Hilliard Institute Doings in 2018

Through 2018, The Hilliard Institute continued in several of our non-profit partnerships and created a new division called the Woodfine Young Writers Guild. Below are some details about the Institute’s operations throughout 2018.

Cherokee Missions

The Hilliard Institute continued their non-profit partnership with Cherokee Missions in Cherokee, North Carolina, at the Cherokee Church of Christ on the Cherokee Indian Reservation. This church started in the 1940s, and in 1998, Dr. Hilliard lived and worked on the reservation while conducting research for his doctoral dissertation on teaching and learning styles of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. Dr. Hilliard’s interest in this culture and this church began as a youth when his father led mission work there. Cherokee Missions includes both educational and philanthropic activities. Spiritual and mental wellness workshops are offered at the Cherokee Church. The Hilliard Institute also raises all the financial support for a full-time ministerial couple, who live and work on the reservation. Yearly campaigns are held when necessary to collect items of particular need such as children’s diapers, health and hygiene products, and non-perishable food items, etc.

Project R12

Project R12 is a nonprofit organization that “exists to see nations set free by investing in people . . . and see change that originates in jobs, education, trade, innovation, access to health, a voice to the forgotten, and justice for the oppressed.” We had our second fundraising effort for Project R12 in August raising enough through book sales of Hilliard Press’s Fruitful Faith and donations to prepare a room at one of their safe houses in Uganda. In 2017, our first fundraising effort allowed us to help them build a kitchen! 

Woodfine Young Writers Guild

We started the Woodfine Young Writers Guild in 2018 as well. Dr. K. Mark Hilliard says, “The Woodfine Young Writers Guild is a division of the Hilliard Institute for Educational Wellness and Hilliard Press. The purpose is to advance literacy skills and encourage a love for reading and writing in young people.” In 2017, we began developing the Young Writers Guild concept and in 2018, published the first Woodfine Young Writers Guild book: The Four Jupiter Brothers, by Charles E. Hilliard, age ten.

Fruitful Faith Books

The mission of Fruitful Faith Books is to cultivate the creative talents of women to develop multi-skilled devotional tools for young women that provide opportunities for Bible study, Christian fellowship, and more fruitful faith. Jessa Sexton oversaw a publishing project to create an interactive devotional book called Fruitful Faith. The project included young women in their teens and twenties including eight authors, nine illustrators, one photographer, and three editors. The book is a nine-week study into the Fruit of the Spirit with journaling space, coloring pages, reflection prompts, and devotional guidance.

All profits from Fruitful Faith Books go directly to the Hilliard Institute. These profits are used for student scholarships, clean water initiatives, or in our partnerships with Project R12, such as the saferoom reno this year.

Fruitful Faith Books plans to create more books in the future for a broader range of age groups, continuing to receive donated work from artists, writers, and designers. All profits from all future books will continue to go into the Institute and be distributed just as with this first book.

Counseling Services

The Institute sometimes offers free wellness pre-marital counseling. In 2018, two couples completed the counseling by Dr. Hilliard. He says, “I’m a retired college professor of health and wellness, marriage and family, spirituality, and sensory education. And I’m a Christian minister who has worked for 30 years in missions, teaching, and preaching. As such I’m often asked to officiate weddings. Before I accept a couple's invitation to oversee their wedding, I require them to spend four hours or more talking with me and my wife about marriage and relationships. (We’ve been married 43 years.) We offer this service free. We typically discuss life goals, love languages, finances, academics, careers, family, and anything else the couple wishes to discuss. Then I personalize each wedding ceremony for each couple based on our talks. I also offer to be there after the wedding to continue discussion on issues that might arise in the young marriage.”

Woodfine Talks

September 2018–19 Chancellor Dr. David Woodfine, Dr. Mark Hilliard, and Professor Jessa Sexton gave talks and held teas and events on teaching, learning, etiquette, reading, and writing throughout Middle Tennessee and in East Tennessee. At these teas and talks Dr. Woodfine discusses much of what he learned throughout his years as a student and overcoming ADHD; about becoming an educator and student mentor in Oxford; and becoming a leader in the hospitality industry in England—and eventually becoming a master chef and master sommelier. His talks are a part of The Hilliard Institute’s Woodfine Butler Academy—a training program to help people better understand their gifts and talents, and become better servants within their chosen vocations. In 2018-20, much of what Dr. Woodfine, Dr. Hilliard, and Professor Sexton shared was how to tell your story—whether within a book or in a talk or simply in person to a friend. They also talked about how reading allows us each to share in the world of others and travel to faraway lands. Dr. Woodfine shared a lot about England and Dr. Hilliard and Professor Sexton shared about Ireland, from the distant past to current times.