Rooted in a biblical worldview, the Biblical Stewardship Curriculum is a principle-driven personal finance course teaching: The implications of believing God owns it all The roles, responsibilities, and rewards of financial stewardship as defined by scripture Five transcendent financial decision making principles found in the Bible How money is intertwined with biblical teachings on contentment, generosity, self-control, provision, gratitude, freedom, … Read More
We Did Our Job: Devotional from CESA 2016
In January of 2009, US Airways flight 1549 landed in the chilly waters of the Hudson River shortly after departing New York’s LaGuardia Airport. The movie Sully depicts the courage and fear of Captain Chesley Sullenberger as he led his crew and the passengers that morning. The film shows the aftermath of a media frenzy and the questioning by various … Read More
Livening up the Blasé Work of Mission and Vision Revision
No matter the terminology used — mission, purpose, direction, core values, belief statements — each provides an opportunity for an organization to gain clarity about what drives decision-making in the short and long term. High-reliability organizations stay “tight” to their vision and mission, aligning their work in ways that help employees build belief in the processes and products. Extensive time … Read More
Guiding Students on the Path to Purpose
In his recent blog and webinar, Dr. Bill Millard states: Life Calling is confidence in an overriding purpose for your life. Everyone has a life calling. Discovering it and developing confidence is the challenge. We can best make this discovery by looking at three crucial life dimensions. The discovery of our life calling starts with establishing foundational values in our lives. We … Read More
A Canadian Rocky Mountain High!
It was truly a great day of celebration, with the majestic Canadian Rocky Mountains as the backdrop in beautiful Banff, Alberta, when more than seventy-five Christian school leaders from Canada, the United States, and Australia gathered prior to the Christian Schools Canada conference to share efforts around Deeper Learning in Christian schools. At this September 21 pre-conference party, there was … Read More
Raising Exiles: Devotional from CESA 2016
Over the past year now, this idea of what it means to be a Christian school in a post-Christian culture has been on my heart and mind incessantly. I am excited to hear Barna Group president David Kinnaman speak during this symposium. I heard him speak last year to a group of us gathered for a Van Lunen Fellowship reunion. … Read More
Life Calling
During my years in college and graduate school, I pursued an interesting approach to career exploration—I studied them all. I studied history, pre-law, pre-med, Greek, journalism, religion, public health, dentistry, education, geology. What compelled me to pursue so many different fields? Confusion coupled with a determined search for meaning. At the heart of my actions and decisions, there was a … Read More
A New Perspective on Stewardship
My 5 year old grandson has a vivid imagination. Throughout a normal day he imagines that he and those around him are chefs, pirates, zookeepers, policemen, and a variety of other occupations. It is a fun game which requires no change in behavior, at least from his perspective! Reflecting on this causes me to consider the plight of many adolescents … Read More
Five Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
We all make mistakes. They are unavoidable but not always easy to explain—especially when others have made the same mistakes in the past and share their learning experiences. David Urban and Paul Neal, of Charter Oak Research share the following five marketing mistakes in their blog and webinar: Believing we are misunderstood Not giving others what they want Doing what’s … Read More
Real Work for a Real Audience
Lauren was walking away from the copy machine with a stack of copies from the Spanish workbook. She looked like she had just been abandoned by her deepest hope. It was her first year of teaching, first year Spanish to sixth graders. She had tried to involve them in active projects, but everything she thought would be engaging yielded little … Read More