What do you do well?
12-01-2023
This year, Leading Change has been exploring four principles, that together, address one of life’s most asked questions: what am I to do with the life that I’ve been given? The first three articles in the series focused on doing what you love, doing something the world needs, and doing something you can get paid for. In this, the fourth and final article, Dr. Itihari Touré, associate dean for Curriculum Development and Assessment, joins Rev. Julian DeShazier, director of Experiential Education, to discuss what it means to “do what you’re good at,” identifying and carrying out vocation in authentic and healthy ways.
Dr. Touré: Based on your role at McCormick where you’re helping students discern vocational clarity as well as your own journey and experience, how do you define vocation? What do you hear when you hear that word…what does vocation mean to you?
Rev. DeShazier: I’ve always used the Frederick Buechner quote that defines vocation as the place where “your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” At this intersection is your vocation. I also appreciate the four principles we’ve been using: doing what you love, doing what you can get paid for, doing what the world needs, and doing what you’re good at. I don’t think the two definitions are different; they just come from different parts of the world. Both are talking about what sustains us…what brings us life. Our bodies go quiet when the things we do don’t bring us life. We have to learn to listen to ourselves and trust what we are hearing.
Dr. Touré: That’s an important statement…how do we stay in touch with our bodies…our authentic selves…our vocation? In what ways can people discover their vocation, a call on their lives, as opposed to choosing an occupation?
Rev. DeShazier: Often students come into the experiential education program knowing what they want…where they want their field site to be…what they want to learn there…everything is all figured out. That’s not a bad thing…but I start by inviting them to slow down…to do some deep listening. There's a kind of speed to our society that can go against who we are. I think the natural rhythm of our bodies is a little bit slower. Taking the time to pause can give us a new awareness…a deeper kind of consciousness that keeps us from rushing through the experiences of life that have something to teach us.
There are some practical kinds of questions that I address with students: are you seeking ordination, what are the realities of your life, your family’s life, and where you are in your career. I want to get a sense of what a student’s priorities are and find a situation that works with that.
Now we’re ready to play, and by that I mean we want the experiential education encounter to be one where students come alive...places that are fertile ground for questions. We want to provide the kind of space that is full of mystery...full of the excitement of the unknown where students can have an experience and reflect on that experience by themselves and with their peers. It’s not about tasks or being put to work or being told what to do. It’s about being engaged…it’s about finding a field site where curiosity is welcomed…and the unexpected is not seen as a crisis but as an experience of the unknown.
Dr. Touré: It’s good to hear you acknowledge the importance of play, fun, excitement, and curiosity as ways to build proficiency…to become good at what you do. How do you encourage that kind of stance with students?
Rev. DeShazier: I like to ask students to tell me about the best surprise they’ve ever received. It’s almost always a story from childhood…almost always about a bike…a party that was thrown for them…or a trip where something unexpected happened and it brought them joy. That’s what we’re trying to design…an opportunity to be surprised…something they were not expecting, something they didn’t even know they needed…a return to a place, a time when they welcomed the unexpected and could see good things come from that experience. What I want to do is create a situation like that…set the table for something special to happen.
Dr. Touré: Tell us what you share with prospective leaders and site facilitators at various locations about McCormick’s vision for its experiential education program.
Rev. DeShazier: I tell them that they are not getting an intern to do a job that they don’t have to pay for. I tell them that they are not getting a youth pastor for nine months even if that person wants to be a youth pastor. That may be one goal, but not the entirety of the experience we want to create. I point out that they are not managing students, they are coming alongside them. I encourage mentors to share their own life’s journey…the story of that organization…what chapter of that story is being written right now…share the concerns that are keeping the mentor up at night…what are they excited to do in the mornings. I invite them to speak from a place of deep vulnerability and engage with students, not as masters and apprentices, but as mentors and mentees, people who are sharing guidance and wisdom along the way.
Dr. Touré: One of the implications I’m hearing as you speak is that you are bringing forth a different set of metrics…a different measurement of proficiency. There seems to be a shift in how proficiency is measured in contextual education. Can you tell me more about that?
Rev. DeShazier: Yes, it’s beyond proficiency and mastery. I’m interested in how well an individual is holding life together. I think we’ve all heard about the person who was an exceptional student or professional but at what cost? Burn out? Drop out? Crash and burn? Doing something well includes being able to hold life together…it results in a healthy self and a healthy ministry or organization. We let students know that there are courses here…tools around emotional intelligence, how to manage conflict and healthy personality development that will aid them in whatever they choose to do.
Dr. Touré: From where you’re sitting…you’re meeting with students, you’re identifying mentors, you’re talking with your colleagues here at McCormick and other places…as you look at the lay of the land...what do you see ahead?
Rev. DeShazier: I see a lot more students taking risks…doing things that they didn’t necessarily imagine that they would be doing. I think that’s happening for two reasons. First, there’s a lot less fidelity to institutions. They are not imagining themselves as needing to be brought alive inside of a church…some have been hurt by the church. Yet, they want to serve God and they want to love God’s people. What’s the best way to do that? They’re not asking how to get a position in a church. They may partner with a church, but they don’t need to be part of it to do what they desire to do and to do it with excellence.
The other thing is there is a broader understanding of what is possible in ministry. Ministry used to be defined primarily as preaching. Lots of people are going into chaplaincy of all kinds…prisons, hospice, hospitals, communities. People are starting non-profits…creating their own opportunities because it feels like its honoring the fullness of who they are and the call to honor and serve God. What we’re offering in the classroom, in informal conversations, and especially in the field studies experience is a way to think about vocation that recognizes that how we manage ourselves and how well we know ourselves is part of healthy human formation and plays an important role not only in terms of what we do well, but also in how well we live our lives.
Dr. Itihari Toure
Associate Dean for Curriculum Development and Assessment
Rev. Julian DeShazier
Director of Experiential Education