A new sister

(posted by Norm Fadelle & Paul Zilmer)

On Saturday, Dec 4, we rejoiced with the angels as a new creature was born in Christ Jesus. Our new sister Liane is our second BEC student to take on the saving name of Jesus in baptism. Her confession of faith was outstanding — she had written out key Bible teachings and explained them clearly and very thoroughly. Brothers Ray Pratt and Norm Fadelle baptized our new sister, following an exhortation to faithfulness in the new life provided by brother Norm Zilmer.

After the baptism, we broke bread together after extending to our new sister the right hand of fellowship. Paul was in the hospital in Chicago, but joined the rest of the ecclesia by phone to participate long-distance in the baptism and the breaking of bread. After the service was over, Liane and Paul were able to talk by phone. Paul had been one of Liane's instructors over the past 16 months.

Sister Jennifer Millay made a cake, and all (except Paul!) enjoyed fellowship and refreshments following the service.

Fall 2010 recognition event

(posted by Norm Fadelle & Paul Zilmer)

At the end of each term we hold a special event to recognize students who have completed one or more courses during the term. The event for our Fall 2010 term was held on November 22. Not all of our completers were able to attend (we never get 100%) but 12 students and guests did join in.

The evening began with a pizza supper. After everyone had their fill, certificates of completion were given to students who hadn't received them earlier. We also give a copy of Understanding the Bible to every first-time completer. The gift books seem to be genuinely appreciated by the students.

Following the recognizing of the students, the evening concluded with a Bible talk presented by Norm Fadelle: "Real, Relevant, Rich Hope". The reality of it is that our hope is founded on the reality of God's existence—not wishful thinking. The relevance is that our hope is immediately applicable—it makes our lives better right now, as well as being a hope for the future. And the richness stems from the fact that our God is not stingy—He gives abundantly, both now and forever.
 
Actually, the presentation did not end the evening. Everyone wanted to stay to talk! There was a half hour of discussion about the talk and other Bible questions. This term's students in particular seem to have connected with each other, and all stayed for conversation, some of them until all the cleanup was done and it was time to go home. All in all, it was a great evening, enjoyed by staff and students alike.

Basic Discipleship class

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

This fall Norm Fadelle presented a newly expanded version of his Basic Discipleship class, now 6 weeks instead of 4. We had a loyal group of students who completed the class, which wrapped up on November 18. Included among these is a man who is struggling with serious health issues, and who had become quite despondent. He joined the class partway through, and he immediately became very excited about it. He made up the missed classes, and has become one of our most eager students. His health issues continue, but the message of the Bible has given him hope that he was lacking before. We pray most earnestly that the Father will bless him with relief physically, and also that his interest in the Bible will continue, and continue to provide him with hope.

The pictures below are from the last class, including a sampling of the awarding of completion certificates.

Catching up

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Many of those reading these posts will be aware that, shortly after the last posting (mid-October) I went into the hospital and was diagnosed with leukemia. So the crunch on the volunteer staff that was talked about in the last posting came about very abruptly and very intensively, since I've been completely out of action for 2 months now. And Jane, being my caregiver, has also been unable to help at the BEC during this time.

The other volunteers have done a fabulous job keeping things going. Dana Pratt and Norm Fadelle in particular have taken on many more duties. Deb Fadelle and Ray Pratt have also taken on more. Many thanks to all of them, and to our Father for providing them. Our students have been very understanding, and very supportive of me in my illness.

I am between chemo treatments and at home, and I hope to do some catching up on things that deserve to be posted. The next few posts will be history rather than current events.

The eggs fit in the basket, but the basket has a hole

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Our BEC is operated by the very small ecclesia in Champaign County (Illinois), with some crucial help from the Bloomington ecclesia down the road. From the outset, I've been working close to full time at it, and Jane has made major contributions as well. This has been working...up until lately.

I'm now mostly incapacitated with pain caused by bone spurs in my neck. I'm trying to finish up the class I'm currently teaching, an iffy proposition. And right after that I'm scheduled for surgery (since non-surgical options have all failed). My being out of it also impacts Jane, since her main job now is taking care of me. We'll be canceling one class, and possibly cutting back on the hours we are open.

The problem is that we have no "bench" — no one who isn't already utilized to capacity. The eggs in my personal basket initially fit, but now there's a hole, and it can't hold them any more. At least for awhile.

