RenewCast

A Conversation with Bible Teacher, Mark Brink Join us for a reflective conversation with Mark Brink, 12th-grade Bible Teacher at Evangelical Christian School in Memphis, TN. Over his forty-nine years of teacher more than 5,000 high school students (most of them seniors), Mr. Brink’s life and career were marked by an unmistakable commitment to the gospel of Jesus. Our conversation ranged from topic...

The best teachers are storytellers. Students need stories; it's how they best connect with the things they're learning. It's part of the reason why Jesus often chose to teach through stories. As a result, teachers need to see themselves as storytellers, and work to get better at seeing their task specifically through the lens of telling stories. Host Noah Brink discusses the importance of storytel...

Regardless of the grades we teach and Even if the words themselves don't show up in our regular practice, Christian teachers must be aware of the worldviews competing not only for our students' attention, but for our own as well. This not only helps us better connect with and shepherd our students, but it also helps us to properly diagnose inconsistencies in our own practice so we can be more alig...

Good teachers are Storytellers; it's part of what helps to the students - not just to their minds, but to who they are as persons. So, if we work with kids in any capacity (from birth through teenage years), it's important for us to read stories, so our own capacities to become lovers and tellers of stories are improved. Yes, it's good to read stories written on adult levels, but it&#3...

Christian Schools' World Language departments are often the most overlooked when it comes to developing a framework for teaching Christianly. But, our philosophy of Christian education must be as well developed and implemented there as with any other part of the School. In fact, the World Languages Department has advantages that other departments don't. Host Noah Brink discusses how the qu...

While it's always important to have a strong foundation for a Christian education philosophy (and constantly lean on resources to strengthen that foundation), we also need resources to go to that next level and help to shape our teachers' approach to teaching in a way that's consistent with that philosophy. Jon Eckert's *The Novice Advantage* and Sarah Mackenzie's *Teaching fro...

Kids need to belong. From the earliest age, all the way through their teenage years, they need to know that they're a part of something. It grounds them; it rescues them from the anxiousness that results from trying to find meaning on their own terms. Quite possibly, "Belonging" could be what kids need more than anything else if they're going to grow to become healthy people. Hos...

As with every academic discipline, teachers need a framework for teaching history that requires more than merely finding a verse or biblical analogy. Rather, teaching History from a Christian perspective requires an understanding of the key categories of a biblical worldview and applying them to the discipline. Host Noah Brink reintroduces the categories and questions of the RenewEd Worldview Grid...

The Two books that most grabbed my attention and shaped my approach to Christian education have very different arguments, but were equally formative for me as I began to grow greater understanding of the life of faith in relation to the task of Christian Schooling. Mark Noll's book *The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind* (1994) was formative for me in the area of deep thought, intellectual pursu...

While Christian education and secular education are quite different (and should be even more different than many of the models we have), a Christian who teachers in a secular context can still teach "Christianly" within that context ... because teaching Christianly is far more than merely adding a verse or Christian lingo to an otherwise secular content. Host Noah Brink unpacks the ways...

Maybe one of the most important skills teachers need to have in their tool belt is the ability to help students understand the "bigness" of God and the beauty and wonder that result from living in a world He has created. And, there may be no author to help develop that skill than G.K. Chesterton. His writing continues to shape so much of what we believe it means to live faithfully, sensi...

It shouldn't even be a question in Christian schools, but we live in a world where the Fine Arts are the first to fall victim to budget cuts and the last to receive the funding and institutional support they need to flourish. This reveals a common flaw in the way we think about school in general. Host Noah Brink uses the oft-overlooked and underfunded Fine Arts programs in our schools to both...

It's nearly impossible to talk about the Christian worldview without a healthy dose of the biblical framework of Creation, Fall, and Redemption. Not only do these categories help us to the story of Scripture more fully, but they also give us a stronger foundation for knowing how to understand our own stories, our place in the world, and to see God's work in it. Host Noah Brink introduces t...

Christian education must be far more than providing essentially secular models and practices of schooling with Christian components (Jesus Dust) sprinkled on top. Far too often, this ends up looking like finding a verse or Christian lingo to attach to a lesson, or praying at the start of it. But, not only is this bad both theologically and pedagogically, it trains students to think that Christiani...

Frank Gaebelein's *The Pattern of God's Truth* and Donovan Graham's *Teaching Redemptively" are the two books at the top of our recommendation list for Christian educators. They both provide profound introductions to and foundations for Christian schooling. *Pattern of God's Truth* : https://a.co/d/aP5PRZZ *Teaching Redemptively* : https://a.co/d/145fxC5 *Jesus Above School* :...

It's extremely common for Christian Schools to claim to be cultures of Grace, yet these very same schools either struggle to have clear understandings of what that means in practice or they're actually scared of moving in that direction because of the friction it will cause. It's increasingly normal to want order, structure, consistency, and everything "appearing" stable; gra...

An unhurried education. Is such a thing possible? How do we bring about more rest in our schools? How do we allow students to have greater ability to pause and grow within the community of the school, rather than hurrying through the day? Is it possible to reduce stress and anxiety? Host Noah Brink discusses the theology of rest (and of Sabbath) and the cultural and pedagogical necessities of find...

The Olympics can teach us a great deal about ways to further engage our students into the lives of our schools. Students need to feel a sense of belonging, and sports natures this longing and connection in a unique way. The Olympics also has a profound ability to model what it looks like to bring people together. How can we use similar things in the lives of our schools? Host Noah Brink discusses...

Christian School teachers have to be prepared to know how to respond to the most talked-about issues of the day. Events like that of July 13 are the sort that prompt students to come to class with countless opinions, looking for both validation and answers. While there's no way to properly prepare for shocking events like these, it's critical that we have the biblical frameworks in place t...

When we prioritize honoring God and recognizing our students' dignity as image bearers of God, we have to rethink our approach to what we require or expect of our students on Mondays.

Every aspect of the Christian school ought be held under the lens of a biblical worldview, including the structures we put in place for compensating faculty. Of course, we need to figure out ways to provide even higher compensation, but the model we use to calculate that rate of pay is of the utmost importance. And, it should align with our philosophy and beliefs. Host Noah Brink describes some ke...

Nearly every Christian school laments that it doesn't have an intentional program to both develop its teachers to teach "Christianly" and to ensure that all of its faculty is on the page when it comes to articulating the schools mission and core distinctives. Host Noah Brink offers a program that he helped to design at Evangelical Christian School in Memphis to provide a practical ex...

The fourth category of the RenewEd Worldview Grid asks, "Are we cultivating a culture of Grace-prompted obedience?" This question guides us toward having an approach to behavior that's consistent with a gospel-centered worldview. Host Noah Brink unpacks the question and provides reasons why the Christian approach to behavior is so radically different than what's seen elsewhere in...

Taking a Gap Year between High School and College ought not be Plan B. In fact, it might be one of the greatest ways for a student to accelerate the process of maturity into adulthood. Host Noah Brink discusses the many reasons why students should take a hard look at the benefits of gap year programs, think deeply about using the unique gifts God has given them, and evaluating the best ways to fur...

The seventh category of RenewEd's Worldview Grid asks "Are we seeking and celebrating a restoration of all things according to Jesus's Plan?" and then applies this question to our approach and practice in Christian Schooling. Host Noah Brink unpacks the many ways Christian educators should think about the redemptive aspects of our task as we use the worldview framework to help ma...