How this Innovative Micro School Changes the Game with Kayla Marty

This episode explores the impactful journey of educator Kayla Marty, who emphasizes the integration of faith in education. Through her innovative approach at Ignite within Concordia Lutheran Schools, she shares insights on overcoming doubt, the importance of community in education, and how humility in leadership fosters growth.

• Kayla's story of faith and education
• Overcoming doubt and trusting in God's plan
• The importance of community support in education
• Changes in the education landscape and parental involvement
• Establishing Ignite and its innovative approach
• The significance of leadership and humility in education
• Encouragement for listeners to explore their own educational impact

Transcript

Innovation in Education

Speaker 1 0:00

I am just super scared, like who. You know, all the doubt, all the worry, all the fear, all the uncertainty, the obstacles are steering me down and I just kind of want out Right. And you know my devotion that day, like I'm like, just like God, give me something like just to, to just soothe me, to just remind me that you're, you're loving and you're and and he gave me the story of um. Do you still not believe? When they were, when, when the disciples were, you know, going through the storm and he had been sleeping and stuff, and they're like wake him up, jesus, jesus, help us. Yeah, and he's like, do you still not believe? And it was just this reminder, that like if I looked back and see all the steps he had lined up for this, like I had no choice but to move forward.

Speaker 2 1:00

Welcome to Tim Allman podcast. I pray the joy of Jesus is your strength today and that you're just in love with life. I recently preached a message called Life is Loss. It certainly is. That is the law. But the gospel is life in Jesus Christ. Faith in him defeats our overwhelms, suffocates, stomps out our loss, because Christ is risen. He's risen indeed, and it's a good day to be alive.

Speaker 2 1:24

Today I get to hang out with Kayla Marty. Kayla and I are graduates of Concordia, nebraska Go Bulldogs. She's a 2005 graduate and she married one of my favorite teammates from back in the day, matt Marty. Shout out to Matt and his amazing work in Lutheran schools down through the years. But today we're going to be talking about innovation in education. I'm going to let her tell a little bit of her story. She's an educator in the Omaha area. She recently received an award we were talking before and it's kind of funny to talk about award. We don't do this for any kind of accolade, so it's kind of silly, but nonetheless, those who labor are worthy of recognition. And she received the prestigious award of Nebraska District LCMS All-Professional Church Workers Conference Educator of the Year. That's a mouthful in 2024. So, kayla, this is going to be a great conversation today. I've been looking forward to it. How are you doing?

Speaker 1 2:19

I'm really good. Thank you so much for having me on, tim. I always love talking education, so thanks for giving me the opportunity and having this conversation.

Speaker 2 2:27

Yeah, no, this is going to be, this is going to be fantastic. So let's go back in your story a little bit. Start there. We need more Now. Everybody, if you're baptized, you're a you're a church worker, you're part of the church, and so sometimes I bristle at professional church workers. We're all because we're in Christ. We're all working to expand the kingdom of God and all of our various vocations. Nonetheless, that being said, we need more pastors, administrators, directors of Christian education. We need more educators for our wonderful, wonderful Lutheran school. So tell me kind of when you knew you wanted to be a teacher. Kayla, tell that story. Yeah, you know what. Tell me kind of when you knew you wanted to be a teacher.

Speaker 1 3:05

Kayla, tell that story. Yeah, you know what I? To be honest, I think I most wanted to be a mom and you know my mom was a teacher. I like the schedules, that kind of line up with being a mom and having time with your family. My brother also went into education. I have some uncles and different things that were also in education, so it just kind of was a natural fit.

Speaker 1 3:30

I guess I was really fortunate growing up because my parents were incredible and my dad was a farmer and he had this thing where he just always kind of said, like I make some money so that Vicky can do the important things. So because of that, I mean, my dad is one of the smartest, wisest, most generous people I've ever met in my life. So because of that, like degrees and you know prestige titles, even amount of money you make, like that's never been a driving force for me. Um, but you know to work hard, to um, you know be generous, to use what God has given you. You know you and that's you know it's just kind of step-by-step. God has led me to this place and it's it's all him, it is all him.

Speaker 2 4:28

Well, don't you feel like cause my? My family story is similar. Just a good, a good home. We stand on the shoulders. I think our today, in the hyper individualized Western American consumeristic culture, we we miss gratitude for not just maybe our parents, but like our grandparents and those who have come before, who have passed on the faith. That's right. That's what I hear in your story. It's just like a recognition.

Speaker 2 4:54

You kind of won the spiritual global lottery by being born in your family, and so you just want to steward that. Well, say more yeah.

Speaker 1 5:00

Yeah, and I well, I think I used to be kind of jealous, if I'm honest, of people who had that kind of like, you know, very pointed come to Jesus moment, like, oh, I wonder what it was like to not know Jesus and then know Jesus, like what, what? That must be awesome. And yet, you know, as I've gotten older, I have appreciated exactly what you're speaking to Just this deep appreciation for the generations that have been faithful before me and brought me, you know, to this point, taught me the things I know to be able to serve in this way. And so, yeah, it's moved from almost like, oh, I wish I had something else, just to like, wow, like this is incredible, humbling, very humbling.

