Cultural Engagement

Definition for Cultural Engagement

“The student demonstrates appreciation for the many dimensions of ongoing public-square and global conversations related to social, cultural, religious, biblical, and theological concerns, and develops a biblical Christian perspective that results in knowledgeable, compassionate dialogue with appropriate evangelistic engagement.”

Goal

Because I want to better engage people with the gospel and God’s word, I will develop and maintain a monthly podcast to engage people in scripture and address apologetic issues related to scripture.

Strategies

  1. I will select experts with whom to interview on topics related to scripture and apologetics
  2. I will plan a schedule of monthly podcast episodes based on speaker availability
  3. I will record podcasts and upload them to apple podcasts
  4. I will share the podcast through social media and post the interview transcript to my blog site

Resources

  1. Podcasting equipment (microphone, space, recording software)
  2. Podcast hosting application with the ability to feed podcast episodes to Apple Podcasts and other podcasting apps
  3. Blog website
  4. Topics & experts to interview on scripture and apologetics tasks

Measures

  1. By June 1 I will have a podcast hosting service and a tentative schedule of interviewees for the podcast.
  2. By August 1 I will have finalized the schedule of podcasts for the fall and spring semesters.
  3. By September 1 I will have recorded and posted my first podcast.
  4. I will review my progress and performance each moth with both my Ministry Mentor and Ministry Coach.

Part II

Overall Reflection Statement for Cultural Engagement 

For my competence in cultural engagement,  I am submitting links to the podcast that I started as part of my internship. The Engaging the New Testament Podcast helps people understand the context of the New Testament in order to help them better engage with the biblical text. This podcast reveals the product of a process of learning to brainstorming topics, finding experts to interview, and trying to create interesting conversations that interest viewers and lead them into the topic. I learned skills that will help me to create content to communicate truth to others and hopefully point them to the text of scripture.

Artifacts With Descriptions

  1. A link to the podcast feed on Apple Podcasts
  2. A link to the introduction to each podcast episode uploaded as blog posts to my website

Learning Reflection

As I developed and demonstrated cultural engagement,  I have learned I have learned both how easy and how challenging it can be to create interesting content about the Bible. I did not initially want to do a podcast. It seemed like a lot of work and a steep learning curve. However, my ministry mentor kept challenging me to try it. There were challenges along the way, especially in working out details, acquiring commitments for interviews, and editing episodes. However, the process was much more enjoyable and in some ways easier than I expected. I learned that I really enjoy connecting people to other people’s work. Although there is much room for growth, I enjoy helping translate deep scholarship for everyday people who might not otherwise get a chance to learn about these topics that are so significant to understanding our Bibles.

5.  Lifelong Development Statement

As a result of the experiences documented by these artifacts, I will continue to develop in cultural engagement by continuing to develop the podcast and my skills as a podcast host and all around communicator. Specifically, I want to develop my planning, networking, and interviewing skills and find ways to make episodes more concise (closer to 30 minutes as opposed to 45 minutes to an hour currently) without sacrificing depth, clarity, or relevance.