Welcome to the Pacific Islands University Spiritual Formation class. My name is Brad Boydston and I will be your guide-teacher in this very unique class (more about the uniqueness in a minute).
When we were living on Guam our home was in the village of Mangilao, not far from PIU. Currently, my wife Cheryl and I live in Florida, where I am a chaplain at Covenant Village of Florida. (A chaplain is a pastor attached to an institution such as a hospital, a school, or a military unit. I serve in a retirement community and am responsible for about 400 residents and 300 employees.) On Sunday mornings I usually help lead the chapel worship music with my ukulele -- my favorite instrument.
We currently live in Plantation, Florida -- which is near the southern part of the state. It is quite tropical here. When I wake up every morning I look out our windows and see coconut trees (No, we don't have coconut rhinoceros beetles here) and banana plants. We are very close to the Atlantic Ocean and have lots of typhoons here (except they call them hurricanes in this area).
One of my greatest joys is teaching and mentoring PIU students online! I have been teaching PIU classes for over 10 years, most of them online. I teach two or three classes each semester. However, I usually show up on campus about once a year so I can talk with everyone face-to-face. Since I am a volunteer professor I don't get paid to teach. I do it because I love PIU. And I love PIU students!
I do a lot of gardening and I experiment with different kinds of fruit trees. I have planted several of the fruit trees on the PIU campus.
Cheryl and I were married in 1981. We had been casual friends in school starting in the seventh grade. But we became "best friends" in 1980 and decided shortly thereafter to get married. We have lived in lots of places over the years -- including California, Texas, Illinois, Washington State, Arizona, and Guam.
We have three adult children. Our oldest is Kirk. He graduated from the University of California, San Diego and has worked for several major companies as a linguist. Kirk lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and works as a European representative for Samasource, a non-profit business with a mission of reducing global poverty. They help workers in the developing world find digital work through tech companies in the US and Europe.
Our second child is Kent. After Kent graduated from the University of California, Irvine he joined us on Guam so he could be a volunteer teacher at PIU. He taught English and worked in the library. Kent then went to teach English at Chinju National University of Education in Jinju, South Korea. He then taught at the new Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in North Korea before returning to South Korea to study Korean. Kent then finished a masters degree in the field of international relations at the University of California, San Diego. Kent and his wife Samantha are the parents of our grandson, Timothy. They all live in Washington, DC. Kent works for the US government in the Commerce Department.
Our daughter, Elizabeth (or "Betsy"), graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and then completed a PhD in genetics at the University of California, San Francisco. She is a researcher at the Lourido Lab in the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and teaches at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusets.
We are very proud of our children and are happy that they are attempting to follow Christ in their own lives.
I have told you about myself because I want students to understand who I am. When we study spiritual formation together we are also developing a relationship. This is true in all of our classes but it is especially true in spiritual formation. This is a unique class. While it is an academic class and you will be awarded academic credit for your work in the class, it is also a class for developing spiritual life skills. We will talk more about that in the upcoming sections.
There is another reason why this class is very unique. Not only will the content of this class stretch you (and perhaps make you uncomfortable at times) but this class is unique in that there is no classroom! This is the distance education version of the Spiritual Formation class that I enjoyed teaching for several years in the classroom. But this time instead of talking face-to-face we're using computers for our interaction. You will be learning the same content as other students but in a slightly different way. You will be doing the same amount of work as someone enrolled in a Spiritual Formation class which meets two times a week in a classroom. However, instead of meeting in a classroom with other students you will be working on your own and interacting with the teacher (me!) through email. (Some of the other PIU DE classes use online forums and quizzes. This particular class, though, is designed so that the primary interaction is with the teacher through email. I do, however, maintain a weekly video chat session for anyone who wants to talk face-to-face online.)
This does not mean that you cannot work with others who are also doing the distance education Spiritual Formation class. Perhaps you have a friend who is taking this class, too, and you want to study together. That is good. But you will have to do your own work and your own writing. And there will be lots of writing. While the primary purpose of this class is to introduce you to spiritual formation we also want to help you improve your writing.
