Transformed & Transformational

Baylor and Erin May tell the story of how growing up overseas, meeting in college, and trusting the Lord with each step has led to international adoption, raising their family overseas, and investing in the global community in Prague.

• "We just decided [that] we're going to go as far as we can until we know it's either going to work or not going to work, and it did, and that was confirmation from the Lord." -Baylor
• "Looking back, it's like a little light-up path we can see clearly, but we didn't really see it starting out." -Erin
• "The truth and the goodness of the gospel is being put on their hearts; it's up to the Lord to make those seeds grow." -Baylor
• "We're going to choose to love you and take care of you because that's what we believe our God does for us." -Baylor
• "As we all have experiences here together, we're becoming a closer family unit and we're regaining a sense of normal." -Erin
• "Instead of seeing something as a wall [...], try to reframe it and ride the wave." -Erin

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Reading books required of students
• Heather: Watching the Olympics
• Erin: Pursuing the new hobby of building miniatures
• Baylor: Leading people through hard decisions

Weekly Spotlight: Christian International School of Prague and Go Beyond

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

What would it look like to reimagine our teaching as good work and see our students as made in God's image? Dive into Scripture and practical discussion with Kristi Schliep and Missy Takano, staff members at Black Forest Academy in Germany.

• "What God did at creation, He invited His people to then partner in that same kind of work." -Kristi
• "Human good work is like God's good work; it's intended to carry this same bringing order from the raw materials, creating space where life can flourish, carrying out God's rule and reign and intentions in the world for the blessing of others." -Missy
• "Humanity rebelled and that brought fracturing and brokenness into the created design, but it didn't undo the created design and it didn't undo the invitation to good work." -Missy
• "Sometimes we get caught up in viewing kids through the lens of Genesis 3, rather than remembering the original design." -Kristi
• "It matters that we acknowledge that our students are touched by the brokenness of the world, but that's not the full story." -Kristi
• "My job is to be faithful to cultivate the ground, and I'm going to have to trust that that season of fruitfulness may not be in the timing that I anticipate." -Kristi
• "When we acknowledge that God is the source of all things and He has invited us to participate, it's such a fun tension to live in because He is going to provide - He's going to provide all that we need, He's going to be the one to cultivate Genesis 1 in that classroom - and He invites us to participate." -Kristi
• "When students know that you are delighting in them, they will absolutely join you and engage." -Kristi
• "Recognizing our need for rest helps us to continue persisting in that Genesis 1 perspective." -Missy
• "[You] get to announce that the King is here in the way that [you] live in your classroom, and that's holy work." -Kristi
• "You're not alone. Your work is good. It's holy and sacred work. The students are the images of God. The same Spirit who hovered over the waters indwells you, so you are empowered for the work that God has called you to." -Missy
• Listen to Missy and Kristi on the Restoried podcast!

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Writing postcards
• Heather: Flowers in winter
• Missy: Taco salad
• Kristi: Reading through the Bible in a year and teaching an adult Sunday school class

Weekly Spotlight: Black Forest Academy

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

In anticipation of the upcoming season of Lent, we consider how the practices of fasting and lament can remind us of our humanity and orient our hearts toward the lost.

• Lent and Missions: A 40-Day Devotional
• The Upstream Collective
• "This physical need reminds me how much I need the Lord. So, it's not just the removal of something; it's a taking in of something."
• "Forty years in the wilderness for God's people and 40 days in the wilderness for Jesus were preparation for the fulfilling of God's promise, so when we're fasting, we're experiencing that wilderness so that when Easter comes, when Good Friday comes, it's a celebration."
• "The big theme is to pull back [...] and see the Bible as a book of redemption for all people."
• "[Lent] is an invitation to slow down, to rest, to lament sorrow, sadness, and brokenness, and then to turn our eyes toward the coming Sunday."
• "Experiencing Jesus and moving our lives toward Him and seeking to love Him in every way, a natural outworking is His heart and passion for others, which lead us to mission."
• "Our hearts can lament and long to see people come to faith. And then even as we live on mission, to embrace the reality, living a missional lifestyle, sacrificing for the sake of others, is hard. It's difficult, but it's good."
• "There is an invitation to slow down and experience Jesus, to practice something that could be life-giving."

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Unsubscribing from unwanted emails
• Heather: Lots of snow
• Nathan: Establishing a morning routine of time with the Lord

Weekly Spotlight: Puebla Christian Academy

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

Should I expect to have an easy life following Jesus? Being a Christian does not mean comfort or ease, as culture would define it. Brian Delamont, Executive Vice President of TeachBeyond, unpacks Scriptural truths about blessing, contentment, and abundance from a Kingdom perspective.