I record this as a lesson learned for others thinking about starting a Bible Education Center. (Or Centre, if you live outside the US!) We'd already been running into issues due to having no slack. Jane and I would like to be able to contribute in other ways and other places, both to keep ourselves fresh and to fulfill our original intentions when we took early retirement. The lesson is: you can't run at the limit of your capacity forever. Short term yes, but it's not a viable long term strategy.

The solution is more people. For us, that means volunteers from outside the immediate area. We've made this plea before, and we are grateful to those who have helped us out with shorter term stints. To be viable, though, we need a succession of longer term volunteers.

Have you ever thought about working in the mission field?
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Volunteers urge others to volunteer

(posted by Joanie and Bruce Parker)

The Christadelphians of Champaign County (IL) are operating a BEC (Bible Education Center) offering Bible studies, Bibles and related materials to their community, from a store-front in a shopping mall. BEC’s have been successful in other parts of the world, but this may be the first in North America. It's among the few run by such a small ecclesia, which brings us to the need for volunteers.

We, Joanie and Bruce Parker, have helped out a little in the past, but this September we got an opportunity to do more. Bruce had a series of Bible Exploration classes based in 2 Kings that seemed to match requests the BEC had received for a little more in-depth studies, so we committed to teaching on 4 successive Wednesday evenings, and also to helping out 3 times with staffing the BEC.

An average of 6+ people attended each evening class… some were Brethren there to support the effort. Eight local folks signed up, and 6 attended at least once; 3 of them completed all 4 classes. (More wished to attend but work conflicts prevented them.) We would read about one chapter an evening, and follow a format of questions which prompted us to dig deeper. The discussions were lively and thought-filled. The warmth among all was evident. All had fun together, around God’s word.

Was it worth the hours of preparation, driving, staying overnight, staffing the BEC though few walked in? Bruce and Joanie say a definite “Yes”!

You can help too, and the folks operating the BEC could use the help. To learn more, contact Paul Zilmer: urbanabec@gmail.com. 

Thank you, Bruce & Joanie!

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

We've just concluded the first class of the Fall Term – a series of studies in 2 Kings, led by Bro Bruce Parker from the Chicago area.

Bruce and his wife, Sis Joanie, came down to Urbana each week through September. For all but one of those, they took a shift manning the shop, as well as presenting the class. Bruce and Joanie are the first out-of-town volunteers to make a month-long commitment to help us out. (We would love to talk to any others who are interested!)

Feedback from our students in the Spring and Summer indicated a desire for some more in-depth studies. In response, we scheduled Bruce's class, and a class on 2 Timothy which begins next week. It appears that the students like the idea of deeper classes, more than the reality. Enrollment for these classes wasn't high (which wasn't really unexpected.)  For the 2 Kings class, 8 registered and 6 attended at least once. Three ended up completing – they are shown in the picture below.

As always, interaction with the students is key, something that Joanie is particularly adept at. She engaged during the social times before & after class, as well as during the shop hours. More than the classes, the relationships are formed in the informal interactions, and relationships are critical to our mission.

Thank you, Bruce and Joanie, for the time, the caring, the instruction, and the fellowship we were privileged to share with you while you were here!

Make-up classes

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

People have busy lives, and with regard to BEC classes that translates into students sometimes missing a class.

Since we began, we have offered make-up sessions, if we can work out a mutually agreeable time. At last week's first session for How to Study the Bible, we had two students who couldn't make it, but very much wanted to catch up. Then at the class, two more said they were going to have to miss the second session.

So, yesterday late afternoon, we had two make-up sessions, one for the first class and one for the second. One of the students didn't make it, but the other three are now up to date and current, and plan to be with us for the third class next week.

We are here to serve the needs of our students. It's gratifying that these don't want to miss anything, so we are happy to offer the opportunity to help them catch up. Surely Jesus faced the same situation. Not everyone could get out to see him on a given occasion. He was bound to have given the same "classes" multiple times, for different audiences – including going back to the same towns he'd been to before. We see hints of this in the gospels, where we read very similar things being said by Jesus, but in different contexts or at different times.

The focus on the student is a key to our operating philosophy (which may sound kind of pretentious, but really just means "the way we intend to do things"). We send reminder notes, and follow up with a call or a card when someone misses a class, to say we missed them and offering a make-up. Making a personal connection, actually caring about each individual,  is just so important! Our Father cares for each one – so should we!

Fall Term launches!

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Our Fall Term is underway!

On Wednesday, Bro Bruce & Sis Joanie Parker came down from the Chicago area to work in the BEC for the day, and Bruce kicked off our Fall Term with the first installment of his class titled "2nd Kings? Why Should a Christian Care About THAT?"  They will come down each week through September to lead this class. Thank you, Bruce and Joanie!

