The adventure into the unexplored land of assumptions begins with our public seminars. Assumptions Institute hosts seminars sharing the power of assumptions for adults, professionals, and students. Contact us to schedule one.
Transforming your expertise
How does God inform the thing in which you are an expert or leader? Assumptions reveal how you can find and engage with God in any field. This unique insight coupled with a practical assumptions-based tool gives you a powerful strategy to help you make God important, relevant, and real in the boardroom or the classroom.
“Dave Richardson’s seminar is helpful in identifying the basic types of assumptions and how they impact the understanding of various disciplines. I touch on philosophical aspects of science in my course introduction lectures. Dave’s seminar helped me improve and clarify this material.”
“Dave Richardson’s Critical Assumptions Test is a handy diagnostic tool for discerning a person’s assumptions in an otherwise foggy situation. It can help to identify another person’s deep and often unconsciously held presuppositions as well as to think integratively about one’s own academic discipline.”
“As a person with a Masters in Pure Mathematics, I found Dave Richardson’s explanation of what was at the ‘foundations’ of my subject to be better than what most people think they know about math from even a ‘graduate level understanding’… He was as near to ‘dead-on’ as I would know how to speak to an ‘eclectic group of people’ about my subject!”
learn to discern
Can your student quickly discern true from false, right from wrong? Can they do it when they watch a TV show or movie? Can they do it when they listen to a song, a classroom lecture, or a conversation with a friend? What about the books, webpages, and articles they read?
In this seminar you will learn a technique that helps people see right through these messages using the power of assumptions. This skill is crucial when your student becomes a young adult. With it they may see through the anti-Christian messages in academia, the media, and culture, and become an effective ambassador for Christ.
Upwards of 75% of Christian youth leave their faith every year, because their faith is relevant only in their personal lives. They are unskilled at relating their faith to the real world. In just an hour, students can learn a simple, practical skill to detect assumptions. When they understand the power of those assumptions, students can figure out on their own the truth in the messages they encounter in class, from their friends, in their books, or in the media they voraciously consume daily. They will gain an understanding of how God relates, not just to their personal devotion, but to every area of their life. With practice students can reliably tell what is true and what is not in as little as 20 seconds. This skill gives students real world discernment in real time.
“I am 15 and take a college class. I am extremely glad you had this class for three reasons: 1) I have an agnostic friend and I did not know how to give her an answer a few weeks ago. Thanks to you, now I do. 2) My uncle is a strong-willed atheist. I have never had anything to say to him about religion, etc…so thank you! 3) I have been asked a lot lately about my ‘religion.’ Thanks to you, I now know how to describe it and why I believe my assumptual (sic) beliefs. Thank you!!”
“As a mom & teacher, I can see the value of stopping, discussing, assessing, and teaching with the power of assumptions.”
“Very insightful and informative. Eye opening ‘a-ha’ moments! Encouraged me to apply the Critical Assumptions Test to daily life. Thank you!”
The faith of a leader
Executives and leaders make important decisions daily that guide the direction and corporate culture of their organizations. The bedrock of every leader’s decision making process is a set of assumptions that generates an organization's culture and control everything a leader says, does, and thinks. In this workshop, you will examine what assumptions are, how they work and how they are built, and which of three basic sets of assumptions leaders operate from. You will learn a simple but powerful tool for detecting the hidden assumptions behind the issues, policies, data, or phenomena that leaders have to manage. Once these assumptions are identified, you can discern which are true and which are not so that a leader can make a more informed decision intentionally aligned with what is true. Guaranteed you will learn a valuable skill from this workshop to enhance your leadership and live more consistent with your faith in your public life.
“I will be asking the question with my team “What is the underlying assumption?” in certain situations.”
“The Critical Assumptions Test is very easy and practical for decision making, and I can confidently share it with my team.”
