Joshua Farris, Ph.D, CSM, CSPO

Contra what many think, dementia actually teaches us a lot about the soul and what it means to be a person.

I am reminded of interactions with my grandmother. Throughout her life, she would often sing at random times while she was cooking, cleaning, or simply walking about the house. She would sing songs—songs of faith. She would often sing songs like Amazing Grace, I’ll Fly Away, and other great hymns she was raised with. What is interesting is that when she was old and her memories were fading, her body was frail, and she was going blind, she persisted in her habits of singing. While she did not have dementia, observing her revealed much about the nature of the soul of which several studies are confirming: there is more to the soul than we originally thought and these cause us to reflect afresh on some of the most important questions in life of which recent dementia studies make particularly acute.

I explore with you why it is that we should think differently about dementia.

You might imagined it that people want to hear about their successes or the latest technological trends in AI. A recent study shows otherwise. Just consider the experiences you’ve had with people on their deathbed loved ones, family, friends. What do they want,? What do they desire to hear?

From my experience as a minister, as a friend, as a family member, people want to hear about their relationships, they want to experience those relationships, and to know that one day, they will see their friends and family once again. Ultimately, what most want to hear is that s/he will be in the presence of God, s/he is not her body, and that she is a soul.

SCRUM is a project design method that emerges out of what is called an Agile framework and it has been significantly successful in the IT world, but it has also made waves in other industries. After years of practicing and applying SCRUM in church contexts and educational contexts, I give you a brief explanation on 'how' to implement SCRUM.