I realize that most, but not all, students in this class use English as a second -- or third or fourth language. I admire people who are doing college-level work in a language other than their first language. So, I do not get upset when you make grammar or language mistakes. I am very happy if you can convey your ideas. However, because we want to help you improve your writing skills there might be times when I return assignments and ask you to make some changes in your writing. If you complete the revisions you will be rewarded with class points. I do the same thing for students who have grown up speaking English as their first language. Our goal as a school is to help students improve their communication skills because we believe that our graduates can make great changes in the world -- if they can communicate what they have learned.
Here is how this class works. There are 30 class sections and assignments. You will need to do the provided reading in order to finish each assignment. All of the work needs to be completed by the end of the semester. This means that if you do an average of two assignments per week you will complete the class. You can work ahead and finish the classwork early. Not all of the assignments take the same amount of time. Some assignments will require more time and more work. Those assignments will be worth more points. There are no tests or quizzes in this class.
I have spent time on many of the islands where our students live. I have vivid images in my mind of the beautiful lagoon in Chuuk and the stunning rock islands in Palau. I lived on Guam for three years, and return often, so I really know what it is like there, too. In other words, I have some understanding of what life is like for you -- and of the challenges of being a student. Some of you are perhaps in places where the electricity and the Internet access is "spotty." That is, sometimes the computer works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes there is electricity and sometimes there isn't. I realize, as well, that sometimes family obligations arise and that you may have to temporarily interrupt your studies. For all of these reasons it is important to work ahead and as quickly as possible.
In order to succeed in this class you will need:
- Access to a computer. You will be typing your assignments. It will NOT be possible to write out your assignments in handwriting because all of your assignments will be sent to me by email.
- Your own personal email account. If you don't yet have a piu.edu email address contact the office on the Guam campus and they will set it up for you.
- Self-discipline. This is not the kind of class where you can do all of the work at the very end of the semester and expect to pass. And I am not going to be meeting with you twice a week -- constantly reminding you to turn in work. In this class, I, the teacher, am a distant guide and encourager. Ultimately, you, the student, are responsible for learning what is presented. If there is something that you do not understand do not feel embarrassed to send me an email and ask for help. While you have to take responsibility for your success in this class I am here to help you.
GRADING
You can earn points for each assignment in this class. For example, the work that you will do in response to Section 1 (what you are currently reading) can earn you up to 30 points. Sometimes assignments will be worth more points -- sometimes fewer points.
- Once you reach 600 points you have earned enough to get a D- grade for the course.
- Once you reach 650 points you have earned enough to get a D grade for the course.
- Once you reach 690 points you have earned enough to get a D+ grade for the course.
- Once you reach 700 points you have earned enough to get a C- grade for the course.
- Once you reach 750 points you have earned enough to get a C grade for the course.
- Once you reach 790 points you have earned enough to get a C+ grade for the course.
- Once you reach 800 points you have earned enough to get a B- grade for the course.
- Once you reach 850 points you have earned enough to get a B grade for the course.
- Once you reach 890 points you have earned enough to get a B+ grade for the course.
- Once you reach 900 points you have earned enough to get an A- grade for the course.
- Once you reach 950 points you have earned enough to get an A grade for the course.
- Once you reach 990 points you have earned enough to get an A+ grade for the course.
ASSIGNMENT MARKINGS
I use the following system to mark assignments. You might see any or all of this when you read the assignments that I have scored. This will help you as you improve and prepare to resubmit the assignment to earn additional points.
- Yellow = Look closely at this. Figure out what is wrong with it. It could be a writing mistake.
- Green = Add this to your writing.
- Red = Remove this from your writing.
- Orange/Tan = My comments.
- Blue = Score or grade.
- 90/100 = You earned 90 points on an assignment that was worth 100 points.
REGULAR CONTACT
In order to continue in this class you must email an assignment to me at least once every 7 days. If I do not hear from you for 7 days you will be dropped from the class. If it is early enough in the semester you will then receive a "W" (withdrawal) on your transcript. If you withdraw through inactivity after the tenth week of the class you will receive a grade based on the total number of points you have earned.
