Hello friends and supporters,
I am writing to let you know that I have accepted an adjunct instructor position at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. My new mailing address is 607 Austin Street Muskogee, Oklahoma 74401. Merry Christmas!
Native American Initiative, Inc.
Dr. Corky Alexander
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Thursday, February 1, 2018
UPDATE FEB 2018
March 1-7p Worldview Seminar and Concert with Rick Waldrop- New Covenant COG, Cleveland TN
Apr 2-9 Bulgaria
Jun 7-9 NAIITS, Nova Scotia
Jul 7-13 Rosebud Experience, Mission SD
Aug (TBA) Sicangu Lakota Bull Riding Camp with Stetson Lawrence, Mission SD
Friday, December 22, 2017
Rosebud Reservation Cultural Immersion
Experience
Where: Mission, South
Dakota on the Rosebud Reservation in southcentral South Dakota
When: July 7-13,
2018
Cost: $825 (covers
room and board, speakers, professors, various activities)
Sioux Falls Seminary, in partnership with Indigenous
Pathways and Wiconi, is offering an experiential course in cross cultural
immersion among the Sicangu Lakota. July
7-13, 2018 will be our twelfth year
offering this course on the Rosebud Reservation. The Rosebud Reservation makes
up Todd County in South Dakota and is one of the three poorest counties in the
whole United States. The mix of poverty
and a rich cultural tradition is quite remarkable and worthy of note.
Our experience is conducted in a good way in friendship and
partnership with the Sicangu Lakota people. It is a deeply enriching learning
experience for those who participate. The group is limited to the first
twenty-five people who register. Join us as learners as you immerse yourself in
the local culture and in dialogue with a team of instructors and local Sicangu
Lakota leaders. You do not need to be a
student to participate in this experience.
The group is commonly about half graduate students and half others who
want to learn more about the Lakota and about Native/Indigenous culture and
context.
Professors:
Doug Anderson, PsyD, Sioux Falls Seminary – Dr. Anderson is
a Licensed Psychologist and the Director of Clinical Services at Sioux Falls
Psychological Services. He is also a Professor
of Counseling at Sioux Falls Seminary.
He has been involved with this immersion course since 2010, and he and
his wife commonly find their way to the Rosebud throughout the year. For more info, see www.offermehope.com and www.sfseminary.edu.
Casey Church, DMis, Wiconi (an arm of Indigenous Pathways) –
Dr. Church is a Potawatomi Pipe Carrier, author, and the Director of
Wiconi. He has many years of personal
and professional investment in contextual ministry and worship. For more info, see www.wiconi.com and www.indigenouspathways.com.
Jack (Corky) Alexander, DMis (retired minister and
professor, musician) – Dr. Alexander has 26 years of pastoral ministry in his background,
and for the past 13 or 14 years he has invested his time and energy in Native
American issues related to worship, education, and service. He is an author and the editor of a series of
books related to Native issues.
Registration:
To register, please contact Sioux Falls Seminary at
605-336-6588 and ask for student enrollment.
For information about the course contact Dr. Anderson at danderson@sfseminary.edu.
Introduction:
There are certain aspects of ourselves, our own culture and
faith that we can only learn by deeply engaging in another culture. This
immersion experience will expose and challenge you to a wider appreciation of our
Creator and of cultural diversity as you reflect on your own humanity and on
what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
You can participate in two ways. First, you can take this
course for graduate level credit. In that case you would complete all
course requirements (see below) and your work would be graded with
graduate-level expectations. Sioux Falls Seminary is an accredited
graduate school (ATS and HLC accreditation) and your credits for this course
can transfer to your graduate school based on your graduate school’s
approval. You are able to take this
course for the flat rate of $825, and there is no added charge for
credits. This is a three-credit course.
If you want to take this graduate level course for credit as
an undergraduate, you will need permission from your school and from Dr.
Anderson. You are also able to take this
course for the flat rate of $825 with no added charge for the credits.
This cultural immersion course should match or approximate a
variety of intercultural or cross-cultural course requirements in your
institution.
Second, you can audit the course and simply attend and
participate in all activities at the same level as those attending for seminary
or university credit without any required assignments. You are still strongly encouraged to do the
reading prior to the experience. That
will greatly enhance your experience.
The mix of graduate students and other adults in a variety of life roles
and contexts makes for a rich and rewarding experience.
Everyone who
attends will pay a fee of $825 to Sioux Falls Seminary. This
fee covers the majority of your expenses for the week – meals, lodging,
professors, local speakers, various events and activities.
