LCE Group Avacado

Last post I have. 5 Hours 2 at church. 3 at wednesday night church

2009-04-17T05:20:00.001-07:00

Report #7- This was the last week of my practicum. It was really cool. We talked about how Jesus died on the cross for us, and we gave the salvation story. We stood up front with little crosses to give to the kids. It was cool because two kids came up to me and asked for prayer. This was like the coolest thing, I just felt deep down in my heart that this is why I was hear to pray with these kids and let them know how awesome God was. Then afterward we did a volunteer appreciation. The kids had to go hug their favorite volunteers. I got hugged a lot. It felt really good because when I first started going I thought the kids were like “he’s not cool” but they kept telling me to come back. It felt extremely good to here that.

1. What is a calling?

2. What is that feeling we get when we pray with someone and it just feels right?

Practicum 6. Joes. 2 hours working on lesson. 2 hours at sunday school. 3 hours wednesday night class

2009-04-17T05:11:00.000-07:00

Report #6- This week again I went to help with the after school program. It was a little bit better this time. The kids were a whole lot nicer; they didn’t curse me out. It was really enjoyable. I have been getting to know the guy who is in charge of the program. His name is Brittan, who just recently got married to Dr. Lennox’s daughter. He graduated from IWU a couple years ago and has stuck to JC Body Shop.

This was the week to teach the class. I thought since I had written a lesson for the book that we have been writing in class I thought I would use it. I modified it of course.

Age Group- Junior High Kids

The Age Group- The scripture that they will study is Psalm 42.

The Topic- The topic is how when we are down and feel that we are out, all we need to do is remember how awesome God is.

The Objective- The objective in the class is to help the kids know that when they are having a hard time they can just look to God to feel better.

The Class Sequence

Charlie lets the kids play for about a half hour. Starting at 11AM. Have until 11:30AM. Expect at least 30 kids.

1. Arriving First 5 Minutes

a. I want them to run down to one end of the gym to the other 5 times. This way all the sugar they had before class will go away.

b. Then have them all split up into 5 groups. For what you are about to do.

2. The Game 10 Minutes

a. We will play a nice icebreaker game. A game you could play is the story sequence. I will get a short story and split it up into different parts and give a piece of paper with a part of the story on it to each individual. Then time them to see how long it takes them to put the story into chronological order. Whatever team wins gets a piece of candy.

3. The Lesson 15 Minutes

a. My main objective is to tell these kids that when they are down they just need to remember God and get in touch with Him. This is why we are doing Psalm 42.

b. Start off by reading Psalm 42 to the group with the New International Version.

c. Go around the group asking, when you are down what do you do to get over it, or make yourself feel better? Some will give you some answers like I listen to music, I go for a run, I go play with my kids. When they are done answering you tell them what you do, you can tell them whatever you do.

d. Then I will refer back to the passage Psalm 42. I will tell the kids that when these guys who wrote this passage they had God to look up to when they were having a hard time. Even their friends made fun of them, but they still followed Jesus. Then ask what they think happened to the men who wrote this passage? Tell them that they were happy.

e. After I’m done with this I will go around the circle and ask for prayer request.

The Teachers response.

Brittan actually was listening for me. I asked him to give my strengths and weaknesses. He said the presenting was well done. He said also getting rid of their energy was great as well. He said though that I needed to go a little bit deeper, He said I sounded like I was trying to teach little kids. He also said you need to work on theology a little bit better.

I think it went really well, and I think Brittan did too.

The 5th post 6 hours on wednesday, after school program and wednesday night church. 2 hours church. 8 hours.

2009-04-17T04:29:00.001-07:00

This week was really tiring. I decided since I had no classes after 3 I would go dedicate my time with the after school program. It went from 3 till 6 then I had to stay till 9. I spent 6 hours at JC Body Shop, which shouldn’t be a problem. The kids that come in at three are rough kids. These are kids that come from the rough part of town and they know it. They really tried giving me a hard time today. One kid accused me of not giving him the ball because he was black. Yah I smartened him up quick. It was a really interesting set up. We had them play for an hour, then study for an hour, then play for an hour, then eat and then come back and play. There was hardly any learning. I was a little disappointed in it. The kids though eventually started warming up to me. We for some reason got onto the subject of hobos and how all the kids wanted to be one. I started laughing then they started laughing. It was really funny. Then we went back to JC Body Shop and the 6 o’clock thing started. It went from 20 kids to like 80 kids. I was going to go to the gym but Charlie stopped me and asked me to go and greet the kids at the door. I went and got to know the kids who always wrestled each other a lot better. The serious part of the service started and again we talked about Jesus. This week they showed a clip of the Passion and Jesus being flogged. I thought maybe it was a little to much. After that it was all over and the kids left and so did I.

