together. It’s in line with the Body of Christ – coming together and utilizing everyone’s gifts and abilities to have a maximum impact.”
- “It is all interconnected, and that’s what our passion is – to give people access to the Word of God – we just happen to do that as a teacher or a pilot or an HR rep.”
- Tune into the Wycliffe webinar with Heather on October 17!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Exercising in the morning
- Heather: Using phone alarms and timers
- John: Transitioning into empty nest phase
Weekly Spotlight: Schools supporting the work of Bible translation. Opportunity Board
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Co-hosts Heather Brown and Keane Fine catch up with Brian Delamont and Christy Bisocho as a new season of Transformed & Transformational begins!
Heather quotes, “If you work with your hands, sabbath with your mind; if you work with your mind, sabbath with your hands.” - Abraham Heschel
What has been changing your life since the end of season 3?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: New attender church class
- Heather: Opening at Etsy shop and Instagram account @holdbothco
- Brian: Son getting married and wife’s mom passing away
- Christy: Libby library app
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Want some practical advice and heartfelt encouragement for beginning well in a new place? Susan and Larry McCrary, seasoned missionaries and authors of The First 30 Daze, share their stories and suggestions for living intentionally in your first thirty days abroad and beyond.
- The First 30 Daze: Practical Encouragement for Living Abroad Intentionally by Larry and Susan McCrary
- “I think I’ve lost a lot of the pride I had to begin with. I’m okay with making a mistake, and I don’t have to be perfect. It actually has taken the pressure off.” - Larry
- “This book helps you to move from just surviving to steps towards thriving in a new culture – and to thrive with intentionality.” - Larry
- “We don’t have all of the answers. When we learn, it opens doors to a lot of good conversations, as opposed to when we come in as knowing it.” - Larry
- “How wonderful that we can relax, not take ourselves too seriously. [...] I’ve learned over the years that the Lord has all of this in His plan, and we can just rest in Him and be okay with when we mess up, embracing that we’re still figuring out and that that’s an okay thing.” - Susan
- “Whatever you’re doing now and you love – those can be some of your best ways to connect with people and live with intentionality when we move to a new place.” - Larry
- “I’m joining what God’s already doing in this place.” - Susan
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Getting air conditioning fixed
- Heather: Sunflower season
- Susan: Time with family
- Larry: Aging parents
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Have you ever felt lonely living abroad? Or do you wonder how you can encourage others who are living as expatriates? Our guest today, Alicia Boyce, is one of the co-founders of an online community of expats, Taking Route, as well as a co-author of Liturgies and Laments for the Sojourner. Listen in to this conversation about how we can approach God with honesty in prayer and connect with others who are walking through similar experiences.
- Learn more about Taking Route here!
- “The enemy can really make you feel isolated and that you’re the only one struggling, or that you just can’t handle this and it must have something to do with you. We want people to know they’re not alone.”
- Liturgies and Laments for the Sojourner
- “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” - Corrie Ten Boom
- Ephesians 6
- “Of course we know that our victory is secure, but the war still continues. We just have to remember that Satan has no power over people who pray with steady persistence actively, waiting expectantly for the Lord to do what He says He’s going to do.”
- Every Moment Holy
- “In this process of writing the prayers, we drew from personal experience.”
- Romans 8:22
- “LIfe is full of sorrows, full of pain, full of injustice, full of grief, and so the opportunities really abound to make lament an important and crucial part of our spiritual journey.”
- “A sojourner is a person or group who resides either temporarily or permanently in a community and place that is not primarily their own, and they are dependent on the goodwill and kindness of that community for their continued existence in that place.”
- “We always need to enter into a new culture and a new place humbly, with the mindset of being a learner and then seeking to find community as soon as possible.”
- “Help us remember that Your presence follows us, and fullness of joy is with us wherever we go.”
August is Child Sponsorship Month! Learn more about TeachBeyond’s sponsor program here.
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Acoustic covers
- Heather: The Innovation Crisis by Ted Esler
- Alicia: The Wingfeather Saga series by Andrew Peterson
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
For our first special summer bonus episode Keane talks with Pastor Prosper about his experience as a refugee and how God reveals who he is and our identity is in Christ. Pastor Prosper speaks about understanding ourselves as refugee's in the world as well as fully home accepted in the body of Christ. We hope this episode speaks to you during World Refugee Week as well as World Refugee Day. Consider how you can get involved in loving the full body of Christ.
Have a trip coming up? We’re wrapping up season 3 with this fun finale of travel tips from TeachBeyond members around the world! What would you add to the list? Share your travel tips on social media and tag us!
Have you enjoyed listening along this season? We’d love to know your favorite episodes and who you’d like to hear in season 4. Be sure you’re subscribed or following this show on the platform where you listen so you don’t miss our bonus episodes and the start of season 4!
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Have a trip coming up? We’re wrapping up season 3 with this fun finale of travel tips from TeachBeyond members around the world! What would you add to the list? Share your travel tips on social media and tag us!
Have you enjoyed listening along this season? We’d love to know your favorite episodes and who you’d like to hear in season 4. Be sure you’re subscribed or following this show on the platform where you listen so you don’t miss our bonus episodes and the start of season 4!
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
In our final Spiritual Development episode of the season, we talk with Brian Delamont about how we can honor God with the condition and content of our hearts. As we intentionally build our lives on the firm foundation of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us and gives us supernatural peace.
- Luke 6:45
- “The condition and content of our hearts matter greatly to God.”
- Proverbs 4:20-27
- “It’s my responsibility to guard what’s in my heart and how it gets there.”
- 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
- “The way you and I can stand firm in Christ is by His Spirit, who lives in our hearts. The Spirit is the deposit, the promise of what’s to come when we’re fully sanctified in God’s presence.”
- Philippians 4:6-8
- Luke 6:46-49
- Psalm 19:14
- “God is the One who has purchased us so that we receive His righteousness. He has all the resources necessary to help my heart be the kind of heart He wants it to be. He’s also the rock, the foundation [...] He provides the foundation that my heart needs in order to stand firm when things shake.”
May Reflection: After reflecting on Psalm 19:14, what are you going to do with it?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: City parks and recreation department
- Heather: Not getting sick while traveling
- Brian: Working in his yard
Weekly Spotlight: North Africa TCK Classical School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
From the African Children’s Choir to an IT job to becoming National Director of TeachBeyond Uganda, follow along with Morris Kabuye’s story of being a vessel, available for the Lord to work through Him.
- “It doesn’t matter which side of River Jordan you are, I will bless you.”
- “If we all remain in the west, who is actually going to take charge? Who is going to lead, who is going to impact, who is going to show them a better way of doing things?”
- “We want them to be able to sit and read and let the Holy Spirit speak to them through the Word of God.”
- “I don’t do the transformation, but God uses people. God wants us to be available.”
- “The impact is being created, and the ripple is starting to go.”
- “People asked why I had come back, whether I [was] not wise for having decided to return.”
- “God has given each and every one of us numerous chances and opportunities, and so I’ve learned not to give up on the youth because they are stubborn, because they are not changing, because it takes time.”
- Deuteronomy 9
- “I am here as a vessel, and God can decide to pluck me out of it and put someone else here, but while I’m here, I’m going to do my best to do what God put me here for.”
- “This is not my work; this is God’s work, and He will make sure that it is accomplished.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Reconnecting with high school friends
- Heather: Having friends move to my neighborhood
- Morris: New phone and kids becoming good swimmers
Weekly Spotlight: Open Schools Worldwide
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
How can we foster curiosity in learners of all ages? Andrea Craddock of TeachBeyond School Services introduces us to the topic of holy curiosity and how we can integrate this into our classrooms and conversations.
- “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity... Never lose a holy curiosity." - Albert Einstein
- “Cultivating a Holy Curiosity through Social Studies” Article
- “Looking to the world around us, words are used like ‘madness’ and ‘folly.’ We see that if we can satisfy our curiosity through God’s Word, we eventually end up in this place of transformation.”
- “We don’t want to teach students what to think; we want to teach them how to think.”
- “It’s a lot easier to create opportunities for the younger ones because they are so curious about life, whereas the older ones, for them it’s really more about helping them find what they’re curious about.”
- “When a student asks a question in the classroom, you don’t just immediately give the answer.”
- “We want them to take what it is that they are learning in the classroom and be able to apply that to life.”
- “There’s a lot of good that comes out of curiosity, and that’s how we were made, so we want to be supporting that and fostering that.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Scooter walks
- Heather: Family reunion
- Andrea: Multi-generational Bible study
Weekly Spotlight: Timothy Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Mark Kordic from the Alliance for the Unreached shares about how we can all be part of reaching unreached people groups with the hope of the Gospel. Join Mark and the Alliance for the Day (and Week) for the Unreached later this month!
- Alliance for the Unreached
- A Third of Us
- Joshua Project
- “One third of the world doesn’t have access to who Jesus is and what He’s done for us. [...] They don’t have access to a believer - they’ve never met a Christian; they don’t have access to a building - they’ve never seen a church; and they don’t have access to a Bible in their language that they can understand.”
- A Third of Us Book
- “Three billion or more people have no access to who Jesus is.”
- “We believe that the greatest injustice is those that don’t have a relationship with Jesus because they have no way of knowing about Him.”
- Unreached of the Day Podcast
- Great Commission Action Guide
- International Day for the Unreached on May 28, 2023
- “Whether it’s children’s ministry to broadcast ministry to church planting to compassion and healthcare ministries, all of that touches the lives of the unreached, and sometimes that’s an entree into their lives and then you’re able to go deeper into their lives to share the Gospel.”
- “God knows how to multiply His message as it goes out in faith.”
- “The BIble is a storybook of God’s love story with man, and He longs for each people group to hear His heart for them.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: School events and building a pie-throwing booth
- Heather: Apron
- Mark: Christ from Beginning to End by Hunter and Wellum
Weekly Spotlight: Creative Access locations
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
How can we follow Jesus out of joyful obedience rather than dutiful obligation? Brian Delamont, Executive Vice President of TeachBeyond, returns to the podcast to unpack how we can follow Jesus out of joyful obedience, rather than dutiful obligation. As our hearts are aligned to His and our mindset is transformed, we can live in victory and love.
- “Obedience always involves two aspects: what is being obeyed or followed, and the person carrying out the action of response.”
- “Obedience, like everything else God has given us to understand who He is and to understand how he loves us, has been twisted and broken by the fall. God initially set this in place out of love, knowing this was for our very best, that we would follow His lead, that we would follow His instructions.”
- 1 Samuel 15:19-22
- “He requires more than external compliance. He’s not about the sacrifice; He’s about our heart’s devotion to Him.”
- “Trust and obedience [...] are deeply connected to walking with Jesus. In order to walk with Him, I have to trust where He is going and to follow Him there.”
- “Obedience means that we listen to what Jesus has to say, and then we do what He tells us to do.”
- John 14:12-18
- Matthew 21:28-32
- “Don’t just say the right thing; do the right thing. If you love Me, you will keep My commands.”
- “He’s just longing for us to do the things that He knows will lead to life, not death.”
- A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson
- James 1:22-25
- “How can obedience lead us to victory rather than duty?”
- 2 Corinthians 10:4-6
- “Obedience doesn’t begin with the externals [...] obedience begins with our minds being transformed.”
- Matthew 15:18-20
- “Love for [Jesus] is what motivates our obedience.”
April Reflection: Where are you most challenged to obey? What would it look like to have victory in this area of your life?
What’s changing our lives from our Africa Regional Conference:
- Keane: Meeting people in person
- Heather: Praying together with people in person
- Brian: The obedience of our team members in Africa
Weekly Spotlight: Evangelical Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
How do you reach a nation with the hope of the Gospel and quality education? Open a program to train Christian teachers! Marisol Gomez, TeachBeyond’s National Director for Argentina, shares her story of coming to faith, experiencing personal transformation, and waiting on the Lord’s timing for opening a Teachers College.
- “This is a great opportunity for Christian education, for Christian schools. You know why? Parents who are not necessarily believers are looking for values-based education, so it’s a great opportunity and we have to get ready. We have to be ready, we have to be equipped for what the Lord is already doing here in Argentina.”
- “Wait on the Lord; wait for His time.”
- “When this is the time - the time of the Lord - He will bring the resources, He will change hearts, He will make it possible.”
- Pray for at least 30 students, as well as funding for the Teachers College project!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Instrumental covers
- Heather: Roasted chickpeas
- Marisol: Running and listening to the Lord
Weekly Spotlight: TeachBeyond Argentina
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Are you or someone you know going through the process of transitioning back to your passport country? Or, perhaps you are on the receiving end of welcoming someone into your community. Melissa Chaplin, master coach and author of Returning Well, shares helpful guidance for debriefing and unpacking baggage, as well as offering a supportive listening presence to others. Tune in to discover how to return well and help others do the same.
- Returning Well by Melissa Chaplin
- Acts 14
- “Debriefing is like saying, ‘I’m not going to just drop my bags in the middle of the living room and just try to exist around them and not trip over them. I’m going to unpack them.’”
- “The way you end one season is how you’ll enter the next.”
- “When you’re able to name it and label it, it allows you to step back and say, ‘Okay, now that I know that, how do I want to interact with that? How do I want to move forward from that?’”
- “There’s a sense that I should fit here, but I don’t.”
- Suggested questions:
-
- How are you doing today?
- What are the things you miss the most?
- What are the questions that you wish people would ask you right now?
- What are you finding hard?
- What’s confusing to you about this culture?
- Where have you noticed the most change?
- “Create a presence of really good listening and being able to really hear them.”
- “Lord, You know what I need to process. Will you lead me to the questions?”
- Learn more and connect with Melissa!
Check out the book mentioned in the Story from the Field, The Giver: Living Out the Life of Jesus in Giving, Serving, and Construction Missions by Renée Burkette.
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Large paper map
- Heather: Physical therapy
- Melissa: Experiencing the power of partnership
Weekly Spotlight: Puebla Christian School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Brian Stiller of the World Evangelical Alliance shares from his vast life experience - over 80 years of life and more than 90 countries visited! - about the centrality of the Gospel, indigenous leadership in missions, and unity in the global Church.
- From Jerusalem to Timbuktu: A Global Tour of the Spread of Christianity
- Evangelicals Around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century
- Jesus and Caesar: Christians in the Public Square
- Dispatches from Brian
- World Evangelical Alliance’s Statement of Faith
- “A good dose of humility is at the core of our working out relationships.”
- “On any one of these items, you can have division of opinion.”
- “Even though they’ll have variances on each one of them, and they’ll have cultural or tribal patterns that will maybe emphasize one over the other, these are core.”
- John 17
- “The nature of evangelicals is to be entrepreneurial, to have initiative, to listen to God speak to you, to be courageous, to work in faith. This results in all kinds of denominations.”
- “To be drawn together in unity in Christ, as Jesus prayed, by the Spirit, where unity creates a love for each other, a respect and a willingness to work with each other - that for me is more critical than any other thing that we face in the world today. How can we experience unity in Christ?”
- “Unity is not something that we create. Unity is something that we pray for and we hope for, but unity is something that the Spirit brings.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Mini golfing
- Heather: Lunchtime prayer and journaling
- Brian: Wife recovering from congestive heart failure and gratitude for people praying for them
Weekly Spotlight: International Christian School of Budapest
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does jello have to do with holiness and fear of God? What is holiness, why does it matter that God is holy, and how can we be holy as He is holy? Listen in to this episode with our monthly guest, Brian Delamont.
- “The Hebrew word for holy, Kadosh, in its fundamental meaning contains the note of that which is separate and apart.”
- Hosea 11:9
- Exodus 3:5
- “So why does it matter that God is holy? Because His holiness is integral to His very being and nature. If God were no longer holy, He’d also no longer be God.”
- “Holiness” Video from Bible Project
- Leviticus 19:2
- “Holiness is more than an attribute; it’s who God is. He is always, always holy.”
- Leviticus 9:23-24
- Psalm 99:9
- “We worship at His mountain, not because the mountain itself is special, but because God’s presence makes it a holy mountain. It’s about the presence of God.”
- “Because of Jesus, God invites us into his holiness and because we are in his presence, we ourselves become holy!”
- “Jesus, because He Himself is the holy God, has unlimited access to the Father.”
- John 17:15-19
- “When we live in God’s Word and in God’s way we choose to live in something which will be actively used by the Holy Spirit to make us holy.”
- “Now, through Jesus, our holiness is not on the merit of water or sacrifice, but our holiness is on the merit of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So, holiness is imparted by God to us as His sons and daughters.”
- The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
- Romans 1:7
- “This is His invitation: to come to Him and live in His holiness, rather than trying to manufacture our own fruitless, achievement-based holiness.”
- “The difference between being afraid of God and the fear of the Lord is relationship. That’s why the fear of God is not anxiety about God.”
- Ezekiel 47
- Revelation 11:15
- 1 Peter 2:9-10
- The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer
- “We live in the reality of the way God sees us - as perfect in Christ Jesus. We have received mercy. We have received righteousness in Him.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
March Reflection: What area of your life could use more holiness? Where is God asking you to be “sanctified through and through” (1 Thess. 5:23)? What step is the Spirit prompting you to take?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Making yogurt
- Heather: Discussing Scripture in worship songs
- Brian: The Full Story reading plan by Bible Project
Weekly Spotlight: Christian International School of Prague
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
We have a special guest on the podcast today from a Creative Access Country sharing her story of navigating difficult circumstances and persevering in God’s strength.
- “I believe that God allowed for me to be born here with a purpose. I love my country and my people, and I see a desperate need for the Good News of the Gospel.”
- “Hard decisions can be unpopular. They can require boldness, persistence, deep trust, and recognizing the consequences.”
- “When I have a chance to avoid difficulties, is it always right to do it?”
- “I think the Church, as always, needs the Gospel - that we are loved, we are family, we have hope, we have God. He is the King. Jesus has already overcome this world, and we have a victory.”
- “It is important and very inspiring for me to see how God works in the world in different places, to hear testimonies, to know people on the field, their dedication and faithfulness has really helped me to go on.”
- “TeachBeyond is a place for me to grow spiritually and personally, and it’s really a community of Godly people.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Challenging conversations with friends
- Heather: Working Genius
- Our Guest: Joy and satisfaction in her ministry
Weekly Spotlight: LinGo English Camps
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Kristi Steele of KC360 shares practical tips for parents, students, and educators walking through the university application process with Third Culture Kids from the US and Canada. Listen in for a deep dive into this topic!
- KC360
- “Starting early is really important.”
- “One of the biggest value points that is highly underrated and rarely talked about is support. When you look at campuses, you need to look for their international office and what kind of TCK support they have.”
- “The support level really does make or break a student’s success [...] and we just assume it’s going to be there.”
- “Do they have the problems that you’re looking for? Do they have the TCK support?”
- MyCAP - College Aid Pro
- “A lot of students make better decisions by [...] putting everything on the table and having an informed decision.”
- “Everything about college in this day and age from a financial perspective is ‘many streams equal one river.’”
- “A university will want to see that you’ve used your gap year wisely.”
- KC360 Podcast
- TCK Training’s Launch Pad
- You can contact Kristi directly at kristi@kc360.co!
To learn more about Third Culture Kids, listen to Episode 22 with Michele Phoenix or Episode 61 with Lauren Wells.
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Trying out Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Heather: Watching a friend’s kids
- Kristi: Seedlings
Weekly Spotlight: Chiang Rai International Christian School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Making a cross-cultural transition can be intimidating and overwhelming. John Trotter of Global Frontier Missions walks us through a number of tips for entering a new place and navigating cultural adaptation.
- Global Frontier Missions
- Reflecting Jesus in the City: Christlike Ministry in Urban Immigrant Context by John Trotter
- “It doesn’t matter how much you know or how good you are with community development or evangelism; if your heart’s not in a good place, you’re not ready to go to the field.”
- “Integrated mission is starting with Jesus as Lord and then it’s springing up from there.”
- “When you’re crossing a culture, you’re not really an expert on anything.”
- “We can tend to bond with the people who look and sound a lot like us rather than bond with the very people [we’re] living among.”
- Exegeting the city: Slow down to use your five senses to explore the city.
- “It’s really hard to go back and reintroduce yourself to a community.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Rediscovering board games
- Heather: Co-working with friends
- John: His role with Global Frontier Missions and Bop-It
Weekly Spotlight: Grace International School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org
We’re celebrating one hundred episodes! Listen in for updates from past guests, and join us in commemorating this milestone.
- Becoming More Fruitful in Cross-Cultural Work: How to Be Free in Christ and Rooted in Your Reality as You Fulfill Your Call by Amy Young
- TCK Training Research
- “Shame is something that is so directly opposed to God’s love.” - Annie Stepanenko
- “Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection made us worthy of love; God has declared us His beloved.” - Annie Stepanenko
- Recommendation from Annie: Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown
- Advent with Elizabeth from Global Trellis: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
- “It’s okay to do different [spiritual disciplines] in different seasons, and to meet Him in different ways.” - Tessa Sydnor
- Cyndi’s book club book: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- “I have seen God work in such miraculous ways through our grief.” - Amy Massingale
- Recommendations from Tricia: Odder by Katherine Applegate, Yonder by Ali Standish
- “I have watched Him show up in TeachBeyond in all kinds of wonderful ways.” - Russ Kraines
What’s changing our lives:
- Sarah T: Prayer time at her church
- Amy Y: Working with the aging parents cohort of Global Trellis
- Lauren W: Feeling more connected to local community
- Elizabeth F: Ignatian spiritual exercises
- Steve J: Perspective after attending a funeral
- Tessa S: Getting engaged
- Barb B: A new grandson
- Cyndi F: Book club
- Amy M: Kindle Paperwhite
- Tricia F: Oldest will be graduating university this May
- Russ K: Caring for elderly parent and spending time with grandchildren
- Amanda F: Days are getting longer
- Sandra P: AI in the classroom
- Alison N: Meeting with the Safeguarding team in person
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
As humans, we all experience different types of limitations. How can we glorify God in living with limits? Tune in to this episode as Brian Delamont returns to the podcast for a monthly episode on spiritual development.
