Basic Discipleship class - week 2

(posted by Norm Fadelle)

Here are some illustrative photos taken at session #2 of the class on Basic Discipleship; a Chinese fellow -- Caleb Joshua in the front row -- was a walk-in at 7:15 that night, and is scheduled to do the makeup of session #1 with me today; Jerry (man in striped shirt) is the husband who came with wife-student Evelyn to the recognition dinner in Nov, and they both signed up for the Jan classes; she took 2 extra flyers last week to give to her friends (telling me they really needed to come and it was never too late to join in); Edna - the Baptist SS teacher -- takes great notes and shared her thoughts with the class; they were so excellent that I asked her if she would type them up and let copies be given to her classmates -- and she agreed to do so. The participation is so encouraging.  I told them all that I loved to discuss this Bible teaching with them.  The week before, Liz said that the class was just what she needed to address a challenge she was having in the work place.  Lamonte (he is a former Pentecostal; he told me he was a member for years, but learned nothing from the Bible -- it was all feeling and singing etc.; he got disgusted with the dreadful behavior of the pastor) had dropped by the BEC one afternoon and we had a chat for over an hour.  Nancy (woman with pile of  books in front of her, in the front row) hangs out at the BEC a couple of days each week - she has completed the GMP course).  Liane had called in sick, saying she would not be attending that night.  She was keen to have a makeup session, which is planned for this afternoon.  Observation: coming to the BEC has become part of the normal weekly activity for these students. Isn't this great!  Thank you, God. 

 

Other exciting events: (1) this past Sunday, a young man (Max - 2nd year student at community college) came in at 12:30 p.m. to the open shop (while we are having luncheon after meeting in the back); I was on door duty; he was looking for a Bible to read, feeling that he needed to get into the Book; after 20 minutes [due to his eagerness, not my salesmanship] , he had signed up for 2 classes, and bought an ESV for himself, and understood that he could drop in any time for any of the current evening classes.  (2) about noon, an older man had stuck his head in the door of the meeting area, informing us that he had just put his hat and coat on one of the chairs in the BEC; he was doing his fitness walk.  I told him that the risk was entirely his (since we have no one posted in the shop during that time, and we would be closing up in about an hour); he had no problem with that condition.  So just as I was finishing up with Max, the older man waltzed in, got his coat, and left.  Observation: just being there, with an open door to the public, is an opportunity to attract seekers of God's word or to simply provide what is seen to be a haven/service by a passerby. 

(3) the last photo is about the weekly Tuesday night Bible class; it is designed for anyone to "drop in" without any commitment to continue; it is currently led by Ray Pratt (top middle of photo - wife Dana is on his right) and the topic is 1Corinthians;  student James and his wife Teresa (right side of photo) have been constant attenders (offering to pick them up for the class and then drive them home, has been a big help) and have come to a point of asking Paul Zilmer (front left in photo) for some private classes, with intention on becoming members.  So this past Sunday, they came to meeting & SS & luncheon & had their first private session that afternoon with Paul and his wife Jane.  To me, this is exciting stuff.

Delayed start for How to Study class

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Last Thursday, the scheduled start date for our winter offering of "How to Study the Bible", was forecast to begin with an overnight snowstorm, and get worse from there. And so it happened. By early afternoon it was clear that it would be unwise to try to hold the class. I called all of the registered students I could reach, and they all said, "Oh good" when I told them we would postpone.

Last evening, one week late, we began the class. Five of the eight registered students attended. (One had called saying she had to cancel.)

We talked about how to make up the missed session. There was no evening or weekend time that would work for everyone. They suggested we run a little late each time, and get the six sessions of material into five classes. So that's what we will do.

The couple on the left has been attending our Tuesday night discussion class, and they have now requested private classes as well. The gent in back is also a regular at the Tue night class. At the table on the right, the older man has attended some previous classes, and the younger one is a first-time student who just signed up that day. Perhaps out of the snowstorm our Lord enabled a connection?

The opening class seemed to go well, and two of the students remarked as they were leaving that they were surprised to learn more than they expected from the class. They, and I, are looking forward to the weeks ahead!

First winter term class launches

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Last evening we kicked off the first class of our winter term. Norm Fadelle started his 4-week series on "Basic Discipleship". This class was scheduled as a direct response to feedback from our students, who have requested instruction on discipleship issues. There were 8 students registered, and they all came — along with two others who decided to join in! All 10 are ongoing students who have taken one or more courses already.

We received feedback from some of our students last fall, indicating that Wednesday was a difficult day for them to attend. Many of them go to a Wednesday class at their own church. Through January, we are experimenting with having classes on Tuesday and Thursday, instead of Wednesday and Thursday.

