SOBA Blog: Check it out !!

Please visit our school blog for student and staff updates at...

• 2009soba.blogspot.com/
  

Please visit the VCOM (Vineyard College of Mission) website at...

• vcom.vineyardboise.org/
  

simply this: thoughts & prayers from boise

• John 14.25-26 says, "I (Jesus) have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate (The Helper), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you." So I pray that as this year goes by that the Holy Spirit would be teaching me and therefore I may teach my students and those around me through the revelation of sound truth.
• "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." -AW Tozer
• " A good teacher actually wants their students to be more affective than them." -Dr. Hendricks
• "I think that if what we are doing seems radical (regarding the Simple Way project), then that says more about the apathy of Western Christianity than about the true nature of our discipleship. And this is why "radical" has to be coupled with "ordinary"." -Shane Claiborne

Staff Overview: School of Biblical Action 2009

Dearest Reader,

As some of you may know, last June 2008, I completed a course called the School of Biblical Studies in Boise, Idaho at the Vineyard Church. Ever since then, I have been living in Boise working and waiting to hear how the Lord wanted me to apply all that I had learned. An opportunity recently arose where I was invited to step into formal leadership as a full-time bible teacher at the Vineyard College of Mission with a school similar to School of Biblical Studies, called the School of Biblical Action. After some thought, prayer and wise counsel, I committed. I can understand when the prophet Jeremiah said, “…His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot (20.9).” That same fire has been inside of me from the time I committed my life to follow Christ and began studying God’s Word. I realized that what I desperately want to do is put His Word into action, Biblical Action, and to equip and empower my students to do the same. Ezra put it perfectly when he said, “he had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel (9.10).” Let’s just say that I have set my heart on studying the Word, putting it into action, and to teaching its truth in Boise, Idaho.

           We have eight students coming to Boise this year from Washington, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, and England. In the School of Biblical Action we will teach our students through the inductive Bible study method, which brings the Bible to life. Students study each New Testament book, examining closely the historical settings, literary styles, main ideas, repeated themes, etc. and through that, they discover the relevant truth that applies to us today. I personally will be teaching a week on Jesus and the Kingdom, 2 Timothy, 2 John and 3 John, as well as leading small group and helping with daily classroom activities. The hope is that by learning more about who God is and what his word says, students are able to take that truth and do something with it... seeing transformation happen in their own lives and in the broader spheres of church and society. We don't want our students to just be hearers of the word, but doers of it (James 1.22-25). We want to take what we learn and do something with it... bringing truth to the streets. We'll give food to the hungry, evangelize the lost, love on the hurting, minister to the broken, pray for the sick, speak life to the hopeless, bring freedom to the addict... only imagination will limit us. Following Christ is both practical and spiritual; students will walk both out and see change happen in themselves and in the lives around them. They will daily witness the kingdom breaking through and will experience real joy in being proactive life-changers. At the end of the year, I will lead a one-month overseas outreach where the students and I will fully live out the Christian adventure. Bringing everything they have learned about Christ and everything they've become in Him, they will step out in faith and see God meet them there. It is there that they will discover they're far more equipped than ever before to handle whatever this life throws at them. In this age of relativism, there is nothing better than giving people a biblical worldview based on God’s steady character.                                                      

Unfortunately due to the intensity of the school, there will not be any time this year to hold a job; but the students’ tuition will help with my room and board until August 8, 2009 (the end of school).  Although that is the bulk of my expenses, I will still be in need of an income to pay for my other bills (cell phone, car, insurance, travel, etc.).  I would greatly appreciate your prayers of support this year, for myself, the other staff as well as the students. 

"The true function of a teacher is to create the most favorable conditions for self learning... true teaching is not that which gives knowledge, but that which stimulates pupils to gain it. One might see that he teaches best who teaches least." -John Milton Gregory (taken from Dr. Hendricks book 'Teaching to Change Lives'

I will do my best at this whole blog thing. I will keep in touch...please do the same!

Sincerely,

Eric