Speaker 2 5:49

This higher call and as Lutherans, we don't. We don't like worship the saints or anything like that.

Speaker 1 5:55

We worship Jesus, but there is a cloud of there is a cloud of witnesses right, that is before us.

Speaker 2 6:01

That's worshiping the throne of Jesus, anticipating resurrection day, and we're called to work while it is day and I want to steward this one life that he's given me very, very well. That's a driving. Why? All for the glory of God, not for the glory of.

Speaker 1 6:14

Kayla or Tim or who really cares. Right, we're going to be forgotten in time.

Speaker 2 6:19

But the mission of Jesus will continue and we just want to steward these days well, especially passing on the faith to the next, to the next generation. Really, as a mom I don't know that I've you're an educator, like dads are obviously educators, but from the young, tell the story of like you took 10 years to to raise your kids outside of the classroom Right. Tell a little bit of that story and then, getting back into the classroom, yeah, absolutely so.

Speaker 1 6:43

I did like. One of my biggest callings on my life, I think, is to be a mom and I'm so blessed to do that. I have three kids Micah, caleb, karis. Eighth, sixth, fourth, they are, you know, like what else is there? You know, like to be able to, like you're talking about, pass on the faith. Make sure you're taking the time, be able to, like you're talking about, pass on the faith. Make sure you're taking the time and energy to pour into your family. So I did. I stayed home. I was a teacher prior to staying home. I was a teacher. I even got my admin degree but then decided to put that on hold to stay home and raise my kids for 10 years. Super blessed. You mentioned Matt earlier. You played football with him, 100% supportive husband. So thankful for that.

Speaker 1 7:34

Because it is a risk, right, and our culture says that we can't do it, it doesn't make sense. And we did it. And you know some people say, well, it's nice if, if you have the opportunity to do that, and you know finances didn't really look like we had the opportunity to do that, but we did it anyways because we just thought it was that important and there is zero regret for that decision. You know professionally. Some could argue that you know, maybe my life would look different. I don't care, I don't regret. You know what I mean. Like that, you know, maybe my life would look different. I don't care, I don't regret. You know what I mean. Like that, you know I love my kids, I'm so proud of them and and I'm you know we're right, where we're supposed to be.

Evolution of Education Models

Speaker 2 8:16

There's nothing more holy than passing on the faith that be fruitful and multiply, have children and let them know about the love of Jesus. So well done, Well done, Kayla. Let's get into education Kind of a broad high level question. How has the landscape of education changed since you and I were going through school? How does it look different?

Speaker 1 8:38

Yeah, I think there was just kind of this acceptance of kind of the way things are done, and if an expert says something, we just kind of believe it, and if they say they have research to prove it, then we go with it and and just kind of like a you know sheep mentality in some ways, I would say. I would say, when we were growing up, homes, homeschool or kind of different models of education were kind of thought of more negatively Like, and maybe one of the reasons that I wouldn't send my kids to school is because of the socialization they're going to get at school, and so I think that argument has only, you know, has kind of flipped. But in a way I think parents are taking a little more responsibility for their kids' education, thinking a little bit more critically about what they want and open to new ideas.

Speaker 2 9:52

Yeah, for sure I was. Were you homeschooled at all? I don't know any. No, I wasn't.

Speaker 1 9:56

And I never anticipated that, but I did homeschool for a little bit brief moment, so we'll get into that, I'm sure.

Speaker 2 10:04

Yeah, yeah, for sure I was homeschooled from little bit brief moment. So we'll get into that, I'm sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure I was. I was homeschooled from fourth through ninth grade and I always kind of laugh if I say that in like in a sermon or something that explains a lot, you know. But I had just a fantastic experience, a small little and I guess cause we're going to get into your model right now it was kind of a mixed age classroom learning experience. It was a little co-op.

Speaker 2 10:29

I don't tell this story too much, but El Paso, texas, there were no Christian schools, no Lutheran schools. Actually, there was a Christian school, but it was like 30 minutes away on the other side of town, and so a whole bunch of moms, dads got together and said, hey, every, I think it was Monday, wednesday and Friday we're going to get together for like a three hour block and moms, you know, have specialties in math or history. My mom taught the history class and I didn't. I didn't think it was weird at all, like there was probably 70 kids. It was like a micro school, about 70 kids from kindergarten through high school, and we had a funny little story.

Speaker 2 11:05

There were a handful of athletes and dad's a pastor of a small Lutheran church in El Paso, a handful of athletes and my dad being into sports and things, he goes hey, tim, do you think we could start a Christian athletic program? And no joke. Before we moved to Denver and I went to my parents' alma mater, lutheran High in Denver, I played football six-man football first time I'd ever played football and then basketball with a whole bunch of homeschool kids. It was fantastic. My freshman year of high school it was not weird at all, but looking back, it was an innovative model, an innovative approach Anything more to say toward homeschooling like this shift now.

