Transformed & Transformational TeachBeyond

How has God gifted you to serve? Hear from a TeachBeyond member about his experience leaving Canada to teach English in Asia.
“[Teaching] a wide range of things means a lot of really great opportunities to hang out with the kids and give them the best of what I know, best of what I have and share with them as best I can what it means to know God and be a part of what He’s doing in the world.” “The stakes are really high. We can’t really afford to not care about this. We’ve got to go! If there are people who haven’t heard, then people need to go.” “It’s not me that really made the impact [...] it’s God’s Holy Spirit in them.” “My answer is pretty simple: I’m here for you.” “There’s real purpose in all the weird puzzle pieces that don’t seem to make sense at first.” What’s changing our lives:
Keane: Losing his wallet Heather: The new default Microsoft font, Aptos Jonathan: Road trip to visit former students Weekly Spotlight: English Teacher positions
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Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/ 

What’s your story, and why does that matter? Long-time educator Tosca Nathan shares about the significance of knowing your story and connecting to God’s bigger story, especially as teachers.
“Like any story, our life stories have a path, they have a trajectory, and it’s full of meaningful events, defining moments, key relationships, trials and disappointments, dreams and aspirations, passions and discoveries.” “How coherent your life story is and how coherently you can talk about your life story has been seen as a factor in well-being.” Coherence of time, thematic coherence, and contextual coherence “Your life story never exists in a vacuum. It is always part and parcel of a bigger story.” “In the telling itself, every time you tell it, there’s more meaning making that happens, so it’s important to tell your story.” “If teachers are not fully aware of who they are and have exercised all of the areas of coherence, they will not be as effective in their teaching.” “The teacher, with what they do or how they relate, helps the student understand how their story connects to bigger things.” “You can’t give what you don’t have.” “To realize that scholarship is part of that grand story completely changes why I even engage in research or why I engage in teaching and learning, and then on top of that, it elevates it to the level of worship.” What’s changing our lives:
Keane: Playing the board game, Sorry Heather: Reaction buttons on emails  Tosca: Reading the Bible through the lens of the grand story and watercolor painting Weekly Spotlight: Lingo
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/ 

Do you have a big life transition looming ahead? Is someone you know planning to move away? Lindsay Nimmon provides a Biblical framework for saying goodbye well, then gets practical, walking through the RAFT acronym and five tips for applying these transition principles.
“When you’re living overseas, you’re bound to say more goodbyes and experience more grief as a result of those goodbyes than any monocultural or non-mobile peer.” “People are eternal beings who are not meant for endings, so goodbyes hurt, but we hear God’s call to us as Christians to go into all the world and make disciples, and so we trust that He can and does use this grief to shape mobile people into His likeness and give people full lives.” Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds by David Pollock Safe Passage by Douglas Ota “It is possible to form and help our families form healthy, Christ-centered life patterns surrounding transition, loss, grief, people, the world, and learning through the process of learning to say goodbye well.” “Saying a good goodbye to a place and a community is part of cultivating personal health and recognizing that we are loved by God.” Moving On: Beyond Forgive and Forget by Ruth Ann Batstone RAFT: Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewell, Think Destination “Reconciling then, thereby fostering humility, reliance on God, and merciful attitudes, paves the way for a better exit from one community and a more open posture upon entering another community.” “Be specific about what you see God doing in the lives of those around you, and take this moment to encourage their souls.” “Tokens of the affirmation we want to give people during times of transition allow the affirmation to be revisited over and over again and help quiet the negativity that can come when people are feeling isolated.” A Life Overseas Blog “Even as we are in the process of saying goodbye to one people and place, we can begin looking ahead to the people and place we are going.” “It is good to begin to let your heart and the hearts of your children float on the RAFT across the ocean to the destination, trusting that Jesus is leading you there to love a different part of His creation and a different group of people for His name’s sake.” “Doing all of the right things doesn’t necessarily guarantee the future outcome, but it doesn’t mean that we give up either […] It does something to our own hearts even if it doesn’t create the outcome we were hoping for.” What’s changing our lives:
Keane: Joining a church mentoring program Heather: Hair getting long Lindsay: Loneliness Weekly Spotlight: Asunción Christian Academy
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/ 