• Deuteronomy 28
• Psalm 136
• Matthew 20:18-19
• John 16:32-33
• "When we face difficulties, when life is not easy, the Father is with us."
• "Life is not easy. There will be trouble. [...] However, take heart! I have overcome the world."
• "You don't give to get."
• Malachi 3:10
• 2 Corinthians 9:7-9
• 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
• Genesis 2:15
• "Being in God's creation and working it, taking care of what God had given, is part of God's original good plan for humanity. It's not an easy life; it's a good and meaningful life!"
• Genesis 3:16-19, 23
• 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
• "God knows that an easy life isn't in our best interest [...] but an abundant life is in our best interest. It's His blessing, His presence, and His Kingdom."
• "Jesus does say that we will have trouble, but He is also with us in the trouble, so that's how we can take heart - because He has overcome, He is greater, He is kinder than whatever discomfort we are facing."
• Philippians 4:10-13
• "It's not easy all the time, and we know it won't be, yet God is able to care for you, to bless you and to be with you, even when it's tremendously difficult."
• Join us for TeachBeyond's 40 Days of Prayer: https://teachbeyond.org/40days

January Reflection: Am I longing for ease or what God really has for me?

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Durham-opoly
• Heather: Great conversations and interviews with applicants
• Brian: Taking more time to breathe and reflecting on Scripture during TeachBeyond's 40 Days of Prayer

Weekly Spotlight: School Leadership Positions

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

This week, hear the rest of the story from Alan McIlhenny, one of the co-founders of Open Schools Worldwide, with the mission to design and deliver life-changing learning to bring hope to marginalized children in developing countries worldwide.

• Listen to Part 1 of the story here: Episode 204
• Four legs of the table of education are vision, people, materials, methods, with Christ at the center
• "[One of the biggest challenges] was finding the right people who understood the children that we were going to be working with."
• "We need to take care of our volunteer tutors and help them because they're being faced with awful situations that children should never have to face."
• "When we are teaching the letter f, we talk about father, friends, and you can bring up discussions about friendship and the lack of fathers, which is common for so many of the kids."
• "We play a lot of games and try to make the lessons fun."
• "We called it Open Schools Worldwide because the need was worldwide."
• "The need is worldwide, and God is good [...] We were dreaming big."
• "We didn't have to seek out growth. People came to us. The story spread."
• "When Angie, our director [...] tells me that we have 14,800 kids enrolled now, it just brings tears to my eyes. It's brilliant."
• "Pray about it and ask the Lord to open the doors."
• "I've always prayed that the Lord would open a door for something, and that if it was wrong, He would close the door and that I would accept the door closing. It's easy to jump after things; it's not so easy to say, 'Well, maybe that's not quite right.'"
• "I can't do something on my own, but praying for the right people to join me has been a way to move forward."
• "I was a very shy, retiring, quiet person, and if someone had said to me what was going to happen, I would not have in any way believed them."

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Color-coded calendar to notice trends
• Heather: Road tripping with her brother's family
• Alan: Worshiping in a thousand-year-old building

Weekly Spotlight: Open Schools Worldwide

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

Alan McIlhenny shares the story of following the Lord to the Seychelles, Nepal, and all over the world to bring quality education and the hope of the gospel. Through twists and turns, God was faithful to direct their steps and provide for their needs in miraculous ways.

• "I grew up reading stories of missionaries. I never thought I could be a missionary [...] I didn't think I was good enough or holy enough."
• "I've accepted a job in the Seychelles. Can you find out where we are going?"
• "I really need to take what I know about education and change it to work for a different situation, rather than just assuming that what has always worked continues to work in a new place."
• "We often questioned what was going on, but the Lord's timing was right."
• "We always prayed that we would do what the Lord wanted us to do."

Tune in next week for part two of the story!

Weekly Spotlight: Open Schools Worldwide

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

Dr. Erik Carter shares from his research and personal experience about how Christian faith informs perspectives on disability. He unpacks 10 dimensions of belonging in community spaces, including schools and churches, along with actionable next steps.

• Baylor Center for Disability and Flourishing
• "Disability is among us, and when we think about our schools and our congregations, we want to make sure that kids with disabilities are also with us as well."
• "Every single person is created in the image of God with dignity and worth and gifts to share."
• "Disability doesn't diminish faith; it can often deepen faith."
• "As a Christian, our faith shapes how we see people with disabilities, not as people who are broken or challenged or who have deficits or deficiencies, or all those things that come to mind when the world thinks about disability, but as people who are gifted and image bearers and wonderfully made and beloved."
• "Our faith calls us to respond differently, to be barrier breakers and diminishers of stigma."
• "One in three families has at least one member that identifies as having a disability."
• "Disability is a natural part of the human experience, and if we're not encountering people with disabilities, we might want to think about broadening who we think about as our neighbor and with whom we pursue relationships."
• The 10 Dimensions of Belonging: Present, invited, welcomed, known, accepted, supported, heard, befriended, needed, loved
• Access additional resources for the church about the 10 Dimensions here
• "Who do I know is in my community but isn't part of this program or activity or school, and what is it that is standing in the way of that happening?"
• "That sense of 'I don't want to do it poorly' leads us to not do anything at all."
• "You can't learn to do this well from a distance; you have to step into it and experience this and wrestle through it."
• Reflection Questions: What are we doing really well? What could we do better to open up the experience of belonging? What should we prioritize next?
• "Those who the world so often overlooks are the ones who lead us back to what matters most."
• "This sense of experience of belonging is a mutual benefit; we all flourish when those whom we presume are less capable and less valuable are actually centered in our communities."

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: New software for website management
• Heather: Writing on mirror with chalk markers
• Erik: Learning to slow his pace

Weekly Spotlight: Grace International School

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

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/