Speaker 1 11:44

No, I think, you know, I think we just have to remember as parents that like, ultimately we are responsible for our own kids and their education. I think sometimes we like just kind of like hand that off to the school or to the teachers, and I think we just need to kind of pause and say no, actually that's my responsibility as the parent and obviously I get to invite people on that journey. You know, as we choose a school, as we choose a co-op, as we choose different things, but you know we don't have to just kind of pass that off as well. That's not my responsibility, it is absolutely our responsibility.

Speaker 2 12:25

So thank you, mom, and I know your kids, kayla, are going to say the exact same as they look back. So tell us the story of Concordia Lutheran Schools in Omaha and how you started and are sustaining Ignite. Kind of you said before we hit, play a school within a school. Tell that story.

Speaker 1 12:40

Yeah. So I just want to preface this all that, as I'm talking like I just want to be really pointed that this is God's story. This is I mean, I'm humbled that he has used me, you know, to, you know, do some stuff, but I don't take the credit. If it would have been Kayla Marty in charge of this, it would have failed really quickly. So he put a calling on my heart. There were at times I was kicking and screaming I don't know if I want to do this. I don't think I'm qualified. I don't know that I'm the expert in this area. Like, who am I to think that this is going to work? And what are other people going to think? Like, I don't like think I'm better than anybody else. I just I want something a little different for my kids. So I just want to be really, really pointed that if you saw my journals, if you saw, you know if you could hear the conversations that I had with mentors along the way. This is, this is God's story and I'm humbled to be a part of it.

Speaker 2 13:46

I just got to pause on that. That is the exact right approach to anything new Humility I don't really know what I'm doing. I wrote a blog recently on the idol of certainty. We got to have it all figured out and that cripp, that cripples us, it leads us. There's this right approach humility, team courage.

Speaker 1 14:09

Let's go, let's try it.

Speaker 2 14:10

God, you got to move, you got to lead, you got to be out in front of this Cause I could get in the way. And so I just hear and I just want to affirm anytime you're entering into a new venture, humility better win the day. Because when humility is there, learning is there, an openness to other people's perspectives as the strategy needs to adjust as we start to move. Like that is the exact right approach. A certain element Now there's too much of this but a certain element of imposter syndrome I think needs to be there anytime we take on a new venture. Anything more to say to that, kayla?

Speaker 1 14:44

No, I think, you know, I think that we just got to be really understanding, even from a biblical perspective. You know, anytime that God was fighting with those Israelites as they were going into battle, anytime he was fighting with them, like it, it really didn't depend on them, it was dependent on God. And you know, the same thing is true in our lives. If, if he's going to move something forward, it's going to move forward despite us, um, and if, if he's not fighting with us, guess what else is going to happen? It's going to be very clear that that's not a battle we're supposed to be fighting. And so, um, just to keep that perspective in mind, but to also be ready for doors to close too, because I think sometimes we hold on to our ideas and concepts too tightly and we have to be able to step away and say that's God's, he can do with it what he wants, and and, and you just got to give it up to him. Absolutely, um, we cannot be connect our identity.

Speaker 2 15:53

It's all identity. Right. Our identity can't be connected to our work, our new ideas. Uh, because if it you're going to hold on too tightly when your ideas, in Christ, there's this kind of okay, we're going to try something, we're going to shrug our shoulders. It wasn't a hundred. Nothing's ever a hundred percent you know, kayla, let's just be honest.

Speaker 2 16:10

Anytime we head into something or we're trying to sustain something, we're all just making it up Like there's no blueprint, there's no roadmap per se, like this is just we're following Jesus and there's just trust, there's faith. God, this is yours and help me to steward my life in this season, this ministry role, this influence, very, very well. So that's a great preface. With that preface being said, tell the Concordia story and the Ignite story.

Speaker 1 16:40

Absolutely Okay. So prior to being here in Omaha, we're in Omaha right now at Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha. But prior to this, our last step, last stop, was in Las Vegas, nevada. My husband was teaching at Faith Las Vegas Awesome opportunity. He led the strength and conditioning there. He really got that program going. Super proud of him.