Course Description: A one-week immersion experience in intercultural studies. The location is the Rosebud Reservation in southcentral South Dakota. During this immersion experience you will learn from various regional speakers, interact with community members, and participate in traditional ceremonies. We will discuss critical aspects of what contextualization is, and we will explore what it might look like if applied on the Rosebud. The implications of contextualization for any cultural setting will become readily apparent. We will learn about the history of missions directed at the Lakota people on the Rosebud. We will consider how colonization and Christian mission developed in this part of the world, and we will critique this history while considering other options. We will consider how we might engage in a reorientation of the gospel of Jesus as story. We will strive to listen to the culture we experience around us and allow that experience to inform our thinking and our dialogue throughout the week.
Course Description: A one-week immersion experience in intercultural studies. The location is the Rosebud Reservation in southcentral South Dakota. During this immersion experience you will learn from various regional speakers, interact with community members, and participate in traditional ceremonies. We will discuss critical aspects of what contextualization is, and we will explore what it might look like if applied on the Rosebud. The implications of contextualization for any cultural setting will become readily apparent. We will learn about the history of missions directed at the Lakota people on the Rosebud. We will consider how colonization and Christian mission developed in this part of the world, and we will critique this history while considering other options. We will consider how we might engage in a reorientation of the gospel of Jesus as story. We will strive to listen to the culture we experience around us and allow that experience to inform our thinking and our dialogue throughout the week.
Schedule:
Depart from Sioux Falls, South Dakota from the Sioux
Falls Seminary parking lot at 8 AM on Saturday, July 7. Arrive at
Sicangu Owayawa Oti (Todd County High School Dorms) in Mission SD late
afternoon. If you are flying, and you want assistance with ground
transportation to Rosebud, you will need to fly in to Sioux Falls.
Contact Doug Anderson (danderson@sfseminary.edu)
for help with ground transportation. For those driving or flying in to
Sioux Falls on July 6, we may arrange to meet somewhere that evening to get
acquainted prior to our departure in the morning.
Some attending the class may be driving in from various
parts of the country. You may wish to meet us in Sioux Falls and drive
out together, or you may be driving up from the South or from out West or up
North. You are free to meet us in Mission, South Dakota on the 7th if you
so desire.
During the week we will have several different speakers join
us, and we will engage in a mix of formal class time and a good deal of group
dialogue. A postmodern pedagogy drives this course. We will also drive to various locations and
participate in various activities. We will need several of you who attend
from the Sioux Falls area to drive to the reservation, and to be able to drive
a group of students around during the week. We probably drive about 750
miles during the week. If you are willing and able to drive, and if you
have a vehicle that can hold three or four people and their things, please let
Doug Anderson know (danderson@sfseminary.edu).
I am able to assist with fuel expenses if that is a need. Thank you.
Depart from Mission, SD on Friday, July 13th by noon, with arrival in Sioux Falls by 4:00 PM.
Cost for the week on the Rosebud:
Cost for the week on the Rosebud:
We make arrangements for lodging and all meals, and the fee
you pay covers this cost. Your fee also covers the cost of various activities,
speakers’ fees, and the cost of your team of instructors. The cost for all participants, per person, is
$825.00 to be paid to Sioux Falls
Seminary, 2100 S. Summit Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD, 57105 by June 22nd. Contact
Doug Anderson at Sioux Falls Seminary, (danderson@sfseminary.edu) for assistance on transportation.
Course
Objectives: Our goal is to expose students to aspects of culture,
religion and faith that they normally are not exposed to in order to sensitize
them to the issues, needs, and opportunities for living out ones faith in Jesus
in the midst of cultural and faith diversity.
One of the major benefits of this kind of cross-cultural experience is
the opportunity to recognize your own cultural ways, biases and prejudices more
clearly as you learn to understand and appreciate those of another. This unique
experience will challenge and assist participants to discover Creator’s work in
all cultures. The following objectives strive to reach this goal:
1. Encounter another culture and begin engaging yourselves with others in that culture. In the process, we learn to love one another as ourselves.
2. Gain a better grasp of the dynamic of clashing worldview assumptions in the process of cross-cultural communications.
3. Gain a greater understanding of the larger context of intercultural relationships and global service by learning about the history of missions among the tribes of North America.
4. Be prepared (by being stretched and molded) to be used by the Creator in your own and other cultures.
1. Encounter another culture and begin engaging yourselves with others in that culture. In the process, we learn to love one another as ourselves.
2. Gain a better grasp of the dynamic of clashing worldview assumptions in the process of cross-cultural communications.
3. Gain a greater understanding of the larger context of intercultural relationships and global service by learning about the history of missions among the tribes of North America.
4. Be prepared (by being stretched and molded) to be used by the Creator in your own and other cultures.
5.