- “Sin causes us to push against God’s wise and loving boundaries. Sin causes us to deny our susceptibilities and to assign more power to ourselves than we have. Sin tempts us to think that we know better and that we do not need what God knew we would need.” - Paul David Tripp
- “Our limitations aren’t just temporal but emotional, social, economic, and more. What if these limitations aren’t something to fight but to gratefully accept as a signpost to God’s call on our souls?” - John Mark Comer
- “Part of what’s happened is we’ve started to imagine that our limits are the result of sin and the fall. The surprise is God actually made us good, and part of the good is limits.” - Kelly Kapic
- Genesis 1:4
- “We weren’t ever meant to have unending days of work with no rest, neither were we meant to sleep all the time.”
- Genesis 1:7
- Genesis 3:16-17
- “In God’s perfect sinless, pre-fall creation, he placed limits on everything for its own good. God gave us freedom in the garden, but there was a good and godly boundary put in place so that we wouldn’t destroy it all.”
- “We have a distorted view of dependency or limits because they restrict our sense of independence.”
- Job 38:4-11
- 1 Corinthians 12:4, 12-13, 17
- “We need to work together, which means that there are limitations, differences in ability and capability, which, by God’s design, make our limitations work together under his divine direction.”
- “The incarnation is God choosing to live within the limits of his own creation: the Word became flesh.”
- “As Jesus models for us what being fully human is really meant to be, do we see Him railing and struggling and fighting against these limitations? No, He accepts them from His Father as part of God’s perfect plan to be with us.”
- Hebrews 4:15
- “Our limits and weaknesses are not in the way of what God can do through us, but our denial of limits and our delusions of independent strength are.” - Paul David Tripp
- Matthew 26:38-39
- “[God], by His Spirit, wants us to become all that He intends. He knows what you and I are capable of, and He empowers that. Yet, living within our limits is our acknowledgement of God’s design, authority, wisdom, and goodness.”
- “Sabbath is a pattern breaker [...] When we lay aside control and striving and trust God to be our Caregiver, trust God to be our Provider, and direct our hearts to worship Him, which is core to Sabbath practice, it does reframe our whole lives.”
February Reflection: Which limit is bothering you the most right now? What does this tell you about God and about yourself? Would God have the same conversation with you today that He had with Job?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Parents visiting
- Heather: Asbury University revival
- Brian: Playing on a worship team again
Weekly Spotlight: GDQ International Christian School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
In this episode, we sit down with Ruth to discuss her decision to embark on a new adventure, trusting that God will guide her every step of the way. We explore the power of making decisions and trusting in God's plan, even when it's hard to see the way forward. Ruth shares her experience of helping students discover God's presence in their lives and the joy of stewarding the gifts that God has given us. Join us for this inspiring conversation and let it encourage you to take that next step, trusting that God is with you every step of the way.
- “It was hard to think about leaving family behind [...] and just feeling like I was going to miss out on a lot of their lives.”
- Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung
- “At the end of the day, sometimes you have to just make a decision [...] that’s what it felt like when I decided to go. I just had to make a decision.”
- “Trust that, whatever decision you make, God’s going to be with you through that.”
- “[It’s neat to get] to be a part of that in a student’s life, helping them see that God cares about all of the little things in our lives and listens to our prayers.”
- “God has slowly been working at my heart and calling me one step at a time.”
- “I trust that this is what’s next; I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like, but I’m trusting that God’s going to show me each step of the way.”
- “It’s okay to not be perfect and to not have it all figured out right away. God is bigger than that, and I can trust Him with all of the big things and all of the little things.”
- “By studying math, we train our brains to notice patterns and solve problems, and that’s just a good stewarding of the brain that God has given us.”
- Join Dakar Academy in praying for staffing needs on the day this episode releases!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Finding a church
- Heather: New music from The Worship Initiative and Davy Flowers
- Ruth: New coffee shop in town
Weekly Spotlight: Dakar Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Dr. Helen Vaughan, author and long-time educator, shares a definition for transformational education and fleshes out what this can look like in different educational environments. This conversation is foundational to understanding how we can live out our faith in the classroom in an authentic, impactful way!
- The Handbook for Transformational Education
- “The Holy Spirit transforms; we’re there as co-laborers.”
- “Transformational education is an education that creates learning environments where a student is encouraged by every aspect of the environment to embrace wholeheartedly and in every dimension of life God’s amazing design for him or herself. It’s God’s empowerment for a full, rewarding, and impactful life now and in the life to come.”
- “We are transformed for now, and it’s not just a question of what happens when we die.”
- “A full, whole transformation is when a learner, a student, bows before Jesus as Lord and Savior in their life. That is the epitome of a transformed life.”
- “I feel so much more freedom to love and embrace people and know that God’s got this. My role is to follow God and not just immediately try to jump in and convert people.”
- “Transformation is an ongoing process.”
- “Transformational education is founded upon a distinctly Christian worldview; however, it is more encompassing than instruction in worldview assumptions or propositions or upon our gaining information about our duties and behavior. Transformation is formational - the student is changed - and that rarely happens by information alone. The teacher must live out the worldview.”
- “How can I create a condition that cultivates transformation?”
- “We’re not in charge of manipulating kids or adults or campers or players into faith.”
- “I love Jesus passionately, and [...] I want people to have what I have because of Jesus.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Gathering with coworkers in person
- Heather: New nephew
- Helen: Chair yoga
Weekly Spotlight: International School of the Caucasus
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
We’re tackling a tough topic this week: bullying. TeachBeyond’s Safeguarding Lead, Bronwen Coe, shares strategies for preventing bullying in schools and responding to situations of bullying with care for the bully, the bullied, and the bystander.
- Read the article from TeachBeyond Safeguarding: “Dealing with Bullying in Your School”
- “It’s really hard to define bullying actually, and that’s why every organization should wrestle with their own definition to suit their context.”
- “The first thing you have to do is to start training and to have a conversation in your school to bring about awareness about why bullying [is] wrong.”
- “80% of bullying that happens online or face-to-face actually has a bystander, so the role of the bystander is crucial.”
- “The three common reactions for a bystander could be fear, empathy, or excitement.”
- “[Training] has to be understanding why it’s wrong, understanding your response, and then figuring out, problem solving together, a correct response that will help the whole triangle - the bully, the victim, and the bystander.”
- “Leaders cannot ignore it. Bullying happens.”
- ATE: Awareness, Trust, Empowerment
- “Restorative justice is a process to enable people to express their feelings in a safe and constructive way, and to be part of the responsibility to restore the situation.”
- Restorative justice questions: How can we make sure this doesn’t happen again? What can we do to make things right? How do you think this has impacted you or the person you bullied?
- “A child should be able to come quietly and speak to someone they trust in a school, and the person in the school should know whom to go to confidentially.”
- The Protectors program
- Lamentations 3:22
- “I pray for that every day - that I have compassion that is new every morning, that I can compassionately and professionally respond to things.”
- “Children are valuable. They deserve to be protected; they deserve to be listened to; they deserve to be trained.”
To learn more about Safeguarding, check out Episode 45 with Alison Neumann.
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: End of the year lists
- Heather: Let’s Read the Gospels podcast
- Bronwen: Seeing life through the eyes of her granddaughter
Weekly Spotlight: International Education Services
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
God invites us to confess our sins, receive His forgiveness, stand in the righteousness of Christ, and live unburdened lives in His grace. How often do we accept the invitation to confession? How has our view of God been skewed? Brian Delamont, TeachBeyond’s Vice President of Mission Engagement, guides us through this conversation.
- “God already knows what I’ve done, so He’s actually not waiting for me to fess up or come clean to verify the truth of the action because He always knows the truth.”
- “God’s not bound to forgive you just because you say certain words. He’s actually looking for the attitude of our hearts and the actions of our lives.”
- “How do I view God? Is God for me and wants me to become all that He intends, or do I have to earn His favor somehow? We know that He loves us no matter what.”
- Romans 6:1-2
- “When we choose to follow Jesus, we make the choice to be dead to sin. So how can we live in a sinful way any longer if we’re dead to the old way?”
- Live No Lies: Recognize and Resist the Three Enemies that Sabotage Your Peace by John Mark Comer
- Proverbs 28:13
- “We sin because we believe a lie about what will make us happy.” -John Mark Comer
- “Anything less than God will eventually crumble under the weight of the expectations we put on it because nothing else can be God. And so, when we sin by trusting something less than God, confession becomes the way for us to see reality clearly. This is the mercy that we find: that God is so much better than our sin.”
- 1 John 1:8-9
- “Confession becomes the pathway to reality, the pathway to clearly seeing the better thing God is offering me in Himself.”
- Psalm 32
- “Confession removes our own self-deception.”
- James 5:15-16
- “It is when we are restored to righteousness - of which God is the source, not us - that’s when our prayers are powerful and effective.”
- “It’s not just about me, but it’s about how I am able to serve other people around me by living an unburdened, undeceived life because I am confessing my sin and standing in the mercy that God is so freely giving me.”
- Matthew 7:3-5
Join TeachBeyond’s 40 Days of Prayer!
January Reflection: When you hear the word “confession,” what is your understanding of that? Is your understanding of confession in alignment with what God says about it in His Word, or have you been deceived by other voices about confession?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: A year overview calendar
- Heather: Serving with a global body of believers
- Brian: More daylight
Weekly Spotlight: LinGo Online
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What do aviation, ESL, and illustration have in common? David Shimp shares his story of living with open hands and allowing God to use his various trainings and gifts to serve with TeachBeyond.
- Learn more about Beyond Borders!
- “I was always drawn to the idea of using what God’s given me to serve and love people.”
- “I think one of the greatest barriers might have been my own confidence and my own lack of clarity at times about what it is I could offer.”
- “I never could have dreamed that I would be doing art now in a missions setting.”
- “Their biographies are what people compare themselves to, and yet, very often it doesn’t turn out that way or doesn’t need to. It’s not necessarily how God works or leads.”
- “It’s really amazing to look back and see how God has led through challenges, but also how He has used us in so many ways we wouldn’t have expected to serve other people and to serve our teams that we’ve worked with.”
- “It’s so worth it when God calls you to do something and it’s affirmed in many different ways.”
- “Step out in faith, don’t worry too much about the future, live each day one at a time, and really lean into God. Live with open hands.”
- Prayer for Beyond Borders: That God would use the team as they serve displaced peoples in the midst of difficult circumstances
Check out other episodes related to David’s story: Episode 5: Telling Their Stories Episode 76: World Refugee Day Episode 80: Keep Going - A Calling Story
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Sweepy app
- Heather: Hanging macrame plant holder
- David: Men’s group at church and becoming an uncle
Weekly Spotlight: Communications Roles
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does it mean to process our thoughts, feelings, and experiences? How can we develop the practice of processing? Author and speaker Elizabeth Vahey Smith guides us through a conversation on this topic.
- Elizabeth Vahey Smith
- The Practice of Processing
- TCK Training
- “Sometimes people get this idea that they can learn this skill to help someone else and aren’t really thinking about their own needs. I think that it’s really important to have this practice of processing for oneself before trying to help other people through it.”
- “Processing can be applied to any emotion.”
- “The practice of processing is systematically understanding, sorting, and proceeding with emotions in a healthy way.”
- “When we start by processing the emotion that we’re feeling today, usually there is something in the past that led to that.”
- “There are so many different ways that you can personalize processing for every individual journey, but it starts with having a time and space to do it.”
- “TCKs in particular face so much grief during their childhoods.”
Want to learn more about Third Culture Kids? Check out Episode 22 and Episode 61!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
- Heather: Chocolate-covered peanut butter pretzels
- Elizabeth: Leadership coaching with Jo Saxton
Weekly Spotlight: William Carey Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Sarah Hilkemann of Velvet Ashes explores the power of hearing stories of past and current missionaries, as well as sharing our own stories, even when they are messy or difficult.
- Velvet Ashes
- Legacy Podcast
- “Many of us who have served cross-culturally were inspired by those workers from the past.”
- “It is easy to put cross-cultural workers now, but also in the past, on a pedestal, but I think we can learn so much from these stories from the past, more than just the hero status of these women.”
- Yet We Still Hope Book
- “We know that Jesus told stories, and we see that thread throughout Scripture as a really helpful and powerful way to interact with people and connect on a different level.”
- “We see these women fighting for joy and holding tight to hope, and that can give us courage, too.”
- “We need the messy stories. We need the stories of brokenness and hope and healing because it helps us remember we’re not alone, and it can give us the courage to keep going.”
- “When we allow global workers to share their stories, it helps us remember that they are human. I think so many people have suffered or struggled in silence because they were held captive by that fear.”
- “Transparency doesn’t necessarily mean sharing your story with everyone.”
- “We don’t have to wait for the perfect situation and the perfect person to share things with [...] We need to find those people who are safe enough.”
Join TeachBeyond for our 40 Days of Prayer!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Poster printer at the library
- Heather: Corgi coming to small group
- Sarah: Fireplace videos
Weekly Spotlight: Christian Academy in Mozambique
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
In this last episode of 2022, Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to guide us in looking to the pages of Scripture to enrich our prayer life.
- “The greatest resource that we have for prayer is the Bible - to look at Scripture, to read it with an awareness that it is a conversation that God has with us through the entire Bible. All of Scripture is God talking to us.”
- Context questions: Who is speaking? How might I place myself in this conversation? Who is being spoken to? How is my current situation similar/different?
- Content questions: What does this passage tell me about God? What does this passage tell me about people?
- Community questions: What does this passage tell me about myself? What does this passage tell me about those around me?
- Exodus 34:5-7
- “How will this passage of Scripture inform my prayer?”
- Numbers 6:24-26
- “We have this amazing opportunity to really extend our vocabulary, if you will, in our conversation with God by grounding ourselves in what He has already said to us and what other people over millennia have said to Him.”
- “The more we see what God is doing, the more we get to worship.”
Sign up to join TeachBeyond for 40 Days of Prayer beginning on January 9!
December Reflection: Are you happy with the prayers you’ve been praying? Do they feel alive? If not, what would you like to change in 2023? What will you do to have prayer be more meaningful and alive than ever before as you step into this new year?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Pizza stone
- Heather: Being home more
- Brian: A working furnace
Weekly Spotlight: BridgeWay North American School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Merry Christmas! At this time of year, we celebrate Jesus coming to earth as the promised Messiah. Jason Helopoulos, author and pastor, joins the podcast today to share about how the Old Testament culminates in the coming of our “long-awaited Savior” and how faith communities can point one another to Christ.
- The Promise: The Amazing Story of Our Long-Awaited Savior
- “God created all things for His glory and then, ultimately, for our good. These are the two purposes of everything that exists [...] History is simply the unfolding of God working out His purposes in this world for His glory and for the salvation of His people.”
- “We’re part of the story. [We] see ourselves in the midst of that story - because it’s all one story for His glory, for our good, for the salvation of His people.”
- “Every single one of [the heroes of our faith] is marked by some weakness, some failure, some sin [...] They are continually pointing us to the One who is perfect and holy and had no failing and answers our every need.”
- “I just want them to delight in Jesus.”
- 1 Corinthians 10
- Hebrews 4
- “So much of the Christian life is you and I waiting, but waiting purposefully, between the already and the not yet. We’re already enjoying the beauties of Christ and the gifts Christ, and not yet have we received it all.”
- “We’re constantly encouraging and exhorting one another to look to Christ and consider Christ.”
- “The Lord has put us together for each other’s good so that we finish this race together.”
- Neglected Grace: Family Worship in the Christian Home
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Self-checkout at Aldi
- Heather: Church-wide small group study
- Jason: Slowing down and meditating on Scripture
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.orgPodcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Whether you’re spending time in person with a missionary this Christmas or are looking for ways to care from afar, Tim Hood shares practical, creative suggestions for this holiday season.
- ”For missionaries, home is complicated. They have this deep sense of not knowing where home actually is.”
- Psalm 90:1
- “Knowing your missionaries, understanding their contexts, knowing their likes and dislikes, knowing some of the challenges they face is really the first step of being able to minister effectively, being able to meet them where they are.”
- “What would be a blessing? And then do that.”
- “The holidays are a gift-giving season, but sometimes what is the most important to a missionary [is just] to be remembered.”
- Ephesians 4
- “Praying for missionaries is such a huge deal, and letting them know that is also a huge deal.”
We also recommend Episode 68: Five Questions Not to Ask a Missionary with Kara Delaney.
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Warmer weather in the winter
- Heather: Feeling better after being sick
- Tim: New coffee grinder and music from his church
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Author and speaker Asheritah Ciuciu unpacks the significance of studying the names of Jesus at Christmastime.
- Learn more about Asheritah!
- Unwrapping the Names of Jesus by Asheritah Ciuciu
- “I’m afraid that I’m going to ruin Christmas for my kids.”
- “How can I recapture the joy of Christmas?”
- “I want to offer the gift of who Jesus is and who He offers Himself to be through His names.”
- “Even if I dedicated the rest of my life to studying the Names of God, I still would not master them.”
- “Names have such significance in Scripture - beyond what you call someone, it is an indication of someone’s identity.”
- Hebrews 7:25
- Hebrews 4:16
- “It doesn’t depend on you. It is the identity of the Great High Priest that invites you to come to Him confidently, with boldness, so that you can find mercy and help in your time of need.”
- “Understanding Jesus’s names changes everything because it shifts our devotion from just head knowledge about who Jesus is to this posture of heart adoration and worship. You cannot study Jesus’s names and remain passive [...] It moves you to worship and devotion and adoration.”
- “Jesus’s different names reflect different facets of His identity, of who He is.”
- Matthew 6:26
- “Don’t underestimate the power of prayer.”
- “Don’t feel the pressure of needing to do everything.”
- “Jesus said, ‘let the little children come to Me,” and so we get to bring them along as we join them in coming to Jesus together.”
Want to learn more about Third Culture Kids (TCKs)? Check out episodes 22 (Third Culture Kids) and 71 (TCKs and the Grief Tower).
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Reconnecting with old friends
- Heather: The Chosen Season 3
- Asheritah: Zettelkasten
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Continuing in our Advent series, Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to explore how our longings shape the way we live. Don’t miss how our families coordinate gift-giving, a number of Christmas carol quotes, and Brian’s monthly reflection question!
- Draw Names App
- “What you hope for shapes what you live for.” - The Bible Project
- “Anticipation ignites a thrill in the present caused by nothing more than a possibility in the future.” - Erwin McManus
- 1 Corinthians 16:22
- “[The Gospel] is about the power that Jesus gives us to live our hope right now and to long for what He will do in the future.”
- 1 Corinthians 15:58
- “The object of our desires is usually closely related to a change in our lifeworld. Either we desire something to be added or something to be taken away.” - Geoff Beech
- “The long-expected Jesus is the answer to [our] longings. In anticipation of Jesus’ rule in all our hearts alone and by Jesus’ all-sufficient merit, we are raised to God’s glorious throne.”
- “Discipleship, we might say, is a way to curate your heart, to be attentive to and intentional about what you love.” - James K. A. Smith
- “What I want actually tells me an awful lot about who I am and who I am becoming.”
- “We’re expecting whatever it is we’re hoping for or longing for [...] to satisfy us, to fulfill our cravings, and to meet our needs. And anything less than God will leave us disappointed.”
- “[Jesus] is against our longing for the wrong things in the wrong place in the wrong way. We can have a wealth of things, yet have poverty towards God. It’s because our longing, our hope, our desire is misdirected.”
- Luke 12:30-34
- “What do I treasure? What am I prepared to do so that I long for the best of all possible treasure?”
- “Much of what we hope for will remain out of our grasp until Jesus comes and makes all things new. This is the hope, the good news of the Gospel.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:1-2
- “We long to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling. In this Advent season, we long and we groan. We hope for the future, and we stand firm in the present.”
Advent Reflection: What are you longing for today, and how is that longing shaping you?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Sickness in the family
- Heather: Coffee beans from Papua New Guinea
- Brian: Watching his son experience joy after a difficult season
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What is Christmas really all about? How are my practices in alignment with my beliefs? In this conversation, Clayton Greene shares the story of how Advent Blocks came to be and challenges us to consider how our celebrations point us to the coming of Christ.
- GoodKind Shop
- “You say that Christmas is all about Jesus, but it feels like Christmas is all about presents.”
- “How much inconsistency is there in my intention to walk with God and practice my faith, and my actual ability to do it?”
- “Holidays and annual rhythms have an insane amount of power on what we do in a year and [...] in shaping who we are.”
- “A lot of the excitement you feel in December is actually not pointing you toward the coming of Christ.”
- “Slowing down and having an analog relational conversational moment about God and what He has done with your family is both being present in that moment and an anticipation of the future moment.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Snacking on carrots
- Heather: Seeing David at Sight and Sound Theatres
- Clayton: Playing in the front yard
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
We’re kicking off our annual Advent series with Amanda Bible Williams, co-founder of She Reads Truth! Amanda shares about keeping Scripture central, holding the tension of joy and longing, and how her family celebrates the season together.
- She Reads Truth | He Reads Truth
- “We exist to help women and men and families to open their Bibles every day.”
- “The Advent season is the season of preparation to celebrate the birth of Jesus and to understand why we’re celebrating.”
- “When Christmas day comes around, we’re not taken by surprise or struggling to remember what this day is really about, but we’re ready and we’ve been spending weeks pondering the manger.”
- Isaiah 9:2
- John 1:14
- “Though the story is the same, we can approach it from different angles in different seasons of life.”