Speaker 1 17:06

You know, it's also interesting I was still homeschooling at that time and but Christian education out there is a different beast. It's really expensive, to be completely honest, and it's a different model than we're used to in the Midwest, because out there the school district is so poor, so bad, that everyone is trying to get into private schools. And so because of that, honestly, the model is the schools help sustain the church, rather than we're used to in the Midwest, the churches helping to support the schools. So it's a completely different model and because of that the schools are quite expensive and we, you know, we love Christian education, we are 100% behind that. And so we sent our oldest, micah to kindergarten and first grade in a Lutheran school and then we got to like looking at sending another and we were like I don't know that we're going to be like good stewards of our money doing this anymore, you know. And they're like Kayla, we'll hire you, we'll give you a job, just come back, it'll be easier. And I was like I'm still committed to raising my kids while they're at home, and so it was like I guess we're going to homeschool. That is nothing I dreamed about, that's nothing I, you know, planned for it, just it's what was before me. And there was a clear shift there, right, because you know you go to be a teacher and you learn how to be a teacher and how you experience school growing up. But all of a sudden there was this big shift from just like, okay, how do I manage a classroom, how do I teach? Now there was this huge focus, but how do I want my kids to learn? Which was huge, was astronomical in so many ways. So, all of a sudden, all those methods you hear about in school, we're back on the table Montessori, classical, charlotte Mason, unschooling, you know, regular kind of school, like everything was back on the on the table, you know.

Speaker 1 19:14

And another thing I was seeing is these incredible, valedictorian, super capable, academic kids coming out of like high school and like what do you mean? You don't know how to fill out this form. Like you can't like like you can read the directions and figure this out right, and you know, there's almost this, this hesitancy, this like this frozenness that unless somebody tells me exactly what to do, I am incapable of figuring things out. And I just wanted nothing to do with that. You know, I grew up on a farm. You learn through experience. You jerry-rig things and figure it out, you know, and I wanted to make sure my kids knew that they didn't have to wait for directions, wait for something to be able to start it, and so, anyways, with all that, along that same time it came across this, this movement of micro schools, and kind of got really curious.

Speaker 1 20:13

So, yes, I was planning to homeschool my own kids and I did, but then alongside I'm like literally got like spreadsheets and all this stuff going in the background, like what would it look like if I did this for more kids? What would it look like if I had a whole classroom of this? And ironically, you know so we're living in Las Vegas. Ironically, phoenix comes into play, because I was at best practices and kind of like talking to some people in Las Vegas about like what would this look like? And I thought it was like the perfect location. I certainly wasn't pushing, I wasn't even a teacher at a school, but I was like wouldn't this be exciting, like to have some personalized learning. You know, people would pay a premium in Las Vegas for sure for this. And nothing was broken, nothing needed fixing, and so it was just kind of like huh, that's interesting, and you know, and that's where it stood, it's fine, no worries, and I certainly was not forceful, just kind of sharing, sharing some, some ideas.

Speaker 1 21:14

Anyways, fast forward. Matt gets a call to Concordia, omaha, here, and one of the questions when he was interviewing was is it okay if we homeschool our kids? And Rob Cooksey was the head of schools at the time and he was just confused more than anything. Like Kayla, I'll hire you, like you can have a job, like I've already tried to get you, you know, to be a teacher on my staff before. Like let's just fix this, why are you wanting to homeschool? And kind of told him about some of my musings and some of the things going on in the background and like I don't know if I could do school. You know the way school's usually done anymore and you know this is all just God's timing, because at the same time they had just a couple classes that were a little over capacity, creating some discomfort for some parents and thus for the administration, and they had maybe tried a combined classroom, but it was more out of need than opportunity. And you know, my idea was completely different, and so they said, let's try it, and we went.

Speaker 2 22:28

So that's the start of Ignite. So what did you propose?

Personalized Learning in Micro Schools

Speaker 1 22:31

So basically we started as a two to five, one classroom. We were full that first year of 18 kids. It's insane when I think about it. Two of my own kids were in that setting. But yeah, two to five, all in one classroom. It was a sweet, beautiful year with lots of stress.

Speaker 2 22:53

I imagine, and you're organizing everything. You're kind of in, yeah, yep.

Speaker 1 22:59

Yep, this was. I mean, I had super, you know, rob, you know, gave me the legs to. You know, in the, in the, the, you know, the space to be able to dream and do this. Uh, nate Domch was the Academy Prince, is the Academy principal. Without his support, um, this would have gone nowhere, I mean. So, you know, without that, you know, this would have been just dead in the water, you know. But Nate even put his son in Ignite, showing that he was willing to take a risk as well. And, yeah, it's just been really fun.

Speaker 2 23:37

So let's get a little bit more detailed. I mean, what does the day look like in a mixed class? I mean, how do you manage education for kids at such different stages of learning? It's wonderful, yeah.

Speaker 1 23:48

You know, so kind of one of the things that makes us most unique, and I always, you know like, people ask like is this Montessori, is this classical? It is eclectic, it is a mixture of a whole bunch of ideas. One thing that feels a little Montessori-ish is for that second through fifth grade level, we have two hours in our day which we call power hour. So kids are working on all sorts of different things. They have a learning menu, like basically checklists or lists that they create of things that they need to do for that week. But and we have small pullout lessons during that time for grammar, for reading, for math, but not everyone's working on the same thing at the same time, so they have things that they need to finish. But there is, you know, you walk in and they all might be working on different things. So it's, it's a little bit different. That's what we call our power hour. So, yeah, cursive, grammar, math, all sorts of stuff are getting accomplished during that power hour.

