Special guests from South Africa

(posted by Paul Zilmer & Norm Fadelle)

We were privileged to have a visit from Lucas and Leona Scheepers, from Johannesburg, South Africa. The Scheepers are working full time in the Lord's service, primarily serving in the townships that surround Johannesburg. Several of us in the Champaign County ecclesia have had an opportunity to work briefly with them, and have seen the wonderful results first hand.

Since Lucas and Leona were in the area, we put on a special event in the mall where our BEC is located. The mall management let us use the large space in the center of the mall, at no cost (other than a small charge for the sound system). We advertised the special presentation, and made sure all of our current and past students knew about it.

Eventually, we had about 50 people in attendance. Many were from our ecclesia and the Bloomington ecclesia, and even as far away as Rockford and Chicago. We also had a number of friends of members, several of our students, and we think some who came from the advertisements. It appeared that we even had some who saw us there and stopped to listen.

Lucas talked about the Community Outreach Program Trust (abbreviated COPTrust), which sponsors the work. One hundred percent of donated funds go directly to help people, since no admin costs are taken. Workers such as the Scheepers are supported by a US-based foundation. There have been a number of projects, including a Bible Education Centre in Johannesburg. But the majority of the work is in the townships, where many of the black citizens of South Africa continue to live in terrible poverty.

Leona spoke in more detail about the projects relating to creches (pre-schools) in the township of Tembisa. Under an overall umbrella called the CUDDLE project, several sub-projects are providing concrete help to hundreds of the small, informal pre-schools in the township. One effort that has been spectacularly successful is the Creche Course, which teaches the pre-school teachers how to teach. Without such training, the creches are little more than warehouses for the young children, and they end up starting school at a terrible disadvantage. Through training, examples, and follow-up, the quality of teaching at the creches is improving dramatically. To date, 200 creche teachers have been trained, and there is a waiting list of 200 more wanting to take the course.

Also part of the CUDDLE project is providing upgrades to the physical locations of the creches. This includes painting, shelving, carpet, toys, and education materials.

After the presentation, everyone was invited to come back to the BEC for South African desserts, and to talk with Lucas and Leona. (That's Leona in the white blouse.) Many accepted the invitation, and good conversation continued for quite some time.

Second IDL class underway

(posted by Ray Pratt & Paul Zilmer)

The Interactive Distance Learning (IDL) experiment, using Skype to bring in Jeff Gelineau from California, was very successful. So we are doing it again, this time going even farther afield!  Cam Beeler is leading a class from Durban, South Africa, titled "The First Page: God's Way for God's Children". The "first page" refers to the first page of your Bible. Starting there, Cam is exploring how God has set out His way, and called us to be part of it.

For Cam, this approach involves starting at 2:00 a.m. his time. It works out great for us! We are really excited by how well this is working, because it opens up the opportunity to have instructors from literally anywhere in the world, if there is an internet connection.

Cam on the wall in the BEC via Skype

Some of the students taking the IDL course

Recognition for Spring Term completers

(posted by Ray Pratt & Paul Zilmer)

Our Spring Term concluded with two 5 week classes:

• In an experiment that turned out very well, we tried Interactive Distance Learning (IDL) for the first time. Our instructor was Jeff Gelineau, who was live via Skype from southern California. He was able to see the class, and of course they could see and hear him. The class was able to ask questions at the end of each presentation. Jeff's topic was "Journey with a Purpose". The IDL approach worked out so well that we are doing it again.
• We were pleased to have Bruce Parker return from the Chicago area to again present a class. His subject was "Believe the Bible?", and presented several solid reasons to trust the Bible as authoritative.

On May 30 (Memorial Day in the US) we recognized the students who completed one or both classes. This time the Pratt family invited everyone out to their home for a cookout. Unfortunately, several could not attend, but as you can see from the pictures below, those who made it had a great time.