Pastor and author David Platt joins us for this Good Friday episode, where we focus on the Gospel and its centrality to missions. What makes the Gospel the good news, and how can we be part of sharing it with others? Listen in for an inspiring story about Gospel impact on a community and be challenged to take up our cross and follow Jesus. 
“We are made for life in relationship with God.” “He rose from the grave, conquering sin and death, so that anybody anywhere in any nation, no matter who you are and what you’ve done, if you will repent and believe, turn from your sin and yourself, put your trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, then God will forgive you of all your sin and restore to relationship with Him forever. That is the greatest news in the world.” “The beauty of the Gospel is that it’s not based on what we do; it’s based on believing, trusting in who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us.” “Gospel flows directly into mission: When you believe this Good News, you want to spread this Good News.” “We all have a unique and significant part to play in the spread of the Gospel to all the nations.” “It should be totally intolerable to us as followers of Jesus that there are thousands of people groups in the world that have little to no access to this Gospel.” “This is actually what it means to be a follower of Jesus - not just to say a prayer or believe some truths, but to die to ourselves, pick up a cross, and to live with Him as Lord of our lives in every way.” “He’s called us to die to the dreams of this world in order to live for a much greater dream, a global dream, the spread of His glory to the ends of the earth.” Philippians 3 “In following Jesus, it may cost you everything, but He is worth it.” Luke 9:23 “If Jesus is Lord of my life and I’m living for the spread of the Gospel and His glory through my life, then what does that look like in my workplace? What does that look like in my home? What does that look like when I think about my future plans?” “We need followers of Jesus in every domain in the workplace, filled with the Holy Spirit of God working for the glory of God.” “We’re not going to over there what we’re not doing right here where we live.” Radical.net What’s changing our lives:
Keane: Writing in his books Heather: Spending time with my nephews David: Communicating with his 2-year-old daughter Weekly Spotlight: TeachBeyond Opportunity Board
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/ 

Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to explore the Merriam-Webster Dictionary word of the year – “authentic” – through a Biblical lens. Heather draws a connection to her word of the year from 2023, and Keane shares a profound quote from C.S. Lewis.
Holiness in Everyday Life by Raphael Haeuser The Truest Thing about You by David Lomas “It’s crucial to ground identity in something proven and dependable, something that doesn’t shift.” Genesis 1:27 “Humans are inescapably, for all eternity, created in God’s image; it’s inherent in us. Therefore we long for the characteristics that can only be satisfied in Him.” Mark 8:35 “Jesus is inviting us to find our identity in him, and in the presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit, to let this identity of being deeply loved by God shape our desires to align with what He knows will lead to our flourishing, to shalom.” “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” -C.S. Lewis Matthew 3:17 2 Peter 1:17 Colossians 3:1-10 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “When I live in my identity as a person indwelt by God, who loves me, I let Him rule. This anchors me in my authentic identity.” Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen 1 Corinthians 13:11 1 Peter 2:9-10 “I’m not a solitary individual who chose to follow Jesus; I’m a part of the global community of Jesus followers alive today, and I’m a descendent of every Jesus follower before me. They are my people.” Philippians 1:6 “Until the day God returns to make everything declare His full glory once again, He will be at work in you. And you have work to do in this, as well. You answer the call; you respond by actively becoming who you authentically are.” March Reflection: As you look at yourself, who are you becoming? What will you do to experience this more fully?
What’s changing our lives:
Keane: Rediscovering Josh Garrels music Heather: Hosting a favorite things party Brian: Learning from these podcasts Weekly Spotlight: International Academy of St. Petersburg
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/ 

How does an Internet search lead to missions work? What is it like to provide literacy training amongst nomadic communities? Hear from Wangūi Maina about her experiences following the Lord to multiple different countries and what it’s like to serve now in Northern Kenya.
“I felt the Lord say, ‘Forget all of the things you’re trying to figure out. Just trust Me and go.’” “Northern Kenya in 2024, still has the highest illiteracy rates in the whole of East Africa.” “One of the greatest impacts that I have seen is seeing children who were not interested in school because of the cultural practices that prevail in these communities take up an interest in going to school and staying in school.” “Where Christ is preached fearlessly, transformation happens.” “Whatever negativity or whatever darkness, it can’t come against the light.” “People think God’s calling is some big voice up in the air or you’ll hear some booming, but it’s those impressions that the Lord puts in our hearts.” “Start your day with the Lord; it really makes a difference.” What’s changing our lives:
Keane: Planting the garden Heather: Teaching at her alma mater Wangūi: Discovering new nearby routes Weekly Spotlight: Creative Access Locations
We’d love to hear from you! podcast@teachbeyond.org
Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast
Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/