This week I was struck by the fact that I have many great models here at Fuller. I am a firm believer that human beings tend to imitate models in intended and unintended ways. Therefore I also believe that it is good to have excellent models that can rub off on you. This is the beauty and beast of education. We don't only acquire sterile data bites from our teachers, but we are immersed in their character, values, and language. Obviously we don't imitate our teachers word for word or value for value, but we do internalize them. In light of this, I have recently felt thankfulness for the models that I have at Fuller. I see the way that I now attempt to imitate Dr. Al Dueck's contemplative approach to theory and group process. I find myself inviting the Holy Spirit into the therapy room like Dr. Siang-Yang Tan. I would like to grasp Dr. Dave Atkins' rigor and humanity in quantitative research. I now search for my own "illusions of control", which is one of Dr. Jeff Bjorck's enthusiastic axioms. I yearn to have Dr. Stacy Amano's balance of faith, service, and professionalism. Finally, I desire the deep humility of Dr. Don Bosch. There are so many other professors that I would like to acknowledge as good models and so much more I would like to say about the models I mentioned, but I will leave it here for now. These are my "Super Models"...people that seem worthy of imitating. I hope that I can one day imitate and later model the good I see in them.

Posted by Chris at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As a student in the Fuller School of Psychology, I have been part of a diverse array of small groups. The School of Psychology uses small groups to offer students the opportunity to dialogue about the massive bombardment of information they receive in class lectures. The main purpose of many of these groups is to allow students to express and flesh-out their own journey of integrating psychology with theology and personal faith.

For example, during the first of year of doctoral study each student is part of an integration group. Students are placed into groups of about 5-8 people to discuss the integration of psychology and theology. The groups have a leader, usually a 3rd year student, who is in charge of facilitating discussion about the topic of integration. This group is a confidential safe-haven to talk about the feelings, paradigms, and theories that are being taught in the Introduction to Integration class and New Testament Gospels class. Students try to work through how to reconcile the views of their faith community with the views of the field of psychology. They ask big questions like: "How does psychology's view of the human person compare/contrast the Bible's view of the human person?" They also ask more personal questions like: "How does my Christian faith or understanding of God impact the way I conduct therapy?" These are some of the important questions that students and faculty wrestle with on a regular basis. These are also the questions that attract perspective students to come to Fuller. These groups are one way that Fuller approaches the questions and topics of integration.

Posted by Chris at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

African American Spirituality is a class that I took last summer with Professor J. Alfred Smith. Fuller invites Dr. Smith to come down from Oakland to teach at the Pasadena campus every two years. Dr. Smith structures the class by tracing African American spirituality through the course of American history. He highlights the key figures within the tradition and talks about the way that African American spirituality has been influenced by and had an influence on spirituality in America. He shows the students how to apply the contributions of African American Spirituality to their own lives and churches. The course content was incredible and illuminating, however, I think that I was most profoundly impacted by the way that Dr. J. Alfred Smith embodied and modeled spirituality. He sought to draw out the spirituality and gifts of each person in the class. He asked the class to reflect on profound questions and invited students to teach him from their own personal experiences. During each class he taught, cared for, and empowered the students as future ministers of the Church. He spoke about his political views, his flaws, and his own difficult yet fruitful journey in ministry. He did all of this with a graciousness and humility that invited students to ask deeper questions of themselves and God. I greatly enjoyed this class. I liked it so much that I hope to take it again (audit it) next year.

Posted by Chris at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am going to take a break from my “Commendable Classes” mini-series to talk about Free Lunches at Fuller School of Psychology (SOP). About twice per quarter, the SOP gives out free lunches to students in order to encourage us to come participate in the future plans of the school. While there truly is “no such thing as a free lunch” because the lunch ultimately comes out of our tuition, it is a great chance to make an impact on Fuller. We have a quarterly Dean’s Pizza lunch where students eat pizza with the Dean and Assistant Dean, Dr. Gooden and Dr. Wagener, to voice any questions or concerns about the curriculum, funding, training, or other aspects of the school. This meeting is a good chance to meet the leadership of the school and establish community as we seek to make Fuller a better place together. The suggestions made at these meetings are taken very seriously and almost always cause positive changes at the school for students. Another free lunch event at the SOP is the Community Meetings. At these meetings both faculty and students meet together and brainstorm ways to help the SOP better fulfill its mission to positively impact the Church, the field of psychology, the local community, and the world. We talk about mission statements, values, and practical applications. In general these “free” lunch opportunities are a way to constantly seek to make Fuller a better environment for growth. Even though there really isn’t such a thing as a “free” lunch, these meetings are a place to freely establish community and freely contribute to the enrichment of the Fuller SOP.

Posted by Chris at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Recovery Ministries in the Local Church is a class that I am currently taking for credits toward my Master’s of Arts in Theology degree (MAT). The class is taught by an incredibly sincere man named Dr. Dale Ryan. The class basically outlines ministries and organizations that seek to address recovery from a wide range of addictions. To start off the class, Dr. Ryan makes a jaw-dropping epidemiological argument for addiction being one of the top causes of death in our world today. He also outlines a brief world history of addiction and highlights the way that addiction effects economics, politics, and the Church. Fascinating!!! On a more practical level, he discusses the many forms and flavors of recovery programs and how the church can be involved in and shaped by recovery. Dr. Ryan has a wonderful graciousness to his character and he challenges students to see the way addictions impact everyone. He calls the Church to stop seeing addicts as separate from Christians. He says that most people conceptualize addicts as “street drunks�? who are “those people out there, of the world.�? Instead we should start seeing the addicts already inside the walls of our local churches while envisioning addicts as a vital component of the Church. Dr. Ryan uses many real life examples of addicts and recovery programs to permanently imprint a loving and gracious heart for addicts in each student.

