Kicking off 2026, we're bringing back a favorite from the archives! Enjoy this 2024 conversation exploring how to connect with your own personal story.

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! [email protected] Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/

Have you ever found yourself laying out a fleece like Gideon, hoping God will make the way clear? Brian Delamont returns to the podcast for a thoughtful conversation about how God speaks to us and how we can posture ourselves to listen.

• Judges 6
• "The problem isn't with God, it's that we're not listening to what He has already told us, and we're asking Him the wrong questions because of that."
• Psalm 89:46-51
• Prayer by Tim Keller
• Isaiah 30:21
• "I think everyone longs for this – for God to just tell us."
• "My heart has to want to listen to God. There is a waiting posture. And then, my heart also has to have the courage to respond to what I hear, even if what I hear is not what I wanted to hear."
• Divine Direction by Craig Groeschel
• Luke 22:42
• "One of the most powerful ways that God speaks to us is when we listen together."
• Acts 13:1-3
• "Sometimes there are seasons where He is silent."
• "The challenge is not that we miss His direction or miss His voice or miss His guidance, but oftentimes the challenge is that I'm not ready for what He wants to say to me as the answer or as the challenge to that prayer or question."
• "God loves us too much to leave us the way that we are right now. He wants to change us to be more and more like Him."
• Psalm 23
• "The desert has a purpose."
• "When I come to God, I come to the One who knows me better than anybody else."

December Reflection: What am I genuinely anticipating when I engage in conversation with God?

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Taking little adventures and outings
• Heather: Advent music with the Worship Initiative, praying for the unreached with The Name of Jesus devotional by David Platt, and burning a numbered candle
• Brian: Rewatching The Chosen TV series

Weekly Spotlight: Ukarumpa International School

We'd love to hear from you! [email protected] Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/

Hear the story of how a missionary kid from Austria met someone from a village in Togo, what it has been like to move their family from Chicago to Togo, and how God has given them a vision for transformational education in West Africa.

• "Once we got married, we sensed that we had been called to serve but at the same time, we didn't really know what role we would be playing." - Koudjo
• "I could have never dreamed up this job myself and the perfect fit, but God knows this." - Chrischona
• "It was during those years of working with TeachBeyond that the vision for starting TeachBeyond Togo really was born." - Chrischona
• "I just heard story after story about how powerfully God was using education." - Chrischona
• "There's just something really special when there's the family of God that comes together, focusing on God and letting Him work through what He's given us, which is the tool of education." - Chrischona
• "Maybe some of those practical things [that take a long time] are just reminders of having to wait on God." - Chrischona
• "Depending on God is one of the things that is happening here." - Koudjo
• "I pray He will continue to use our family here for His service, and that He will help us to trust Him and depend on Him and let Him lead us in every moment of our ministry here." - Koudjo
• "We don't have to have it all figured out [...] before we can actually be part of making that happen in other countries." - Chrischona
• "My prayer is that God will continue to give us the space that we will be able to continue to do this sports ministry to be able to reach more kids in the community." - Koudjo
• Read the Profile of Transformation story from one of their teachers!

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Large monthly wall calendar for the kitchen
• Heather: Hosting a plaid-themed party
• Chrischona: Having two teachers at the school this year
• Koudjo: Changes to sports ministry

Weekly Spotlight: International Christian School of Togo

We'd love to hear from you! [email protected] Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/

Tune in to hear about Christmas celebrations in different cultures and classrooms around the globe!

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Playing board games
• Heather: Volunteering with Foster Love Project

Weekly Spotlight: Go Beyond

We'd love to hear from you! [email protected] Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/

Why do I always feel awkward sharing my faith? What could it look like to have intentional spiritual conversations? Author Kevin King shares about the power of living authentically and letting the Lord lead.

• Living Out Loud by Kevin King
• Deuteronomy 6
• Luke 10
• "Living out loud is not living obnoxiously."
• "If you're not awkward about your spirituality, they won't feel awkward about it."
• Matthew 10:19
• "This is not about a strategy for how to get to the Gospel. It will get to the Gospel for people who are interested. It's just about feeling comfortable in our own spiritual skin, dismantling all of this false narrative and false belief that we have built up. Become comfortable, live out loud, and you will actually find out that the harvest is plentiful."
• "It's not even about evangelism; it's really just about being genuine spiritual people, and then the result is that Gospel conversations happen."
• "Be who you are without an agenda."