I expect each student to send me a Monday check-in email each Monday. Tell me which class assignment you are working on and what you expect to complete during the week. If you have a question, ask it. If you want to tell me about something else going on in your life feel free to do that, too. You will receive BONUS POINTS for each Monday check-in email that I receive from you. Many students find that these extra points make a difference in the grade they receive at the end of the semester.
If for some reason there is a crisis and you cannot send email to me you can always call me on the phone or send me a note in the regular mail. Please explain what is going on and how I can help you. Here is my contact information:
Dr Brad BoydstonOFFICE HOURS
527 NW 97th Ave
Plantation, FL USA
email: bboydston@piu.edu
Phone: 1-602-903-5085
Florida is in the Eastern Time Zone of the United States. This is GMT -5. For example, if it is 11 a.m., Friday on Guam it is 9 p.m., Thursday in Florida.
I try to maintain online office hours using the Google Hang-out system. I will email the link to you each week. To access the "office" by video you will need to be using a computer that has a video camera attached. I plan to be online from
8 - 9 AM Tuesdays -- Palau, Eastern IndonesiaI will be available to answer questions, discuss the class material, or just to talk about life. If you visit me "in the office" I will give you bonus points that may positively affect the outcome of your grade at the end of the semester.
9 - 10 AM Tuesdays -- Guam
10 AM - 11 AM Tuesdays -- FSM
OBJECTIVES
In the upcoming sections, we are going to talk about spiritual formation -- what it means and why it is important. However, as we consider the course structure and expectations you need to take note of the course description and objectives. This description is from the PIU catalog.
“This course considers the dynamics of Christian growth. Students discuss and practice various aspects of discipleship and the formative spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible study, and accountability.”In other words, we will be focusing on what it means to be a “spiritually formed person” and how it is that the life of Christ is formed in us. We will examine and practice some of the basic growth disciplines that Christians have utilized over the centuries in many different places around the world.
The objectives are set by me, the teacher. These are the goals or the results of your work. They help you measure whether you have been successful. Here are the objectives for the Spiritual Formation course.
By the end of this course the successful student will:
- have heard the gospel and be able to describe where they stand in relationship to God.
- be able to recite the Jesus Creed and explain how loving God and loving others is foundational to true spiritual growth.
- know the Lord's Prayer and will be able to use it as a pattern for prayer and spiritual formation.
- be able to explain basic biblical teachings concerning holistic spiritual growth, disciplines, and maturity.
- be able to name and identify at least three "spiritual toxins" -- behaviors or attitudes which can poison our relationship with God.
- be able to describe the role of spiritual disciplines and have personal experience with journaling and using the T.R.I.P method of prayer
- have extended experience with the use of the Moravian Daily Text.
- be familiar enough with spiritual gifts to describe one or two which he or she feels might be resident in his or her life.
- have written a simple life plan for ongoing growth.
Just so you know, this course supports the following PIU objectives:
- deep, personal faith in the Triune God
- regular and fruitful personal devotions
- commitment to regular worship, giving and service
- exemplary lifestyle.
- working knowledge of all Scripture
- understanding and ability to communicate evangelical theology...
ASSIGNMENT #1
Tell me about yourself. Write a brief essay of at least 400 words telling me something about yourself or your situation -- information that you think might be helpful for me to know. I will let you choose what information about yourself that you want to share. But it needs to be information that helps me understand you better so that I can be a better teacher for you. I have modeled one way to do this in my own opening remarks at the beginning of Section #1. The more I learn about you the more points you can earn. It is possible to earn up to 25 points for this assignment.
Email your essay to me at bboydston@piu.edu. Write your essay in the email itself -- or if you use a word processor, copy and paste the essay into the email. I prefer to do it that way because then there will not ever be a problem opening an attachment. Some people have creative email addresses that do not give me a clue about their name. Make sure that your name, the name which you used to register for this class, appears at the top of the essay. I will even count your name as a part of the 400 words for this first assignment.
I will respond to you as soon as possible. Do not wait for a response from me before you start working on your next assignment.
