John Hay is a curriculum writer and educational consultant for Summit.  As a professional educator John taught premedical sciences for 13 years at the university level before sensing God’s leading to enter the field of elementary education with an emphasis in early childhood. His 16 years of elementary school teaching and Christian school administration in Texas and Hawaii prepared him and opened doors for extensive work as an international educational consultant.  Since 1986 he has trained Christian teachers in over 45 countries with the focus of his work centered in Southeast Asia, Central and South Africa, Eastern Europe, and several nations and republics of the former Soviet Union.

In an age of highly competitive worldviews, John is committed to helping educators and students develop a thoroughly Biblical Christian worldview. His concrete and illustrative teaching style and his commitment to personal interaction in the classroom have equipped teachers throughout the world to not only think and educate according to a Christian worldview, but also to enable their students to embrace and live out a Christian worldview.

John is the author of Building on the Rock, a unique six year worldview-Bible survey curriculum for Christian elementary schools.  He is also co-author of What We Believe, a four volume biblical worldview series for home schools.  He and his wife Nancy have three children and six grandchildren and live in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia near Harrisonburg.

Biblical Integration and Worldview Formation
1-2 daysA Practical Model for Enabling Elementary Students to Understand and Engage God’s World Through the Lens of a Biblical Christian Worldview

 

Series Description: Christian teachers are continually challenged to facilitate the development and embracing of a Christian worldview in their students. Unfortunately this challenge is often met with resistance or minimal success because teachers have not fully understood what a Christian worldview is or what biblical integration actually entails.  While teachers may agree with the idea of Biblical worldview integration, many simply do not understand how to do it.

Through colorful models and group interaction, this six-part series will equip teachers to clearly articulate the essential elements and truths of the Christian worldview. Within the framework of the Christian worldview, the series will (1) clearly define biblical integration, (2) provide teachers with practical steps for Biblical integration in both content and pedagogical method, (3) offer ‘real world’ illustration of Biblical integration that teachers can utilize and emulate, and (4) include strategies for training students to not only think according to a Christian worldview, but also to embrace and live out a Christian worldview.

Seminar 1: What in the World Is a Worldview? Everyone has a worldview, but few people can define what theirs is, much less understand its impact on their lives. This session first defines worldview in very practical terms and then identifies why worldviews matter. Further this session provides insight into the very crucial role worldview thinking must play in education that is truly Christian.

Seminar 2: A Cosmic Drama: Understanding the Christian Worldview as a Great Drama and the Role We Were Created to Play in It. We live out and write the individual stories of our lives within the context of some greater cosmic drama (or “Big Story”) we believe to be true. This session explores the Christian worldview within the context of the meta-narrative of Scripture—a four-act play, written as it were, by God. Within the four acts, teachers will explore biblical answers to the essential questions asked by all worldviews—questions related to God, truth, humanity, the cosmos, and values. The session is designed to enable teachers to see the role both they and the various subjects and aspects of education play within the framework of God’s great cosmic drama.

Seminar 3: A 3-D Model of the Christian Worldview as Related to the Goals of Christian Education. As Christian educators, what are we after? What are our goals? Biblical truth has consequences for every dimension of life, including education. Through the use of a colorful 3-D model, this session will equip teachers to understand and pursue the goals of Christian education in ways that not only are very practical, but which also harmonize exactly with God’s intentions (or goals) for creation. This session will bring “goal oriented” education out of the fuzzy philosophical realm into a practical setting that will facilitate the biblical integration of curriculum.

Seminar 4: A 3-D Model for Relating Curriculum Subjects and Activities to the Goals of Christian Education. All truth is God’s truth. Therefore every subject we teach is sacred. A dichotomous worldview divides life and Christian school curricula into “sacred” and “secular” compartments. Every subject, not just chapel and Bible, shapes the worldview of our students. This session enables teachers to quickly grasp the practical relationships between each subject in the curriculum and each goal of Christian education, while forming the foundation for understanding and implementing the biblical integration of curriculum.

Seminar 5: Achieving the Goals of Christian Education Through the Biblical Integration of School Curriculum — Part 1. This session prepares the way for implementing biblical integration by first explaining what biblical integration is not. With a bit of humor, teachers will identify methodologies commonly associated with biblical integration, but which in fact promote the dichotomous sacred/secular view of life and the misuse of Scriptures. Next, the session defines what biblical integration is and explores Phase 1, or the Interpretive Phase, which provides teachers with tools for constructing a biblical framework of truth related to each subject in the curriculum.

Seminar 6: Achieving the Goals of Christian Education Through the Biblical Integration of School Curriculum — Part 2. This session continues to define what biblical integration is and explores Phase 2, or the Application Phase of real Biblical integration. Teachers will gain tools for helping students live out a biblical worldview in relation to the six goals of Christian education. The session also enables teachers and administrators to choose strategies for implementing biblical integration and for communicating the meaning and purpose of biblical integration to the school constituency.

Biblical Christianity and the Great Religions of the World
3 daysA Comparative Overview of Biblical Christianity with Animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam

 

Series Description: This six part series provides a unique and colorful model of the biblical worldview as the basis for examining the claims of the world’s great religions and the worldview each espouses.  Through a comparison of each religion’s view of God, man, the universe, truth, and values, with the unique and truthful claims of Christianity, the biblical worldview is shown to provide the only perspective from which to accurately understand and engage the marketplace of ideas vying for man’s allegiance. The series is appropriate for high school students and adults.

Seminar 1 (3 hours): Biblical Christianity: The true view of God and the world.

Seminar 2 (3 hours): Animism: A world at the mercy of the gods.

Seminar 3 (3 hours): Hinduism: A world with more than one god.

Seminar 4 (3 hours): Buddhism: A world that is God.

Seminar 5 (4 hours): Islam: An unbiblical view of God and the world.