- “Aren’t we all longing for something, for someone? As Christians, we believe that our longings at their deepest are only met in Jesus.”
- She Reads Truth Podcast
Check out the Advent collection at shopshereadstruth.com and use the code AMANDA15 for 15% off!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Thanksgiving road trip and family time
- Heather: Navigating flight changes
- Amanda: Voice messages
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Dayne Smith shares how he was led into missions and how God is at work through TeachBeyond South Africa.
- TeachBeyond Sparrow Project
- Open Schools Worldwide
- “You can get caught in a trap of thinking that you can and you are supposed to do so much in your own strength and by yourself, but that’s so far from the truth. I think God wants us to lean on Him and trust in Him and rely on Him.”
- “He’s working, and it’s His plan for our lives, and we need to be really sensitive to what He is doing.”
- “Listen to God more; do less.”
- Pray for TeachBeyond South Africa: Healthy ministry rhythm, open doors of opportunities, funding, entrepreneurship training, health in their family
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: NFC tokens
- Heather: Getting photos printed
- Dayne: His daughter’s expanding vocabulary
Weekly Spotlight: Bucharest Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Dr. Kristi Smith shares practical tips and suggestions for building bridges between school and home, partnering with parents in the educational process, and specifically navigating conferences with parents.
- “I am here to share my context and my experiences, and to network and partner with educators in what they are doing. It’s through that partnership and that interchange of information that we become stronger as a whole.”
- “A parent is a child’s best teacher.” -Dr. Brazelton
- “Outside of school and church, most children and adults spend the majority of their time in small group settings instead of large group instructional settings. People behave differently in large groups than they do in small groups.”
- “[Parents] know their child better than I can ever know them, and it’s important for us to work together in partnership.”
- “Partnering with parents is helping us to come together to help the children become independent, successful future learners.”
- “If we approach it as a relational event versus telling them what their child is doing or not doing, then it changes this to a conversation instead of a lecture. We have to remember that this is a partnership to train a child in the way that they need to go.”
- “When a parent finds someone reaching to them to try to meet them at their point of need, relationship gets built and barriers start falling down and positive steps go forward.”
- “Any partnership is better than none at all. How can we meet that parent where they’re at?”
- “We need to have constant communication with accurate information.”
- “I’m seeing XYZ. What are you seeing at home? Do you have any tips for me?”
- “Stay strong. It takes time. Bridging home to school actually takes time, but in the long run, it pays off. It pays off not only for you in the class, but it pays off for that child and for that family.”
Join TeachBeyond’s Day of Giving here!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Unlock Game
- Heather: The Cost of Control
- Kristi: Doing bucket list activities with others
Weekly Spotlight: Faith Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
How do we define the term “missionary”? How can churches send missionaries well? President of Sixteen:Fifteen, Matthew Ellison, helps us wrestle with and navigate these questions from a Biblical perspective.
- Sixteen:Fifteen
- Mark 16:15
- “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” -Mark Twain
- When Everything Is Missions
- “It is a well-intentioned idea to call everyone a missionary; I think it has unintended consequences.”
- “If we are sloppy in our definitional work of what missions is and who’s a missionary, I think invariably, it is those outside the reach of the Gospel that get disenfranchised.”
- “When everyone’s a missionary, no one’s a missionary.”
- “Biblically, missionary’s not a rank, it’s a role. They’re not super spiritual people, they’re not super apostles, they’re broken people like everyone else but they have a specific calling to take the Gospel cross-culturally.”
- “In the New Testament, this is someone who is sent out to cross cultures with the Gospel.”
- “God’s ‘all peoples’ mission is an all-hands-on-deck effort.”
- Acts 13
- “Not everyone is called to go, but everyone has a role to play.”
- “Missionaries are those who do Kingdom work in a cross-cultural context in support of the Great Commission’s fulfillment, which is making disciples of all nations.”
- “We should be discipling people into a global worldview. We have divorced missions and the mission of God to make disciples of all nations from our identity as followers of Jesus.”
- “The living God is a missionary God, and if we’re going to be like Him, we’re going to care about the things He cares about, and He cares about His mission [...] Every child of God should be a part of the story of God’s redemption.”
- Philippians 1:19
- Philippians 4:17
- 3 John 1:6
- “Send your missionaries in a manner worthy of God’s Name.”
- Philippians 1:5
- Perspectives on the World Christian Movement
- “The calling and appointment of the Spirit will be confirmed in the context of a local body of believers.”
- “It was a broken heart that got him to the mission field, but it was a love for Jesus that kept him on the mission field.”
- “I think the only thing that can keep us persevering in the mission of God is a love for Jesus.”
- “Where zeal for worship is weak, zeal for mission will be weak also.” -John Piper
- “If we want to see that missions flame burn in our lives until Jesus takes us home, we’ve gotta stay close to Jesus.”
To learn more about reaching the least-reached, listen to episode 74 with Steve Johnson.
If your church is interested in learning more about TeachBeyond, contact churches@teachbeyond.org.
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Hummingbird feeders
- Heather: Timeshifter App
- Matthew: Recent change to plant-based diet
Weekly Spotlight: Black Forest Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
As followers of Jesus, we are called to follow the example of Jesus - the downward way. Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to unpack what it means to be a leader who follows the model of Christ rather than the way seen in the rest of the world. Listen to our conversation as we are challenged to re-think what it means to lead.
- In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen
- “The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross.”
- Matthew 20:20-28
- John 13:4-7, 12
- “The downward way of Jesus, this upside-down leadership, is not a concept, it’s not a theory; it’s praxis.”
- “Transformed and transformational - we want to see the application of this, the transformation that God offers us, to be lived out in our lives.”
- Philippians 2
October Reflection: What does loving Jesus look like right now? How can I follow the example of Jesus?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Raised bed garden
- Heather: Autumn bingo board
- Brian: In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen
Weekly Spotlight: Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Paulo and Juliana are the first guests of the season for our monthly “Work and Calling” series! Work and Calling episodes feature TeachBeyond missionaries sharing about what they do and how God led them to missions. Listen in to hear their hearts for Brazil and how God led them to serve in Brasilia!
- “God is opening the doors in several ways that we have been praying [about] for so long!”
- “Although we didn’t know the next day what was going to happen, we knew that we had this sense of the Holy Spirit giving us comfort and confirmation.”
- “Those [moments of feeling alone] were the most crucial moments when we really learned how to depend on Him more than anything else, more than any other person, and that really shaped what we do today.”
- “We were reminded of the Lord’s prayer: Pray against the evil one, confess your sins, be more consistent.”
- “If God puts a desire in your heart, a ministry, He will fulfill it later on.”
- “When we walk in life as educators, as missionaries, as Christians, we need to live a confessional life, a life that is committed to dependence on the Lord as citizens in this world. We also need to have a deep sense of compassion for people.”
- “God is unlimited! I am limited, but God is not.”
- Isaiah 40:3-5
- Pray for Beyond Ingles and Brazil: Election, Connections for Beyond Ingles, integrating art into the English program, difficulties with families in Brazil
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Compost
- Heather: Read Aloud with Aunt Heather
- Juliana: Swimming classes for the kids
- Paulo: Beginning family Christmas celebrations
Weekly Spotlight: Beyond Ingles
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Where have you seen the hand of God at work in your life? TeachBeyond President David Durance returns to the podcast to talk about intentionally reflecting on God’s faithfulness, stewarding what we have been given, and looking for evidence of His presence.
- Learn more about TeachBeyond here!
- Psalm 24
- “There are seasons where we can see the visible hand of God. We see the undercurrent, the silent hand or the invisible hand all the time, but there are seasons, there are moments in our lives where the visible hand of God is present and evident.”
- Daniel 4
- “Why don’t we start our planning season with reminding ourselves that it seems good to us to show the signs and wonders of the Most High God?”
- “It’s good for us to remind each other of God’s presence and His faithfulness and His being with us.”
- “The Bible isn’t abstract and irrelevant, but relevant and speaks into the daily things of our lives if we just take a few minutes to read and understand and know.”
- Romans 12:2
- James 3:17-18
- “Where are we going to reap the most harvest for God’s Kingdom? Are the actions we’re going to take going to be peace-loving? Are they considerate, are they full of mercy and good fruit?”
- “As we go into each season, we can take a moment to take a look at what God has done.”
- “These moments of reminding and being faithful to retelling the stories of God’s hand in our lives are the foundation for us to then launch into all that God has for us next.”
- “We live in this world, then, where God is asking us to do the mission that he has, this redeeming work all around the world, and yet He’s never asking us to over-own this.”
- “Father, I’m always willing to ensure that You stay as the owner, and I will steward whatever mission You have in front of me.”
- “What do you want me to do about this, God?”
- “God, I want You to do all that You can, everything You desire here, to make this right, and Father, I’ll be whatever You need me to be to help You accomplish whatever You’re desiring.”
- “If we’re running so hard and fast, we can sometimes miss what God is saying.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Having both kids in school
- Heather: Returning from sabbatical
- David: Leaf blower
Weekly Spotlight: Arbor Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
It’s Child Sponsorship Month at TeachBeyond! Listen to the conversation with Maria Berezny as she discusses the pressing need for Child Sponsors and the impact that it can have on their life. Learn how not only are children's physical needs provided for, but their spiritual and education needs as well.
- Child Sponsorship
- “From a young age, whenever somebody would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I would answer that I wanted to be a Musician-ary, which of course is a word that I had made up. But in my mind, it perfectly encapsulated everything that I wanted to do. It combined my three main passions and loves, to combine music and children and ministry. And so in my mind, I just wanted to be a music teacher, missionary.”
- “I got to see firsthand that it doesn't matter how good of an education you provide a child if their most basic needs aren't being met, if they're hungry, if they don't have a sufficient shelter, if they don't feel safe, if they don't truly deep down know that they're loved and they belong, then the education is ineffective. They won't be able to receive and learn and apply all that they're being taught.”
- “What that does is, it shows the child you're seen, you're known, you're loved, you're worthy, you have potential, you have a future ahead of you, and you have a destiny and a God given purpose.”
- “…what really makes [TeachBeyond Sponsorship] unique is that although we, of course, recognize and meet the physical needs of our children, our focus is primarily education because we believe that students are made in God's image and they deserve an opportunity to be equipped and empowered with the knowledge, skills and tools that they need to become dynamic leaders within their communities and therefore to break these generational cycles of poverty that we're seeing.”
- “Beyond that, the kind of education which communicates to students that they're loved by God, gives them dignity. And of course, there's many reasons that we chose to focus on education. But I think kind of a nutshell reason is the potential for a long-term impact. We believe that by equipping and empowering these students, it's not only going to transform the children, but it's going to transform their families, and the families will transform their communities and their communities will transform their countries and so on. So, as we holistically train these students for life, we desire to instill in them an authentic vision of their calling within the Great Commission, and to raise them up to be ambassadors for Christ and reach their full God given potential. You know, the word says that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Swimming
- Maria: Her garden
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Getting ready to begin a new school year? In this bonus episode, Heather sits down with Joan Zeberlein, Associate Consultant with Kagan and Director of Missions and Hospitality at Grace Point in Newtown, PA. Joan shares suggestions for beginning the school year from her thirty years of experience in education.
- “Prayer is foundational in setting you in the right frame of mind to tackle a new school year.”
- “Our connection with our students is a hundred times more valuable than that colorful bulletin board border.”
- “I would be more concerned about that physical space being functional than pretty.”
- “How can I provide a safe environment for my students?”
- “Our curriculum will really be accessed if we take the time to create that classroom where everyone feels like they belong.”
- “Ask God to renew your mind, renew your love for Him, for your calling, for what you’ve been asked to do.”
- “Any season I’m in, any trial I’m going through, I have a choice to either be bitter or resentful about it, or I have a choice to embrace it and steward it well.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Heather: Preparing for sabbatical
- Joan: Mom’s cancer diagnosis and stewarding this season
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
For this special summer episode, Keane talks to Liz Steggall-Lewis, Director of Beyond Borders, about World Refugee Week and God’s heart for the refugee. We also hear about the work Beyond Borders is doing to serve the most vulnerable.
- "The character of God shines in these stories of displacement."
- "In Malachi it talks about the way that you treat foreigners, orphans, and widows is a sign of your righteousness."
- "The whole Biblical command is to care for those who are vulnerable and to welcome and love the foreigners among us."
- Resources:
-
- World Refugee Sunday - Exodus World Service
- World Relief
- Refugee by Alan Gratz
- Beyond Borders Sponsorship
- Life Jacket Documentary
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Summer Traveling
- Liz: Pizza
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
It’s the final episode of Season 2! TeachBeyond President David Durance joins co-hosts Heather Brown and Keane Fine for this final conversation of the season to talk about TeachBeyond’s values, favorite episodes of the season, and - as always - what’s changing their lives.
- Season 2 survey!
- “God is calling us to respond to what’s right in front of us.”
- “With God’s ‘help’ we live out our values: Humility, Excellence, Love, Partnership.”
- David’s favorite episodes: Episode 70 with Paulo Jobim and Episode 62 with Harold Klassen
- Heather’s favorite episodes: Episode 40 with Tara-Leigh Cobble and Episode 46 with Annie Stepanenko
- Keane’s favorite episodes: Episode 72 with Sarah Fine, Episode 67 with Aubrey Sampson, and Episode 53 with Chris Ruge
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Recording the finale
- Heather: Not having to move
- David: Celebrating 40th birthday and 20th anniversary recently
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Steve Johnson of SIL shares about his family’s experience living and working for over 20 years on the island of Papua New Guinea and invites everyone to be part of reaching the least reached. Listen in for an inspiring message rooted in the Great Commission. This episode is out just in time for the International Day for the Unreached! If you’re participating, be sure to tag TeachBeyond on social media.
- A Third of Us
- Ukarumpa International School
- Urbana Missions Conference
- “What we’re doing here doesn’t just matter for me and for my life, but it matters for the nation of Papua New Guinea.”
- Dr. Ralph Winter
- “There are locations around the world, peoples around the world, who still haven’t heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why haven’t they, and how can we reach them?”
- Matthew 28:19 - the Great Commission
- “Until everyone has had the chance [to hear the Gospel], we haven’t [finished the Great Commission].”
- “These [...] people need God’s Word in their language.”
- “Everything starts with prayer. God is the initiator of His work in my life and in your lives and in the lives of people here in Papua New Guinea.”
- Bibleless Peoples Prayer Project
- Joshua Project
- “Having [teachers] who are passionate about seeing young men and women grow in their knowledge and understanding of the world, of God and how He has created it, seeing them thrive and be healthy - we are blessed as parents.”
- Season 2 Survey!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: House projects
- Heather: Cut-and-come-again zinnias sprouting
- Steve: Son getting married and team members leading in his absence
Weekly Spotlight: Click here to explore opportunities with TeachBeyond!
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Brian Delamont walks us through Scripture and spiritual practices that emphasize the importance of remembrance as part of our spiritual development.
- Genesis 8:1
- “Memory has a tremendous potential to impact our lives and our bodies, our emotional health, our spiritual health in deep, deep ways.”
- Episode 70: Neuroscience and Belief (Paulo Jobim)
- Exodus 12:13-14
- “We can’t face future battles until we remember God’s continual presence.”
- “God has been active in the past, is active in the present, and will be active for future generations.”
- Joshua 4
- 1 Corinthians 11:24-26
- “We don’t think fondly of Jesus as if that’s the end of His story, but it’s this calling of Jesus to mind when we remember [in communion].”
- “God’s not limited to a specific location. We don’t have to go back to that pile of stones by the Jordan in order to recall that God will be with us.”
- Deuteronomy 6
- Psalm 77:11
- Psalm 111:3-5
- “It’s this mutual spiritual practice: It’s God speaking into our lives, us speaking into the lives of those around us, and me reminding myself of who God is and HIs actions.”
- “When you start thinking about spiritual disciplines, you can’t actually do them without memory.”
- Jeremiah 31:33-35
- Episode 43: May They Be One
- 2 Timothy 2:8
- “Memory is what you’re choosing to actually have shape your life, so for us to remember Jesus Christ raised from the dead would be the challenge.”
- Take the Season 2 survey!
May Reflection: What are you remembering most these days? What memories are you rehearsing most often?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Fire pit
- Heather: Planning Orientation
- Brian: Rewarding work
Weekly Spotlight: Grace International School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Sarah Fine brings her experiences and training as a licensed social worker to this conversation about how we can process loss - big or small - in a patient, gentle, and healthy way.
- MK is short for missionary kid, and TCK is short for Third Culture Kids. To hear more about TCKs, listen to Episode 22 with Michele Phoenix and Episode 61 with Lauren Wells
- “No matter what type of loss or disappointment, we are often interacting with some form of grief in our lives all the time.”
- “There’s something in us that recognizes the wrongness of saying goodbye.”
- “Grief makes people uncomfortable. It brings out the fixer in people.”
- “[Grief] is a process and not a single event.”
- “Sometimes we avoid the grief because we’re afraid it will overwhelm us.”
- “We want to go through the grief and not around it. Deferred grief doesn’t really get any easier to experience, it just tends to muddy life up with other emotions, like anxiety and anger, until we get a chance to work through the grief.”
- “Really important to the process is making some space to acknowledge and validate the loss.”
- “You didn’t want that to happen.” -Dr. Becky
- “It’s really important to remember that this is a process and not an event, so opening yourself up to your own grief might take longer than you imagine it should. The word ‘should’ is a pretty dangerous word when it comes to this sort of topic.”
- “It is absolutely a time when God and other people can minister to you if you let them into the process [...] Letting other people into the process can be really powerful.”
- Internalizers: tend to hold things inside, work on externalizing (journaling, therapy, art, prayer)
- Externalizers: tend to let it all out, work on internalizing (quiet reflection, silence)
- “Giving yourself a lot of grace in the moment with what is happening can be really important.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Facebook Marketplace
- Heather: Olive and June Manicure Set
- Sarah: Sunshine
Weekly Spotlight: Bingham Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Hear from TeachBeyond educators around the world about how they are ending the school year, from fostering healthy transitions to assigning special projects to honoring relationships built with students. How are you ending your school year? Let us know at podcast@teachbeyond.org!
- Take our Season 2 survey!
- Listen to Episode 32 on Ending Well (Amanda Ferris)
- The Global Nomad’s Guide to University Transition by Tina Quick
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Navigating with North at the top of the map
- Heather: Flexible meal planning
Weekly Spotlight: Christian International School of Prague
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Learn from Paulo Jobim about the brain science behind believing in Jesus and being transformed into His image.
- “He revealed Himself to me, and then I started to use science as a tool to understand God’s creation.”
- “I understand the brain as a God masterpiece.”
- “Every kind of learning produces change; the brain is made to be changed.”
- “This change we are experiencing in Christ uses the learning process, the memory process, but it’s completely different because when Christ lives in you, it changes you.”
- “When we meet Christ, we transition from ourselves to Christ’s self. The power of the Spirit creates in us this alternative self.”
- “This change of self happens only through the power of the Gospel and the Spirit operating on us. This is not any type of learning; it is a special type of learning that only Jesus can offer.”
- “Only in Christ can you be fully transformed.”
- “Beliefs are what guide our behavior and how we see the world around us.”
- “For people to actually believe in God and live this experience of believing, they must have personal experience with God.”
- “Christianity is a different type of religion because God demands obedience, and for us, obedience means to sacrifice our own nature, our own self, to make God get bigger.”
- “When God reveals Himself and we accept through faith, the way we see and perceive the world changes dramatically. Then we can start to be different persons because we are having Jesus live in us. This is why it’s so important to learn from God and live the truth we learn – not only intellectually know God, but by our practices.”
- “When you are confronted with something that shows you are not making decisions based on yourself but based on Christ’s self, you can see your brain activities in different places of your cortex.”
- John 3:30
- Galatians 2:20
- Romans 7
- “Science and the Christian faith can help each other; they are not in conflict.”
- John 4:35
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Potty training
- Heather: Working on my balcony
- Paulo: Recently quitting job and becoming a full-time missionary
Weekly Spotlight: Dakar Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Learn from Paulo Jobim about the brain science behind believing in Jesus and being transformed into His image.
- “He revealed Himself to me, and then I started to use science as a tool to understand God’s creation.”
- “I understand the brain as a God masterpiece.”
- “Every kind of learning produces change; the brain is made to be changed.”
- “This change we are experiencing in Christ uses the learning process, the memory process, but it’s completely different because when Christ lives in you, it changes you.”
- “When we meet Christ, we transition from ourselves to Christ’s self. The power of the Spirit creates in us this alternative self.”
- “This change of self happens only through the power of the Gospel and the Spirit operating on us. This is not any type of learning; it is a special type of learning that only Jesus can offer.”
- “Only in Christ can you be fully transformed.”
- “Beliefs are what guide our behavior and how we see the world around us.”
- “For people to actually believe in God and live this experience of believing, they must have personal experience with God.”
- “Christianity is a different type of religion because God demands obedience, and for us, obedience means to sacrifice our own nature, our own self, to make God get bigger.”
- “When God reveals Himself and we accept through faith, the way we see and perceive the world changes dramatically. Then we can start to be different persons because we are having Jesus live in us. This is why it’s so important to learn from God and live the truth we learn – not only intellectually know God, but by our practices.”
- “When you are confronted with something that shows you are not making decisions based on yourself but based on Christ’s self, you can see your brain activities in different places of your cortex.”
- John 3:30
- Galatians 2:20
- Romans 7
- “Science and the Christian faith can help each other; they are not in conflict.”
- John 4:35
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Potty training
- Heather: Working on my balcony
- Paulo: Recently quitting job and becoming a full-time missionary
Weekly Spotlight: Dakar Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does it mean to become “all that God intends” for us? Did you know that God has intentions towards His creation? Co-hosts Heather and Keane have a conversation with Brian Delamont, Vice President of Mission Engagement.