The picture below shows Bruce (standing) and Joanie (sitting in back) along with the students. Bruce is being introduced and is about to begin the class. We had 3 of the 5 registered students show up, along with one who didn't register, for a total of 4. For the more advanced classes this is a normal number. The 2 who didn't make it have told us they will try to be there next week.

On Thursday I started the "How to Study the Bible" class. This is the third time we've offered this course, and it has become something of our "signature" course. It has proved to be the main entry course for new students. We had 16 registered, and 11 of them came, along with one other who didn't register, for 12 in all. Two of those who didn't come contacted us in advance and asked for make-up sessions — one had a prior commitment, and another had outpatient surgery yesterday. Almost all of these students are new to the Center, and we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them a little bit last night. The picture below shows the students, with a couple of them hidden.

Next up for Tue night: Ecclesiastes

(posted by Paul Zilmer & Ray Pratt)

For the past several months we've been studying Paul's letters to Corinth in our Tuesday evening Bible class. These studies are coming to an end — we plan to conclude on Aug 31. The next book we'll study will be Ecclesiastes, starting Sept 7.

We've had a few students express interest in this study. Not all of the calls and walk-ins resulting from our advertising have wanted to sign up for the classes offered on Wed & Thu nights. Some find the round-table discussion format more attractive. Plus, Ecclesiastes is just...well, interesting!  Nothing else quite like it. We have a few students who are already regular attenders on Tue, and we pray that we'll have some more soon.

Another wonderful development: another long-term student told us this morning that she wants to have some classes with some of our sisters, with an eye to baptism. She has been through our courses, and in fact was interviewed, but near the end of the interview she said she wasn't really ready. Since then it's been an emotional time for her. This morning, she said she knows what she needs to do, and wants to go forward again. God bless her, and draw her into His family!

Summer session done, gearing up for Fall

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Last night we concluded our summer session, which was a series that introduced one book of the Bible each week. (We concluded with "Introducing Malachi".) We knew that over the summer people would come & go, so this series worked well for many, since classes did not build on one another. We told the students that if they came to half the classes, they would get a completion certificate. The attendance really was spotty. Of the eleven people who signed up, five got completion certificates last night.

Preparations for the Fall Term are well underway. Besides handing out almost 4,000 fliers door-to-door, we have had a series of advertisements in the local newspaper, as well as signs in the windows of the shop. All three avenues have produced good interest. This week we signed up 6 new students, and we've had inquiries from several more, who may yet sign up. Besides the classes people sign up for, we've also had good interest in our Tuesday evening Bible class, which is more of a traditional Bible study.

Another wonderful development last evening was that one of our long-term students approached me and asked to start classes in preparation for baptism. Besides being a very faithful attender at the evening classes, she has been coming to our Sunday services (regularly to the adult SS class, sporadically to the worship service).

The Chicago ecclesia (a 2 hour drive away) is hosting a gathering in September, with the theme "The One Hope". Many of our ecclesia members will be going, and two of our regular students are also planning to go. Two more students are going to look into whether they can attend.

We are feeling very blessed with all of this!  We pray God will bless our efforts to support, encourage, and teach all of these people as they seek Him.

Looking back on the first year

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Last week we passed our one-year anniversary. Milestones like this make good times for reflection. We've learned quite a bit! A few things that come to mind:

1. At our BEC, the on-site, instructor-led classes are far and away what's most valued by the community we serve. We do have some interest in self-study courses, but not a great deal. Our new & used books (mostly Bibles and Bible study reference books) have had slow but steady sales. This is quite different from the experience Jane & I had in South Africa. We've shifted to featuring the classes as our primary service.
2. Over the year, we have had 80 students sign up for something. Almost half, 39, have completed at least one course. Of those, over two thirds have done multiple courses, and fully one third have done 4 or more courses.
3. We have to keep advertising. Foot traffic does bring people in, but many of those who actually sign up for courses come in because of an ad.
4. The largest influx of new students was in the fall last year. We are waiting & hoping that we'll see another group of new students this fall. Right after the first of the year was our next-largest time for gaining new students. During the late spring and through the summer it's been very slow, with practically no new students.
5. Over and over, people tell us they are so pleased we are offering the services we do. Even if they don't buy anything or sign up for anything. We are a welcome addition to the community, for many.
6. Something we knew already, but has been confirmed time and again: relationships are the thing. We have built relationships with the people who come in, including some people who have never taken a class, but who come in regularly. These relationships are gratifying in themselves, and also are the foundation for real teaching.
7. Less-than-wonderful things do happen. We've been challenged by the very loud church next door — and increasingly we find people who come in just assume we're connected with them. We've had struggles with some of the relationships mentioned before; sometimes it is a challenge to keep a positive outlook. We've had some long-time students who've become friends, but have now left us, and we grieve the lost friendships. We've had some internal differences, as ecclesias do. But none of these things outweigh the very positive experiences we've had. One baptism, others studying, many friendships, and a sense purpose and being valued. A "mission" in more ways than one!