Access Living Out Loud resources for churches here!

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Having an opinionated 2-year-old
• Heather: Celebrating 15 years with TeachBeyond
• Kevin: Verses app and getting more done with a new team member

Weekly Spotlight: ESL/TEFL Teaching Positions

We'd love to hear from you! [email protected] Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/

Are we really called to "be perfect"? Brian Delamont unpacks the meaning of "teleios" and how God's own completeness becomes our refuge and righteousness.

• Matthew 5:48
• Greek: teleios
• Colossians 1:28-29
• "It's the work of God Himself in Jesus on the cross and in His resurrection power, which enables us to be complete and filled with His Holy Spirit."
• 2 Samuel 22:31
• "God uses His perfection as a shield for those of us who come and take refuge in Him."
• Deuteronomy 32:4
• Hebrew: tāmîm
• "A perfect spotless lamb in the Old Testament points toward the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world in the New Testament."
• "Perfection is not something God has to work at; it's something He is. It's His nature."
• "We come to take refuge in Him because we're not perfect, and so it's His righteousness, His completeness, His perfection that is applied to you and me by the complete work of Christ, and we are empowered to live in this completeness by the Holy Spirit."
• Matthew 19:16-22
• Lead by Paul David Tripp
• "The perfection that Jesus is asking [for] isn't perfect behavior. That's not what God ever demands from us because He knows we can't deliver on it. The perfection Jesus is hoping to see is the perfection of complete commitment, to be fully devoted, to be all in."
• 2 Corinthians 12:8-10
• Psalm 19
• "The perfect God who made the universe and more, the One who reveals Himself in the Law and the Prophets, is the One who is so complete that He can be trusted all of the time. That's perfection."
• Hebrews 10:14
• Romans 12:2

November Reflection: When you think about God and yourself in relationship with Him, do you see Him accepting or rejecting you? Is it based on who you are or what you can do for Him?

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: His kids enjoying swinging
• Heather: The launch of Go Beyond
• Brian: New pages in his refillable journal

Weekly Spotlight: Art and Music Positions

We'd love to hear from you! [email protected] Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/

Hear from Rio Handley, Associate Regional Director of East Asia and Oceania, about how God has been at work as she has lived in different homes and held different roles over the course of her years in missions.

• "I feel at home where God has placed me. I feel at home at the center of His will."
• "I've seen the grace of God in my life, and I've seen how God moves."
• "Missions is not just the missionary's responsibility; missions is the church's responsibility."
• "We cannot put missionaries on a pedestal because we are all part of one Body, and when God calls people to missions, it has to be the whole church in support of that."
• "Being a teacher and being intentional in doing missions is very important."
• "Being a teacher is having that connection in the lives of your students and that opportunity to change lives and let alone the opportunity to share life [and] Jesus Christ."

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Reading Father Brown mysteries
• Heather: Scheduling posts and chats in Microsoft Teams
• Rio: Learning how to drive

Weekly Spotlight: East Asia and Oceania Region

We'd love to hear from you! [email protected] Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/

It takes humility, intentionality, and the power of the Holy Spirit to create a workplace of trust and unity amongst school staff. Hear from members of the team at GDQ International Christian School in Albania about their experiences with navigating conflict.

• "We want to have the school be a safe place so that people can voice disagreements that they have and know that someone will listen to them." -Lori
• "One thing that helps to resolve conflict is, on some level, to expect there to be at least different perspectives." -Nate
• "Continue to build into relationships among the staff so when you have to come with things like that, it's not just negative all the time, but you do have these trust banks to pull off of." -Lori
• "You really do need to have a culture of unity in place to be able to handle things like this." -Nate
• "Unless people see you acting in a way that is healthy in resolving conflict and in communicating, then any policy that you have, any professional development is useless." Lori
• "You have to be able to say, 'This is not against me. Same team!'" -Lori
• James 1:19
• "Something that is really helpful for me when I am offended is to remember how much God has forgiven me." -Peter
• "We have to give glory to God for being our captain." -Nate

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Finishing the entire Chronicles of Narnia series
• Heather: Autumn scenes on YouTube
• Nate: Using ChatGPT to wean off of coffee
• Peter: Hot cocoa with homework, fresh persimmons, and pumpkin pie
• Lori: Cozy blankets

Weekly Spotlight: GDQ International Christian School

We'd love to hear from you! [email protected] Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/

Katie Davis Majors, bestselling author and founder of Amazima Ministries, shares about the experience of following Jesus one step at a time into a story she couldn't have imagined. Hear the remarkable story of childlike faith and community impact through education and discipleship.

