“Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.” This is just one of Rita Pierson’s statements that is funny, insightful, and right on the target. She was responding to a colleague’s comment that, “They don’t pay me to like kids; they pay me to teach the kids. I teach; they should learn. Case closed.” Except, as Rita explained, “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.” At the core of Rita’s educational and pedagogical philosophy is one simple but powerful conviction: education is about connection. It’s hard to learn if you don’t feel connected. Which means that kids don’t just need a teacher, they...

I’ve been struck recently – recently as in the last 10 years or so! – by how frequently I hear people (and especially people in the church) name the challenges in front of us “problems.” We have a problem in church attendance. Biblical illiteracy is the problem. The problem is that people have a poor understanding of stewardship. Etc. I understand this urge. Faced with a challenge – and even more a challenge that has at its heart a threat – we tend to turn to our problem solving skills. That makes sense: we are, I believe, by evolutionary disposition and experience very capable problem-solvers. (Evolution definitely favors the...