Experience Summary
Coaching, teaching, preaching, and consulting all require a capacity to study. I have served the Presbyterian Church for thirty years as a Minister of Word and Sacrament and in the recent years have added to that my own consulting/coaching work. Preparation for weekly sermons, presentations before groups, and teaching classes requires not only a knowledge of grammar, language, psychology, and communication, but also an ability to integrate all into a whole for producing an effective educational experience. I coach clergy in their leadership roles using material from Family Systems. I teach youth and adults in church school study. I educate clergy one on one. Presently, I am a consultant for America's Job Network, consulting on the phone with clients in career transition.
Teaching Style
I prefer an inductive approach to the teaching/learing event. Everyone can learn because everyone is learning constantly. Learning is exciting when it results in new insights and understanding about one's self and the world. I guide my students into discovery through the questions I ask of them. I can lecture when appropriate, giving new information as is helpful for the process, but mostly I guide the inner process of becoming aware of what one knows, assimilating new information, understanding what change that brings, and integrating the new into one's own mind and heart. It can mean leaving another way of thinking and knowing behind. This learning involves both the head and the heart.