Trial Reading Plan

Session 2 - Created to Relate
Tuesday (10/8): Psalm 22:1-31
Wednesday (10/9): Ephesians 4:1-6,
                                 Romans 12:9-21
Thursday (10/10): Romans 13:8-14
Friday (10/11): Genesis 1:26-31
Saturday (10/12): Matthew 11:25-30; Matthew 6:1-4
Sunday (10/13): Matthew 27:45-56
Monday (10/14): Colossians 3:1-17

Session 3 – Created to Work

Tuesday (10/15): Genesis 2:4-25

Wednesday (10/16): James 1:2-18

Thursday (10/17): Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Friday (10/18): 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Saturday (10/19):  Revelation 21:9-22:5

Sunday (10/20): Psalms 121:1-8

Monday (10/21): Hebrews 10:1-18

Lake Pointe Trip Report

It was a great time of training and encouragement at Lake Pointe at the end of February.  For those of you not able to attend the last Communication Meeting, the Trip Report can be found here.

July Quarterly Team Huddle Slides

July 2011 - QTH - Update

February Quarterly Team Huddle Slides

Better late than never! :)  Here are the slides from the February QTH.

Time flies when you're having fun!  Our next QTH is scheduled on April 9th from 4pm-7pm.

February 2011 - QTH

Php 1:1-11 - Link Up With Others

It's kind of nice going through Philippians again. I'm able to improve on my study / teaching from last time... Hopefully! :)

From the archives, check out this previous post referencing our scripture passage for this week.

Learning Styles

What is your definition of Teaching?

In 7 Laws of the Learner, Dr. Bruce Wilkinson makes the connection between teaching and learning. It is truly amazing to see the connection between the Hebrew words for teaching and learning in Deuteronomy.

In the book, Dr. Wilkinson defines teaching as "causing the student to learn". This definition has great ramifications to a teacher. This puts the responsibility of the students learning in the hands of the teacher. (Yes, I know the student plays a part in their learning as well.)

This definition hit home to me shortly after a Life Group class that I had taught. A first time guest approached me saying that they didn't understand what I was talking about during class. I had failed at teaching that day. Sure, I presented all of the information, but she didn't learn!

One way we can "cause our students to learn" is to speak to their learning style. How can a teacher know a student's learning style? Many times it can be observed. If someone is fidgety in class, that might be an indication of a physical learning style. If someone is always humming, it might be an indication of a musical learning style.

We can be more direct and ask. To this end, you could survey your class with the Approach To Learning worksheet. Dr. Thomas Armstrong has an article that has some more information.

It has always been interesting to see the different learning styles represented in a class that I have surveyed. Armed with their learning styles you can now effectively "teach" your students!

Hezekiah's Tunnel

I ran across this earlier this week.  Sorry for the delay in posting it.  Great video!  Can't wait to show it to my class as some of the archaeological evidence supporting the Bible!

Picture Day for Your Classroom

Yes, you read correctly.  Sunday after church is picture day for your classroom.  Yes, just the room...

Let me explain.  On Tuesdays and Fridays our facilities are put to good use by a group of home school families for "Family School."  They have been very gracious and cooperative with us and they are a blessing to New Life Baptist Church.

After the group uses a room, they set it back up just as it has been photographed.  The photographing took place before the school year started, but with our room move it is great time to take new pictures.

So have your room spic and span by this Sunday after church with the chairs setup in your desired configuration.

Feel free to send me an email or give me a call with any questions.

Sermon links for U-Turn Here—and Now!

The Leader Guide states:

"The headings in this lesson make use of three classic sermon titles from famous preachers of the past. These pulpit giants boldly called God’s people to repentance in their day."

I wanted to pass along the links to these:

Payday Someday - R. G. Lee SBC website
Turn or Burn - Charles H. Spurgeon
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God - Jonathan Edwards

Quarterly Team Huddle Reminder

Hi Everybody,

Just a quick reminder about the Quarterly Team Huddle this Saturday from 4pm-7pm (potluck dinner) at New Life Baptist Church.