- TeachBeyond’s Mission Statement: “As followers of Jesus, we are a global community providing transformational education services as part of God’s ongoing mission to transform individuals and communities into all that He intends.”
- TeachBeyond’s Vision: “A world where individuals and communities become all God intends”
- Genesis 1:27
- Jeremiah 29:11
- “When we think of becoming all that God intends, that’s us living into the love of God and the future that He has for us.”
- Matthew 6:10
- “When we live out His Kingdom life in us, we are involved actively in this process of becoming all that God intends - God’s world, God’s way.”
- Romans 12:2
- “When we pursue this mission, we actually see a movement of people who are experiencing personal transformation, and that in doing so, their world of influence brings about redemptive change wherever they are and with whomever they are in contact.”
- “When we’re becoming all that God intends, we’re living in the fullness of the creativity that He’s given us.”
- “God’s renewing my desires to be conformed to what it is that He wants me to be and become. One of God’s very core intentions is for us to understand who He is and to come to a knowledge of Him.”
- 2 Peter 3:8-9
- “God is patient with us. He is letting us develop to become all that He intends because He’s not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
- Romans 2:4
- “We’re trusting the Holy Spirit for complete transformation into the image of Christ. We’re not there yet.”
- “God’s intention is for all of creation to be restored.”
Brian mentioned English Camps in today’s episode. Click here to learn more about TeachBeyond’s English Camps!
April Reflection: What is it that God’s intending for you? What are you doing that will help you to become all that God intends?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Fixing front door
- Heather: Birthday month
- Brian: Spring
Weekly Spotlight: GDQ International Christian School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What does it mean to become “all that God intends” for us? Did you know that God has intentions towards His creation? Co-hosts Heather and Keane have a conversation with Brian Delamont, Vice President of Mission Engagement.
- TeachBeyond’s Mission Statement: “As followers of Jesus, we are a global community providing transformational education services as part of God’s ongoing mission to transform individuals and communities into all that He intends.”
- TeachBeyond’s Vision: “A world where individuals and communities become all God intends”
- Genesis 1:27
- Jeremiah 29:11
- “When we think of becoming all that God intends, that’s us living into the love of God and the future that He has for us.”
- Matthew 6:10
- “When we live out His Kingdom life in us, we are involved actively in this process of becoming all that God intends - God’s world, God’s way.”
- Romans 12:2
- “When we pursue this mission, we actually see a movement of people who are experiencing personal transformation, and that in doing so, their world of influence brings about redemptive change wherever they are and with whomever they are in contact.”
- “When we’re becoming all that God intends, we’re living in the fullness of the creativity that He’s given us.”
- “God’s renewing my desires to be conformed to what it is that He wants me to be and become. One of God’s very core intentions is for us to understand who He is and to come to a knowledge of Him.”
- 2 Peter 3:8-9
- “God is patient with us. He is letting us develop to become all that He intends because He’s not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
- Romans 2:4
- “We’re trusting the Holy Spirit for complete transformation into the image of Christ. We’re not there yet.”
- “God’s intention is for all of creation to be restored.”
Brian mentioned English Camps in today’s episode. Click here to learn more about TeachBeyond’s English Camps!
April Reflection: What is it that God’s intending for you? What are you doing that will help you to become all that God intends?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Fixing front door
- Heather: Birthday month
- Brian: Spring
Weekly Spotlight: GDQ International Christian School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
The questions we ask can make a big difference in the conversations we have. Want some ideas for starting a conversation with a missionary? Kara Delaney, a missionary in Germany, talks through some of the questions that she has been asked as a missionary and how to build bridges in conversations.
- Article by Kara Delaney
- “My hope is to be part of a discussion that can start to bridge the gap between missionaries and the people sending them.”
- How’s (your country)?
-
- What would you like to know?
- “We’re all looking for connection, and I want to tell you, but I don’t even know where to start.”
- Can you say something in (the local language)?
-
- “Asking a [missionary] kid to perform isn’t creating a safe or appropriate environment, especially as they’re engaging with other adults.”
- “Language learning is really difficult. Everybody on the field has varying levels of fluency or lack thereof.”
- How much (language) do you speak?
- Aren’t you so glad to be home?
-
- “There’s a bit of superimposing an emotion on someone’s experience, and that can be really confusing to receive.”
- “It really honors a person’s experience when we take the time to hear what’s actually going on and give space for what’s happening on the inside, which may not only be glad to be home.”
- How was your trip?
-
- How are things going with your ministry? What was this last month like for you?
- “I sometimes feel nervous about posting because I’m putting expectations on myself or feeling pressure to post about ministry or post my missionary life as a way of proving myself, that I’m actually ‘doing missions’ all the time.”
- “I’m just a normal person, and sometimes I go get coffee with friends.”
- How long do you think you’re going to stay there?
-
- “This can make me feel like my life overseas is a phase that has an expiration date instead of allowing space for this [to be] a career.”
- “The answer that I’ve found that I feel most comfortable with most of the time is ‘however long the Lord has me here,’ which can sound like a cop-out, but I think it really is the most honest because I’m committed to doing what He has called me to for however long He has called me to do it wherever He calls me to do it.”
- “If I want to have real connections with others, I want to be extending the same things outward, too… I really believe that it’s worth working towards.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Microwaving then heating on stove
- Heather: 12-Week Year
- Kara: Savoring the time before transitioning
Weekly Spotlight: Ukarumpa International School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
The questions we ask can make a big difference in the conversations we have. Want some ideas for starting a conversation with a missionary? Kara Delaney, a missionary in Germany, talks through some of the questions that she has been asked as a missionary and how to build bridges in conversations.
- Article by Kara Delaney
- “My hope is to be part of a discussion that can start to bridge the gap between missionaries and the people sending them.”
- How’s (your country)?
-
- What would you like to know?
- “We’re all looking for connection, and I want to tell you, but I don’t even know where to start.”
- Can you say something in (the local language)?
-
- “Asking a [missionary] kid to perform isn’t creating a safe or appropriate environment, especially as they’re engaging with other adults.”
- “Language learning is really difficult. Everybody on the field has varying levels of fluency or lack thereof.”
- How much (language) do you speak?
- Aren’t you so glad to be home?
-
- “There’s a bit of superimposing an emotion on someone’s experience, and that can be really confusing to receive.”
- “It really honors a person’s experience when we take the time to hear what’s actually going on and give space for what’s happening on the inside, which may not only be glad to be home.”
- How was your trip?
-
- How are things going with your ministry? What was this last month like for you?
- “I sometimes feel nervous about posting because I’m putting expectations on myself or feeling pressure to post about ministry or post my missionary life as a way of proving myself, that I’m actually ‘doing missions’ all the time.”
- “I’m just a normal person, and sometimes I go get coffee with friends.”
- How long do you think you’re going to stay there?
-
- “This can make me feel like my life overseas is a phase that has an expiration date instead of allowing space for this [to be] a career.”
- “The answer that I’ve found that I feel most comfortable with most of the time is ‘however long the Lord has me here,’ which can sound like a cop-out, but I think it really is the most honest because I’m committed to doing what He has called me to for however long He has called me to do it wherever He calls me to do it.”
- “If I want to have real connections with others, I want to be extending the same things outward, too… I really believe that it’s worth working towards.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Microwaving then heating on stove
- Heather: 12-Week Year
- Kara: Savoring the time before transitioning
Weekly Spotlight: Ukarumpa International School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
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What does it look like to lament in suffering and hold onto the hope of the resurrection? Sharing from Scripture and her own experiences, author Aubrey Sampson invites us to bring our laments to the Lord.
- The Louder Song by Aubrey Sampson
- “Lament means an impolite plea, so you are, with as much audacity and rawness as you can muster, crying out to God in your grief and anger.”
- “We’re not crying out to avoid. We’re not expressing [our laments] to nothingness. We’re giving them to God Himself, who knows suffering, walks with people who are suffering, promises that he is with us in our suffering, and does something redemptive in our suffering. The beauty is that the invitation is to cry out to God rather than sit and wallow and allow despair to take over.”
- “There is a treasure trove of sufferers who have gone before us - and not pretended like their suffering didn’t exist.”
- “Not only has He given all of His children permission to cry out in lament, but He’s given us a really beautiful example and language that we can use in our own lament as well.”
- “If we want true intimacy with God, that’s going to mean seasons of doubt and frustration and suffering and pain. But because God is so good, He invites us to come to Him with those things rather than walk away from Him in defeat and doubt.”
- “That’s the kindness of God: He knows that in our heartache and devastation, sometimes we can’t formulate what to say, and so we can just open Scripture and read those laments back to God as a way to begin that work of lamenting.”
- “Most laments in Scripture begin with the word ‘how.’”
- “In our darkness and in our despair and in our disorder, God is not far removed [...] He is Emmanuel God.”
- “We want answers, and we don’t get that. But what we always get in our seasons of crying out to God is God’s presence and God’s with-ness with us.”
- “The best thing we can do is sit with people in their pain.”
- “We worship a Suffering Servant. He entered into our suffering and took on our suffering, and the promise is that there will be an end to suffering because of Jesus’s work on the cross.”
- “O Jesus, in deepest night and agony, you spoke these words of trust and surrender to God the Father in Gethsemane, and I want to say in times of fear and distress those same words: My Father, I do not understand You, but I trust You.”
- “The will of God is always resurrection, not destruction. It’s always beauty, not ashes. It’s always hope, not defeat.”
- “We should never be quick to brush past the suffering of Jesus, our own suffering, and the suffering of other people, but we can look to our suffering with that good end in mind, which is always Jesus’s victory.”
“A Liturgy Before Mourning with Those Who Mourn” by Douglas McKelvey, from Every Moment Holy, Volume II
What’s changing our lives:
- Aubrey: Korean dramas on Netflix
- Heather: Friends having kids
- Keane: Meeting neighbors
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Dr. Sam Fecich - professor of education, author, podcaster, and speaker - shares her contagious enthusiasm and practical tips for new teachers as they enter their first classrooms, as well as preservice educators who are preparing to teach someday.
- “You’ve taught before, you’ve worked with students before, but now it’s your classroom!”
- “Keeping families involved in their child’s education [...] is a great predictor of attendance and success in the classroom, no matter what grade or subject area that you teach.”
- “When you’re transitioning from student teaching into being a first-year teacher, start the job search process as early as possible. Look for schools that feed your teaching soul, that support your teaching philosophy.”
- “Your classroom does not need to be Pinterest perfect from day one.”
- Tips new teachers: Familiarize yourself with the curriculum, get to know your students and other staff, and look for additional resources
- “Make those small movements toward building relationships with students before or during day one, but it’s not something that ends after that first week; we get to keep knowing our students throughout that school year.”
- Tips for preservice teachers: Set up professional social media accounts, create and maintain a digital portfolio, connect with other educators online, and look for opportunities to present content at conferences or in written form
- Find out about Sam’s podcast and book on her website: https://www.sfecich.com/
- Edumagic: A Guide for Preservice Teachers and Edumagic Shine On: A Guide for New Teachers
- “You are strong, you are brave, you are courageous. You can do this!”
Connect with Sam on Instagram (@sfecich)!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Homemade kimchi
- Heather: Nylon hair ties
- Sam: Chocolate buckeye pie
Weekly Spotlight: Virunga Valley Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Authors Cheryl Savageau and Diane Stortz share from their experiences and offer suggestions for parents of missionaries.
- Parents of Missionaries by Cheryl Savageau and Diane Stortz
- “It’s certainly all about connection, being able to realize that you’re not alone.” - Diane Stortz
- “You can be very supportive of what your children are doing and be very supportive of missions and be happy about what the results are going to be of that - and yet absolutely not want them to go… You can feel both of those things at the same time.” - Diane Stortz
- “It’s wise to take time to deal with the grief and the sad feelings, but also take time to enjoy life and to celebrate what’s good about this.” - Cheryl Savageau
- Parents of Global Workers Facebook Group
- “We’re going to stay a family. We’re not leaving you. Our relationship will be changed, but we’re committed and making a plan.” - Cheryl Savageau
- “Go find a group. Go find other parents of missionaries […] Connection is everything.” - Diane Stortz
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Having family visit
- Heather: She Reads Truth Lent study of Ezekiel
- Cheryl: Setting aside time to connect with her husband
- Diane: Exercising with Silver Sneakers
Weekly Spotlight: LIFE International School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
There are thousands of promises made in Scripture! What do we know about God as a promise keeper? Brian Delamont, Vice President of Mission Engagement for TeachBeyond, joins us again this month to unpack the promises of God.
- “Who’s making the promise? What’s within their ability and power to fulfill the promise? What’s the heart of the promise maker like? What are the circumstances surrounding the promise?”
- “God in His omnipotence and His sovereignty and His wisdom is never caught by circumstances. He’s never limited in His ability to fulfill a promise because He’s Lord of all. He always has the resources to deliver on what He has promised.”
- “God is true, and we can believe in God because of the very reason that He is faithful to His Word, even when we’re unfaithful.”
- “Everything He promises is within His power to fulfill. God can never over-promise and under-deliver.”
- 2 Corinthians 1:20
- “Jesus is the culmination of all of God’s promises.”
- Philippians 4:13
- “It’s critical that we read the Bible as it was written. It was given by God to a specific people in specific places using specific literary genres, which need to be understood.”
- Isaiah 40:31
- Isaiah 41:10
- Matthew 11:28-30
- Joshua 1:9
- Matthew 28:20
- Way Maker
March Reflection: Which promise of God are you holding onto, singing, or memorizing? Why? Have you shared this with someone else?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Jesus and John Wayne
- Heather: 12-year anniversary since joining TeachBeyond
- Brian: Baby dedication of grandchildren
Weekly Spotlight: Sahel Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Tessa Sydnor shares with us about her new book and how she pairs her passions of art and spiritual disciplines.
- Spiritual Disciplines for Creative Learners: A Workbook by Tessa Sydnor
- “Spiritual disciplines - practices we do to help us in our faith and grow in our relationship with the Lord.”
- “It helps me to have something tangible. Spiritual disciplines have become tools that I can use to actually meditate on Christ day and night.”
- “As you pray and reflect on your life, let the Spirit guide you.”
- Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun
- “I have a really hard time sitting still and concentrating and focusing on Scripture, and it helps me to incorporate my art into that.”
- “That’s the beautiful thing about this: We don’t grow ourselves. There’s nothing we can do. We can only put ourselves into a position of looking at Jesus and trusting that He is doing the transformation in our lives.”
- “There’s so many things that I want to pray but have no words for, but I do have colors and shapes.”
- “The key word for me is intentionality. He wants me to be intentional in knowing Him.”
- “What would this look like to do [this] as a spiritual discipline that keeps me fixing my eyes on Jesus?”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: New refrigerator ice dispenser
- Heather: Spending time with her nephew
- Tessa: Probiotics and brewing water kefir
Weekly Spotlight: Evangelical Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Tessa Sydnor shares with us about her new book and how she pairs her passions of art and spiritual disciplines.
- Spiritual Disciplines for Creative Learners: A Workbook by Tessa Sydnor
- “Spiritual disciplines - practices we do to help us in our faith and grow in our relationship with the Lord.”
- “It helps me to have something tangible. Spiritual disciplines have become tools that I can use to actually meditate on Christ day and night.”
- “As you pray and reflect on your life, let the Spirit guide you.”
- Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun
- “I have a really hard time sitting still and concentrating and focusing on Scripture, and it helps me to incorporate my art into that.”
- “That’s the beautiful thing about this: We don’t grow ourselves. There’s nothing we can do. We can only put ourselves into a position of looking at Jesus and trusting that He is doing the transformation in our lives.”
- “There’s so many things that I want to pray but have no words for, but I do have colors and shapes.”
- “The key word for me is intentionality. He wants me to be intentional in knowing Him.”
- “What would this look like to do [this] as a spiritual discipline that keeps me fixing my eyes on Jesus?”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: New refrigerator ice dispenser
- Heather: Spending time with her nephew
- Tessa: Probiotics and brewing water kefir
Weekly Spotlight: Evangelical Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Harold Klassen, an experienced educator and teacher trainer, shares about how education is inherently missional and central to the Great Commission.
- “Vision has to do with what we want to see in the future, and mission has to do with what we do now in the present to accomplish that future goal. Education always seems to be a present activity, so it’s always missional.”
- Matthew 28:19
- “This disciple-making business has to do with teaching.”
- “Education is really getting back to the very basics, the foundation that makes all of the rest possible. You can’t eliminate it from the work of missions.”
- “Working with children and introducing them to the God of the universe - the Sustainer of all things and the Redeemer of all things - is definitely a major step toward establishment of the Church.”
- “We need to work with children as part of church planting.”
- “Education that is Christ-centered and BIblically-based is going to provide the kind of good soil that the other kinds of church planting, church-related activities that we are familiar with will produce good fruit. Without that tiling of the soil, it’s likely that we are just going to be doing a lot of distribution of seed on stony, hard, thorny ground.”
- “I believe Good News needs to be proclaimed not just in the pulpit, but in the world of science, literature, and the arts. In every area of life, we need to proclaim Good News.”
- Learn more from Harold Klassen here: Transforming Teachers
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Music History 101
- Heather: The Amazing Race TV Show
- Harold: Books by Arthur Custance
Weekly Spotlight: Puebla Christian School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Lauren Wells of TCK Training shares about how to help Third Culture Kids process grief, loss, and transition.
- TCK Training
- “What are the parts of you that do not change and should not change no matter who you’re with and where in the world you are?”
- “The Grief Tower is used to describe why the TCK life can be so difficult. It isn’t just one thing that happens; it’s a lot of little things.”
- “The idea of The Grief Tower is that all of those things are stacking up higher and higher throughout the developmental years if they’re not processed.”
- “What made that feel so hard? What did I start to believe because of that?”
- “If we’re not compassionate for ourselves, it’s harder for us to be compassionate for our kids.”
- “One of the myths that TCKs believe [is] that they can’t have deep relationships with kids who aren’t also TCKs.”
- “Be curious, ask questions, and keep showing them that you want to get to know them.”
- “I really want to know you, not just your cool experiences.”
- “Resilience is something that has to happen through intentional care.”
Other Episodes to Check out:
- Episode 22: Third Culture Kids with Michele Phoenix
- Episode 19: Emotional Health & the Mood Meter with Amy Massingale
- Episode 46: Processing Trauma with Annie Stepanenko
- Episode 31: Transitions with Amy Young
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Moving into a new house!
- Heather: Two long weekends with friends
- Lauren: Living near family
Weekly Spotlight: Faith Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Life is full of decisions, isn’t it? In the big decisions and everyday moments, we have opportunities to grow in listening to the Lord. Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to share about discernment.
- Development > Destination (For all the math teachers: we know this is an inequality, not an equation!)
- “God is more concerned and hands-on in the process of our development to become all that He intends and has created us to be than He is about the specifics or the destination.”
- Isaiah 58
- “In this negotiation, I’m placing myself as an equal partner with God.”
- “God wants to develop us for us to deal with our quarrels, deal with our disagreements, so that we can hear His voice more clearly.”
- “Doing as I please will always make it difficult to hear from God.”
- “It takes engagement - heart, soul, mind, and body - with what God shows us His will is.”
- “How does what I’m thinking about align with the overall narrative of Scripture?”
- “The best way to hear from God, and a very practical one, is to create a lifetime habit of listening to Him - listening to Him in the everyday small things, all the little decisions over the course of the day.”
- Pursuing God’s Will Together by Ruth Haley Barton
- “God can direct you to any outcome He wants, but it’s His own presence within you, the Holy Spirit, who’s the amazing gift God gives you for exactly these moments of seeking direction and discernment.”
- John 16:13-14
- “He doesn’t leave us alone to just figure it out. And yet, it’s helpful to understand that God’s will is not something you can miss. You don’t have to be afraid of that.”
- “If you think you’ve made a choice in the past that’s not been in God’s good plan for you, God is able and longing to redeem that for you today.”
- “What matters is whether you’ll listen to HIm for the very next step, the very next decision, the very next thought that you’ll think.”
February Reflection: What am I doing today in the small decisions, which is preparing me for a moment where God may place a larger decision in my path? What listening habits am I developing, which will lead me step by step to the destination that glorifies God?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Obsidian
- Heather: Wordle
- Brian: Ab exercises
Weekly Spotlight: Greater Lisbon Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Jack Meckfessel and Madde Mauck serve in Thailand and co-host the Getting There podcast for high school students. Listen in to hear their thoughts on calling and discipling teenagers!
- Getting There with Jack and Madde
- “We haven’t arrived yet. We really see our relationship with Jesus as a journey, and we’re just a little bit further down the road. We’re not there yet - we’re getting there.” - Jack
- “[We reflected on] what it feels like when we hear the voice of our Good Shepherd inviting us into something and the small moments of invitation, but also the larger understanding of how we position our lives to follow Jesus in a way that incorporates our whole self, not just a part of us.” - Madde
- “As followers of Jesus, He’s made certain callings very clear in Scripture - we’re supposed to disciple under Him. We’re called to love God and love other people, and that can take so many different forms.” - Jack
- “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” - Frederick Buechner
- “What do you love to do, and where is there a need in the world? That’s probably where God’s calling you.” - Jack
- “What sets your heart on fire? What are the things you think that God has made you uniquely good at?” - Madde
- “What would be the most exciting version of this to you? What do you think that God is stirring in you when you think about that?” - Madde
- “What do you want to do? What hits on your deep desires and passions?” - Jack
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Family scavenger hunts
- Heather: New coffee maker
- Jack: The Lord of the Rings
- Madde: Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci
Weekly Spotlight: Grace International School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
School librarian Tricia Fraser shares how educators and parents can foster a love of reading in their children. Don’t miss her book suggestions for all ages!
