Mapping the Quest

At our first session in the Navigate Agathos Series, Agathos founders, Mark and Tina Seago, invited us to consider the many lessons they have learned while watching God work in and through Agathos over the last 22 years. Having known the Seagos for almost two decades, I heard them share perspectives I had not heard before. At the same time, I was looking forward to asking a question which I thought I knew how Mark would answer: “Mark, over the last 11 years, I have often heard you say, ‘Trust the process.’ What do you mean when you say that?” 

Mark responded (and I paraphrase), “At Agathos, the process AND the purpose is a WHO, not a what. From beginning to end and everything in between, Agathos is all about Christ and His kingdom. Whatever the students are doing, we want them to lean into Him and do it to His glory.” Mark elaborated more on this; I wish you were all there to hear it!. His answer reminded me of a section in C.S. Lewis’ short, but powerful work, Mere Christianity, a work we read with the Agathos 12th graders:

“I find I must borrow yet another parable from George MacDonald. Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of— throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. 

The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command…He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us… pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said” (Lewis, 205-206).

We invite you once again to join us on this odyssey called Navigate Agathos on September 11th and 12th. Our guest for this second session will be Mr. Grant Kelley, Dean of Academics. Together, we will explore how Agathos uses the historic liberal arts to shape every classroom—forming not only intellect, but also imagination and virtues, so that students are oriented toward the True, the Beautiful, and the Good. We will consider why recitation is central to memory and eloquence, why great works of fiction cultivate empathy and wonder, and how the deep connections between Latin, mathematics, and grammar strengthen both logic and expression. Join us as we uncover how our curriculum and pedagogy, rooted in the classical tradition, prepare students to engage the great conversation across centuries. Come aboard His Majesty’s Ship Agathos as we continue this voyage together, celebrating what God is doing in and through our community.