• Amazima Ministries
• "Meeting people's needs is good and is right and is what Jesus calls us to do, to make sure that our neighbors do have access [...] but also, we don't want to give people those things without giving them the hope and the truth of the gospel."
• "Jesus says to have faith like a child, and I think as children, we are bolder and we are less afraid, and we are more trusting. I really did just see a need in front of me and think, 'I could do something about that.'"
• "I can step confidently into those things, even without knowing specifics, because Jesus has already given me the instruction to do so."
• "There are people who need the gospel, who need the love of Jesus, right outside all of our front doors, and as we kind of slowly step into meeting other people's needs and sharing the love of Jesus with others, I really believe that God is going to refine that and narrow that. As we just keep taking steps, He writes these stories that we never could have come up with on our own."
• "He was growing my dependence on Him and my relationship with Him as I kept stepping into these impossible things and seeing Him be faithful."
• "We're not going to end poverty, but we obey Jesus by stepping into the things that He puts in front of us, and in the process, we are made more into His image."
• "For anyone who's just feeling so paralyzed [...] It really is just a drop in the bucket… and that can't keep us from kindness and obedience to Jesus."
• "Living authentically and living your life for Jesus in front of other people causes such a ripple effect."
• "[Education] is such a great way to disciple a child and share the gospel."
• "I need to be dependent on God to achieve anything at all."
• "To step into what God puts in front of you, just one day at a time and one moment at a time really can lead to such a beautiful life."
• "I want what You want for me, God."

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Cricut machine
• Heather: Late-blooming dahlias
• Katie: Having a puppy

Weekly Spotlight: Elementary Teaching Positions

We'd love to hear from you! [email protected] Podcast Website: https://teachbeyond.org/podcast Learn about TeachBeyond: https://teachbeyond.org/

Have you ever thought that "calling" was just for certain people or wondered if you had somehow missed God's call for your life? Or, do you worry that God might call you to something you don't want to do? Brian Delamont joins Heather and Keane to tackle the myths about "calling."

• 1 Timothy 2:4
• "God calls people to Himself."
• "Once we know Him and His truth, we become a part of His body, a part of the Church, and as His disciples, we enter into a lifelong process of becoming who He knows we can be and doing what He asks us to do."
• Matthew 28:18-20
• "Calling rests on a lot more than just me and my understanding. God's calling is always part of God's plan, and this includes His plan for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth and in the life of each individual who hears this call and then follows."
• Matthew 4:18-20
• "We always have to give up something because we give up our old life, we give up our old self, to become what God is calling us to be and become."
• "Who knows me better than the God who made me? He will be the One who calls and leads."
• "'God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called.'"
• Redeeming Work By Brian Dik
• "God does call the equipped, and He's also the great Equipper Himself."
• Luke 10:45
• Ephesians 2:10
• "God has a powerful and a long history of taking human action and redeeming it for His divine purposes."
• Genesis 50:20
• 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
• "It's our God who makes us worthy of His calling, not the other way around."
• Judges 6:14
• Isaiah 6:8
• "A clear call from God does not necessarily mean that things will look successful from a human perspective. We may only see difficulty, and yet that doesn't negate God's call or God's presence."
• John 10:27
• Mark 8:34
• Exodus 3:10-14
• Deuteronomy 31:23

October Reflection: What am I waiting for? What's my role in this, and what is God's role? How can I help break down the myth of calling in my community and call out the gifts I see in others?

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Joining a film group at church
• Heather: Embracing "hygge"
• Brian: Spending time with TeachBeyond National Directors

Weekly Spotlight: Asuncion Christian Academy