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Welcome to Baylor University's Digital Repository! If you are a Baylor researcher who wants to contribute content to BEARdocs, or if you are a member of a Baylor Department that is interested in setting up a community in BEARdocs, please contact: libraryquestions@baylor.edu.
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Recent Submissions
Spiritual direction as a guide for formation and community among online ministry students.
(2022-12) Tate, J. David.; Arterbury, Andrew E.; Truett Seminary; Baylor University. George W. Truett Seminary
Each year, Truett Seminary serves more than 200 non-academic ministry students through asynchronous theological education in its Online Certificate Program. These continuing education learners require a flexible, affordable, and excellent way to study for their faith and ministry. Towards this goal, the Truett Online Certificate Program is designed to maximize the individualized and self-paced experience, but this approach makes formational community a challenge. This research project demonstrates that online spiritual formation is possible through conversations that draw from the techniques of group spiritual direction. This project begins with the foundations of Jesus’ conversations with Nicodemus in John 3:1–21 and the Samaritan woman in 4:4–26. The example of ideal friendship found in John 15:12–15 provides context for a glimpse into how Jesus’ conversations and friendships led to the community depicted in Acts 2:42–47 and 4:32–35. Results of this intervention indicate that in a group setting, spiritual Conversation leads to a spiritual Connection with God and each other, leading to improved spiritual Community. Twelve Truett Certificate Students completed a facilitated online eight-week spiritual direction group. Participants were led in spiritual practices of lectio divina and prayer and spent time each week in group spiritual direction. They were also given a brief overview of spiritual direction practices from the perspective of learning how to improve in the “ministry of conversation.” Pre-test and post-test survey responses were compared to a control group of ten Certificate Students. The results demonstrate that the intervention led to positive, consistent, and substantial growth in the three measured areas of conversation, connection, and community.
Enlivening resurrection hope for caregivers of the dying.
(2023-12) Lombardo, Sally.; Brewer, Brian C.; Truett Seminary; Baylor University. George W. Truett Seminary
The purpose of this research project was to inspire, equip, and encourage church members who are caring for loved ones with terminal illness or persons close to the time of death. The Christian Hope when Life is Hard curriculum was offered to participants who struggled with understanding the biblical promises about resurrection and how to best offer biblical truth to people in their care. Research participants volunteered for an eight-week study of scriptural witness for the bodily resurrection. Theological motifs rooted in samplings of historical theology from the days of the first-century church to the present day were also studied. Participants kept a record of weekly responses, also sharing them freely in the group. Qualitative and quantitative questions comprised the pre-intervention surveys that measured a baseline for caregivers of the dying, and participants were interviewed to examine their reasons for joining an in-process grief course. Post-intervention surveys measured professed changes in attitude toward biblical understanding of the resurrection and bedside competency with a dying loved one. By first exploring the expectations of the group, then providing information on resurrection hope, the goal of measuring effective change could be reached, and church members could redefine their bedside care.
Contemporary racial history of an African American pastor in a local congregation through shared anamnesis : overhearing and evaluating a pastor’s experience of racism.
(2023-12) Bailey, Arbra L.; Gregory, Joel C., 1948-; Truett Seminary; Baylor University. George W. Truett Seminary
This project aimed to assist Black and white Greater Houston pastors desiring personal, congregational, and community transformation to embody the Great Commandment by seeing, hearing, and confronting racism more clearly. The five-week seminar (held once per week for 120 minutes), “A LUVE Talk on Racial History,” focused on exploring a local Greater Houston African American pastor’s racial history by listening, understanding, validating, and evaluating (LUVE Talk) the pastor’s experience with racism. The project measured the impact of theological and biblically based remembering of racial history through the perspective of an African American pastor in relation to identifying and confronting racism. The Great Commandment served as a key biblical passage studied. The seminar also explored the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on contemporary pastoral remembrance of racial history. Participants examined personal, church, and community racial histories. The final seminar explored a biblical model for embracing unity, considering the African American pastor and participants’ contextualized and shared racial histories. Opportunities for participants to explore their racial history included developing a racial autobiography, church racial history, and community racial history (these opportunities were for the participants’ usage and not a part of data collection for the project). For data collection purposes, participants completed an online pre- and post-racial history survey (with reflection and discussion questions). After each seminar session, participants also completed a weekly online reflection journal assessment. Through a mixed-method research approach, comparing participants’ survey responses with the control group, the results indicate an increase in racial history awareness, leading to pastors identifying and confronting racism more clearly.
Equipping believers to confidently initiate gospel conversations by using storytelling as an evangelistic tool.
(2023-12) Adams, Nathan R.; Lovejoy, Grant, 1958-; Truett Seminary; Baylor University. George W. Truett Seminary
The purpose of this project was to discover what effect a greater engagement with storytelling might have on helping Christians become more confident and motivated in the practice of evangelism. The six-week intervention included nine participants within a local church who were instructed on the biblical foundation of storytelling being used as an evangelistic tool and were given opportunities to practice sharing stories with others that might help them initiate gospel conversations. In order to measure the effectiveness of the project, a post-intervention qualitative interview was conducted, transcribed, and analyzed in addition to the pre-intervention and post-intervention quantitative and qualitative surveys which were provided to this experimental group as well as to a control group who were exempt from the training. Observational notes from discussions in the training and personal conversations were also used to evaluate the success of the intervention.
Evangelism training in a traditional majority-Hispanic Sunday School in the Rio Grande Valley.
(2023-08) Joule, Jerry P.; Creech, R. Robert (Richard Robert); Truett Seminary; Baylor University. George W. Truett Seminary
This project attempts to address the lack of personal evangelism among Christians in a traditional, majority-Hispanic church in South Texas. Many Christians do not regularly share the gospel as part of their Christian lives. Three Sunday School classes at Conway Ave. Baptist Church in Mission, Texas, implemented a three-part plan for evangelism training and sending as part of their regular Sunday School curriculum. These classes were first instructed on how to use the “3 Circles” gospel presentation. Over the next five weeks, they implemented a time of accountability, practice, and goal-setting as part of the Sunday School class. A pre-intervention and post-intervention assessment was given to ascertain if the plan increased their gospel sharing and helped to overcome common barriers to personal evangelism. This project aimed to find a helpful method of increasing personal evangelism among church members, which could impact similar churches throughout the region.