- Click to read the article by Tricia
- “When we slow down and read a book, it gives us an opportunity to think about things deeply and to use our imaginations.”
- “When kids have a choice of what to read, it helps them discover more of what they like.”
- “We want to be modeling a love of books, we want to be sharing books with them, because the goal is to have them have their own motivation to read that’s internal.”
- “The single biggest thing that anybody - teachers and parents - can do to help kids learn to love to read is to read to them.”
- Battle of the Books
- Sources for finding books: Redeemed Reader, Read-Aloud Revival, WORLD Magazine, Triple Crown Awards, The Tome Society, Shadow Mountain
- Tricia’s recent read: Within These Lines by Stephanie Morrill
- Keane’s recent reads: Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett and Bo the Brave by Bethan Woollvin
- Christian authors with undertones of Christian worldview: Books by N. D. Wilson, The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, The Green Ember series by S. D. Smith
Book Suggestions from Tricia:
- Kindergarten-Grade 2:
-
- Tales That Tell the Truth by Various Authors: Bible story picture books, all illustrated by Catalina Echeverri.
- Hanna's Cold Winter by Trish Marx: This is a story of trying to keep the hippos in the Budapest zoo fed all winter during WWII, based on a true story.
- Mars Needs Moms! by Berkeley Breathed: I read this story at Easter as a new way of illustrating Jesus' sacrificial love for us, comparing our relationship with Him to the relationship of the little boy in the story with his mom.
- Grades 3-5
-
- The Penderwicks Series by Jeanne Birdsall: These are adventure-filled friendship stories with a lot of heart.
- Inkling by Kenneth Oppel: An inkblot comes to life and the son of a famous artist has to decide whether or not to let the inkblot do his art project for him. Adventure and peril ensue.
- The Dead Sea Squirrels series by Mike Nawrocki: Some Bible-era squirrels are found in the Dead Sea caverns and come back to life in the modern United States. This leads to adventures, along with lessons that the squirrels picked up from a certain preacher they heard near the Sea of Galilee.
- Grades 6-8
-
- The Invisible Boy by Alyssa Hollingsworth: Modern-day slavery hiding under our noses is addressed well, for middle school audiences.
- The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan: Adventure, bows & arrows, good guys vs. bad guys, what's not to love?
- Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk: This beautifully written historical fiction is set in Appalachia during WWII. It deals with racism and one young girl's response to injustice in her community.
- Teens
-
- Deleted by Ruth Mitchell: What if our iphones were glasses, connected directly into our brains through our ears? And then what if someone figured out how to hack our brains and delete memories? The concept is so interesting, with a lot of peril, combined with just a touch of philosophy.
- You Bring the Distant Near and Forward Me Back to You by Mitali Perkins: Perkins deals with issues of immigration, race, abuse, human trafficking, and other difficult issues, without shying away from the hard stuff, but also not too graphic for students middle school and up.
- Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson: A sixteen year old wakes up in a mental institution and tries to figure out if her memories are true. Is she mentally ill? Or is something else going on? This book has a lot of twists and turns that I really enjoyed.
- All-Time Favorites for Family Read-Alouds (Elementary and up):
-
- The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
- Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
- The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Bookmarking things more often
- Heather: Walks in the wintry woods
- Tricia: Becoming TeachBeyond team leaders in Hungary
Weekly Spotlight: International Christian School of Budapest
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Guest: Tsh Oxenreider Author Tsh Oxenreider returns to the podcast to share about her new book, Bitter and Sweet, in anticipation of the upcoming season of Lent. Listen in for an overview of the pillars of Lent, practical suggestions for observing Lent, and the significance of “bitter and sweet.”
- Bitter and Sweet: A Journey into Easter
- “Lent is the 46 days, the weeks leading up to Eastertide in the liturgical calendar.”
- “Because of Chrst’s death and resurrection, and therefore victory over that death that you remembered on Ash Wednesday, you will actually live for eternity. It’s not forever; death has lost its sting.”
- Pillars of Lent: Fasting, Almsgiving, Prayer
- “We’re remembering that even though life is hard, and we live in broken bodies and a broken world, this is not all there is.”
- “Lent is long and it gets tiresome when we’re doing it just for the sake of seeing if we can do it.”
- “When we’re depriving ourselves of something when we fast or we’re letting go of something, it’s in order to make space for something else.”
- “The whole point of Lent is that you’re not going to be able to do it - meaning, you will fail at Lent [...] That’s kind of the point. It’s supposed to be hard and challenging. We’re supposed to recognize our need for God.”
- “That’s what our fast does - it reminds us that we live in broken bodies.”
- “Make sure your head is in the right place, that this is about hearing from God, not so much about seeing what you can do.”
- “I love that Lent has put Easter in its rightful place for me.”
- “The biggest suggestion I give to parents and adults who are working with kids is not so much to make it fun, but connect the dots with something that makes it really tangible.”
- “When we recognize that failing is just a natural form of growth, that it’s just something God uses to teach us and to make us more into who we’re meant to be, then it makes failure less scary.”
- “When we remember the hard, it makes the sweet so much better. That is a real beauty of Lent - fasting in order to enjoy the feast even more.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Son’s cast removed
- Heather: Bridge collapsing nearby
- Tsh: Living within 100 mile radius
Weekly Spotlight: Lezha Academic Center
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Guest: Tsh Oxenreider Author Tsh Oxenreider returns to the podcast to share about her new book, Bitter and Sweet, in anticipation of the upcoming season of Lent. Listen in for an overview of the pillars of Lent, practical suggestions for observing Lent, and the significance of “bitter and sweet.”
- Bitter and Sweet: A Journey into Easter
- “Lent is the 46 days, the weeks leading up to Eastertide in the liturgical calendar.”
- “Because of Chrst’s death and resurrection, and therefore victory over that death that you remembered on Ash Wednesday, you will actually live for eternity. It’s not forever; death has lost its sting.”
- Pillars of Lent: Fasting, Almsgiving, Prayer
- “We’re remembering that even though life is hard, and we live in broken bodies and a broken world, this is not all there is.”
- “Lent is long and it gets tiresome when we’re doing it just for the sake of seeing if we can do it.”
- “When we’re depriving ourselves of something when we fast or we’re letting go of something, it’s in order to make space for something else.”
- “The whole point of Lent is that you’re not going to be able to do it - meaning, you will fail at Lent [...] That’s kind of the point. It’s supposed to be hard and challenging. We’re supposed to recognize our need for God.”
- “That’s what our fast does - it reminds us that we live in broken bodies.”
- “Make sure your head is in the right place, that this is about hearing from God, not so much about seeing what you can do.”
- “I love that Lent has put Easter in its rightful place for me.”
- “The biggest suggestion I give to parents and adults who are working with kids is not so much to make it fun, but connect the dots with something that makes it really tangible.”
- “When we recognize that failing is just a natural form of growth, that it’s just something God uses to teach us and to make us more into who we’re meant to be, then it makes failure less scary.”
- “When we remember the hard, it makes the sweet so much better. That is a real beauty of Lent - fasting in order to enjoy the feast even more.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Son’s cast removed
- Heather: Bridge collapsing nearby
- Tsh: Living within 100 mile radius
Weekly Spotlight: Lezha Academic Center
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Are we trusting God fully or living with a scarcity mindset? Listen in for a conversation about the abundant provision of our Heavenly Father, and as always, Brian Delamont leaves us with reflection questions as close out this month.
- Luke 12:22-34
- “There’s more going on than what you and I physically experience.”
- “How connected is your physical reality to your emotional reality?”
- “It’s hard not to feel guilty if we’re worrying about these things. It’s hard not to doubt when we don’t see these resources.”
- Psalm 111:4-5
- “What am I remembering? What’s this narrative that I keep rehearsing in my mind?”
- “Creating a god who meets my expectations and does what I think should be done is actually called making an idol.”
- Winning the War in Your Mind by Craig Groeschel
- “What I value is where I’ll focus. If I value being in control, then that’s where my focus is going to be. If I value comfort and convenience, that’s where my heart is going to want to live.”
- “Where is my heart, and what am I treasuring?”
- “One part of me is saying that I trust God’s abundance and His ability to care for me, while another part is madly planning because, when push comes to shove, I [feel that I] might have to trust my plan rather than God’s plan.”
- “When we choose to trust, we set a pattern of trust in our brains.”
- “When we remember God’s character, when we remember His actions, His wonders, we’re reinforcing this transformation of our hearts and of our minds.”
- “We see our minds transformed by simply resting ourselves in the character, nature, attributes, and actions of God.”
- “If my trust in [my] plan supersedes my trust in God’s love and care and ability for me, then I’m trusting something that’s way more limited than who God is.”
January Reflection: Who or what is my functional god in this moment? Who do I really believe has the resources, experience, and ability to come through?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Magna-Tiles
- Heather: Guided journal for 2022
- Brian: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas
Weekly Spotlight: Rift Valley Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Sarah Trussell, TeachBeyond Associate Regional Director of Latin America, shares the story of God’s faithfulness and her proactive obedience in following His leading to serve in international missions.
- “The world was my oyster basically. Where could I go? I know I want to serve somewhere, I know I want to do something for the Lord, and I know I want it to be in missions. So, where?”
- “In each little step of obedience, He has met me there.”
- “Just take one step at a time. Don’t try to put all of the puzzle pieces together.”
- “There’s work to be done around the world, and we can be a part of that.”
- “We want students to learn and to have the skills that they need to be a good student, to be successful in the world, but really we want them to know God’s love.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Guess Who? game
- Heather: Confetti poppers
- Sarah: Encanto movie
Weekly Spotlight: El Camino Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Sandra Paetkau shares about creating online communities based on encouragement, collaboration, challenge, and support. Tune in for actionable principles for building connections online, as well suggested digital tools and a peek into tech of the future!
- Masters of Leadership in Global Christian Education at Prairie College, Alberta
- “Building Community: Encouragement, Challenge, Support” by Sandra Paetkau
- “When we’re talking about online community, I’m thinking of online collaborative platforms - so, any kind of a platform that allows people to come together, not just to share ideas, but to create new ideas based on what has been said or discussed or provided in those communities.”
- “Community is where people come together to exchange ideas and to build off those ideas in a tangible way.”
- Hebrews 10:24-25
- Ecclesiastes 4:9
- “My ideas in silo are just that - they’re ideas. I often need somebody else to help me figure out how to make them tangible or to make them practical in application.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15
- 1 Corinthians 14:26
- “[Online collaboration] plays to students’ different strengths. Those students who may not come forward immediately in a class might be expert people at finding resources or developing materials.”
- “The future of our community really is going to take us more online. I think that, as Christian educators, we have an exciting opportunity to be in there and to be creating a culture of online community that we want to see using principles that we have learned and that are grounded in our Biblical principles, in Christ, and we have this opportunity to share that and be that.”
- “How can I teach my students to be involved productively and positively in the online community?”
- “Digital naives” (term coined by Danah Boyd)
- “The challenge is to create these spaces [...] and opportunities for students to be encouraging, collaborative, challenging, and supportive.”
- Marching Off the Map by Tim Elmore
- The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch
- “I believe that everybody needs to have some time off from their digital interactions.”
- Seesaw
- Book Creator
- Common Sense Media
- Episode 45: Safeguarding
- Episode 41: The Triangle: Teacher, Student, and Subject
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Son’s broken arm
- Heather: Children’s book collection
- Sandra: Learning to say no
Weekly Spotlight: International Academy of St. Petersburg
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Chris Ruge, Director of Prayercast and Missions Network News, shares about mobilizing the Church to pray for the world.
- OneWay Ministries
- Prayercast.com
- “[Prayercast] exists to activate world-changing prayer for the sake of the lost. We believe passionately and biblically that the only way the multitudes around the world are going to be reached is if God moves. There’s nothing more powerful that we do to plead with the God of all power to move in people’s hearts around the world.”
- “This is our gift to the Body of Christ around the world.”
- “God has brought such a diverse group of people together, united in Christ with this passion for their own countries.”
- Prayers for the Nations and World Religions
- Chicago77 - Praying for the City
- Love Muslims
- “That is the heart of what we’re doing - people who may never go to west Africa and who may have never even heard of Burkina Faso - here they are, pleading that God would break through and save people whom He loves in Burkina Faso.”
- “We’re going to continue to innovate and try to get these resources, not simply to resourced people around the world, but to truly lead multitudes and unite multitudes in the Body of Christ around the world in a massive scale pleading that God would break through and move in His power.”
- “Love is why we pray for people we’ve never met. It’s not our love, it’s God’s love for them.”
- “When God’s people pray, He moves. When God’s people pray, they change.”
- “I never knew what was going to happen plus two [days], but He laid out one day at a time, and I watched God do literally miraculous things on that trip.”
Sign up to join TeachBeyond for 40 Days of Prayer beginning on January 10!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Sporcle quizzes
- Heather: Electric fireplace
- Chris: Recent meaningful conversations
Weekly spotlight: HopeSeed School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
As the year comes to a close, Brian, Heather, and Keane reflect on spiritual practices that have been helpful this year and what to take into the new year ahead.
- “One of the most amazing tools to transform our lives - it’s the Bible.” - Brian
- YouVersion Bible App
- The Bible Recap
- “The key that I want to take into 2022 is having a plan for reading Scripture.” - Heather
- The Bible in One Year by Nicky Gumbel
- Episode 40: The Bible Recap (with Tara-Leigh Cobble)
- “Seeing this grand narrative really has changed how I read and approach Scripture.” - Brian
- “The point is not: read the Bible, get the badge. The point is: read the Bible, listen to what God wants to say and is saying through His living Word.” - Brian
- The Common Rule by Justin Earley
- How to Fight Racism by Jemar Tisby
- The Steward Leader by R. Scott Rodin
- Try Softer by Aundi Kolber
- Episode 46: Processing Trauma (with Annie Stepanenko)
- Lead by Paul David Tripp
- “The more we normalize prayer being part of our walk with the Lord, the more it becomes part of our relationship with Him and can help to encourage others to step into that [...] That’s what we’re called to do, and that’s an invitation from the living God who is talking and we’re joining with Him in that.” - Heather
- “If we’re really experiencing this beautiful transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, who knows about that?” - Brian
- “God has created you as you are, and your spirituality doesn’t have to be somebody else’s spirituality.” - Brian
- “Listen to God and take that next step, whatever the next step is.” - Brian
December Reflection: What do you want 2022 to be like in your spiritual life, and what will you do about it?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: The Common Rule by Justin Earley
- Heather: Christmas cards on Minted.com
- Brian: Christmas with grandchildren
Sign up to join TeachBeyond for 40 Days of Prayer beginning on January 10!
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
TeachBeyond members share about how they celebrate Christmas while living cross-culturally. Merry Christmas from all of us at TeachBeyond!
- Bronwen Coe, living in Germany
- Jessica Weaver, living in the Czech Republic
- Kevin Van Rensburg, living in Mexico
- Tammy & Phil Peters, living in South Africa
- Isaiah 9:2, 6-7
- Titus 2:11-14
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
To continue our Advent series, we welcome author Tsh Oxenreider to the podcast to share about experiencing the season with simplicity and through our senses.
- Shadow and Light: A Journey Into Advent by Tsh Oxenreider
- At Home in the World by Tsh Oxenreider
- “The liturgical calendar is one of the oldest and most global rhythms that is given to us as a gift to live and lean into the seasons. It helps align my concept of time with something beyond myself.”
- “There is something about the practices of Advent that are a literal darkness into light.”
- “Light has come, yet it’s not fully light yet, and so we wait in the middle. That’s what Advent draws us to.”
- Jose y Maria Modern-Day Nativity
- “We’re all longing for something. We’re all waiting for something, and it’s worth waiting for. It’s okay to delay.”
- “Liturgy reminds us that we’re physical and not just mental. It’s very easy to keep our spiritual lives in our heads. Liturgy invites us to remember that we are mortal and that we are here on earth among other people. To me, the senses are almost an ideal way to remember the fullness of the faith.”
- “Invoking the senses is a permission slip to give people to actually just realize how simple Advent really is. It does not have to be one more thing to do.”
- “By keeping Advent slower and simpler, it means 12 Days of Christmas is so much more enjoyable.”
- “The great cloud of witnesses that we get to live among here on earth reminds us that we are not alone, and therefore that means that we don’t need to always be conjuring up and seeking out our own significance. We’re not meant to make a name for ourselves; life is not about us.”
- Psalm 40:1-3
Advent Theme: Love
Revised Common Lectionary: Micah 5:2-5
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Anticipating a move in the new year
- Heather: The Porter’s Gate “Advent Songs” Album
- Tsh: Daily walks
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Author Barbara Reaoch shares about the importance of discipling children and focusing on God at Christmastime.
- A Jesus Christmas and A Better Than Anything Christmas by Barbara Reaoch
- “The study of God’s Word is a vehicle that He uses to open the eyes of our hearts to love Him and know Him.”
- Bible Study Fellowship
- “God prepares us for what He is calling us to.”
- “It is some of the most valuable, eternal work that anyone could ever be asked to do - to see God’s love pour out to the next generation that’s looking for what will transform their lives.”
- Deuteronomy 6
- Psalm78
- “God gives us the desire for what He will call us to do, and through that calling, He will help us to know and love Him more.”
- “Christmas is such a great time to start discipling a child.”
- Spanish translation of A Jesus Christmas
- “The Bible tells us that Christmas is about the gifts that Jesus came to give to us. All of Jesus’s gifts are better than the best gifts that we could ever ask for.”
- “I come back so often, through the disappointments and challenges and uncertainties of life, to the assurance that God is lovingly sovereign.”
- “Part of His plan is what He is doing in you and through you, and you can trust Him to use what you are doing for His glory.”
- To enter the contest: Email podcast@teachbeyond.org with the name of the kids you’ll share Barbara Reaoch’s books with!
Advent Theme: Joy
Revised Common Lectionary: Zephaniah 3:14-20, Isaiah 12:2-6
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Leftovers
- Heather: Hey Siri
- Barbara: Wintertime in Minnesota and God’s faithfulness in the change of the seasons
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Elizabeth Forshee introduces us to the contemplative practice of Lectio Divina and how we can use this way of meditating and reflecting on Scripture during the season of Advent.
- Resources for Advent from Global Trellis
- “When we think about the historical prominence of Advent as the start of our year, we have to look back at the longings of Israel, who were in desperation for a Savior, to be rescued. Their hope was tied into this longing for a Savior.”
- “We are also in the middle of what was and what is yet to come in that Advent is also about looking to the second coming of Christ. I think if we are honest with ourselves and we look at the world, we still have that longing for hope that Christ will come and restore what is broken, and a desire for peace where we feel so unsettled [...] We want to know what eternal joy feels like [...] and of course, we always want more of God’s love.”
- “What can I let go of that would allow me to make more space and time for prayer and contemplation? How can I add something that allows my gaze to turn toward Christ - who is the One I long for - and spend time with Him?”
- Jesse Tree
- “‘Lectio Divina’ itself means sacred reading, and it’s a form of Scriptural reflection [...] This is a practice that helps us lean into finding God in the midst of the Holy Scriptures.”
- Reading (lectio), meditation (meditatio), prayer (oratio), contemplation (contemplatio)
- “You learn not only about who God is, but you learn who you are, and you find that you are truly known and He is truly present.”
- “It’s not so much about what I am getting out of it, but more of where God is present.”
- “When we can sit in Scripture and really be present with the Lord, we begin to notice our deep emotions, our longings. If Advent is about noticing our longings and how to pray, then what better way to really understand our true longing, which is Jesus?”
- “Advent is about preparing ourselves, and when we sit in Lectio, something happens in us that prepares us to be open.”
- “That’s what Christmas and Advent is about - Christ meeting us right where we are, in our longings, in our needs.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Intentionally talking with his kids about Christmas
- Heather: Staying in touch with a friend who moved away
- Elizabeth: Contemplative practices while studying spiritual direction
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
As we anticipate the season of Advent, Brian Delamont shares a helpful framework for understanding this season, noticing themes of remembrance in Scripture, reflecting on our life rhythms, and creating space for observing Advent.
- Episode 9: The Advent Project
- Check out the Advent Project here!
- Adventus (Latin) means arrival or coming, which is a translation of parousia (Greek)
- “The season of Advent is this time when followers of Jesus reflect on the ‘advent’ or the comings - both of them - of Christ to earth. At Advent, we reenter our anticipation of Jesus, who came as the Word made flesh to dwell among us, but we also anticipate His second coming.”
- Revelation 22:20
- “We look back and we look forward at the same time.”
- “The practices of the Christian year remind us of God’s order [...] God is a God of rhythms.”
- “When we practice this celebration of His incarnation, we recalibrate our lives in real time.”
- John 7:37
- Genesis 2:15
- Exodus 20:11
- “Advent is the preparation for the long-awaited Messiah, the Lamb of God, God incarnate as the Word made flesh who dwelt among us.”
- Change something: What will you change that will give space and opportunity for a meaningful Advent?
- Prepare something: What will you create as a visual reminder?
- Use the power of community: How can you partner with someone during this season?
Advent Reflection: What shapes the structure or rhythm of your life?
Advent Theme: Hope
Revised Common Lectionary: Jeremiah 33:14-16
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Experiencing a warm Christmas
- Heather: Knowing the back-story of Taylor Swift music
- Brian: Prayer text thread with family
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Annie Stepanenko helps us define trauma, understand its effect on the brain, and consider how we can show self-compassion and walk with others through processing trauma.
- Episode 33: Mental Health
- Warty Comb Jellyfish and Angler Fish
- “Essentially, trauma is anything that overwhelms our ability to cope.”
- John 8:32
- “When we label things what they are and try to seek truth, we are better able to live in what God has for us. Calling trauma ‘trauma’ means that we can seek healing that God has for us, and it means that we can be better aware of things that we face in our lives.”