Speaker 2 24:54

Love it and a lot of independent learning. It sounds like.

Speaker 1 24:58

Yeah, and we have the opportunity to set goals with students for different things.

Speaker 1 25:02

So that's a weekly activity setting goals and and some of the lessons they're working on, um, we, you know there's also um the ability.

Speaker 1 25:14

Now I have found I thought and maybe this is just more my personality, but I thought every single student was going to want to like work independently on their own thing at their own time. I have found over the years most kids actually prefer to work in a cohort and do best with that kind of accountability. So we have kind of both and you know we have, I would say, probably 80% of our kids kind of land in a cohort and are kind of happy to move along, you know, through math, through grammar, through different things, with a group of people learning in that style. But we also have about 20% of our class that are what I call working rogue. You know through math, through grammar, through you know different things, and they have the opportunity to do that, to move at a pace where, where that excites them, that gets them excited about learning, that pushes them, that gives them a sense of, of, you know, accomplishment and purpose.

Speaker 2 26:17

So yeah, so from a one other question, before I get even more detailed is there six through eight? Is that, is that also an ignite, or is it just two to five? Good?

Speaker 1 26:27

question right now. So, yeah, this is something kind of dear to my heart. We haven't moved it up yet completely and who knows what that will look like. It's God's to work with. We did explore that. Even for my own kids.

Speaker 1 26:41

I didn't know if a self-contained classroom at that age level, where there's so much comparison, so much you know just social stuff too, I wasn't convinced that it was completely healthy. But what we have done is one of the things you know. I talked about power hour, another thing that makes us unique as we use badges to learn kind of objective material. So you know showing mastery over states, capitals, you know different subject areas, history, timelines, you know hitting different genres, memorizing books of the Bible, or you know different things like that. We have badges to kind of show mastery in certain content areas and so what we have done last summer my project was to create a badge system for middle schoolers. These are going to be, you know and again my own kids are in there but areas in like leadership, like attending a leadership seminar, maybe listening to 10 Tim Ullman podcasts, you know, on leadership or others.

Speaker 1 27:48

But you know some. There's some financial badges, like doing a savings project or creating a business there's, there's job shadows. So we have kind of this, we're calling that activate, so we can now activate, but we're we've created some optional badges for all middle schoolers. You know that they have access to.

Speaker 2 28:10

When I hear the word badges, all I have in my head since I was a young kid and it's a movie. I don't even know what the movie is Kayla Badges. We don't need no stinking badges, I have no idea where that quote comes from. You could Google it.

Speaker 1 28:22

Look it up. I cannot help you out.

Speaker 2 28:23

People need badges. People need actually no reward. Like appropriate I work well done, I'm working toward a goal and then I'm recognized. There's a lot on the habit loop. You have to have some sort of a reward, the habit loop, you know you have to have some sort of a reward. And maybe in education sometimes there's not enough reward and the cycle of rewards I just hear you affirming and we need incremental stages in development and are those that are in authority over us our educators, parents, et cetera seeing it and reinforcing great behavior.

Speaker 1 28:56

So badges are helpful. Yeah, absolutely, and ironically, and ironically, I am going to do um, I don't know when this will be published, but uh, at best practices. In just a few weeks I'll we'll be doing a presentation on badges for for the.

Speaker 2 29:11

This will be out before, before best practices.

Speaker 1 29:14

So okay, there you go.

Speaker 2 29:15

Down down in Phoenix. Uh, so good. So, um, for those who are wondering, is there intention around starting in seconds, Because I'm thinking developmental stages of an 8 to 11-year-old boy or girl? Is there great data? I guess it says that's probably a sweet time for mixed classroom learning, Because I affirm that the 6 through 8, the adolescent years there's so much comparison and maybe working together in mixed age cohorts could be dysfunctional. I think it could work, but it may be harder in that developmental season. So say more about the eight to 11 year range for learning.

Speaker 1 29:51

I don't have any specific data. I mean, god was gracious to me. I thought I was going to open this up K to five because that was like the ages of my own kids and I had caught taught my own kids to read and so I was like, yeah, let's do this. It was by the grace of God. He knew that that was probably too much to handle. So really all the interest was in grades two to five, with the exception of my own kid who was already reading, so he was ready to go as a first grader, in kind of that second grade. You know level. But you know.

Speaker 1 30:22

So we had this two to five cohort. We grew, we added another teacher for that two to five cohort, so now we're up to, like you know, 36 kids in that cohort but we'd split. You know, for history we'd split for different things, for writing, for science, all those stuff. But then you know, the school wanted to grow again. So then we added that K-1 piece and I think you know that was that was wise, that we did it in that way, because there is just so much intentional, you know content that needs to go to teaching someone. You know conceptualizing numbers and math, and then also, you know, beginning to read, and we have some great pieces in place for that and we're really proud of that. But I think it was just by the grace of God that he spared me from that at the beginning.