Begin to understand and practice some basic principles of intercultural
service, holistic/integral discipleship, critical contextualization and
cultural adjustment.
6. Consider opportunities for future involvement in intercultural relationship building such as prayer, research, funding, community development and encouragement.
7. Begin to understand root issues of neo-colonialism, and discover some possible Christian responses.
8. For those students who attend and for whom professional counseling is your career goal, develop a clear understanding of how all psychotherapy is cross-cultural, and develop personal and professional skills in thinking and working cross-culturally. Counseling students in the group may meet separately a time or two during the week.
6. Consider opportunities for future involvement in intercultural relationship building such as prayer, research, funding, community development and encouragement.
7. Begin to understand root issues of neo-colonialism, and discover some possible Christian responses.
8. For those students who attend and for whom professional counseling is your career goal, develop a clear understanding of how all psychotherapy is cross-cultural, and develop personal and professional skills in thinking and working cross-culturally. Counseling students in the group may meet separately a time or two during the week.
Course Requirements:
- Participation:
Demonstrated by engaging in cultural immersion experiences and in
thoughtful dialogue. Attend the trip with a learner's attitude, and
be willing to serve in whatever capacity is needed. See yourself as
a team member that represents a larger community. Work together and
encourage one another during this immersion experience. We are a
team. Be open and flexible to participate in new cultural
experiences. Focus on relationships both within the team and within the
host community that you are visiting.
- Mentoring: Identify
a "mentor" that will agree to serve as a sounding board for this
experience. This person should be mature, and be available to listen to
your story and offer any feedback in the way of prayer, reflection or
encouragement that you might wish or need both prior to and after the
course/experience. They could be an aunt or uncle, parent, pastor,
professor, older student, or anyone of your choosing. You are a part of a
wider community and you represent them when you step out of your own
culture and visit another.
- Class
Attendance: Attend all scheduled gathering times.
Participate in all lectures, events, ceremonies, community participation
and other activities scheduled.
- Journal: Spend
time each day in prayerful reflection. Each day, record your
thoughts, feelings, and concerns that arise during the trip. The journal
may be a safe place to relieve frustration, express yourself, or reflect
on what you are experiencing. You will be asked to indicate that you
have completed this requirement, but it is your journal and it will not be
turned in.
- Reading
and Viewing Requirements: The reading requirements are meant to
help you prepare for group dialogue throughout the week. For those taking
this course for credit, prior to the start of the experience you must
complete the reading and viewing requirements and generate a one page
phenomenological response to each assigned reading/viewing. These can be emailed to Dr. Anderson at danderson@sfseminary.edu. Please complete this activity and send
to Dr. Anderson prior to the start of the actual experience.
- Required
Reading and Viewing:
- Neither
Wolf Nor Dog. This book is the first of a trilogy written by
Kent Nerburn. Read all three books if you can find the time.
They are hard to put down. The other two books in the series
are The Wolf at Twilight and The Girl who Sang
to the Buffalo.
- Black
Elk Speaks. This book is the story of Black Elk’s life as a
Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux. It is told by John Neihardt. Few books are more important than this
book when addressing Native American spirituality and theology.
- Rescuing
Theology from the Cowboys. Richard Twiss is the author of this
book. He was on the ground floor of creating this immersion
course, and his book can be purchased through the Wiconi website (www.wiconi.com) or on Amazon.
- Other
articles, books, and videos may also be required or recommended, and
these will be listed on our Moodle site. You will receive
information about how to get on the Moodle site once you have registered
for the class through Sioux Falls Seminary.
- Watch
the HBO DVD “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” prior to the
trip. You should be able to find access to this DVD in several
places.
- Prayer: Enlist
a team of people to pray for you each day. This could be friends,
professors, family, co-workers, etc. Preferably, you should have 3
or 4 people on your prayer team. This will help both you and those who
pray for you to be a part of the trip and God's work in your life.
- Final
Presentation: You will be required to write a 10 page
(double spaced) report that incorporates your readings, observations,
experiences and participation in the various activities. In the
paper, we are asking you to describe succinctly what you did,
your feelings on the trip, what you learned about
yourself/others/culture/God, and how this has impacted your personal and
professional life. Optionally, instead of a written report, you can
do this as an oral presentation. Look for creative opportunities to
share this. You may choose to share your presentation with your own
church, a youth group, Kiwanis or Rotary Club, a Sioux Falls Seminary class
(or the school you are attending), etc. If possible, we encourage you
to present this with others who attended the course. You now become an
advocate for justice, the need for Biblically and culturally informed
cross-cultural communication, and mission.
This is not a research paper or presentation. Think of it as personal reflection, and
as knowledge and lessons learned.
