Growing up in Chicago, we had a colloquialism when asked for a recommendation. This colloquialism displayed how deep your roots went in the neighborhood and how connected you were. And like any Chicago colloquialism it is not meant to refer to a specific gender, but rather to someone who is a great professional, trustworthy in their work, and will provide … Read More
Considering Innovation: Part 1
Does the word innovation bring positive or negative associations to your mind? Does it bring to mind hopefulness, promise, and excitement or fad, “the latest and greatest,” and “this too shall pass?” What can truly be considered innovative when we know, as Proverbs tells us, that there is “nothing new under the sun?” Why mess with new when you can … Read More
Heart-Shaped Leadership
As I have observed various organizations over the years, I have repeatedly seen how critical leadership is to the health and flourishing of the organization. One of the most important aspects of leadership in a Christian organization is the spiritual passion/vitality of the leader – it truly does flow down from the top to the rest of the organization and … Read More
Integrating Faith Outside of the Classroom: Part 2
How we operate and build our facilities is another way we can do things in a distinctly Christian way. Our values of community and fellowship ought to be evident in the way we plan and build. Both aesthetic value and biblical virtue should be considered. “Frugality” is not often heard in the church today and perhaps because we hear it … Read More
Integrating Faith Outside of the Classroom: Part 1
A lot has been written about biblical integration in the classroom. Many valuable conversations with excellent educators in biblical worldview teaching and new texts on Christian worldview instruction are getting new coverage and encouragement that has schools more attentive to this than ever before. And, as CARDUS research shows, biblical integration has a real impact on the worldview and life … Read More
Excuses: A Reflection on “Calling” from Jeremiah 1: 4-10
The problem with certain questions is that they tend to assume too much. “When will you be starting a family of your own,” the well-meaning aunt asks the recently married couple, assuming first that these newlyweds will surely want to have children and second that their marriage to one another is somehow not already its own family. “Who was … Read More
Platooning and Schools?
Two words that do not immediately fit together in my mind. My immediate connection to the word “platoon” will continue to be the Oliver Stone movie from 1986, starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, and Charlie Sheen as Vietnam soldiers on their tour of duty. I don’t know if this film made the act of war more real for an … Read More
Saving Money for Public Education through Christian Schooling?
Jeff Spalding, former CFO for the City of Indianapolis and current director of Fiscal Policy and Analysis at the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, published an interesting blog post last week titled If you think expanding school choice is expensive. I found his examples intriguing as they stimulated some good discussion around the question of whether we can really fund school choice in North … Read More
The Teacher Effect
There was a motorcar company commercial that ran in our local television market, coining the phrase “The Eide Effect”. According to their website, this meant that their company built a business on the values that takes one beyond the “business as usual” transaction. This company wanted customers to know that they cared about the human connection and that this “Eide … Read More
People, Process, Product
I was listening to NPR radio last week when a phrase caught my attention: People, Process, Product. This phrase, from my quick search, was first used by Motorola in their development of Six Sigma, the set of techniques and tools they developed for process improvement in the late 1980’s. Six Sigma hit the big time when Jack Welch used it … Read More