{"id":1007,"date":"2018-08-14T10:56:45","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T15:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/?page_id=1007"},"modified":"2018-08-15T15:27:50","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T20:27:50","slug":"collegiality-spiritual-formation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/collegiality-spiritual-formation\/","title":{"rendered":"Collegiality: Spiritual Formation"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I began here at ACU, I hoped to model a Christian life for my students while teaching the discipline and practices of computer science. I did not then see myself as an active teacher in disciplines and practices for a Christ-centered life. Over time, however, I have embraced more of a leadership role, building opportunities for interested students to engage with a community to study and discuss teachings from the Bible and church leaders. <\/p>\n

I have started two small groups that meet weekly through the school year, each described below. I think that this initiative is important because it builds a sense of community among faculty and students, blurring our typical classroom roles and bringing us all together as disciples of Christ. I have grown personally through these studies, blessed by my interactions with students in this community, and have rejoiced to see spiritual growth in students as well.<\/p>\n

3:16<\/h2>\n

In fall 2013, I began a weekly small group chapel that focuses on all of the 3:16 verses in the Bible, beginning in Genesis and proceeding through Revelation. This study was inspired by Donald Knuth, a famous computer scientist, who taught a similar class in his church and then wrote a book (3:16 Illuminated<\/a>) based on his study. <\/p>\n

Each week we discuss the context and history of a book in the Bible and focus on the passage containing verse 3:16. Through this study we perform a stochastical sampling of the Bible, seeking to gain a greater understanding of who God is and who we are called to be in relation to Him. <\/p>\n

This study brings together a fairly consistent group of 30-40 students. The teaching has been shared among a few CS faculty members; typically I lead roughly every third meeting. We finished our first run through all of the Bible in six semesters, finishing in spring 2016, and then restarted again at Genesis 3:16 in fall 2016 and are now about partway through our second run.
\nHere are slides I built to teach from Acts 3:16 in spring 2018<\/a><\/p>\n

This video shows a promotion for this study, featuring Rachael Shudde<\/a> and Bethany Witemeyer.
\n

http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/files\/2018\/08\/video-316.m4v<\/a><\/video><\/div><\/p>\n

Litany of Humility<\/h2>\n

In spring 2016, I began a weekly small group chapel that meets together to pray through the Litany of Humility<\/a>. I was introduced to it by Dan McGregor<\/a> and felt immediately that this is a practice that I need in my life. I began the group in hopes that some of my students would also recognize the value in pursuing humility.<\/p>\n

The group has meet regularly since that beginning, with a fairly stable group of students. At each meeting we discuss some aspect of living in humility, typically focused on a reading distributed beforehand for everyone to consider. Inspired by the thoughts of people like G.K. Chesterton, A.W. Tozer, C.S. Lewis, Mother Teresa, Pope Gregory I and others, we challenge one another to live a life focused on God and not on ourselves. Anyone is welcome to join at the beginning of a semester and current participants can invite people during the semester, but otherwise the group is closed. With a consistent and invested group of participants, we have built a strong community to challenge and encourage one another. The group has never been large (typically 10-15 students in a semester), but most students who begin meeting regularly with us will persist through following semesters until graduation. <\/p>\n

In the semesters since I began praying through this litany daily on my own and weekly in a small group practice, I have seen my own perspective change and felt joy in this pursuit. I have also watched a number of students grow and mature in their faith, freed from cultural messages about individual success and learning to celebrate the achievements of others. <\/p>\n

This video shows a promotion for this study, featuring Michael Isome<\/a>.
\n

http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/files\/2018\/08\/video-LitanyOfHumility.m4v<\/a><\/video><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I began here at ACU, I hoped to model a Christian life for my students while teaching the discipline and practices of computer science. I did not then see myself as an active teacher in disciplines and practices for a Christ-centered life. Over time, however, I have embraced more of a leadership role, building […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3371,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1007","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3371"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1101,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1007\/revisions\/1101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jdh08a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}