Last week, I was in Iowa with my team offering Pathways training to a group of midwest pastors who have been trained by us and traveled with us to train pastors globally. It was a dynamic time that offered many connections with pastors I rarely see, yet who are taking our training all around the world. I was joined by my good buddy and traveling partner Jeremy who is an elder at our church, and all our Pathways leadership team members were present. I was asked to give a few talks, mostly tied with findings from my dissertation, and those prompted many interesting discussions. We also discussed a revision to our material of the “Whole Story” workshop, which helps pastors look at every passage in Scripture in light of the whole story of the Bible.

Following the Spring Training workshop, Pathways leaders stayed for a couple more days to review all of my findings and discuss modifications to our Pathways material in keeping with my discoveries. I believe it was a productive time, but it was also intense as we had to explore areas where graduates are not only implementing our hermeneutical steps and tools, but other areas where they are not, and the reasons for this. Adjustments need to be made, as with any training, but sometimes the reality of where we are missing the mark can be a bit difficult to swallow. I do believe we will come out stronger for the evaluation and modification, but work needs to be done between now and then.

Meanwhile, back home, Alyssa celebrated her 17th birthday. I was sad I couldn’t be present, but Adam and Andrew came down from school up north, and they enjoyed some good time together.