We look forward to the upcoming year!  No doubt it too will bring us both challenges and satisfactions. We pray for our God's guidance, His blessing, and above all that His name will be glorified.
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Help with leafleting, one year celebration, need for prayer

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Sorry for the three-in-one posting!

Item 1:  We were disappointed not to have more volunteers to help us with distributing fliers advertising our upcoming Fall Term classes. And then our single out-of-town volunteer came down sick for much of last week! But in part the shortfall has been made up...from our students!  Two of our long term students asked if they could help, and of course we said yes!  They have been a big help, and they plan to do more. Another of our students has offered to help stuffing envelopes, for a mailing to all of our contacts from the past year.

Item 2:  This week we celebrate the first anniversary of our opening. To commemorate, and also to build relationships, we hosted an ice cream social last evening. All former and current students were invited, as well as the entire volunteer staff. We had a pretty good showing from the volunteers, but not very many of the students. This was a disappointment. But, as Bro Norm Fadelle pointed out, maybe the purpose of the event from the Lord's perspective was something else. As we were setting up, a family came by the BEC "by chance", stopped to look at the material on the table outside the door, and ended up very interested in our upcoming classes. They also purchased a book from our used book table. We pray that this family's interest will continue!

Finally, we ask the blog's readers to join us in prayer. One of our students has some very serious mental health issues. We have been working with her for months now, trying to help her find a way to a better frame of mind, with her security and her hope in God. This past week has been terrible for her, and has taken a real toll on our volunteers as well, as she has lashed out at us in ways that hurt very much, even though we know it is the "demon" (her illness) speaking. Please pray for her well-being, and for us to be able to be a help and a comfort for her.

Door-to-door, publicizing Fall classes

(posted by Paul Zilmer & Norm Fadelle)

We had hoped to host an Operation Onesimus team for a couple of weeks this summer. As it turned out, the Onesimus program didn't field a team this year. So, we set about trying to recruit a team ourselves. With a significant number of available people participating in the Meal-a-Day project in Guatemala, we had trouble just as the OO program did.

We did, however, get one recruit — Sister Kaitlin Ross from Ohio. She, along with members of the Champaign County ecclesia, have been going door-to-door this week, handing people our Fall class schedule brochure.

Of course, many people aren't home, so we leave a brochure on the door. But some folks are at home, and we have a chance to talk to them. Some aren't interested, but more have at least some interest — and a few are quite interested.

On Monday, Kaitlin and Paul went to the post office to buy stamps (for a mailing to our on-board students).  Karen, the postal clerk, noticed our T-shirts. When we told her about the Bible Education Center, she connected that we were the ones who had sponsored two Bible/Science talks 2 years ago, before we even had the BEC!  She was very interested in knowing about the classes, and Kaitlin went back later with a brochure for her.

Today, Kaitlin talked to a couple, Frank and Sheryl, who were sitting outside (in the heat! it was a scorcher). They were very interested, and before long Norm came by and they all had a great conversation. The couple were so fond of the T-shirts that Norm & Kaitlin went back later and presented them with shirts of their own. Frank said he would attend the classes — we will see!  The photo below is of Kaitlin and Frank.

The door-to-door work has been going well enough that it's become clear we will run out of the 2,000 brochures we had printed. So, we've ordered 2,000 more, and we will try to get to additional neighborhoods. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had such a big response that we had to squeeze people in for our Fall classes?

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Summer session underway

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Our summer session was set to start July 15 – but the instructor (me) came down with a fever that day and class had to be canceled. We're doing another round of "Introducing...", where we introduce a book of the Bible: who wrote it, when, to whom, why, and some of the key teachings.

We held the first class a week late, last week, on Haggai. This week, the companion prophet Zechariah will be introduced.

Bible School break

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Last week most of our members were at the Great Lakes Bible School (or in one family's case, on the way back home from a Bible School in Montana). The BEC was closed, and we let all of our students know we'd be closed for a week.