- For
Doctoral Students: In addition to the above requirements,
doctoral students will need to read an additional book (see bibliography
and discuss this with Dr. Anderson) and turn in a paper or presentation
that is considered doctoral-level work.
- For
Counseling Students: If you are a counseling student from Sioux
Falls Seminary or some other educational institution, your requirements
are somewhat different from those listed above. For example, your
final paper or presentation should directly relate to psychotherapy. We will discuss this in more detail at
the start of the actual week of class.
A bibliography of added resources will be available closer
to the date of the Immersion experience. It will be posted on the Moodle
site for those who sign up for this course.
Rosebud Immersion Experience – Packing List and Other
Reminders:
- Bible
(gotta start with that!), pen, journal
- Small
flashlight
- Comfortable
and modest clothing. It may get quite warm in the day, and it can
get quite cool at night. Plan your clothing accordingly. Check the forecast for the week in
Mission, SD just prior to packing.
- Light
jacket (rain-repellent might be helpful)
- Comfortable
shoes. We will do some walking.
- We
don’t get fancy, but bring a reasonably appropriate outfit for attending a
church service.
- Clothes
for playing basketball, volleyball, or throwing a Frisbee around.
And feel free to bring a good Frisbee.
- Hat,
sunscreen, and water bottle for outings (Pow Wow, Wounded Knee…)
- All
toiletries – soap, shampoo, toothbrush, towel
- Personal
medications
- Sleeping
bag or set of sheets for a twin mattress, and a pillow
- We may
have air conditioned comfort when in doors (I anticipate this to be the
case), but you may wish to bring a small fan, ear plugs (for when a person
in your room snores throughout the night!), surge protector (very
optional, but would protect your phone and computer if plugged in during a
raucous South Dakota thunderstorm), and a camera (most cameras these days
include a phone and access to the web!)
- Important: For the Sweat Lodge –
Wear cotton. Nothing on the clothing that will easily get hot.
Absolutely no metal (jewelry, zippers, piercings, etc). Bring an
extra towel (large towel, not a hand towel) for this ceremony. Men
can wear a t-shirt and a pair of shorts or swim trunks. Women can
wear a t-shirt and a long cotton skirt (like a broomstick skirt – this is
traditional), or modest shorts (modesty is very important). Bring a
sports bra with no metal clips (no underwire bras).
- Important: Bring gifts to give to
others that you meet on the reservation. Gift-giving is a way to
establish and maintain relationships, and the gifts you bring can
communicate in ways that words may not. In the past, people have
brought home-made jams, mugs, home-made jewelry, all sorts of
things. The more personal and thoughtful your gift the better.
Be creative and plan to bring a number of gifts to give away during the
week. This is always a fun and deeply meaningful experience for both
givers and recipients.
- Important: Bring a story (3-5
minutes). We want to hear each other’s stories, and we want to be
able to share our stories with those we meet at times. Humorous is
good. Serious is good. Your choice. We want the story to be about you.
- Plan
to learn from and care for one another.
- Plan
to laugh, but know that you will also discover plenty of reasons to cry.
- Plan
to exercise the Gumby Principle: In all things be flexible.
Financial Reminder:
- $825
to Sioux Falls Seminary by June 22
- Extra
cash for personal spending while on the reservation (snacks, coffee, ice
cream, gifts, coffee, tips for professors, coffee). There are several places where you will
be able to purchase a variety of gifts, and I like to think of such
expenditures as contributions to the economy on the reservation.
-->
See you on the Rosebud!
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Address Update!
Address Update!
All correspondence should be mailed to:
NATIVE AMERICAN INITIATIVE
PO Box 62
Mission, South Dakota 57555
Thank you for your support!
All correspondence should be mailed to:
NATIVE AMERICAN INITIATIVE
PO Box 62
Mission, South Dakota 57555
Thank you for your support!
Monday, August 14, 2017
UPDATE!
ATTENTION!
NATIVE AMERICAN INITIATIVE IS NOW A 5013C NON-PROFIT CORPORATION.
SOON WE WILL BE MOVING TO A FREE STANDING WEBSITE.
NATIVE AMERICAN INITIATIVE IS NOW A 5013C NON-PROFIT CORPORATION.
SOON WE WILL BE MOVING TO A FREE STANDING WEBSITE.
Monday, June 26, 2017
Good News!
Good news!
Thanks to my friends at Every Nation Ministries in Nashville, Tennessee, Native American Initiative, Inc. is now officially a 501C3 non-profit corporation! Thanks to all our supporters!
Thanks to my friends at Every Nation Ministries in Nashville, Tennessee, Native American Initiative, Inc. is now officially a 501C3 non-profit corporation! Thanks to all our supporters!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)