Hi, I'm Justina Stevens, the art director for the Cageless Birds.

And over the course of the next two podcasts, I get to sit down with Jonathan and Melissa

Helzer, the founders of the 18-inch journey and the

Cage of Birds. I've been running with Jonathan and Melissa since the first 18-inch

journey school and I'm excited to create space for them to share the history and the heart of the

18 inch journey as well as answer some of the most commonly asked questions about the

school. So can you guys tell me a little bit about the school and why you named it the

18 inch journey? Yeah we had a dream since our first summer camps to do a school one day.

We met at a ministry school and I love ministry schools. They empower you to do ministry.

We had so many friends who went to ministry schools and they learned how to use their gift

but a couple of years in the ministry many of them were burned out because they didn't know who they were in their heart.

And so really our dream shows. because they didn't know who they were in their heart.

And so really our dream shifted from a ministry school

to like we want to do a school of the heart.

And we wanted a really creative name.

We had heard this phrase for years that the greatest

journey you ever make is the journey from your head to your heart and we're like

what about the 18 inch journey as a name for the school? Because we knew it was a school for the heart and

that's where the name came from.

And I love when you name something because I think you don't, when you name something you don't fully understand that it's going to take years to unpack the meaning of that name.

Our first school we were just scratching the surface of what the 18 inch journey is.

And it is this distance.

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