The shop reopened yesterday, and we had our usual Sunday service today. It was the first Sunday for our new brother. After our worship and remembering the Lord together, we had our adult Bible study, lunch (as we always do), then a class with our new brother and his wife, who continues to study for baptism. We were joined today by another of our long-term students, for the first time on a Sunday – and she told us she wants to study for baptism too!

At the Bible School, we made a pitch asking for volunteers to come and help us out. We have plenty of work to do!!  We have an immediate need for volunteers the last week of July & first week of Aug, to help us publicize our upcoming fall schedule of classes. Beyond that, we are hoping that some volunteers will come to help us for as long as they are able, anything from a week or two, up to several months. How about you?

As we stand at the brink of starting our second year, we look back at how much our God has done in this community, and within ourselves. What a loving God!  What a glorious message of hope He has given! As our Lord said, the fields are ripe. Can you help us, or rather help him, with the harvest?

Recognition for Spring completers

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Last evening we held our quarterly recognition event, this time for the 20 students who completed one or more courses during our Spring term. (Almost all of them, in fact, had completed multiple courses.)

We started with a pizza supper, then acknowledge each student by name. For first-time completers, we presented them with a gift book: A.D. Norris' Understanding the Bible. The we watched the WCF video program, "God's Land of Promises", which got good reviews from the students.

Title slide for the recognition presentation. Each student had a slide of his/her own, listing their accomplishments.

Our new brother (2nd from left) was one of the students recognized. We all enjoyed pizza before the program got going.

This coming week is the Great Lakes Bible School, and most of our staff will be there, so we will be closed for a week. We've connected with all of our contacts to let them know. Our Summer Session will begin the following week, with a new round of the "Introducing..." class.

A new brother in Christ!

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

We rejoiced with the angels last evening, as we experienced our first baptism at the BEC. Jim Cope gave a good confession of his faith on Tuesday evening, and he was immersed Thursday. The baptism was followed by breaking bread with our new Brother Jim.

Jim wanted to invite his fellow BEC students to attend, and a few did. Some of them are clearly expressing interest themselves. Jim's wife, Teresa, has also been studying with us for months. She gave serious thought to asking for baptism at the same time as Jim, but concluded she does not feel she is ready yet. In her mind it's a question of when, not whether.

We pray for God's blessing on our new brother in his walk toward the Kingdom. And we pray for Teresa and our other students, to continue with their studies into the good news of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.

Praise God for His love and His merciful kindness toward us!
 

 Jim asked his two primary teachers, brothers Paul & Norm, to baptize him.

 The right hand of fellowship for our new brother.

Summer session

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Our summer session brochure is now out. It's been mailed to our contact list, and we have them for people to pick up at the Center. The picture shows our little "Free - take one" table that we put outside our door when the shop area is open. We've found that quite a number of people will stop just outside the door, if they don't feel like they have to come in. And then, some of them do come in!

The summer session is scaled back from what we offer in the Fall, Winter, and Spring terms. We've seen significant drop-off in people coming in, since the weather has gotten nicer. Talking with our on-board students, they also appreciate a little lighter and more flexible schedule.

Our Tuesday evening Bible study will continue as always. This is a discussion class, no registration needed, and no set end date. We're currently studying 2 Corinthians, and we have several students who join us regularly or semi-regularly.

During the rest of the year, we've offered classes on Wed and Thu evenings, that run for a set period, and which students must register for. For the summer, we'll just have one, on Thursday evenings. It will be a second round of the "Introducing..." class that we've been running. This has been a well attended class, and the students like the fact that each class stands alone, so if they miss one (likely in the summer) they can pick up again the next time they're able to attend. By the end of June, we'll have "introduced" 8 books of the Bible, and we plan to do 7 more in the summer session. The students themselves pick what books we look at.

Call for volunteers!!

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

You don't have to go to a developing country to do missionary work!

Can you give 2 weeks, 2 years, or something in-between? Consider volunteering at the Bible Education Center! We would love to have you join our team!  (Don't live in North America?  No problem – come on over!)

What work is there to do?

Short term (2-4 weeks)

• Man the shop
• Door to door work, inviting people to register for classes
• Special event, standalone class

Medium term (a few months)

• Teach weekly classes
• Interim BEC manager or assistant
• Relationship development
• Private classes

Long term (6-12 months, or more)

• BEC manager or assistant
• Curriculum development
• Expansion of services – what are you dreaming of doing?

How can I find out more?

    Write!   Call!   Talk to us!