- “With that knowledge comes empowerment, in a sense, because we’re aware that there’s choice in how we respond and in how we take care of ourselves and in how we seek the Lord in it.”
- “Collective trauma [is] the same trauma happening to a group of people [...] We might all respond in different ways, but there’s that root of similarity at the beginning.”
- Three levels of the brain: logic, emotional center, survival and safety
- “Offer yourself compassion. So often when we don’t understand why we’re responding the way that we are, we lash out at ourselves in frustration. That’s understandable, but when we do that, it hurts and just aggravates the problem.”
- Brene Brown’s Short on Empathy
- “Sometimes, if we just have no idea what to say, that can be the best thing to say: ‘I don’t know what to say here, but I’m here.’ Just being with that person, even in silence, can be the best thing that really shows love and care.”
- “I think that maybe the simplest thing we can do for ourselves is listening and showing ourselves curious and compassionate attention, and trying to treat our minds and bodies and souls as God would treat us - with love and with care. That’s a huge part of living out of His love.”
- “The reality as Christians is that, yes, we believe God is good, but we don’t always feel like God is good, and that’s okay. I think that those are the times when we try to wrestle that out with Him and bring that agony and anguish to Him, and ask Him to be present with us in it.”
- “Emotions are God’s gift to us; they’re a way that we can better understand what’s going on. They might not always say what’s true, but they always give us deeper understanding, especially when we let God into them and try to process them with Him.”
- “God cares so much about our emotions and our hearts and wants to hold those dearly and treat them preciously.”
- “God works miracles, but I think He prefers to go with the slow and deep healing because we’re more aware of Him being at work.”
- “The best thing we can do for ourselves in unpacking past trauma and even in being aware of current trauma that we are facing is [to ask]: What narrative am I making of this event? What am I telling to myself? Is it true? What does God want to say here, and am I making space and His love to speak into this?”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: New brand of pocket notebooks
- Heather: Noise cancellation on headphones
- Annie: Try Softer by Aundi Kolber
Weekly Spotlight: Arbor Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Safeguarding Specialist Alison Neumann shares about the three basic principles of safeguarding - visibility, accountability, and power balance - and how those translate into the online setting.
- Click here for the article by Alison Neumann
- Episode 22: Third Culture KIds
- “Safeguarding is a term to denote measures to protect the health, wellbeing, and human rights of individuals, especially children and vulnerable adults, to live free from abuse. It’s about people and organizations working together to prevent and reduce the risks, occurrences, and impact of harm.”
- “The three principles that we recommend in terms of interacting with children or vulnerable adults are VAP: Visibility, accountability, and power balance.”
- “Ask yourself: Is it possible for others to see me? Do others know where I am and what I’m doing? Am I building a culture of transparency and accountability? Do children feel safe in my presence? Does my demeanor or posture put them at ease?”
- “Just because [a safeguarding incident] happen[s] online and not in person doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t address those things.”
- “If you hear someone saying, ‘That looked a little weird,’ or ‘Are you sure that was okay?’ or something like that, [be] open to those kinds of conversations and not immediately being defensive, even if it was unintentional.”
- “There’s a lot of wisdom in communicating with others and getting advice from others and learning from people who have been working with children for a longer time than you have.”
- “We want to be promoting wisdom and not fear.”
- “Listen well. I know that seems really simple, but especially if it is a weighty concern, that can be really hard to do.”
- “Reacting poorly to a raised concern can actually cause more trauma to the child than the harm itself because they will feel belittled and not listened to.”
- “It’s important to be able to take care of yourself [...] Bringing that to God and lamenting over it, but then letting Him carry that burden, is hugely important, otherwise you’ll be weighed down by it consistently.”
- Reach the TeachBeyond Safeguarding Team at safeguarding@teachbeyond.org
- Episode 44: Culture and the Gospel
Join us on Thursday, November 18, for TeachBeyond’s Day of Giving!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Long road trips
- Heather: BibleProject Podcast, specially the episode called “The Gospel Is More Than You Think”
- Alison: Cayenne in mac and cheese, moving into her first home, and resting in God’s provision
Weekly Spotlight: Kigali International Community School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Author and speaker Jayson Georges introduces us to three cultural lenses and how the Gospel is the Good News for each of these dimensions.
- Take the cultural survey here: https://honorshame.com/theculturetest/
- Honorshame.com
- The 3D Gospel by Jayson Georges
- “The Gospel has multiple dimensions. There’s only one Gospel, but that one Gospel applies to various situations.”
- “Jesus forgives us of our sins, Jesus honors us and brings us into His family, and Jesus empowers us over Satan and evil and the powers of death. In the west, we emphasize that first dimension of the Gospel [...] but for most people in other cultures of the world, these other dimensions are what they’re longing for.”
- Three worldviews: Guilt and innocence, shame and honor, fear and power
- “God provides the very thing that people in each cultural system are striving towards - the guilty are looking for innocence, the shame are looking for honor, those who are afraid are looking for power. [...] The Good News is that we don’t have to strive and do those things because they have been gifted to us in Christ.”
- “The Gospel gives us the true eternal, divine answer to all three of those problems.”
- “As a rule of thumb, unless you’re fairly fluent in the language, you’re probably not going to understand the culture.”
- “I often see the main problem is people confuse certain cultural values with Biblical mandates.”
- “What are the things I do that dishonor God, that shame Him, that belittle Him, that make it seem like He can’t provide for me or He’s not good or He’s not true?”
- “A big challenge is to realize that the BIble was written for different people in a different time in a different culture, and we need to enter into that world.”
- “We are made right with God, we have a relationship with God, and we have a new sense of honor with God by virtue of Christ, not all of these other matters. Therefore, because God has honored us, we can honor others. Because God has welcomed us in Christ, we can welcome others.”
- “Jesus doesn’t get rid of the honor system, but He’s try to invert it and show them what it’s like to be someone who gives.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Physical books
- Heather: Friends visiting
- Jayson: Living near the sea and going snorkeling
Weekly Spotlight: International Education Services
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Why can’t we all just get along? Unity can feel impossible sometimes. Brian Delamont returns to the podcast this month to unpack how we can honor Christ as we pursue unity.
- “That’s a great way to picture what unity looks like: something working together to accomplish a greater goal.”
- “The higher we value something, the more difficult it actually is to work and live in unity.”
- John 17:20-23
- “So what’s on Jesus’s heart as He is about to face what He’s about to face as He goes to the cross? Unity is on the heart of Jesus in that moment.”
- “[Jesus is] not asking for everyone to be the same. He’s asking that these very different people with very different ways of doing things would be brought to complete unity.”
- John 10:30
- “While the Father, Son, and Spirit are one, they’re not the same. In the perfect beauty of this trinitarian relationship, we can learn the key to living in unity with people who follow Jesus who are different than [we are].”
- Colossians 3:7-8
- “The Gospel gives us an unshakable basis for the change which will enable us to seek unity with others who follow Jesus.”
- Colossians 3:1-3
- “In order to set my heart and mind on things above, on the objectives and the life that God has for me, I need to die [...] Dying to self means letting Christ win the ultimate argument when He brings everything under His feet.”
- “Unity in this moment involves trusting God with the outcome God says He is responsible for. I don’t have to win the argument to bring God’s Kingdom by myself. God is capable and He is in control of this outcome, whether I win the argument or not.”
- Colossians 3:12-14
- Episode 21: Prayer is Conversation
- “I’m not responsible for the reign of Christ to come and be established. He’s already said that He will do that, and He’ll do that as I live out my commitment to holy living and to becoming all that God intends.”
- “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
- Ephesians 4:2-4
- 1 Corinthians 13:5
- “We need to endure differences. This is part of God’s design for His work in my life to conform me to the image of Christ.”
October Reflection: Where are you feeling unity being challenged in your life? What does God want to do in your own heart?
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Treasure maps
- Heather: Applying tips from At Your Best by Carey Nieuwhof
- Brian: Leaves changing colors
Weekly Spotlight: LinGo Online
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Listen in for the story of how the @liturgiesforalifeabroad account came to be and the value of integrating liturgies into our everyday rhythms.
- Check out @liturgiesforalifeabroad on Instagram!
- Every Moment Holy by Douglas McKelvey
- “We don’t have to be in a church setting or in a formal worship setting to experience the presence of Christ. He wants to be part of those everyday moments.”
- “Jesus is with you and that He is in those moments with you, the fellowship of His presence even in the mundane and the unique and the completely bizarre.”
- “There is purpose in these [mundane] things, there is opportunity for fellowship with Christ, there is opportunity for spiritual formation and for growth in all of these experiences. [This] has really helped me to come to a deeper level of gratitude for my life overseas, realizing that all of these things the Lord wants to use to shape me and mold me into His image and to show His love to the people around me.”
- “Take a moment and prepare your heart with a moment of silence, breathing, and centering yourself.”
- “I may not be actively doing something, but my silence and solitude before the Lord is productive, and I am allowing Him to have that space and time.”
- “Anybody who has experienced moving overseas, I would imagine, comes to this place where you realize a very deep and desperate need for the Lord.”
- “We are all foreigners in this world; this world is not our home. That’s one theme that I constantly come back to in writing these liturgies.”
- Hebrews 11:16
- “As I look back over the different seasons of my life, I see how the Lord has prepared me in really unique ways for each of the things I have done.”
- “There are some of us - and maybe more of us even than we realize - that the Lord doesn’t give this clear billboard sign of ‘this is what you were made to do’ because He wants us to be available and willing to say yes to those different opportunities that come along the way.”
- A Liturgy for Times of Transition
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Durham Museum of Life and Science
- Heather: Expansion pack for Sagrada board game
- Heather F: “Get Out of the Way of Your Own Heart” by Chris Renzema
Weekly Spotlight: BridgeWay North American School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
What is the relationship between teacher, student, and subject? Long-time educator Randy Dueck joins us for a conversation about these essential relationships in the classroom.
- Click here for the article by Randy Dueck
- “The teacher who knows the subject well must introduce it to students in the way one introduces a friend.” - Parker J. Palmer
- “I care for the subject, I care for the student; I’m going to do my best to help you become friends.”
- “Without the relationship between the teacher and student, the teacher’s not going to be as adept at helping the student develop the relationship with the curriculum.”
- “As you know a student better, you’re going to be able to establish better links between that student and the curriculum.”
- “Relationships are at the core of everything. Nothing happens outside of a relationship.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Known book
- Heather: Fig and goat cheese pizza
- Randy: Flying internationally for the first time in two years
Weekly Spotlight: El Camino BIlingual School
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Tara-Leigh Cobble, founder of D-Group and The Bible Recap, shares about the transformational experience of reading through the Bible and growing in relationship with the God of the Word.
- “What you see when you read the whole BIble in order is that the character of God is consistent throughout.”
- “Scripture is a relationship with the living God.”
- “It’s not a box to check; it is air to breathe.”
- “When you feel a responsibility to teach through it or lead through it, you really try to access deeper things because you realize you can’t coast… Then you get to engage with the zeal that they have.”
- YouVersion Bible App
- “Stop looking for yourself. Look for God, look for His character... What is His heart bent toward?”
- Psalm 145:17
- “Focusing on my sin humbles me, but it also produces this great gratitude in me that God has pursued me in that space, and it draws me to Him. It causes me to delight in Him all the more; it helps me recognize my need for His Word.”
- James 5:16
- “What the Lord has called you to, you know that He will carry you through. What He initiates, He will sustain and He will fulfill. He will carry on to completion what He has begun in you.”
Check out The Bible Recap here!
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Changing the alternator in my car
- Heather: Podcast stickers
- Tara-Leigh: Contigo stainless steel water bottle
Weekly Spotlight: Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Want a glimpse into the mission behind the podcast? TeachBeyond President, Dr. David Durance, returns to the podcast to share about his dissertation research and what it means to be part of the global movement of transformational education.
- “An effective missionary is someone who follows Jesus’ calling on your life and that you look like Him.”
- “What can we do in TeachBeyond and organizations like TeachBeyond, to help facilitate that in our members and in the work that we do around the world? If we’re saying that TeachBeyonders need to be like Jesus to be effective models, then we as an organization, as a community, need to come around each other and say, ‘How can we do that well together?’”
- “Right at the core of our understanding of effectiveness is that our people have to live out the mission.”
- “Our mission is transformation. We’re desiring to see that happen elsewhere, but that has to be inside us.”
- “If we’re being transformed and transformational, we’re loving God and our love for God spills out into this awesome way of seeing the world God’s way.”
- Psalm 24:1
- Romans 9:2
- “A love for God and love for people is ingrained in someone’s heart. We can help foster that [...] but for people to be engaged in the mission, that must be ingrained in their heart.”
- “[We have] this shared calling to be followers of Jesus in this world of education.”
- Galatians 3:28
- “As we strive to be as diverse as the Church itself, we want to be where the Church is serving. Our rich understanding of what it means to love God and love people, that core value, we come together and have a deeper understanding of that because we think about it differently.”
- “By God’s grace, we can be both unified and diverse at the same time.”
- “What does the learner need to learn in this environment? That’s a question we want to ask in every environment, and it’s going to end up with wonderfully diverse answers, and I think that’s one thing that we want to celebrate within our TeachBeyond community.”
- “[A] precursor to being in TeachBeyond is that you care about excellent education. That cannot be a prescription of a curriculum or a prescription of what a classroom must be designed like.”
- “We want to not be behavioral experts, but experts of desiring God to do something in our hearts so that flows out to the world around us.”
- “As we are desiring to follow Jesus and be that beacon of light, saying let’s go together toward Jesus and become more like Him [...] we have a richer, deeper understanding of what it means to be missionally effective.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Moving to North Carolina
- Heather: Cooler mornings and sitting on the balcony
- David: Completing the dissertation and a swim/run competition
Hear an overview of what changed our lives last year in the Season 1 Finale, Episode 35.
Click here to learn more about the upcoming educational conference.
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
Welcome to Season 2 of the Transformed & Transformational podcast! Our Summer Episodes:
- Episode 36: Mentoring
- Episode 37: Creativity
Let us know what’s changing YOUR life! Email us at podcast@teachbeyond.org.
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/
On this summer bonus episode, Keane is joined by his mom, Cyndi Fine, to talk about how we can cultivate creativity in our lives.
- “Brainstorming is just looking at new ways to do things.”
- “‘Creative’ has the same letters as the word ‘reactive.’ Instead of being reactive, how can we be creative?”
- “That’s at the heart of creativity and innovation - seeing things in a new way, connecting the dots that didn’t used to be connected.”
- “Neuroplasticity is how your brain can grow new connections and have new wiring.”
- “The more you do new things, the easier it is for you to take on doing new things.”
- Questions to ask myself:
-
- What’s keeping me from doing this? What’s in my way?
- What am I telling myself [about this]?
- What am I saying no to? What do I want to say yes to?
- What do I love to do that comes easily for me?
- “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” Pablo Picasso
- “If we are always comfortable, then we aren’t growing, but if we can have a comfortable discomfort, then we can have a space that we can grow in.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Two shows called “Grizzly and the Lemmings” and “Bluey”
- Cyndi: Going for bike rides
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org.
On this summer bonus episode, Heather is joined by her mom, Barb Brown, to talk about mentoring.
- “[Mentoring is a relationship between] two people where one is ahead of the other a little bit in their life journey, age and stage of life, and the other has things they can learn as they continue to journey together.”
- “Neither of you has reached the end of the journey. You’re both continuing on the journey, and you’re going to do it together, which is, in this context of spiritual mentoring, pursuing Christ and knowing Him better.”
- “As mentor and mentee, both have things to learn as they grow in this relationship.”
- “Expectations are really important to identify so that there aren’t misunderstandings.”
- “Jesus mentored a group of ragtag men who were future leaders of the Church, so that is a wonderful example. He took them on a journey; they learned by being with Him.”
- “The Body of Christ is built on relationships like [the ones] we’re talking about, and I think it’s important in our modern-day churches to be looking for that and to be intentional about pursuing them so that we can build up not only one another, but the Church, and be built up in Christ.”
- “We have a phrase ‘have a mentor, be a mentor,’ so it’s not necessarily one or the other. Go ahead and invite someone to pour into your life, and then pour out, be available.”
- “Transformation [...] happens in our lives by the work of the Holy Spirit when you’re in an intentional relationship with somebody who’s walking the same direction as you, pursuing Christ.”
- “There’s a need for humility in these relationships because we are not everything this person needs. We need to recognize that we don’t have all the answers, so a mentee should not expect a mentor to solve all her problems. We should expect that that person would take us to Jesus.”
- “Each relationship is unique because the two individuals are unique.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Heather: Hosting TeachBeyond Orientation last month
- Barb: Anticipating a grandson!
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Graphic designer Erin Hiatt shares how the Transformed and Transformational cover image came to be and turns the table to ask co-hosts Keane and Heather about their experiences with Season 1 of the podcast.
- “Darker colors allude to permanence or a legacy, and then partnering that with the bold, bright burnt sienna sienna shows [...] that there is also modern, forward-thinking with the burnt sienna.”
- “Transformed and transformational is not about just us, it’s really what God is doing in transforming and allowing us to be transformational in the different things we are able to do all around the world.”
- Erin’s favorite episode: The Advent Project
- Quote from Episode 4: "It's a thousand yes-no decisions that enable transformation to happen. It's also a process of disciplining myself to choose to listen - choosing to listen to who God is and who He longs for me to be and become versus being king of the universe." -Brian Delamont
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Seeing his parents for the first time in over a year
- Heather: Article about transitioning to a new normal
- Erin: Springtime in the United States
Take a quick survey about Season 1!
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you in September!
Trust is central to how our world functions, how we form relationships, and how we connect with God. Brian Delamont returns to the podcast for the final time in Season 1 to talk about building and rebuilding trust with God’s love at the foundation.
- “We live in this world designed by God, so God’s character attribute of trust infuses everything. That’s why there’s so much constancy in our world, which we absolutely rely on.”
- “In the context of building a team, trust is the confidence among team members that their peers’ intentions are good and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. In essence, teammates must get comfortable being vulnerable with one another.” -Patrick Lencioni
- “For us to have confidence that the other person’s intentions are good, there needs to be a belief in their behavior. There’s no reason to be protective or careful because there isn’t a threat. This is reinforced by humility and vulnerability. These play such a huge role in a trust relationship.”
- “Teams that lack trust waste inordinate amounts of time and energy in managing their behaviors and interactions within the group. They tend to dread team meetings and are reluctant to take risks in asking for or offering assistance to others.” -Patrick Lencioni
- “God understands these feelings of mistrust, and He has been putting a plan in place to show us that He’s trustworthy, and He’s been doing this for millennia. Even as other people break your trust.”
- Exodus 19:9
- John 20:27
- “God is not intimidated by any level of mistrust I may have. He’s proven Himself, and He actually invites us to trust Him. Trust is always built up by repetition.”
- Psalm 145:13
- “We want to receive and give trust in a sense that there’s a predictability to it; there’s a reliability to it, just like there is with God. It requires shared experiences over time, multiple instances of follow-through, it requires credibility and an in-depth understanding of the person or place that you’re putting that trust in.”
- “We can either practice worry, or we can practice trust.” -Tim Timmons
- “Trust is the currency of connection.”
- “Trust is the fruit of love - the love of God for us and the love God gives us so that we can love others, even if they’ve broken our trust.”
- 1 Corinthians 13
- “Look at what He’s done in Jesus to rebuild the bridge of trust. He came to seek and save that which was lost, and I’m one of those people.”
- Psalm 91:2
May Reflection: Where do I have an opportunity to trust more today?
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Rainer Maria Rilke
- Heather: Turning a corner in a work project
- Brian: Seeing tulips bloom
Weekly Spotlight: Asunción Christian Academy
Take a quick survey about Season 1!
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Miyuki Hwang shares how we can prioritize our mental health and walk alongside our friends well.
- “Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being.” (CDC)
- “Mental health is the state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stress of life, can work productively, and is able to make contributions to his or her community.” (WHO)
- “Mental health relates to our personal capacity, as well as a social capacity.”
- “We all have stuff. When we hide our stuff and avoid talking about issues that we struggle with, they grow in darkness.”
- “We don’t believe in Christ to gain satisfaction, but there is a correlation between faith and well-being.”
- “In terms of seeking professional help, definitely sooner the better. It helps just to talk about what we are going through and have someone else’s perspective.”
- “I’m noticing that you’re sharing about this for quite a while. Have you thought about seeing a counselor?”
If you’re struggling or looking to get connected with a counselor, we would encourage you to reach out to someone in your local area.
Take a quick survey about Season 1!
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Watercolor pens
- Heather: Doing things virtually the second time around
- Miyuki: Getting married
Weekly Spotlight:Evangelical Christian Academy
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
As the school year draws to a close, Amanda Ferris offers suggestions for ending well as a classroom community, from fun activities to meaningful reflection.
- “It’s a great opportunity to reflect and to think about where we have come in the year. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that at the beginning of the year, we didn’t know these things or we hadn’t grown in these ways. It’s a great time to reflect for both the students and the teachers to see how God has changed theme during the year and how they’ve grown together as a classroom community.”
- RAFT = Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewell, Think Future
- “Get them thinking about the next thing that God has for them or for their friends that are leaving, and being reminded that God is there in those moments and not just in today.”
- Listen here to last week’s episode on transitions: Episode 31
- “Thank people for the ways that they have helped you [...] transform as a teacher.”
- “What does He want them to know that He has worked in them this year?”
Take a quick survey about Season 1!
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Streams in the Desert
- Heather: Categorized to do list
- Amanda: Not having to move
Weekly Spotlight: ALLY Academy
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Amy Young of Global Trellis shares about transitioning well, including processing grief, finishing well, supporting others, and starting something new.
