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What a privilege to begin our next group of students in James Cistern. Thank you for your prayers because they were answered with one of the liveliest and most teachable group of students we’ve had yet!
There is always an anxiety for me before we begin a new class, because I never really know who they will be or what they will be like. And its a two year commitment to go through the training, so no matter who we get, we will be going through two years together.
As word spread about this new class starting our class size continued to grow. We eventually ended up with 18 new students, and a very diverse group of associate pastors, church leaders, police officers, and local business men and women.
This first course is perhaps the most important (although I always say every new class is the “most important”), it is Bible Study Methods and Rules of Interpretation. I was incredibly blessed to have Patrick Rutherford partner with us to teach this first course. Patrick is a gifted teacher and an incredibly humble man of God – the kind of person that make you better by just being around them.
Patrick enthusiastically led the class through the Inductive Bible Study Method of Observation, Interpretation, and Application. He deliberately slowed down and spent the majority of his time on Observation as this was the first time for everyone to be exposed to this method. And the extra time has paid off, because by the end of these two week everyone is comfortable with the skill of observation.
Some of the comments in class were amazing. One gentlemen in class said that he was preaching this coming Sunday, and after going through class he feels like he is learning for the first time how to correctly teach the Bible.
I am just very encouraged and feel very blessed to have spent the last two weeks with our new students. They are fantastic and are eager to learn. They don’t refrain from stopping me in the middle of class to ask questions and for additional explanation – which is healthy for all of us. I am thoroughly looking forward to the next two years with this group – please keep us in your prayers.