{"id":1127,"date":"2016-06-29T20:31:17","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T00:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/?p=1127"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:09:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:09:02","slug":"an-individuals-journey-with-the-principle-approach-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/an-individuals-journey-with-the-principle-approach-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"An Individual’s Journey with the Principle Approach – Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

An\u00a0Individual\u2019s Journey with the Principle Approach<\/strong>
\nSecond in a Series<\/em>
\n<\/strong>Ruth J. Smith<\/strong><\/a>
\n<\/strong>PilgrimInstitute.org<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Mrs. Ruth Smith’s journey to learn and apply the Principle Approach to American Christian Education prepared her to help co-found Pilgrim Institute, along with her husband, Allen Smith<\/a>, her brother<\/a> and sister-in-law, and another family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Check here <\/a>for the first in the series.<\/span><\/p>\n

My brother was pastor of a church in Iowa where they had decided to start a Christian school. When he became aware of the Principle Approach<\/a>, the Lord led him to implement this methodology\u00a0in the school. In 1973, the Lord led us to move to Iowa, where I could assist in the beginning of the school and help to implement the philosophy and methodology of the Principle Approach to American Christian education.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The challenges were great! Remember, James Rose <\/a>hadn\u2019t published A Guide to American Christian Education<\/em> <\/a>\u2014 He and his faculty were still working through the steps of how to implement this Biblical philosophy and methodology in the Pilot School in California. There was no series like The Mighty Works of God<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The summer of 1974, Miss Hall and Miss Slater of the Foundation for American Christian Education were presenting a week-long training course in Denver. I knew I had to attend the class! The family sacrificed to make this trip possible. I didn\u2019t want to miss a single word \u2014 front row, tape recorder in hand, and notes taken as fast as I could write. The ideas were amazing . . . It was inspiring but, oh so challenging! How could we teach these ideas to the students?<\/span><\/p>\n

Those audio tapes became a college course for me and I eagerly soaked in each idea.\u00a0I listened to those sessions over and over again. How delightful to hear Miss Hall\u2019s recounting of God\u2019s Hand in historic events from the Spanish Armada to events of the Revolutionary War. Miss Slater\u2019s inspirational teaching presented so many ideas that it seemed there was no way you could begin to teach these ideas. But I knew this was truth and somehow I must impart this to the students in my classroom.<\/span><\/p>\n

The telephone calls to California to Verna Hall and Rosalie Slater began in earnest. These ladies were so patient. Some memories stand out \u2014 Discussions with Miss Hall about historic events or trying to think through decisions. When I would begin to ask my many questions, which I liked to do, she would say, you have to \u201cthink governmentally\u201d. However, in Miss Hall\u2019s inimitable manner, she didn\u2019t explain what that meant. I would hang up the phone and think, what does she mean when she says I need to \u201cthink governmentally\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you learned what it means to \u201cthink governmentally\u201d? Join us for Part III<\/a> of this journey to find that answer. And we promise it won\u2019t be such a long wait.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An\u00a0Individual\u2019s Journey with the Principle Approach Second in a Series Ruth J. Smith PilgrimInstitute.org Mrs. Ruth Smith’s journey to learn and apply the Principle Approach to American Christian Education prepared her to help co-found Pilgrim Institute, along with her husband, Allen Smith, her brother and sister-in-law, and another family.\u00a0 Check here for the first in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,104,15],"tags":[67,22,21,16,9,19],"class_list":["post-1127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-christian-education","category-blog","category-ministry-musings","tag-american-christian-education","tag-government","tag-history","tag-pilgrim-institute","tag-principle-approach","tag-the-mighty-works-of-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4809,"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127\/revisions\/4809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}