Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Project Portfolio

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Department

Seminary

First Advisor

Gregg Borror, DMin

Second Advisor

Mindy Smith, DMin

Third Advisor

Leonard I. Sweet, PhD

Abstract

This Project Portfolio responds to the following Need–Problem–Opportunity (NPO): Fathers shaped by incarceration and broken paternal roots need a reorienting tool to reclaim fatherhood, see beauty in chaos, and encounter Jesus’ presence. While many ministry and reentry initiatives appropriately prioritize immediate stabilization and support, this project addresses a complementary and often underdeveloped need: cultivating meaning, dignity, and spiritual attentiveness through sustained presence, where chaos may be perceived not only as disruption but also as a site of possible beauty and presence.

A key insight emerging from the research is that meaning is neither created nor imposed, but recognized through sustained, attentive presence. This project advances a purpose-built methodology grounded in practices of witness, particularly within contexts where access to formal therapeutic care is limited. Through postures of listening, observing, sensing, and relational attentiveness, participants may give voice to previously unspoken experiences, allowing meaning to surface through attentive engagement with one’s own story.

The project is situated within a faith-based ministry context serving formerly incarcerated fathers, where relational trust, spiritual formation, and voluntary return shape the contours of engagement. This vocational setting informed both the theological grounding and the practical constraints of the work, calling for approaches that are accessible, non-clinical in tone, and attentive to personal agency, dignity, and consent.

The Project Portfolio advances the S.T.A.R. Methodology™ (Semiotic Tracing, Attunement, and Reframing), a multi-stage narrative framework that guides participants in identifying key chaos moments and attending to how meaning has formed within their life stories across time. Rather than positioning the facilitator as an agent of intervention, the methodology maintains a posture of recognition and witness, inviting participants to attune to God’s presence as One who may be perceived through the telling, tracing, and reframing of story.

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