Although it is Jesus' "own description of what he wanted his followers to be and to do" (Stott, 1978), the Sermon on the Mount doesn't receive the attention nor the study that it warrants. At last, this timeless segment of wisdom has been turned into a fully-online course which is designed to familiarize church leaders, pastors, and ministry students with the content and life applications of the Sermon on the Mount. UPDATE (Jan. 2017): The original course design has been continually updated & revamped and is now available in the Canvas LMS in both 6-week and 8-week accelerated formats and was designed modularly to be easily adaptable into traditional 16-week terms as well. The phone number & email provided at the end of the video are outdated; use WildcatTech.dswisher@gmail.com instead or message the author/developer here through YouTube. Since its initial development in 2010, Swisher has taught this course online at Tabor College - Wichita & Online several times now (https://tabor.edu/faculty/david-swisher/), and he is now completing his D.Min (ABD) at Portland Seminary of George Fox University under lead faculty mentor Leonard Sweet. In his nearly-completed doctoral dissertation, Swisher uses narratology and discourse analysis to understand the rhetorical and contextual aspects of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) to help pastors the discipleship disconnect...the gap between how Jesus taught us to live and how we actually live. Because the SOTM is both narrative and discourse, traditional exegetical and historical-critical methods of study usually miss these essential and informative vantage points. - - - - - - - - - - This video is the final version of the informational/promotional video summarizing David J. Swisher's final culminating (thesis) project for his Master of Science degree in "Instructional Design & Technology" at Emporia State University. If you are an educator or administrator at an accredited Christian institution of higher education and are interested in possibly offering this course at your school, contact Mr. Swisher at WildcatTech.dswisher@gmail.com. A full-color brochure & PDF is also available, as well as a 2-pg executive summary which details the instructional design process which was followed and the theoretical rationale which guided lesson & course development. Swisher would also welcome feedback on the presentation (video) itself and suggestions for improving the educational package. Relevant and helpful comments will be posted, but critical & demeaning comments about Jesus or Christianity will not be shared.