Email: urbanabec@gmail.com, call (217) 419-4744

 

Getting along with the neighbors

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

We're now a couple of weeks into having another church right next door.

After the very loud experience the first Sunday, I spoke with one of the leaders of the neighboring church. The conversation was cordial, he said they did not want to be in competition, and said they would "be mindful" of the volume level, although he also said, "You cannot still the passion of preaching." He said they wouldn't use amplification for the Wed prayer service.

As it turns out, the woman who leads the Wed service needs no amplification!  The 6:00 prayer service was once again audible far and wide, although the 7:00 Bible study was not so bad. The following Sunday, the volume was definitely lower. Yesterday, it was once again pretty loud, although perhaps not quite what it was the first Sunday. The irony is that they have only about 30 people, who all sit up front, and they really wouldn't need any amplification.

The ecclesia has determined that we would rather change our own service times, instead of putting up with the distraction for our first half hour. We've also seen that folks from the service next door come into our shop area after they are done. So, we've decided to start our worship at 10:15, and our SS at 11:30.

For Wednesdays, we're carrying on through the rest of June. When our summer session starts in July, we had already planned to only have two classes instead of three, so we will run them on Tue and Thu, and not have anything on Wed for July & Aug. In the fall we'll go back to also having a Wed class — and we'll see then how things go.

We know that our God sees all, and works His will. It's our prayer that the situation might result in some of those from next door joining us for classes. We already know they are curious about us.  May their interest increase!

A real challenge

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

This past Sunday brought the first service of the church that has moved in right next door to the BEC. They use extremely loud amplification – the entire mall reverberates. Their service runs from 8:00-10:00, which overlaps our service, which begins at 9:30.

Their sign says they will also have a service from 6:00-8:00 this evening (Wednesday), which will overlap our 7:00 class. I will try to talk with the pastor about the volume, and we will see what happens from there. We would certainly rather not get into a fight with them. We do, however, need to be able to hear one another within our own space.

It will be a matter for our prayers!

A first

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Yesterday we had a first-ever event at our BEC – a memorial service for the husband of one of our students, who died last week. Our student, Nancy, is one of those people who lives on the margins of society. She has multiple issues: physical, cognitive, emotional, economic, and social. You might think of her as one who has "seven demons". In fact, she is the kind of person that Jesus reached out to, when no one else would, and we have been trying to do as we believe he would.

Nancy's husband had been disabled for many years, and had been in various nursing facilities much of that time. What was very clear was that they loved each other very much.

Hosting this service came with some risk. Nancy has come to understand much of the truth of Bible teaching, but is not yet ready to entirely leave other teachings behind. She selected a number of songs, and we had to look up the lyrics, and ask her to leave out one of them. She asked a Baptist pastor who has been a long time family friend to say a few words; so I had a phone conversation with him about our understanding of the state of the dead. He assured me he wouldn't be there to start a fight.

Nancy has a stormy relationship with her mother (and in fact with many people). A couple of times she threatened to leave if her mother came. In the end, she wanted her mother there. The program kept changing. Would this event, intended to give loving support, turn into a disaster?

It did not. For a person who often says she has no friends, the room was full – at 27, we think it's the most people we've had there for anything. I conducted the service overall, but much of it was provided by Nancy herself, who played music, sang, and spoke with real eloquence about Hobert. We read some scripture, as did the Baptist pastor, and those in attendance heard the Bible speak about resurrection and the Kingdom. Nancy asked Dana, one of our volunteers, plus a social worker from the nursing home to say a few words. After the one-hour service, there were refreshments and nearly all stayed for over an hour of very positive conversation. Two high school girls who came want to attend an after-school program, and asked Dana to restart it.

Possibly the best thing said in the informal time was by one of our other students, who attended to support Nancy. He expressed how glad he was that we had opened our facility for something like this, that it showed a real commitment to the community. The whole thing made us hold our breath in some ways, but we did feel it was a real way we could serve our community. It was one of the first opportunities we've had to put into practice the spirit of "touch and teach" that the South African BECs promote. We're glad we took the risk.

Resumption of Bible Challenge

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

During the holidays last winter, we ran a "Bible Challenge" for 4 weeks, revolving around the accounts of the birth of Jesus. We put out a sign presenting the challenge, and put fliers on the table outside our door with the Bible answers to the questions we posed. The mall we're in has a lot of walkers, and quite a few picked up the fliers and read & talked about them as they walked. And some of them came into the shop to find out more about us.

