Neighborly Love Podcast, Episode 58 – Brandon Miller

Ordinary People. Extraordinary Conversations.

The Neighborly Love podcast features casual conversations over coffee in a virtual coffee shop that explores the integration of classical education with teaching what it means to be a neighbor. Classical learning empowers liberation from ignorance and confusion, from prejudice and delusion. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan in the Bible, this liberation echoes the Samaritan’s freedom from societal prejudice that allowed him to see the wounded traveler not as a stranger but as a neighbor. In this way, the Samaritan demonstrated what Christian classical education seeks to cultivate—the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty for the glory of God and the flourishing of human beings and human community.

Neighborly Love is an original podcast by MindWolves. Host Marc Casciani, author of Craft Your Calling, interviews people humbled by education’s sacred potential—not merely to inform minds but to form souls who recognize the divine image in every neighbor they encounter. Perhaps this is the glory of God made manifest—in minds that discern truth, hearts that choose goodness, and spirits that create beauty in a world desperately in need of neighborly love.

Brandon Miller

In this episode of Neighborly Love, Brandon Miller, a music educator at Penn Woods Classical Academy, shares the story of how his garden became a classroom for his neighbor’s children. When curiosity led them to his backyard, he seized the moment to teach them one of gardening’s most important lessons: the art of waiting until something is truly ready before harvest.

This love for gardening runs deep in Brandon’s family, passed down through generations from his father, aunt, and uncle. Now, he’s passionate about sharing that knowledge through hands-on instruction, believing that getting your hands dirty in the soil is the best way to truly understand the craft.

At the heart of Brandon’s teaching philosophy lies a simple but powerful question: “What will make the students the best learners?” His answer centers on nurturing curiosity as a skill that can be developed and cultivated. He believes that when we draw students into what is beautiful—whether through the harmony of music or the wonder of a thriving garden—we’re actually shaping their souls.

Drawing on the classical education model, Brandon uses his twin passions for music and gardening to guide students in discovering what is good, beautiful, and true in the world around them.