As an added incentive to come to the meeting prepared we will have a "Lightning Round".  This will be a part of the meeting where you (or someone you designate) get to briefly share the highlights of your Life Group over the past 3 months.  It could be anything: new guests, baptisms of class members, transformed lives, a fantastic fellowship, a time of caring, anything that you want to praise God for!

You will want to be sure to invite your class to attend with you.  Remember from Make Your Group Grow, one of the highest indicators of a growing class is involvement.

See you Saturday at 4pm!

In Him,
Torrey

Keeping the Main Point the Main Point

Many times I've heard the analogy of not being able to see the forest for the trees.  As we have been going through 1 and 2 Kings I am again reminded of this idea.  There are so many good tidbits of information that it can be easy to dive in way so deep that we lose track of the point of the lesson.  I admit it, I'm guilty of it.  After a week or more of study of a particular passage I could write a 10 page paper expounding on what we have learned.

One of the things I like about our curriculum is the Biblical Truth and the Lesson Goal.  Continually keeping these two in mind as I study the passage of Scripture,has helped me to keep the main point of the lesson, the main point of my teaching.  My goal as a teacher is not to fill my students heads with Biblical knowledge or to share all the details of my 10 page paper.  My overall goal as a teacher is to teach my students to love the Word of God and to see it transform their lives in real life application.  My goal for a particular week's lesson is to teach the Biblical Truth and to help instill the Lesson Goal into my students lives.

How do I satisfy my own desire and need for depth of study, yet not get trapped so far in the details that I'm missing my goal as a teacher?  A very practical way is something that Pastor Albert shared with me a few weeks ago.  Using a mind mapping tool helps me to flesh out my thoughts and add as much detail as I need so that I can fully understand the Scripture.  Then I can collapse the details and focus on the main point of the lesson.

I happen to be using xMind and they have a very helpful training video to get started.  Below is an example of the mind map I drew up for a recent lesson with the details expanded..

Then as the latter part of the week approached, I narrowed my focus on the main points.

Heading to Texas for Training!

The Northwest Baptist Convention and the Interstate Baptist Association (both of which we are part of) are sending Adult Ministry Leaders from around the Northwest to Rockwall, Texas this weekend for training from Pastor Carter Shotwell of Lake Pointe Church.

You may remember Pastor Shotwell from the time he spent at our church helping us to learn about the Life Group model.  In fact, you can see video clips of the training on the right hand side of this blog or check them out on YouTube.  :)

It should be a great time of learning about how we can best continue the process of implementing Life Groups here at New Life!  Please pray for us (Pastor Albert, Pastor Keith, Dee and myself) as we travel.

40 Days of New Life

Well Pastor Albert and Pastor Keith laid down the gauntlet last Sunday.  Will we as Teachers and Coordinators take up the challenge and encourage our students to do the same?

I am eager to see what God will do with a body of believers fully committed to Him.  I am personally praying that God would increase my love for His Word and my love for His people.  Combining the two I want to see my students grow in their love for His Word.  I'm sending an email out to my students with the link to the 40 Days of New Life challenge.

Hey even our Pastors (Albert and Keith) are blogging about it!

February Quarterly Team Huddle

Come One, Come All, to our February Quarterly Team Huddle!  This is a particularly important time of Fellowship and Planning for your Life Group.  Be sure to invite your entire Life Group!  Potluck Dinner at 5pm.

Saturday, February 5th, 4-7pm.

For future planning here are the dates for the rest of 2011 (all 4-7pm):

    April 9th, July 16th, October 15th

New Classrooms Are Ready For Use!

The elevator passed inspection this week!  This means that the new classrooms are available.  Please, plan to setup your rooms prior to class time and communicate the change to your students.

Thanks for your patience in the room changes.  WooHoo!  We can move forward and work alongside the Lord as He builds our classes!

Question: The Tribe of Simeon in the Divided Kingdom

So I am a bit confused, and I suspect that between all of us we'll be able to straighten out my confusion!