Speaker 2 31:14

Yeah, no, that's good. There's educators, I assume, administrators, pastors, who get to be a part of Lutheran schools, listening, what are the primary indicators? Now, every story is unique, every context is unique. So, taking that into account, what words of wisdom would you give to an administrator or leader as a primary indicator that a micro school may work in their school context?

Leadership, Risk, and Adaptive Growth

Speaker 1 31:39

I mean, people have to be passionate about education. Right, christian education is what I'm going for. I don't know that any. I mean, every single year I've taught, I've told my kids, you know, I hope you learn math, I hope you learn English, like all the stuff. But what I really hope is that you learn more about the God, who loves you, who created you, who has a purpose for your life. And so there's got to be individuals who are just passionate about getting the gospel into the hearts and minds of young people in their community. I would also say there's got to be someone who's able to put some time and energy into this, like it's you know it's it's entrepreneurial in the sense that, like, like you're starting something new and like Craig Rochelle talks about like anytime you're trying to build momentum, like it's really hard at the beginning. Yeah, totally. And so who's going to have? Who believes in this, who has the heart for this? But who's going to?

Speaker 1 32:45

You know, I grew up with two parents. You know my dad, like he wasn't a 40 hour a week guy, and my mom, she was a. She started preschool. She was entrepreneurial in her own. Both my parents were looking back in a way. She started preschools in all sorts of little Lutheran churches around the area, and none of them, neither of my parents, had kind of this like, well, now's my time to sit back and just, you know, have me time.

Speaker 1 33:12

You know, and and I think we've in some ways, you know, we've gotten to the point where we think we deserve so much, I don't know relaxation, comfort, I don't know, and there's a balance, because I'm probably too far on that spectrum. I'm a grinder, I will admit that, but you know, I don't know. I think you need somebody willing to grind, willing to go above and beyond, and here's the thing, though, is they're not going to get, maybe get, the same rewards that an entrepreneur starting their own business would get. You know there's not like this big. You know you're not going to grow a business that eventually, you're going to, you know, be making lots of money, and you know life is easy, you know so it's, it's, I don't know. Finding the right person to help out this with this can can be challenging.

Speaker 2 34:06

Well, it's all about leadership. It's having the right person with the, with the right posture of humility and the right sense of of build, measure, learn mentality, kind of lean, startup mentality. That's what I hear you saying. We're going to build something, we're going to measure how effective or not it is and then we're going to adapt. Um, adaptive leadership. There's a lot, there's a lot of work. Um, and Vanessa Seifert, who's in your district on, if you know Vanessa, right, kayla, I mean it's she's the adaptive leadership guru.

Speaker 2 34:37

And how well I stay in the game when it, when inevitably sabotage, you know, lies from the evil one or lies from others. You know, human beings are kind of. We love to like, take, take each other down and build up. All of these reasons why we can't do it. I just know our God is a God of abundance and he's like yeah, go, you're my kid and you're safe, you're going to be all right. So go and take the appropriate risk. And there is a level of risk in your story. I hear you're grounded in your family. Obviously, matt's awesome, he's an awesome spouse, so you're safe there. Your kids are in this season. I want to care for them, but maybe, in caring for them while I can care for some others, and then you were supported by administration.

Speaker 2 35:21

If all of those things are kind of aligned as a leader looking to try something new, go run Like I'm in a context right now which is so fun so fun Because, well, sometimes you got to say no for financial or whatever Like we try things here and not all of them work right, but we're going to keep trying. We're going to keep trying, all for the ultimate purpose of bringing the gospel to as many young and old people as possible the working poor, the homeless. You know, tonight I get to preach at La Mesa. We keep grinding. That ministry has been going on now for over a decade People showing up every Tuesday, every Thursday, bringing a meal and worship to people who normally wouldn't be welcomed in a lot of our context. But it all has to do with a visionary leader willing to work. Willing to work, and that's who you are. How did you handle, though? I mean, you started out talking about humility. How did you process fear and risk? What did that look like, especially in the early stages of Ignite Kayla?

Speaker 1 36:20

Oh, definitely. I mean, there were so many moments, tim, where I was like am I going to mess these kids up? Like how do these parents trust me? Like who am I to start this Again? You know I mentioned journals and conversations with mentors and you know, but like that was such a sweet time. I've never felt closer to God than than during that really hard season, and you know he was.

Speaker 1 36:50

There were moments where he was, he spoke very gently to me and was patient with me. There's other times I there's this one, one story I have. So it was the day that I was going to go talk to parents and introduce this idea for the very first time. Right, and I am just super scared, like you know. All the doubt, all the worry, all the fear, all the uncertainty, the obstacles are steering me down and I just kind of want out Right. The obstacles are steering me down and I just kind of want out Right. And you know my devotion.