A week or 2 ago, one of our students asked when we were going to do the Challenge again. We thought she was right, and it was time to do it again. So we are, this time on the theme of the parables of Jesus.

The first week's Challenge is now available on our table. We hope we'll once again spark some conversations, and some interest in what we have to offer.

"Introducing..."

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Last night we kicked off one of the final classes in our spring term. It's called "Introducing..." and each week we'll do an introduction to a book of the Bible. The students will choose which books we look at. In a very few cases, we'll take 2 weeks to do a book.

We started off with a look at how the Bible as a whole is organized. We touched on all 66 books, and how they relate to each other – both in type (law, history, poetry, etc) and in time.

The students then selected which books we would look at for the first several weeks. We had decided ahead of time (with input from those registered) that we would begin with Genesis. The students nominated books, then we voted. There were a couple of rounds of tie-breaking needed. It was gratifying to see that they really wanted to look at more than we can possibly do in the 10 weeks we have! The pictures below show the voting, and the tally on the board. After the decision making was done, we started in on Genesis, which we'll finish next week.

We are seeing a definite pattern of students registering and then not attending. For this class, 5 of the 10 registered came, plus one who hadn't registered in advance. (We're hopeful that 3 of the no-shows will join us starting next week, but we won't know for sure till it happens.) Our policy recently has been to waive the registration fee for students who have completed at least one class with us. This seems to be fostering a somewhat lackadaisical attitude toward the registration process. Is this a problem?  Hard to say. It does make it a little hard on the instructors, not knowing how many handouts to prepare or even how to set up the classroom. Small inconveniences. More importantly, is it good for the students?  Needs some thought. We don't want to create barriers, for sure. On the other hand we definitely want to promote an atmosphere in which Bible education is taken seriously.

Another issue: few of our students who took classes in the fall and winter are signed up for anything this spring. We've of course contacted them all, multiple times, to encourage them to sign up. Do they just need a break?  Are they tired of us?  Are we not offering topics they have an interest in?  We don't really know.

These questions aside, we had a very lively start for what promises to be an interesting series. The students are all very engaged. We have 2 new students, which is great to see. And both of them indicated that they are also very interested in joining our Tuesday night Bible study, currently on 2 Corinthians. Good, positive and exciting things continue to happen!

"Spring Break" classes

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

We had a break in the usual multi-week classes, midway through our Spring term. During this break we had two single-session classes, led by guest teachers.

One lesson learned is that people seem to like the IDEA of keeping classes going all the time, more than wanting to actually attend them!  We did not have a single "regular" student attend either class. (In fairness, we need to point out that illness apparently kept 3 of them home.)  We did, however, have some other people come to both classes. The first one drew a couple of first-time students, which was something we'd hoped for. The second one was attended by some members of the Bloomington meeting, along with 3 people who have been studying with some of our members, but hadn't attended BEC classes.

So, it seems to have been worth doing these classes. During our holiday break in the winter we also found that attendance dropped off quite a bit, but during that break we did have some of the regulars who wanted to stay involved. Taking a break occasionally is (we think) a good thing to do. We'll have to explore how we want to handle future breaks.

Spring Term midpoint reflections

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Classes from the first half of our Spring term completed this week, with the conclusion of the "Living Out Your Faith" and "Life of Jesus" classes. The picture below shows some of the students completing their feedback forms. We rely heavily on the feedback we receive, as we plan future classes.

For the next 2 weeks, both of our primary instructors (Norm and Paul) will be out of town. We're calling it "Spring Break". Several of our students like to stay engaged, so as we did during the winter holidays, we have scheduled two stand-alone classes. Two instructors from Bloomington, our sister ecclesia down the road, will give these classes: Steve Johnson will present "Prophets of the Exile", and Anthony Green will present "True Christianity".

After the break, both Norm and I will have long-running classes that will run through June. Norm is doing our most advanced class yet, "Getting It Right With Jesus". I'll be presenting a series of short studies under the overall title "Introducing...", in which we'll introduce books of the Bible. The students will select which books we look at. So far, I've heard from a couple of students, who would like to learn about Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. Looks like we're going to be spending some time with the poetic books!

One of the great things we continue to see is that most students stay after the classes for conversation (as seen in the picture above). They are building relationships with each other, as well as with us. The BEC classes have become a regular part of several students' lives. Since we opened the doors 8 months ago, we have had 68 students register for one or more courses. Of course a number of these never actually get started, and some others start but don't finish. We've had 24 students complete at least one course – and of these 14 have completed more than one. Six students have completed 6 or more courses. (This does not even count the visitors we have for our Tuesday night discussion Bible class, or our adult Sunday School study – both of which have faithful visitors that attend regularly.)