- Continuum of pre-grieving to post-grieving: “I think what can make transitions tricky is that we don’t all fall at the same place.”
- “No matter how well you do them, no matter how ‘good’ you are at transitions, they’re just hard.”
- “There is value in intentionally knowing I’m going to miss this place.”
- “Transitions are not just about you.”
- “Part of it starts with leaving well. The better you can finish, it does create the space - emotionally, physically, mentally, financially, relationally - for something new to start.”
- “Give space for making friends, finding new favorites, they will come, it just sometimes takes time.”
- “It comes back to a lot of awareness of yourself and taking responsibility for yourself, which can sometimes be hard because so much is up in the air.”
- “The sooner I can name [the emotions I’m feeling], the sooner I can help myself make the better choice in that moment with the Holy Spirit’s prompting.”
- Learn more about Global Trellis: https://globaltrellis.com/
- Books by Amy Young
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Picking up trash
- Heather: Instagram Reels
- Amy: Yoga
Weekly Spotlight: International School of the Caucasus
Be a part of our Teacher Appreciation Week campaign here!
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to share about coaching - partnering with the Holy Spirit to help others discover and become who God wants them to be.
- “Coaching is summed up with the term ‘thinking partner.’”
- “Coaching fits into spiritual development as a tool where we can see God at work in our minds and where we get to partner with someone to watch the lights come on as the Holy Spirit prompts something in their thinking to move them forward.”
- “We can see in coaching a framework that reflects God’s design.”
- “The Spirit guides these conversations to help them to be seen, heard, and understood.”
- “I partner with them for encouragement, for accountability, or to help them take their next action step.”
- “Who is the one who comes alongside us? It’s the Holy Spirit in order to produce fruit in our lives. What happens when God gets the glory? He is celebrated!”
- “You are capable because you are God’s creation and He longs for you to become all that He intends [you to be].”
- Proverbs 20:5
- “The process of holding that person capable really shifts how you see people because it takes all judgment off the table, and that’s difficult.”
- Matthew 20:32
- Luke 10
- Mark 8:29
- “The coaching process has helped me be able to move forward in my own spiritual development, maybe by learning to ask questions, certainly by having other people have opportunity to ask me some great questions and get out of some thinking ruts.”
April Reflection: What are you doing now that, if you did it differently, would be so much better?
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: The Happy Lion book
- Heather: Taking time off
- Brian: Rediscovering creative pursuits
Weekly Spotlight: Ukarumpa International School
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Raphael Haeuser joins us for today’s episode about how Christian educators can live out their calling and disciple the next generation, whatever the context where they serve.
- Learn more about Didaque here: https://didaque.net/
- “We are always teaching and we are always discipling, whether it is our kids or our students. Sometimes this can be very obvious or explicit because we are using the Bible or we’re mentioning Christian themes, but sometimes it’s also the very basic day-to-day things that we do, the way we treat people, the way we listen to them and respect them.”
- “This whole idea of teaching is there in Scripture, and maybe more specifically, if you think of the Great Commission, part of making disciples is teaching.”
- “One of the important things that a Christian teacher can bring to a classroom is a different way of looking at the world.”
- “One of the things that I see as extremely missional is that we need to live fully Christian lives in the place that we are.”
- “We can bring ourselves and we can bring Christ within us. The way we teach in a loving way or an interesting way or even in an excellent way can make people ask questions, and then perhaps we have a better opportunity to share the Gospel once we have established some sort of relationship.”
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: In-person church service
- Heather: Spring playlist
- Raphael: Going for a walk or jog in the mornings
Weekly Spotlight:Arbor Christian Academy
Click here to learn more about the Teacher Appreciation campaign!
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
How can we create classrooms based on the belief that all students can learn? Morgan shares Biblical insight and practical tools from her background in special education.
- “The idea that all students can learn comes from the mindset that every student has the ability to take some steps forward. Every student can grow and learn in some capacity.”
- “It’s about being flexible and creative […] in how we can get all students to be able to get access to what we’re teaching.”
- “Every student is unique and every student is an individual.”
- “It can take extra work to have an inclusive classroom. Of course, it’s worth it, and we should all have that as a priority, but it’s going to take changing our mind and viewing it as important in order for that not to be a barrier.”
- “We have to overcome the mindset that it’s more work because students are worth it. Every student deserves to grow and learn, and we need to do our best to reach them.”
- “If a child can’t learn the way we teach, then we should teach the way they learn.” – Ignacio Estrada
- “Kids do well if they can.” – Ross Greene
- “The simplest [accommodation] is writing things down.”
- “Something schools can be doing is educating all of the students on disabilities, on learning differences, on diversity because that makes us more accepting when we understand things.”
- “Differentiation and having inclusive schools and inclusive classrooms is really the heart of God […] Every person is unique and designed by God.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: The Witness BCC “Pass the Mic” Podcast
- Heather: Longer spring days
- Morgan: Adapting to warmer climate
Weekly Spotlight: Faith Academy
We’d love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Dr. Jan Dormer shares about open doors for ministry through TESOL and language learning, unique opportunities during the pandemic, and the impact of a family Bible.
- Jan’s web site: TESOLtools.com
- TESOL = Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
- ESOL = English for Speakers of Other Languages
- “We can choose content that is edifying, that helps people to think more deeply about their values, their lives, their commitments, their goals.”
- “An environment for language acquisition is a very relational and authentic environment. It’s the ideal setting for connecting with other people, caring for others, and building community.”
- Teaching English in Missions by Jan Dormer
- “It is very different teaching online than teaching in a real classroom, so we need to acknowledge that difference and make changes.”
- “This an opportune time to focus more on the domains of reading and writing.”
- Language Learning in Ministry by Jan Dormer
- “I saw such a disconnect between my goals and values as a language teacher and how I saw missionaries being taught.”
- “When we go into a new setting needing to learn the local language, that positions us as learners [...] That is the groundwork for any good ministry.”
- “I have training in my field, and I do think training is really important. I don’t ever want to minimize that. However, our greatest training comes from the Lord.”
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Cast iron pizza
- Heather: Cooking around the world
- Jan: Reading through her father’s Bible
Weekly Spotlight: LinGo Ocean City
For more about Third Culture Kids, check out episode 22 with Michele Phoenix.
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, check out teachbeyond.org. As always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Michael Acock pastors us in remembering Christ’s sufferings and exploring the tie between Good Friday and the Great Commission. Listen to the end for Holy Week reflections from podcast co-hosts Keane and Heather.
- “I’ve found that there is an ideal of loving the nations, which is very different than learning to actually love the people of the nations.”
- “If we’re going to really make peace, it’s not about just keeping everybody calm and keeping the surface from having disruption, but it’s really actually creating disruption for the sake of hearts being connected. You don’t do heart connection without suffering.”
- “Lament has to do with actually grieving someone else’s pain as much as your own.”
- “Grief is the noun form [...] but lamenting really moves you into the verb form of grieving and expressing grief.”
- “Jesus lamented our condition, but then He solved our condition as well on the cross.”
- “On Good Friday, we get propelled into seeing Jesus’ Great Commission, which was to share His Sonship with us. We get to join as co-heirs with Christ because of what He did.”
- “The Great Commission is more than just telling people about Jesus, but it’s actually living completely loved in front of people.”
- Living the Resurrection by Eugene Peterson
- Surprised by Hope by N. T. Wright
- “Easter says, in all pain, there is still this ray of hope that comes because of the love of Christ.”
- “I don’t think we were supposed to get through this life completely unscathed. We are supposed to get through this life redeemed. That’s where Good Friday is about redemption.”
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Video animation
- Heather: “Rest” by Kari Jobe and being still
- Michael: Leading in interdependence on the church staff
Want to connect your church with TeachBeyond? Email churches@teachbeyond.org or click here.
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show. And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
As we anticipate Holy Week and journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem, Brian Delamont invites us to see ourselves in this familiar story.
- “Sometimes, even when we’re told something plainly, we don’t understand it until it’s the right time.”
- Matthew 16:21
- “Transformation is not information.”
- “As leaders and educators, this can really encourage us to keep communicating what we know is true, even if it doesn’t appear to be received or applied the right away.”
- “God may ask me to go with HIm to some places that are uncomfortable and even threatening.”
- John 11
- “God may ask me to retreat for a period of time in order to prepare for what’s to come.”
- “Ordinary things like dinners can turn into acts of worship because Jesus is present.”
- “Being in close connection with Jesus doesn’t stop problems from happening, doesn’t prevent major misunderstanding, and doesn’t keep me from being in jeopardy.”
- John 12:9-11
- “When we face those moments of conflict and tension: What’s true here, and what is God revealing? How is God showing His glory in the midst of a really difficult situation?”
- “The disciples didn’t understand all of this, so it’s reasonable for me to think that I won’t understand everything God does or everything He wants to lead me to in order to transform me, in order to help me be and become all that He intends.”
- John 12:2-18
- “God’s Word actually shows us that there are things we don’t understand.”
- “There is Biblical precedent for not understanding the situation you’re in.”
- “He created us because He loves us, and He pulls us back into relationship with Him through Jesus’ redemption - and then restoration, to set us at the table with Him again.”
- “If I need to understand everything in order to follow Jesus, then I’m placing myself above God’s position and authority because God has to give me an explanation that’s satisfactory.”
March Reflection: Where do I see myself in this week of Jesus’ life? How does God want to speak to me about that?
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Bluetooth headphones
- Heather: “The Chosen” and “The Friends of Jesus”
- Brian: Haribo Goldbaren and the Gospel
Weekly Spotlight: Christian International School of Prague
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Kristen Kailer shares tips about job searching, unpacks the myth of a dream job, and makes a case for professional networking, wherever you are in your career.
- “What are my values for this next season? What’s something I really want to learn in this next season?”
- Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung
- “Be picky enough to know what you’re ultimately getting to, but also remember that it doesn’t always have to be that very linear next step.”
- “The Lord has made work, and He has gifted us with things that we have aptitude for and interest in.”
- “Maybe on this side of heaven, you will know why you took that random job after college for a year and you’ll see the clear outcome of how God worked that in your path, maybe you won’t. You can trust that He is always working things together for His good and your good.”
- “Be someone who is a connector.”
- “Approach networking like a bank account: You don’t want to make a big withdrawal before you’ve put anything in.”
- Join us for the 3:20 Day of Prayer on March 20!
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Paint Sticks
- Heather: Twizzler Bites
- Kristen: Survivor TV Show
Weekly Spotlight: North Africa TCK Classical School
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
How can we lead well and cultivate Christ-centered leadership in our students? Matt Coe joins us to explore this big topic and share from his experience as a Sports Leadership instructor.
- “Just defining Christian leadership in itself is no easy task, and then, when you bring in the cultural element, and the virtues and values of what a good leader is in that context, it’s dramatically different.”
- GLOBE Project
- “If you have that underpinning of trust, then you can have robust conversations, then you can talk into people’s lives. A leader must be able to read the situation, must interpret the situation, and then use the right leadership quality for that moment, all wrapped in love.”
- “The character of our students is vital, the practical application of the skills that we are teaching them - organization, decision-making, teamwork, conflict - all of these things that we deal with in the mission world, we have an opportunity to teach that.”
- “As we release our students into the wider world, we need to be able to teach them to be adaptable and versatile and flexible.”
- “How can we always guide them back to the cross through the opportunities that we give for leadership?”
- “Everyone has capacities to lead in different ways.”
- Lead Like Jesus by Blanchard, Hodges, and Hendry
- “Everyone has their gifts, everyone has their strengths, so let’s play to those strengths and let’s form a team around it.”
- Leading from the Second Chair by Bonem and Patterson
- The Ideal Team Player by Lencioni
Did you miss our episode on growth mindset (Episode 15)? Listen here or read the article here.
For more about missionary kids, listen to Episode 22: Third Culture Kids with Michèle Phoenix.
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Habitica
- Heather: Meeting friends’ kids on Marco Polo
- Matt: The creativity of students
Weekly Spotlight: Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Michèle Phoenix is known around the world as an advocate for Third Culture Kids (TCKs) and the children of missionaries. Listen in for a glimpse into the world of TCKs!
- “Passport culture plus adoptive culture(s) equals Third Culture Kid (TCK).”
- “Because I have those two cultures in me, my closest sense of belonging is with others who are, like me, multiculturally formed in their formative years. There’s a misconception that third culture is actually my individual third culture that I form out of the two that shaped me [...] but actually the term means that we find belonging with others who are also third cultured.”
- “My differences were similar to their differences, and that I wasn’t weird; I was a TCK.”
- “Mostly belonging in multiple places increases their skillset; it makes them bridge builders.”
- “To ask them to figure out what is uniquely one culture and uniquely another in the way they think and in the way they think, even in the way they speak, is going to be a real challenge for them.”
- “Something that feels fairly minor to a monocultural adult who has lived multiculturally for a while might feel like this tidal wave of all of these emotions coming back to the TCK or MK.”
- Article: Nine Tips for Living Well in a Season of Grief
- “The enormity of the blessing and the strength that comes from growing up as a TCK is immeasurable. You have blessed them in ways that you probably won’t ever be able to fully realize.”
- “Generalizations about TCKs are not always entirely helpful, but knowing what the majority of them tend toward I think can be a really helpful thing in mentoring them and walking with them.”
- “Because of our experience seeing things done differently in other parts of the world [...] we can start to draw people from their highly selective clusters toward each other.”
- Learn more about Michèle’s ministry here!
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Reading more than one book at a time
- Heather: The Next Right Thing Journal by Emily P. Freeman
- Michèle: Four Tiny-Small Questions for the Quarantine-Weary
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- What small thing can I do that will make me feel alive in this moment?
- What small thing can I do to take some sting out of this day?
- What small thing can I do to make today feel purposeful?
- What small thing can I do today that will connect me with God?
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
How is prayer foundational in our everyday and key to our transformation? Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to dialogue about how we can continue the conversation with God.
- “What is prayer, then, in the fullest sense? Prayer is continuing a conversation that God has started through His Word and His grace, which eventually becomes a full encounter with Him.” - Tim Keller
- “Prayer is continuing a conversation that God has started.”
- “Through Jesus, we have access to the Father by the Spirit, no matter whether we are ‘far away’ or ‘near.’”
- “Jesus teaches us to address the holy, sovereign God of the universe as ‘Father.’ That is, Jesus teaches us to address the holy sovereign God of the universe the same way He does.” - Darrell Johnson
- “When we come to God, we frame this in the basis of who He is and what His character and nature is.”
- “God has greater ability, He has better solutions, He has divine timing.”
- “God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything He knows.” - Tim Keller
- “Prayer, at its core, has a large element of trust. If I trust God, then I have to trust His ways and His working, even if it’s way off from my expectations.”
- Ephesians 1:18
- War Room Movie
- “Remember the relational aspect of prayer [...] It’s this awareness and welcoming of God’s conversation into your day.”
- Join us for TeachBeyond’s Third Annual Day of Prayer: March 20, 2021
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Hey Clay
- Heather: Making sushi
- Brian: Lead by Paul David Tripp
Weekly Spotlight:Lighthouse School
February Reflection: Am I praying the same way I did a year ago?
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Wyndy Corbin Reuschling reminds us of God’s great invitation to be a part of His work in the world and inspires us to join that work through investing in our communities.
- Check out this article from Wyndy: God Invites Us
- For more on calling, check out Episode 3.
- “God has gifted humans with capacities to use gifts and skills and knowledge and wisdom and education to continue the work that God has in creation.”
- “We are all called to be disciples of Jesus, we are all called to be in Christian community, and we’re all called, I think, to use our gifts and graces to participate in God’s work in the world. Maybe the specifics are left more to us than we might think.”
- “We aren’t pawns in a giant cosmic scheme. We are invited by the living God.”
- “God still loves the world, and God still works to redeem it.”
- “The deepest tragedy in our world is not that rich folks don’t care about poor folks; the tragedy is that rich folks don’t know poor folks.” - Shane Claiborne
- The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann
- “And of course it starts with us, doesn’t it? Does the love of God properly order my love of students, my love of my community, my spouse - and then, how does that get practiced?”
- “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going [...] but I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You.” - The Merton Prayer
- “I think that there’s a wide range of grace to make decisions to participate in God’s work in the world.”
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Monday Zoom calls with family
- Heather: Ancestry.com
- Wyndy: Period of waiting
Weekly Spotlight: GDQ International Christian School
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Talking about feelings might seem superfluous, but fostering an emotionally healthy environment is foundational to transformational education. On today’s episode, Amy Massingale introduces us to the Mood Meter and inspires us to pursue social-emotional health as followers of Jesus.
- “I don’t make any assumptions at first. My first step into the classroom is building a relationship [...] I’m going to build a relationship with them, get to know them, and then let them tell me because I never want to assume what they have experienced.”
- Learn more about the Mood Meter here: https://www.marcbrackett.com/the-colors-of-our-emotions/
- “The most important foundation is giving them the language to use to express their emotions and to give them a space where they can talk about it.”
- “I never look at a kid for what they do or what they say as who they are. I always try to find the root of where that behavior is coming from because that is how they are expressing their needs.”
- “A basic definition of what a healthy classroom could be is students that are willing to take risks [...] and are willing to share their emotions.”
- “For me, being emotionally healthy and pursuing that is staying in the Word and staying connected with friends and being honest with myself about what my emotions are.”
- “It’s very humbling to be emotionally healthy for myself and for my students.”
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Book study on “How to Fight Racism”
- Heather: Reorganized closet
- Amy: The Bible Recap
Weekly Spotlight: Bingham Academy
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Looking for a creative way to study God’s Word? Author Lisa McQueen shares how colors, symbols, and a humble approach to Scripture can be transformational.
- The Bible in Living Color
- “God was loving in the Old Testament; He was not a mean tyrant. In Judges especially, I love how He was so merciful. Whenever they cried out, He was always consistent to respond to their cries, every time, in all seven sin cycles. When they cried out, He answered every time.”
- “From beginning to end, God was saying, ‘I love you, and I want you.’”
- “The Bible is a living document.”
- “I pray and say, ‘Help me with Your living Book that You authored.’”
- “If you know who it’s written to and you know why it was written, then you can read it with a different lens.”
- Bible tools: Logos and Blue Letter Bible
- Hebrews 4:12
- “‘I don’t know what I need today, but You know what I need, so when I am reading this, show me something that You want me to have in this moment.’”
- “Knowing is not doing. I hear it, I’ve heard it, I’ve read it, but now I want to be a constant doer.”
- James 1:22
- Amos 4:6-13
- “The Bible was not written to us but written for us.”
You can follow Lisa McQueen on Instagram (@mcqueenonamission) or visit her web site here: https://lisamcqueen.com/ What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Libraries
- Heather: Puzzles
- Lisa: Anticipating getting married
Weekly Spotlight: LIFE International School We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Brian Delamont joins us again to talk about navigating change and practicing five spiritual disciplines to grow in discerning God’s leading.
- “As followers of Jesus, we build on this foundation that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, forever - and yet, He’s always changing something because He’s also in the process of making all things new.”
- Acts 13:1-3
- “God knows who I am, knows what I’ve gone through - good, bad, ugly - and still has this amazing plan for me. This is the Gospel.”
- “You are not your past mistakes, and nothing is wasted.”
- “Spiritual disciplines give us some great insights into how God recalibrates our hearts.”
- “Worship is incredibly powerful for understanding God’s leading in the midst of change.”
- “One of the first and simplest ways to find discernment in a changing context is to be engaged in connecting my heart with the heart and purposes of God.”
- For more on “daily calling,” listen to Episode 3
- “Fasting is giving our desires to Jesus in every way.”
- “Prayer is coming to God with our hearts, our ears, and our minds open.”
- “Gathering invites us into the welcome of God.”
- “Unity is not unanimity.”
- “You may not ever get every box ticked before you make a decision to take one step forward and to follow, but He is good and He is trustworthy.”
- “Having this heart that is inclined to listen to God through these spiritual disciplines sets you up to be able to be confident that God is good and He loves to lead.”
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Trader Joe’s pickup
- Heather: Holderness Family videos
- Brian: Acoustic guitar tune-up
Weekly Spotlight:Alliance Academy International
January Reflection:
- What is the work that God has called you to do this week?
- What does it look like to worship, fast, pray, gather, and pursue unity?
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
As followers of Jesus, we’re all called to be part of making Jesus known to the ends of the earth. Listen in for how the Traveling Team does just that!
- Click here for more about The Traveling Team
- “God desires to use His people to make His name known among all of the earth.”
- Genesis 12:1-3
- “Jesus invites His disciples to also play a part in this mission, telling them to go and make disciples of all nations. That challenge and invitation of Jesus two thousand years ago to His disciples then is our invitation now.”
- “Pray and ask God: What would that look like for me to go at some point, or even surrender the plans that I have or that I’m making for You in a cross-cultural way?”
- “Sending isn’t A team and B team. Sending is so valuable and important. How can we be sacrificial senders with our time in praying for the world and giving?”
- “It’s easy to throw up excuses because it’s a lot to consider, and there’s a lot of sacrifice when we engage in God’s mission.”
- “It’s good for us to search our hearts and understand that there is difficulty in taking next steps. Jesus never promised that it was going to be easy to follow Him.”
- “God’s not some terrible cantankerous angry man who wants you to do just things you hate, but He wants us to take steps of faith.”
- “No matter where we live, we desire to make Jesus known.”
- “God’s will and calling can be so much bigger than you make it.”
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Pink Panther episodes on YouTube
- Heather: Updates on Microsoft Teams
- Amber: Disco balls
- Tanner: Coffee from Good Coffee and The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
Weekly Spotlight: Grace International School
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Having a growth mindset is key to transformational education. Dorothy Gnanakan shares how perseverance and effort contribute to our continued learning as we seek to become all that God intends and help others step into their God-given gifts.