Speaker 1 37:22

That day, like I'm like, just like God, give me something, like just to, to just soothe me. When, when the disciples were, you know, going through the storm and he had been sleeping and stuff, and they're like wake him up, jesus, jesus, help us. Yeah, and he's like do you still not believe? And it was just this reminder that like, if I looked back and see all the steps he had lined up for this, like I had no choice but to move forward. But it was. It was not this, you know, it was like this disciplining dad like get over it, like go, like I'm not gonna you don't need any more comfort.

Speaker 1 38:13

You don't need any more pity parties, Just move and so so you know there's, there's been all, all sides of it. Um, yeah, it's, it's been a journey for sure.

Speaker 2 38:27

Jesus bats a thousand.

Speaker 1 38:29

Kayla, he's so gives us right what we need when we need it full with lawn gospel at the at the right times.

Speaker 2 38:37

Uh, so so good. Um, kind of kind of broached it a little bit of a topic. I think I'd like to, as we're coming down the homestretch, hang here Receiving tough feedback, like when things don't go as planned, which they never will go perfectly as planned because sinful humans are connected to it. But I can imagine you've had, and probably continue to have, conversations with parents who don't get it, who their kid has struggled for one reason or another, because I'm sure there's no perfect model, right?

Speaker 2 39:09

I mean there's just staying connected and loving kids and doing what we believe is in their best interest. How do you handle parent feedback that's less than favorable?

Speaker 1 39:27

You know, I think it goes back to your identity comment. You know, god sees my motives, god sees my heart. And am I the perfect teacher? No. Do we have the perfect curriculum? No. Is there a perfect student? No, and yet God can continue to work. So I think, keeping that in perspective, also with humility, you know just kind of, you know accepting those moments of you know, not everyone's going to get it, not everyone needs to get it, you know, at the same time or ever, but trusting that God knows our hearts, god knows our motives and when we are About, with all sincerity, trying to make his name great and not our own name Great, I think we do have that freedom that you're talking about. So so it's OK if not everyone gets it.

Speaker 2 40:28

Yeah, yeah, let's. Let's close talking about culture and the people that are on your team right now. So how many give some perspective? How many people do you kind of oversee right now on your team and ignite?

Speaker 1 40:41

So in addition to me there's three other teachers, so there's four of us total. But we have some other aides in addition to that that are near full time or, you know, significant in what we're doing. So probably double that, but you know we. There's a book, the Other Half of Church. I don't know if you've ever read it.

Speaker 2 41:02

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, right and left brain stuff. Oh yeah, I've referred to them a lot. It's great, yeah.

Speaker 1 41:06

Love, love. All that, and that was kind of a diving board for us to really look at identity statements. We created some identity statements from that and actually the kids were a part of that, helping us like when we're our best selves. We're never going to be perfect, but when we're our best selves, what do we look like in Ignite, you know? And so all the kids had feedback on that and from there we kind of landed on you know, we are people who seek God, we rely on God. We, you know, give thanks to God. We also love others. We put others before ourselves. You know the two commandments are love God, love others. There's not a love yourself. Last, and I'm not dismissing the need to take care of yourself, but we we do that. Naturally our sinful nature, you know, we'll always look out for yourself and so so, keeping that in mind, the other three we landed on taking risks, finding joy, doing hard things. You know those are a part of our culture, but we ask that our staff, you know, buy into those things as well.

Speaker 1 42:22

You know we have lots of shared language within our Ignite program. You know we talk about being on a champion's journey. We're champions not because of what we've done, but because of what Christ has done for us. But because of that not because of what we've done, but because of what Christ has done for us, but because of that we are champions in the end, no matter what, what obstacles, what sickness, what you know, even death itself, like, we win in the end. So so you know, we will have obstacles, we will have trials, so that's language we lean into.

Speaker 1 42:49

We talk about eating frogs. There's a Mark Twain quote that says if you have to eat a frog, eat it first thing in the morning, and if you have two frogs, eat the bigger one first. So you know, we talk a lot about eating frogs, doing things we don't necessarily want to do, getting them done right away. We talk about fighting ants, automatic negative thoughts kind of coined by Dr Amen out of or, yeah, amen, I believe out of California. So those automatic negative thoughts, fighting them, especially with gratitude. So you know, and doing hard things, hitting those deadlines, just doing things that don't seem fun, that aren't comfortable, but they're important.

Speaker 1 43:35

And so we just have a lot of shared language and you know I kind of see my role in a lot of ways as like a chief reminding officer, not only to you know, our staff, but our students, you know, continually bringing us back to some of those key points and identity statements.

Speaker 2 43:55

Kayla, you're a great leader by the grace of God, I'm serious.

