Hello fellow educators welcome to podcast #85. Today we are continuing our discussion of Transformative Education. We have part two of my discussion with Steve Smith and Paul Kelly. Last week we began the process of what this looks like in a traditional campus school environment, although I think it is a stretch to think of Heritage using the word "traditional" when we talk about our campus school. We have a dynamic campus school program that is thinking outside of the traditional confines of schooling. Our passion is to disciple kids and build a community that is committed to raising a generation of world influencers. Our goals are not traditional and neither are many of our programs. You will hear this in both programs that Steve and Paul speak about as well as the philosophy of education we have adopted to bring true transformation into the lives of our students. Before we jump into the interview I wanted to relate a comment made by Eric Vanee. We interviewed Eric and Mark Daley in podcasts #83 and 84. Eric specifically makes the observation that our team in HCOS sees themselves as partners with our team at HCS:

"Enjoyed listening to the podcast this morning.  Interesting to hear how our words were heard and perceived by the campus school guys.  Next time we should perhaps use more ‘partnership’ language in our podcast musings. That said, I thought I would share with you an interesting experience I just had.  John Knox Christian here in Burnaby is just putting the finishing touches on a 5.8 million dollar school upgrade.  Grade 5’s to 8’s are going to have Smart Boards in each class.  As I was watching the Smart Board demo, I couldn’t help but get excited about the potential of our online courses.  First, I got all sentimental and remembered teaching my SS10 Online course in my campus school class with a lousy projector hooked up to my lap tap.  Then, I began to imagine how an online course with a distinctive transformational curricula could be a great tool for a campus school teacher who struggles with how to bring Christ into the class.  Very cool."

Mark Daley followed up with:

"I too heard the podcast and felt badly that we were taken in a competitive spirit. Of course we had no intention – we spoke out of an excitement reflex and certainly not anything condescending. Eric and I have taught in both realms, and I also teach at the university. These learning spaces are dear to us; our backs are not turned by any means. I suppose, in looking back, that our earnest in the podcast was conditioned by the suspicion and doubt that often accords home based education. Not so in our experience! but rather, the opposite: our enthusiasm concerning the nurture of personal voice, greater learning and personal liberties and the more pronounced teacher-student relationship are more a case of “the unexpected” than a “better than.” We just made reference to the conventional baseline because it’s the cultural standard, the normative grid against which change gets measured (it is our nature to have a constant, a reference point, and the one we live with is a monolith). Had home based education and distance learning in general not been under suspicion, there would have been, I imagine, no reference at all to the classroom or campus school model."

You can't imagine the incredible blessing and joy it is to be a leader of such men as Mark, Eric, Steve and Paul. We have an amazing opportunity and team if we can maintain such a humble yet noble spirit as we all work together for the cause of Christian Education. We have to remember that this is way we educate the way we do. We should never let our advocacy for our particular method of education, home schooling, online courses or the campus school ever overtake our passion for Christian Education and the discipleship. Here is part two of our interview:

Audio Only

Thank you so much Steve and Paul. I trust that God will continue to give us ideas and insight as to how we can presence ourselves and more importantly presence Him in all that we do at Heritage. Please email us your comments and thoughts on today’s podcast. Also, if you would like us to mail you a free copy of my book or send you the download link for the audio version of, Discipling This Generation for a Digital World, simply send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and let us know what type of an educator you are, home schooler, classroom teacher, school administrator, or interested parent. Please let us know how you heard about the podcast and, of course, please include your mailing address. Thank you for listening and thank you for your commitment to discipleship-based Christian education.