Posted by Chris at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Commendable Classes

I have decided to do a blog mini-series on some of the classes that I have taken at Fuller to give you all a vague idea of what to expect.

Marital Therapy

The Marital Therapy course is taught by none-other-than two of the funniest professors at Fuller, Dave Atkins and Jim Furrow. The class is full of dry humor and witty banter between the two profs who have slightly different views on the dynamics of marital therapy. They are a great tag team with vast knowledge on the subject and great role models of what it means to be a Christian/therapist/researcher/person. I think that what makes this class distinctive from Marital Therapy courses at other institutions is that it has an incredible reverence of marriage as a covenantal relationship. Secular psychology can often (but not always) focus too much on reinforcing the autonomy of the individual in marriage and not giving enough value to the concept of covenant. This class holds covenant as a vital foundation of marriage and seeks to use research, different modalities, and therapy skills to help people with their marriages. While not all marriages can be saved because of abuse and other evils in the world, I find it very refreshing to hear a voice of hope for marriage in the field of psychology from these two professors.

Posted by Chris at 7:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been impressed with the plethora of opportunities in the Fuller School of Psychology. We have professors doing research in a diverse array of topics. The topics that aren't covered by Fuller faculty can be researched by Fuller students at other top research schools in the area such as UCLA and USC. Fuller has a very good rapport within the research community and top researchers often look to Fuller students to help them on major projects. In fact, I was just at a conference on the psychological applications of Virtual Reality technology (wow). On the more clinical side we have practicum sites with clientele ranging from young children to older adults. We have supervisors from many modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral, Family Systems, Psychodynamic, and Eclectic. We have different tracks if people want very specific training in Neuropsychology, Family, and Leadership psychology. Yes, a plethora.

On a lighter note...

This year we got a whole month off for Christmas vacation. It is a great time to rest up and relax before we do two quarters back-to-back with a short spring break sandwiched in between. The Fuller community is sure to have many-a Christmas party. People get together to make cookies, shop for presents, participate in charity, and even a little caroling action.

Posted by Chris at 7:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hi blog readers! Hello, is there anyone out there?! Sorry for the recent absence in blogging. I think that one of my friends in the Fuller community shared his illness with me so I have been sick over the last week. You know you are a part of a tight knit community when you start sharing illnesses with everyone.

Thanksgiving has made me think a lot about where I come from. When I was growing up in Idaho my family had a tradition where we would go around the Thanksgiving table and say what we were thankful for during the past year. My reminiscing has made me ask, "What am I thankful for when I think about my community of origin and what am I thankful for during the past year?"

I think that I have harbored some bitterness toward my hometown from when I moved away to undergraduate and saw that it wasn't the perfect place that I thought it was. But with some distance and time, I can see the positive foundational parts of the culture and place that have helped make me who I am today. I think that I learned a great deal about what it means to be in community from my home church. I learned that people can grow and change together. I was shown that value of elders and the concept of relational mentoring. In my larger community, I saw the way that people were truly courteous to strangers and looked forward to lending a helping hand. Teenagers were given purpose and meaning from their elders who saw something in each individual youth and then sought out the youth to help them develop their gifts. Many people lived simply and gave generously.

I am also thankful for the communities in my present life. I think that Fuller has taught me a deep appreciate for many dimensions of diversity. It has been a place to learn about many new worldviews and has given me the tools to think about how to have dialogue between differing worldviews. In the faces of the Fuller faculty I have learned what it can look like to be a professor, clinician, mentor, and Christian. In the process of going to school, I have also had incredible support from my wife. I know I wouldn't be at Fuller if it hadn't been for her and I know that I wouldn't have thrived at Fuller without her support and care. Finally, I have also been greatly supported by my church community. My church community has given me a place to practice my theology and spiritual gifts.

All of the things above are blessings for which I am truly thankful. Out of God's abundant grace I have been given so much and I hope that I can further honor God's kingdom in the coming year by being faithful with what God has given me.

Posted by Chris at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is intramural football season here at Fuller. Oh yes! For a school with only a few thousand students, Fuller has a great intramural flag football league. I know that for me it is one of the highlights of my week. I can't wait to run around, draw up new plays in the huddle, and have some fun with classmates outside of class.

My intramural football team is called the Lemon Warheads. We are made up of psychology students, theology students, spouses of students, and friends of students. The psychology students usually have different classes than theology students so football is a good activity for bringing different parts of the school together. Also, it is a good activity for getting spouses involved in the Fuller community. Another great aspect of the football league is that the rules are set up to make women an integral part of the game. I have been in intramural leagues in other settings where cocky men take over every game, but in our league I think that the women's performances are the key to winning any game. It is amazing the way that participating in the competition and drama of flag football can help build greater community at Fuller.

Well, I don't know if anyone wanted to hear about Fuller flag football, but I think it is an important part of campus life and community at Fuller. So come to Fuller for the intramural football! Just kidding, sort of. Until next week...

Posted by Chris at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is interesting to reflect on the diversity and depth of my educational experience here at Fuller. I am learning about psychotherapy in one class and supernatural healing in another. I have my nose in the books half of the week, and I am practicing psychotherapy the other half of the week. I have professors that are very acedemic, and I have professors that seek to catalyze my spiritual development. I am learning about psychology through the lens of factor analysis on one day and learning about it from a person's story the next day. I have learned about popular and pervasive models of psychology in classes, and I have traveled to Guatemala to learn about indigenous models of psychology. As the Fuller faculty often say, "Going to Fuller is like trying to drink from a fire hose!"

Posted by Chris at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)