Speaker 2 44:01

I like nails. I'm taking notes. You're reminding me of things I forget more than I know. You are reminding me. I can tell you're leaders are learners. You're reading, you're trying to take in best practices. You got a humble spirit. The folks that are on your team I know they know it, but they are. You are blessed to be on a team with Kayla Marty and I know you don't need to be built up, but you're top shelf sister and the Lord's using you in beautiful, beautiful ways and it's all because of your humble learning posture and the kids that are in your program ridiculously blessed to be learning with you. So shared language we find meaning based on language. I'm just going to kind of put a pin in that If you're a leader and you don't have clearly stated mission, vision, values like what are we doing, and then you're reinforcing, you've got to tell people I mean seven, eight, nine, 20, 30 times who we are, because this is in terms of the brain. I'm always asking the question who am I? And then how am?

Speaker 1 45:07

I relating to other people.

Speaker 2 45:09

And how do we act while we're here? Right, and I find meaning connected to identity and then reinforcing the way we behave in community and leaders have to find I don't care what the language is, it just has to be something that there's so many different ways to do it that captures the imagination and informs the decisions that we make and the way we treat one another on our journey toward, toward there. One of the things I like I like to say is in my role, I get to be a part of the vision. I'm not the entire one, but I better be super, super passionate about the vision, where we're going. And then culture how are we getting there and how well are we loving one another? There's some strategy, but how well are we loving one another and challenging right, it's not just affirming, it's challenging one another on our way to there. And language is the entire game. Finding your shared language is the entire thing, because we gravitate toward dysfunction, naturally.

Speaker 1 46:09

We gravitate toward isolation.

Speaker 2 46:11

What language does is it unites us in community. This is the type of people that we are so man, so so proud of you and the work that you're doing for the team that you have around you People, I'm sure you get this all the time. I bet you're speaking at different things, kind of sharing a little bit of the model. Thank you for being gracious with your time with us, but if people want to connect with you and hear more of the details of the Ignite story, how can they do so, kayla?

Hope and Innovation in Education

Speaker 1 46:36

Yeah, probably the easiest is just shoot me an email at Kayla Marty at ConcordiaOmahaorg, or you can hit my personal email at Kayla Marty at gmailcom. I love talking education. I just want to be an encouragement to like I know we're running short on time here but, like you know, the LCMS, we, historically we have just rocked it when it comes to Christian education for years upon years, upon years and I think sometimes we we go a little negative and are like, oh, you know what do we have? Like we need to be more like the other schools and you know, if you have a space, if you have a gathering space of any size and you have somebody passionate about Christian education, you have the opportunity. You know we have real estate. Tim like all over this nation Exactly.

Speaker 1 47:34

We have such an opportunity and I would just, I would love to be an encouragement to small congregations, especially that you are sitting on a gold mine. I would love to help encourage you and find ways. I mean, I didn't hit on all of our methods. You know from Socratic discussions to like Paideia lessons and like there's so much more. You know how we hit on critical skill thinking and communication. There's so much, but like there's so much opportunity, so much opportunity.

Speaker 2 48:05

Yeah, just say yes. One of the reasons I do, not only the lead time, but now this podcast. I want the Tim Olin podcast to be just rebranded to be a podcast of hope and innovation in a variety of different sectors. And that is the gift of Lutheranism and specifically in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, is our well, the gospel, the primacy of Christ. But then it's this amazing heritage, people that have gone before, that have had innovation, that started churches, started schools.

Speaker 2 48:37

And I guess, if I could summarize our conversation, we reject the scarcity mindset, we reject we can't do it, no, no, no. This is the day Too much has been given, much is required. I've been reflecting on the parable of the talents, just kind of coming back to it, and the sin of omission is just as serious as the sin of commission. And I think there's room for growth right now in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. I think we could be burying talents and the master comes back and he calls us wicked.

Speaker 2 49:10

So again, a word of law which should lead us to repentance and to set our mind on things above and not on the things of this earth. And Christ is there, he is that, he's the best coach. You know, you and I've been in athletics he knows the exact right word at the right time, and I think the word, just broad, is let's go, let's start. You have everything you need your identity in me, you got the people around you. Let's give it. Let's give it a shot, specifically in the education, like we take this really, really serious, passing on the faith to the next, next generation, and there is room for all sorts of models.

Speaker 1 49:44

There's no one Holy grail of models right, Classical or whatever, Like it's just.

Speaker 2 49:48

let's just get the gospel into the hearts and ears of young people. And we got to hear a great story of innovation with you. So you're a gift. Can't wait to see you at best practices. For those that are coming down, hit us up. The Unite Leadership Collective will have a table. There's so many innovation, educational, innovative opportunities going on for students of all ages right now in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. It's a good day. Go and make it a great day. Right now in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. It's a good day. Go and make it a great day. This is the Tim Allman Podcast.

Speaker 1 50:15

Kayla, you rock sister, thank you, thank you, thanks for the opportunity, and to God be the glory.

Speaker 2 50:19

Amen, let's go.