In the map below, I see that the tribe of Simeon is surrounded by the tribe of Judah.

 

We know that the nation of Judah (the Southern Kingdom) is only made up of the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin (based on 1 Kings 12:21).

So the question is: What is Simeon's place in the Divided Kingdom?

(The goal of this blog is that will be a place where we can post our questions and thoughts freely and have discussion as each of us grow deeper in our walk with the Lord!)

Kings and Propets of Judah / Israel Chart

Does anyone have a good online or image of a chart showing the kings and prophets of Israel?

For myself, and the students I'm teaching, I've found that having a chart to refer to really helps me to see how the history of Israel and Judah line up.

My Logos Bible Software has some charts that may be useful.

Post a comment below in response.  I'm eager to learn better tools to better equip our people!

Logos Timelines of Prophets and Kings

Elevator / Room Move Delayed

So close!

As of yesterday the elevator inspection has been delayed because of the unavailability for some electrical relays, required in order to pass. The relays are on order, but have not yet arrived and it is not going to be possible to complete the work and have the inspector come before Sunday. As far as the completion of the elevator depends on New Life we are now shooting for Sunday, December 12th. The work doesn't sound extensive so our part should be done.

Thus the usage of the new rooms will need to delayed.

We're getting there!  Thanks for your patience and understanding! 

On the positive side this gives us another week to paint our rooms!  The newly painted rooms look great.  Kudos to John Sutton's LG, Bob Hagman's LG, and Christian Brown's LG for jumping at the opportunity already!

Winter Schedule

Dear Life Group Teachers & Coordinators,

In an effort to give you as much notice as possible we'd like to make an announcement concerning our Sunday schedule for this winter. As we all know, winters in Oregon can be all but impossible to predict and are almost always more severe at night making the early morning hours perilous for travelers.

With that in mind, we will be altering our Sunday schedule during the winter months and will re-evaluate things again in the spring. The new schedule will be as follows:

• 9am        - Life Groups
• 10am      - Fellowship
• 10:30am  - Worship

• 5pm         -  Deeper Life Service

This new schedule will begin December12th. This will allow a couple of weeks to let everyone know and get ahead of the slick roads that we are already experiencing.

Obviously, the biggest difference will be not having an early service. Conducting a worship service requires more than just arriving at starting time. For many people like the greeters, audio/visual techs, nursery workers and staff, an 8:30 service means being on the roads as early as 7am. That's even more true for anyone serving in the worship band as they have a run-through every Sunday before service. Considering the low average attendance of the early service and the fact that we have ample space for everyone to combine into one service, it just proves prudent to make the change.

This also provides opportunities for us as a church to come together and strengthen our unity. We will be able to experience more fellowship than was possible before by offering a 30 minute fellowship time between Life Groups and worship. All age groups will have opportunity to mingle and get to know one another as we share coffee and refreshments together in the fellowship hall. Another advantage to the new schedule will be a pre-noon release time providing more time in the afternoon for families.

We will also be starting a new Deeper Life Service on Sunday evenings. These discipleship focused services will provide an opportunity for people to really dive deep into God's Word in a way not possible in the morning service. It will also be an alternative for those that cannot participate in the morning service due to schedules or ministry obligations. The Deeper Life Service will mirror the Awana schedule.

All in all, we believe this will serve as a way to not only keep members of our family safer during these upcoming months, but also meet some other needs and help bring us together as one body connecting, growing and serving together.

Sincerely,
New Life Staff

Date Change for New Room Locations - November 14th

Please make note of a change in the date regarding room location.  The elevator is progressing nicely, but an additional week is needed to complete the work.

The exciting times continue with the installation of the elevator allowing us to take full advantage of the upstairs classrooms on November 14th!

Take a look at your room this week and see what improvements you would like to make.  A new coat of paint, new baseboards, a good cleaning of the carpet and wipeboard can go a long way to sprucing up the rooms and making our guests feel really welcome.