Meanwhile, our regular Tuesday Bible discussion class continues, currently studying 1 Corinthians. So, last night for the first time we had two simultaneous classes. We had a little concern about possible dilution, but it turned out that it worked fine. Besides ecclesial members who attend this class, we have 4 students who attend more or less regularly. One of these elected to sit in Norm's class, but the other 3 are definitely committed to the 1 Corinthians study, and plan to continue coming to it. They very much enjoy the discussion format, and as I was giving a couple a ride home afterwards, the husband remarked, "That was a great class!"  All of the students who attend this class have remarked on the contrast with what they think of as a "normal" Bible class, because we dig in much deeper, and we encourage everyone to participate in discussion. They are being fed in a way they've never experienced before.

On Thursday, I'll launch the second offering of "How to Study the Bible", which we've expanded to 6 weeks. This was the entry class for many of our students, and was received very enthusiastically last fall. Not too many registrations this time – 4 seem firm, with 2 others possible. We've also sent follow-up mailings to all of our contacts, so we could end up with more who just show up. On the other hand, a nasty winter storm is forecast...so everyone may stay home, or we may even have to cancel if it gets too bad.

Our God will guide us!

Two more one-session seminars

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

Our second and third holiday-season seminars were held on Dec 17 and 30.

I was scheduled to teach the Dec 17 seminar, on "How to Use a Concordance and Lexicons". Due to my mother-in-law's funeral, I was unable to do the presentation, but Ray Pratt stepped in, and based on comments from the students he did a terrific job. Thank you, Ray!  Nine students attended, including one new student.

Last evening (the 30th) our final one-session seminar, "Managing Conflict in Christian Marriage", was presented by Jared and Nisa Johnson. Five students attended. The format included discussion, and all of the students participated. Everyone stayed after for coffee and conversation.

My assessment is that holding one-session classes during the holidays has been a success. Several of our regular students attended one or more, and others were very positive about the idea, even if they didn't attend any themselves. Besides the direct benefit to those who attended, we have been able to demonstrate a year-round commitment to our students, staying engaged with them.

On another front — our Tuesday Bible study is now being attended by up to 4 regular students, besides members of the ecclesia. ("Up to 4" because they seldom all come, "regular" because all 4 do come often.) As we expected would be the case, it took some time before students started attending this class, but we hope that we're now developing a core who will continue. This class has continued every week through the holiday period. We are still studying 1 Corinthians, which will likely occupy us for the next 6-8 weeks.

Our winter term begins next week. Quite a few have signed up for "Basic Discipleship", and a smaller number for our second offering of "How to Study the Bible". We pray for the Father's blessing on these classes and the other activities at the Center, which we pray bring glory to His name.

Bus signs

Early on, we decided that advertising on the city buses would be one way to reach our target market. It turned out that the bus system allows interior signs at no charge for non-profits. We only have to get the signs printed.

We have caught glimpses of our signs on the buses, but hadn't previously gotten a picture. But the intrepid Guy Grant got on and snapped this picture today!

This is the third sign we've used on the buses. When these were dropped off, it appeared that we might be wearing out our welcome. I don't think they were expecting us to change out the signs every couple of months, but you really need to change things periodically, or people stop seeing them. It's good to see that, even if they weren't terribly happy about it, they went ahead and put up the new signs.

One-session seminar

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

On Saturday we hosted our first single-session seminar. During the holiday period, from Thanksgiving until New Year, we figured that most people are pretty busy, and committing to a series of classes would be difficult. We asked our students about it, and they agreed. But they also said they would like some one-session classes, so they could stay connected.

We've scheduled 3 seminars during the holiday period. The first was led by Ray Pratt this Saturday, on the subject "Managing Money as a Believer". Seven students registered, and five attended. (We knew that one wouldn't make it due to being scheduled to work.)  Some members of the Champaign and Bloomington ecclesias also attended. The seminar went well, the students appreciated it, and we had a chance once again to build relationships, as most of the students stayed afterwards to talk.

Unfortunately, this reporter failed to take any pictures of the event. (It's just so hard to get good help these days...)

Our next two seminars will be "How to Use a Concordance and Lexicons" on Dec 17, and "Managing Conflict in a Christian Marriage" on Dec 30.  Then on Jan 5 we will launch our winter term classes.

Pre-loved books

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

When we started out, some books were donated to the BEC, and this formed the core of our library — reference and inspirational books that might be of interest to our students.There has not been a huge amount of interest in these, but there has been some, and a couple of students have checked books out.

Recently a few more books were donated by well-meaning brothers and sisters — and I wondered what we should do with them. I wasn't really sure adding them to the library would be useful. In Durban, we had received some similar donations, and we had offered them for sale very cheap, as "pre-loved books". But we didn't have enough to make any kind of display that anyone would want to browse through.

Then, one of the on-line booksellers we use sent an electronic newsletter, highlighting free shipping for some used books. I thought, what if we could find some fairly decent used Bibles and study aids, and offer them? I poked around through the site, and found some Bibles, a handful of Bible atlases, and some other reference books. They were cheap enough to give it a try.

The books came in over the weekend, and yesterday we set up our own "pre-loved books" display. As with everything we've done, this is an experiment. Will there be interest?  Don't know — but we're going to find out! Hopefully, this can be an additional service we can provide to students and others who come in: locating low cost ways for people to add to their personal library of Bibles and related materials.