Grander Stories

DISPLAY:

The Questioning Apologist

I hate to admit it, but I have often been like many apologists: too quick to give answers and too slow to ask questions. Solomon calls that the approach of a fool: “A fool does not delight in understanding,             But only in revealing his own mind.” (Proverbs 18:2) Anxious to win arguments Like many […]

But the Greatest Is Love

I’m entering my eleventh year working at Miami University in the teacher preparation program. My students know where I stand in my Christian faith. I find ways to share with them in our large group, during office hours, and as I attend regular Cru events. However, I like to believe that all my students know […]

Using My Platform as a Professor Internationally

For several years, God has burdened my heart to use my platform as a professor to share the love of Christ with the academic community of Latin America. I am so blessed and thankful for the wonderful opportunity God provided to be part of the Faculty Commons outreach to Quito, Ecuador in the summers of […]

Ripples

After reading A Grander Story: An Invitation to Christian Professors by Rick Hove and Heather Holleman in a Faculty Commons small group Bible study, I was inspired to integrate my research with my faith rather than keeping my work and faith neatly compartmentalized into separate boxes.. As a music professor, I recorded an album entitled Solace specifically focused […]

The Purifying Effect of Christian Faculty

This summer while camping, my daughter and I found large river mussels in a freshwater creek. Although we found no actual pearls inside, we did learn about these amazing creatures, and I found interesting parallels to my own ministry and calling within the university.  Mussels work by filtering large volumes of water to purify it, […]

On Mission at a Religious College

God inspired me to enter teaching before I knew Him. Initially, I decided to follow my father’s footsteps and enter corporate America. However, halfway through my MBA program, I realized I could get paid for doing what I loved: learning, teaching what I’d learned, and writing. Even though I may not be as bright as most professors, […]

Would I Invite Them In?

I had been wanting to step out of my comfort zone and serve a population that was completely different from my own, so when my church scheduled a trip to serve refugees in Clarkston, Georgia, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. I spent a week learning about the difficult plight of refugees, most of whom […]

My Job or My Calling?

Have you ever questioned why you work in academia? I have. In a particularly challenging part of the 2023-2024 academic year, I questioned my place in academia. I confided in a sister in Christ and shared that ‘endless emails and zoom calls’ certainly couldn’t be my calling. Her simple response gave me pause. She said, […]

AI Offers Golden Opportunity

Artificial Intelligence is discussed everywhere these days; it has both its “boosters” and its “doomers.” Some AI boosters dream of a trans-human utopia that populates the universe. AI doomers, on the other hand, fear that AI could instead annihilate humanity. A major headline in the Financial Times recently declared, “We must slow down the race to God-like […]

Prompted to Pray

“You won’t believe how God just answered our prayers!” I sent this message to our Faculty Commons leaders after our monthly gathering where we pray for our campus and students. That morning after reading and reflecting on Psalm 3:3, “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my […]