We feel we've made some real connections in our community, and are making a difference in the lives of the people we are serving. This is what we hoped for when we opened the Center, and we believe that God has blessed us very greatly.

Recognition pix added

Some pictures from our recognition event have been added to the posting below.

Blitz day!

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Today we did a leafleting "blitz", distributing 2,500 brochures for our upcoming classes at the BEC. We had great help from 3 other Illinois ecclesias: Seth & Jessica Turner, Hannah Fadelle, and Russ & Sherry Johnson from Rockford; Arlene & Jared Johnson from Bloomington; and Trent & Sue Johnson from Chicago. From the Champaign ecclesia we had Ray & Dana Pratt and Paul & Jane Zilmer. Many thanks to all who helped out!  We had a day of enjoyable fellowship, working together in our Lord's service.

And we must recognize our support crew: Deb & Abby Fadelle from Champaign staffed the BEC, served lunch to us all, and cleaned up after us. Thanks to you as well — couldn't have done it without you!

Before the first member of our team got back to the Center, there was already someone who had gotten a brochure, who came in and signed up for a class. We pray that there will be many more!

Plans change

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

This week we've come across two situations where we've needed to adjust our plans. Flexibility remains a key element in our approach!  We continue trying things, and then adjusting as we learn.

One class extended, another postponed.

Our Wednesday night class has been "Living Out Your Faith", with 10 students attending. Our premise is that our faith has to show in the way we live, and God has expectations of us, and will hold us to account. Our approach has been to explore a significant number of scripture passages that have plain teaching about what we should DO, and what we should NOT do. We have built lists on flip-chart paper as we accumulated the Bible's teachings. After we add to the list from a given passage, we then look at Bible examples of faithful people actually putting these into practice, or in some cases unfaithful people failing to do as God directs. The pictures below show the DO and NOT lists we've been building on the wall.

The students have been very engaged in these explorations, and as we were nearing the end of the 4 planned weeks, one student asked that we extend the class. I put it to the rest of the students, and nearly all agreed, including all of those who were scheduled to start on the next scheduled class ("Bible History and Geography"). With that input, we are now going to carry on the Living Faith class for 2 more weeks, and we will re-schedule the History & Geography class for another time. For the current class, anyone who has completed the originally planned 4 sessions will be counted as a completer.

Teen activity put on hold, for now

Dana Pratt and Jennifer Millay have been trying for several weeks to get an after-school teen activity off the ground. There has been interest, but not much attendance. Two teen girls came one week, and that's been it. With nicer weather now here, it seems even less likely that we'll get teens stopping in. So Dana has decided to put this activity aside for now. She will try again in the fall. We still believe that there is an opportunity here for something really good — we just need to a couple of kids to try it & find it enjoyable, then tell their friends.

Recognition for winter completers

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

We didn't have as many people turn our for our recognition event as we had hoped. The completion results were excellent — 17 students completed at least one course from Dec thru Feb. We offered 7 on-site classes and 2 self-study courses. One student completed 6 classes, and two others completed 5. But a number of people had conflicts and some simply didn't show. The ones who came heard a nice Bible talk from Norm, who spoke about "Telling Another Person About Jesus", using examples from the New Testament, as well as examples from among our students, many of whom have told friends & family members about their experience at the BEC, and those people have now also become students.

We've now had two recognitions on Saturdays, one am and one pm. The am time got better response, but we would still like to get more. Next time I think we'll try a weeknight. As you can tell, we're still experimenting, holding onto what works, and trying something else when we think we might do better.

Bottom line - we were very proud of our students, many of whom are taking class after class with us. The level of commitment to study God's word is awesome.

Here are some pictures, mainly showing the informal interaction while we enjoyed the appetizers provided by the sisters.

Class completion

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Belatedly, here are some pictures taken at the completion of the class "Kingdom of God – Past, Present, Future". The students all made remarks along the lines of "I never knew how central the teaching of the Kingdom is," or "I always thought the kingdom was in heaven".

In the pictures: some of the students receiving their completion certificates. One student, having seen volunteers wearing the Kingdom of God T-shirts, asked if he could buy one. We were happy to oblige, and he was happy to have a way to proclaim his new understanding of a key Bible teaching.

(Postscript to my beloved brother Barry: Your GNOTKOG logo has traveled well across the Atlantic and into the northern hemisphere!)