- “Growth mindset is that internal belief that abilities can be improved and developed with perseverance and effort - those are the two key words. That creates a love for learning and produces resilience.”
- “God created us with astounding brains that can grow and change throughout the course of a lifetime. You never stop learning and growing.”
- “All of Scripture screams that we were created with and for a divine purpose.”
- “Marrying the physical capability of how God created our minds and intellect with the grand spiritual purpose for which we were created unleashes tremendous transformative opportunities in learners. This growth mindset is aligning what we believe about ourselves with what God says about us.”
- “The Holy Spirit refines and gives us more power to truly rejoice with those who rejoice because we realize that that is a celebration of God’s narrative and timeline in someone else’s life, which also means that God equally has that grand narrative in our lives.”
- “Recognize and celebrate the productive struggle, the productive pain that yields growth.”
- “Disorienting dilemmas are disrupting experiences in our chosen challenges. Those are necessary for transformative learning in which we really have to engage in that productive struggle.”
Check out this article from today's guest: "Mind Your Mindset”
Did you miss our episode on inside-out transformation (episode 6)? Listen here or read the article here.
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Board games
- Heather: Non-directive coaching
- Dorothy: Exercise routine
Weekly Spotlight: Global English School
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
TeachBeyond President David Durance returns to the podcast today to share wise words about leading through crisis.
- “As leaders, we are always going to be stretched during a crisis to be able to find the right times to be leading from the front [...] and, at the same time, creating spaces to be able to listen to what [people] are dealing with.”
- “People are experiencing a real crisis, and at the same time, we live in this reality that God uses these crises for His good to accomplish what He wants to accomplish.”
- “When we haven’t been able to be in classrooms, we have been able to be virtually in homes.”
- “Authenticity during a crisis is so key [...] To authentically care for those that God puts in front of you is never more important than during a crisis.”
- “The human nature of wanting things the way they were is the most critical thing that we have to buck against. What was happening before coronavirus or whatever crisis you’re facing? We want it to be the same again. That’s rare, if not completely impossible.”
- “We need to move out of crisis mode and move into a new mode of being, and that means that we are going to accept that things will be different.”
- God and the Coronavirus (N. T. Wright)
- Coronavirus and Christ (John Piper)
- “Through the opportunity that God has given us in this crisis, we are going to come out through this crisis better equipped to accomplish the mission that God has given us.”
- The Steward Leader (R. Scott Rodin)
- “As leaders, whether in crisis or not, but especially during a crisis, we need to be leading from the overflow of what God is doing in our own hearts. That is going to be the foundation for effectively dealing with this crisis. If we aren’t personally seeing this inside-out transformation, then we won’t be effective in leading.”
- “Depend on it. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.” - Hudson Taylor
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Duolingo language learning
- Heather: Making zoodles with a spiralizer
- David: Being handy and YouTube videos
Weekly Spotlight: International Christian School of Budapest
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! As always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Are you setting New Year’s Resolutions or goals for 2021? Join us for this conversation with Mark Giebink, TeachBeyond’s Director of Member Care, helping us shift our focus from striving for success to hope-filled surrender.
- Reimagining the Examen App
- “Silence and Solitude, things that we tend to ignore in our busy lives, help us to make space for that reflection to give us time to look back, but then also to look forward, to really have a conversation with God about what we want life to look like.”
- “If COVID has given us a gift, I think it’s been to slow us down a little bit. It’s exposed our interiors. As our outside world is iffy and unstable, it has exposed our hearts.”
- “We can rearrange the furniture in our lives, but the real change happens inside us, in our hearts and in our minds.”
- “Three key ingredients to transformation are honesty, God’s presence, and a loving environment.”
- “God lives and works and meets us in reality. He doesn’t meet us in what we wish were the case or our fantasyland; He meets us in real life. That’s the beauty of the incarnation.”
- Romans 15:13
- “Hope is a huge ingredient for change. If we don’t have hope, we’re not going to do it.”
- “Love is so much greater a motivation to change than fear.”
- “Celebrating every success is important, breaking that big overarching goal into small steps.”
- “Hold resolutions with open hands and make them an ongoing conversation with God so that it’s not a one-time conversation.”
- “There are two circles in life: things we can control and things we can’t. We have to make sure our resolutions are related to things we can control.”
- “To know that we are known and loved by God, that’s a great motivator for transformation.”
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Rocket book
- Heather: Snuggly Sweater candle
- Mark: Chickens and grandkids
Weekly Spotlight: Dakar Academy
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Merry Christmas! Today and every day, we celebrate that “the Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14 The Message). Brian Delamont joins us again to talk about the life-changing Good News of Christmas.
- “Jesus’s arrival is the announcement of God’s offer of transformation for you and for me. That’s why it’s announced as Good News to all humanity by angels.”
- ”This is the great thing about God’s plan - it’s always been to be with us.”
- John 1:14
- “Being ‘with’ is what Advent draws out in our hearts. We are longing and waiting for what will come, and this is what Christmas can bring us if we actually engage with why it even exists.”
- G.T. and the Halo Express
- “He’s primarily coming to be with us, and being with Him literally changes everything.”
- “As His children, He gives His glory to us in order to move into new neighborhoods in His name.”
- “It’s more than Jesus coming as a baby, but Jesus coming to be with us and those who don’t yet know Him. When Jesus moves into the neighborhood, He comes to be.”
- “When we choose to come to Him, to come to the One who created all of this, who formed me just because He loved me and wants me to be with Him, in that moment I come and I bow to the child in a manger. He gives me this invitation to ‘be’ because He is. He is totally sufficient, and He places that sufficiency on me as His child, whom He invites to come and be with Him, to be all that He intends for me to be and become. This is the transformation that Christmas calls me to.”
- “You can show love and care for the people around you that goes way beyond just being nice, checking the box on your to-do list. It’s your way of being that’s transformative.”
- “Jesus gives us the opportunity to be with Him, to be in this peaceful place even in the midst of whatever may be going on in our lives that’s not peaceful right now. God has taken this amazing action to come and be with us, and because of that, we get this opportunity to then take Him with us, take the presence of Christ with us to be with others.”
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Sending postcards to friends
- Heather: This podcast!
- Brian: Eggnog in coffee
December Reflection: What’s on your “to be” list? What would you like to be more of this year?
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
We all find ourselves in seasons of waiting, perhaps even right now. We might not want to wait, but we can be confident that God is in the waiting. Jennifer Rymer walks us through her story of trusting God’s timing and reminds us of the truths we can hold onto in the seasons of waiting.
- “As I look at these periods of waiting, and even right now as we are in the lockdown, I can look back and say that I am right where God wants me. That brings reassurance. It’s not a mistake that I am here during this time. He does have a purpose for me being here.”
- “God is still moving and providing opportunities, even though they’re not what I thought that they would be.”
- “God was saying, ‘Follow Me. If this is where I’m telling you to go, then your job is to be obedient, and I will provide for you.’ It is moments like that where I feel like God has, in His kindness, spoken to me in ways that are meaningful and intimate to me that I just know that it’s Him. That looks so different from person to person, and even different moments in my life.”
- “God is faithful to show us and tell us where He wants us to be. Sometimes it’s literally one step. Maybe He shuts the door, maybe it’s another step in another direction.”
- “That obedience of that one step, even if you have no idea where that will lead or what it will look like, just taking the next step is what you have to do.”
- “It’s remembering those times, being in continual prayer, reading the Word, and surrounding myself with people I can be really honest with that can speak truth into my life. I think it’s this continual walk of staying close to the Lord and having that reassurance. When I do hear lies in my head, I can point them out as lies.”
- “In the waiting, we can experience God in ways that we may not be able to otherwise.”
- “God doesn’t always call us to easy things. But that is a time of growing and refining. I have grown, but my love for Him has also grown.”
- “Even if it is hard or it’s not what we expect, God is with us through that.”
- “As I am waiting, [it’s] being in the moment and living where God has placed me in that moment - loving the people that He has put in front of me for that moment, not wishing for the future or living in the future.”
- “[I’m] continuing to rely on God and live with this picture of open hands. This is where You have me, and this is where I will be until You tell me that it’s time for the next thing.”
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: AnyList app
- Heather: The Bible Recap
- Jennifer: The Chosen TV Show
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
As we journey through the Advent season, Helen Spencer introduces us to Godly Play and invites us to approach the mystery of the incarnation with childlike faith.
- “Advent is a time to get ready. If you’re getting ready to go on holiday, you do certain things, like packing your suitcase… Every day life goes on as well, but you’ve got in the back of your mind that you’re going on holiday.”
- “We give [children] the time, the space, and the quietness to come close to God.”
- “Because it’s very experiential, there’s no direct teaching point, so that every child is coming and seeing the story for themselves. It’s a little alarming when you’re used to having a particular teaching point and that you want right answers.”
- “Our relationship with God is actually a relationship. We can’t explain a relationship; we may be able to describe it. For hundreds of years, sadly, adults have imagined that children couldn’t or don’t have a relationship with God because they don’t have the words.”
- “Children respond to the space that Godly play allows them, whereas adults often see it superficially and see it as a cute way to tell Bible stories but miss the point. Children never do.”
What’s changing our lives:
- Keane: Getting a TV
- Heather: New Christmas music, including Ben Rector and Rend Collective
- Helen: Staying connected with friends in Minsk & the Facebook “care” emoji
We’d love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Professor Luke Aleckson introduces us to Advent, a season of waiting and anticipation, and invites us to experience this season through the lens of art. Join us in journeying through the Advent Project here!
- “It’s a very intentional, focused time to anticipate. It’s anticipating Christmas and Christ coming as a child into the world, but it’s also used as a time to talk about the second coming, the anticipation of Christ in both senses.”
- “That sense of anticipation and waiting is something that can either be frustrating or anxiety-inducing, or it could be something that is cultivated as a spiritual attitude in and of itself.”
- “The lighting of candles on the [Advent] wreath was a way to have something tangible to point to every day, going through physically and tracing out this time. When that time becomes intentional, then our focus can become intentional.”
- “You can experience and appreciate it without fully understanding the entirety of a piece. That’s maybe the hardest thing for people to cope with when dealing with art and music, knowing the limits of your own understanding but being okay with that. That’s something that scares people away sometimes.”
- “I would encourage everyone to be open. Different things will hit different people different ways.”
- “We have a hundred different Christmas songs that we sing, and that isn’t a necessity as much as it is all these different ways to experience the same story from a different vantage point with a different tone. That’s really what we are trying to do with the Advent Project.”
- “This year is so different than past years in that virtually all of us are going to be feeling isolated or alienated from the body of worshippers that we would normally be with. Even if we are in person, maybe it’s strained and strange. This isn’t a substitute for embodiment or the richness of lived community, but it is a different avenue for exploring different facets of human experience.”
"Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus" recorded by Bethany Martell, TeachBeyond Associate Director of Latin America
What's changing our lives:
- Keane: Changing Christmas plans
- Heather: Q Ideas Conference
- Luke: Mourning as a discipline and moving forward in anticipation
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Surprise, it’s a bonus episode! For the next month, we are going to celebrate the season of Advent together. Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is the beginning of the liturgical church calendar and a season marked by waiting, longing, and preparing for the coming of Christ. The word “advent” actually means “coming,” so in this season we celebrate the first coming of Christ and also anticipate the return of Christ someday.
We welcome you on this journey with us! Join us by subscribing to the Advent Project’s daily devotions that begin today.
"Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus" recorded by Bethany Martell, TeachBeyond Associate Director of Latin America
Happy Thanksgiving to our American listeners! Our conversation with Brian Delamont this month is centered around a gratitude that is anchored in the goodness of God, even in the midst of challenging circumstances. * Psalm 100:4 * "Gratitude inherently shifts my focus from me and my resources toward God and His greater story." * "Sometimes thanksgiving gets pretty surface-level for us - but I actually get to know the source of all these great things, of all resources, and He wants me to know Him in this transformative relationship." * "Whenever we start doing comparisons, we immediately become dissatisfied because we will always lose the comparison challenge. When I come to God, that's the point where I realize there is no resource lacking." * "We get to live in the Father's presence, and He doesn't withhold any resource from us." * "Goodness is an attribute of God, so it's just wrapped up in who He is, it's His nature, His character." * "There are days when thankfulness is a hard commodity to come by, and yet, in the midst of this, we can see the echoes and foreshadowing of what is to come: that day when God makes everything new." * Psalm 77:7-12 * "When I'm in the midst of challenging times, one of the best ways that the Spirit can reorient my heart is to remind me that God is good. My circumstances may be anything but good, but God is good, and He has good intentions to transform my life." * "'Everything happens for a reason.' It'll all be okay. Actually, it might not be. In the scope of eternity and in God's sovereignty, yes, because He is working out His plans and purposes, but there isn't always a 'reason' that something bad happens... I think there's gratitude to be expressed even those situations." * Romans 12:15 * Thank you to our generous ministry partners!
What's changing our lives: * Keane: Making CO2 for Soda Stream * Heather: Blue light glasses * Brian: Canoeing the Mountains by Tod Bolsinger
Weekly Spotlight: Cap-Haitien Christian School November Reflection: What does my thankfulness tell me about God? What does He want to say to me in this place of gratitude? We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
It's amazing how God weaves together the tapestry of our lives, isn't it? Megan traces the threads of how God led her from degrees in studio art and media communication to a year of teaching art in Spain, several months of Facebook Live art lessons during quarantine, and now as a graphic designer in the UK. * "Art [isn't] a pagan thing. Actually, art started with God at the beginning." * "The moment He called me to Spain, I felt a love for the students I was going to get to teach." * Megan's Art Lessons * "Take a moment after a conversation that went really well, and think about what you got passionate about in that conversation." * "The Body of Christ is made up of a lot of different people, and so all those skills are needed." * "Being in the place where God asks you to be is better than trying to make yourself fit in a place that you feel you should be." * Megan Kay on Spotify
What's changing our lives: * Keane: George Floyd Square in Minnesota * Heather: Fall Harvest Salad from Half Baked Harvest * Megan: Amazon UK
Weekly Spotlight: * Black Forest Academy * BFA Life Podcast
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
How can we focus on transformation while also managing the class well? And how does Deuteronomy relate to that? Joe Neff walks us through how to foster transformation that begins with the heart. * "I think the big thing is to build relationship, build some trust, listen, not come in and act like [you] know everything." * "The key is you don't start with the outside. Obviously, you have to control behavior to have the class work, but you're always thinking about the heart." * "It's so much about who the teachers are first. They really need to have God working in their hearts, and then their interaction with students spills over. Students can see God alive in them and are drawn to it." * Jewish Mezuzah * Deuteronomy 6 * "When the student comes in their classroom, they should never have a doubt that that teacher loves God." * "Never forget that you're after the heart." * "It's fine to be open with kids. Instead of just saying, 'Hey, follow the rule,' it's like, 'here's why we have them.' They really appreciate that. And then you can say, 'Ultimately this isn't important, it's your heart.'" * "God talks again and again about love and heart, even though there are commandments. He's after the heart." * 1 Samuel 16:7
Check out this article from today's guest: "Transformation from the Inside Out" What's changing our lives: * Keane: McDonald's buffalo sauce * Heather: Hosting an outdoor open house * Joe: Cheez-Its and a new pace of life during lockdown
Weekly Spotlight: HOPE International School Want to learn more about TeachBeyond? Join us for a virtual banquet this week! We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Faten AlFaraj joins us to share about the making of documentaries and her new feature-length film Life Jacket, telling the stories of refugees on the island of Lesvos, Greece. Learn how Faten's motto - making a difference through media - guides her work and her life. * "Documentaries are more authentic. They tell the story the way it is without polishing it." * "Documentaries are there to make a change, to encourage people to see the truth, to see it the way it is, and make a change around that certain issue. I love that authenticity." * "Sometimes it's not a huge statement, but in a small way where you highlight the truth, highlight what's wrong, bring a different perspective to things... Just to have this conversation is part of making a difference." * Five steps of making a documentary: development, pre-production, production, post-production, distribution * "It gets more personal when they start sharing their story, when they start getting vulnerable in front of you and entrusting you with their story. That's when you feel that you need to cherish that sensitive information and really handle it with care." * Life Jacket is a new feature-length film about refugees on the island of Lesvos, Greece. * "We need to hear their side of their story. I felt like it's about time to shed a light on this issue and just listen to them."
What's changing our lives: * Keane: Life Jacket Film * Heather: Small group study of Acts * Faten: Discerning what's next
Weekly Spotlight: Beyond Borders, Greece Find out more about Life Jacket film screenings here. We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
Sometimes it's hard to see how God's redemptive plan is playing out in our broken world. Brian Delamont joins us to talk about how the Gospel transforms us. * "Transformed leaders will lead others to the transformation that they are experiencing." * "When we see leaders being transformed, we see both small and large differences. It's the difference in how I frame my day, how I respond to a situation. Am I saying 'yes' to the prompting of the Holy Spirit?" * "God steps into my isolation, my brokenness, the injustice that we see everywhere right now. He Himself comes in and experiences isolation, brokenness, and injustice because He has come to redeem us." * "He wants to see me become all that He has always known I can be as His beloved son or daughter. This creation, fall, redemption, restoration narrative is really what drives transformation." * Gospel Fluency by Jeff Vanderstelt * "Transformation comes, first and foremost, in getting back to that Garden [of Eden] relationship and understanding this is who I worship and this is why." * "It's a thousand yes-no decisions that enable transformation to happen. It's also a process of disciplining myself to choose to listen - choosing to listen to who God is and who He longs for me to be and become versus being king of the universe." * "We all love change. We just don't want to do it." * "In the midst of all of that, there's still the presence of Christ, there's still a story of redemption being written and this longing of an outcome that will have us be restored to the relationship and the incredible context that God meant for us to live in in the first place."
What's changing our lives: * Keane: Louis L'Amour books * Heather: Spindrift * Brian: Getting back on his bicycle & seeing people through the eyes of Gospel transformation
Weekly Spotlight: Chiang Rai International Christian School October Reflection: * What difference do you see in your life over the past 6 months? * Where do you see the grand narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration? * What would you want your life to look like 6 months from now? * Where do you need to see more transformation to become all that God has created you to be?
We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
"Calling" is a big topic with many facets. Dean takes it down to the everyday level and invites us to lean into our calling today: desiring God (Psalm 73), seeking direction (Psalm 143), and offering ourselves (Romans 12:1-2). * "So much of God's calling is intended to be experienced day by day as we identify with Christ, grow in personal holiness, and commit to intentional Biblical community, that is, the local church." * "Our flesh and heart are inadequate to sustain us, but God is able to sustain us. We delight ourselves in God when we meditate on His goodness and His love in contrast to the unworthiness of worldly and fleshly pursuits." * "God is faithful. As we delight ourselves in Him, then we delight to do His will and He will show us what to do." * Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero * "Coming to God with a hungry humility prepares our souls to receive what we need. What we need more than direction is God Himself."
What's changing our lives: * Keane: Picnics with friends * Heather: Heather's Autumn Playlist * Dean: Counseling
Weekly Spotlight: Bucharest Christian Academy We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
How is God at work in the midst of virtual learning? Tune in for today's conversation with Russ Kraines and Christine Moussa to hear more. This episode is for teachers, parents, and anyone who wants to love their neighbors better in 2020. * "I love connecting with students. That's why I got into teaching: to pour into my students and be a positive example for them." -Christine * More on Bitmoji classrooms here! * "We put our hopes and expectations in God, knowing that He has good things in store for us. Even if we don't see that right away, we can still trust that He is going to make things work for good, knowing that He loves us and cares for us and is faithful." -Christine * "God is greater than my unknowns. This whole year has been a really great reminder over and over that even if I don't know what's going on, God does." -Christine * "God is sufficient. God will reveal Himself. We need to wait for God to unfold certain things." -Russ * "It isn't new that God works at us up close and at a distance at the same time. To have that equanimity through it was great." -Russ * "Let's not forget the calling that God has placed on us and that He has brought us to this season and... these students 'for such a time as this.' Regardless of what we have to do to revise our teaching materials, it doesn't change our calling." -Christine
Check out articles from today's guests: "Where is God in Distance Learning?" (Russ) and "Getting to Know Your Students Online" (Christine) What's changing our lives: * Keane: Plastic medical clips * Heather: Catan Universe * Russ: Living near his grandchildren * Christine: Blogilates
Weekly Spotlight: Beyond Inglês We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
What do we mean by "transformation"? Transformation is inside-out, heart and mind, Holy Spirit-fueled change. Let's talk about what it looks like to be part of that kind of work. * "The Holy Spirit is doing this inside-out, heart and mind first. That's transformation." * "Everywhere you went in that classroom, the teacher had set the table so that these kids would be able to see that Jesus loves them and wants to be in relationship with them." * "It goes beyond just knowing the good practice and into the application of that practice in a loving way. That teacher is the centerpiece between taking something that could be just great practice and applying it with a heart that is pouring out personal transformation that kids can see." * "We can do no great things. We can just do small things with great love." -Mother Teresa * "Education will change this next generation... We want to be at the forefront of that kind of movement that is relating to this next generation what it means to be transformed little Christs - Christians - wherever He would have us go."
What's changing our lives: * Keane: Story tickets for his son * Heather: Propagating tomato plants * David: Having his kids back in school
Weekly Spotlight: Belize Christian Academy We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! And as always, you can reach us at podcast@teachbeyond.org. See you next Friday!
What does it look like to "be transformed by the renewing of our minds"? How do we live intentionally for Kingdom impact? Join co-hosts Heather Brown and Keane Fine for this kick-off episode - and tune in every Friday to learn from our guests about how we can grow in Christ and impact the world! This show is brought to you by TeachBeyond, an international Christian mission organization focused on transformational Christ-centered education serving individuals and communities.