Questions

1. Do you think it is too much to show a Junior High kid the Passion of Christ?

2. When do you think it is the right time to speak out and say I think this should be done better?

Joe's 4th week Practicum. 2 for sunday, 4 hours open gym

2009-04-17T04:12:00.000-07:00

Report #4- We missed last week because of Spring break. So this week when we come back to school our kids leave for their spring break. Charlie and his assistant Julia Hurlow, decided to have a campfire for volunteer appreciation. Two friends of mine and I went over to check out the campfire in the middle of Marion. It was fun a lot of people showed up. My two friends and I stayed a little bit longer then everyone else, because we having too much fun burning the marshmallow stickers through our shoes. Eventually we went over to JC Body Shop to help out Charlie with his Open Gym night he had for kids who stayed home for Spring Break. It was a lot of fun, for a while Charlie, GJ and I were the only volunteers who stayed. It was an awesome time to get to know a lot of the kids. I got to know some of the senior high kids. One of the guys mother’s made us all hot enchiladas. Then some of the other guys decided to play a worship concert for me too show me how good they were. For how old they were they were pretty awesome. I really love working with Senior High, they just seem more fun, there easier for me to relate too and they actually listen more too. It was a great week.

Questions

1. Which is better to teach Senior High or Junior High?

2. Is it easier for anyone else to relate to senior high then junior high or the opposite and why?

Joes real third week of practicum.2 hours church, 3 hours wednesday night

2009-04-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

Report #3- My time at JC Body shop is getting a whole lot better. This week again I went out into the gym as usual. I started playing with one of the other volunteers named Aimee. We were throwing around the football having a great old, and then two kids, you could tell they were brother and sister. We started throwing with them, because the other kids were kind of being greedy with the other balls. It was time to go and chill down for the serious part of the time. The guy who teaches most of the time is Chris. He is a real cool guy, who really likes to put a lot of effort into what he is saying. I don’t think the kids get it half the time, but at least he is trying. We have been talking about the story of Jesus for a while. Chris has split the story of Jesus up into different parts so he doesn’t run out of stuff to say before Easter. Since it is Easter we have been talking about Jesus with the kids. I think it would be awesome if we could have like a small group discussion with the kids asking them what they think about what Chris is saying. I should tell Charlie about that.

Questions

1. What if you have a problem with staff maybe picking favorites?

2. Should you have small groups with Junior High kids?

I have so far spent 9 hours at my practicum. Thats including the other two posts i had

Sunday School number 9

2009-04-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to Holland Michigan, so we went to a new church plant there. We were visiting a friend who is the worship leader there and he needed my help singing with the worship team. So, this week, I spent an hour at worship practice, an hour and a half at Sunday service, and an hour in Sunday school (three and a half hours in total). In Sunday school the lesson all about Noah. I was immediately interested because Noah is usually a lesson that you would hear in children’s church or something. The lesson was opened with a scriptural search for the reason for the flood. We read Genesis 7:1, where God tells Noah that he and his family are the only ones righteous enough to escape the flood. Noah was the only man who pleased God. This opened a discussion on the righteousness of Noah – people questioned what he had done, and what the earth had done to come to be destroyed. We found and discussed how Noah was the only one who was walking with God and how scripture says earth was filled with violence. After this we started talking about how Noah’s faith was strong through the process of building the arc. Three parts of Scripture tell about the faith of Noah – he spent over 100 years building the structure, he built the huge boat on land (obviously implying that he trusted God that the flood waters would reach it,) and he was the only person that listened to God and followed His instructions. From this evidence we concluded that Noah probably was made fun of quite frequently. He would have had many reasons to give up, but he stuck with it. This is the kind of faith we should have – we should walk with God, follow his instructions, and then stick with them, no matter what people think or say about us. This opened another discussion of how we should do this – obviously, first we have to be faithful, listening and following through, but most of the time, just thinking to ourselves that we are going to do something, it doesn’t actually happen. Therefore, we must not only surrender our lives to God, but also have an accountability system. We should have people in our lives that we can discuss such things with, so that they can also hold us tight to the promises we are making to God. After we discussed this for a while, we said a prayer of commitment to these ideas, and had a little bit of time to hang out before church started. What can we do to please God like Noah did? How can we have a faith as strong as Noah? Why does the church think that everyone went to church as a kid and knows all of the typical “kid stories” and what can we do to change that?

Last Practicum Post!

2009-04-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

This week, we went to a church plant in Holland, Michigan because we were visiting a friend and he needed our help that Sunday. So, for this week, we spent 3.5 hours for our practicum at a different church. (1 hour for Sunday school, 1.5 hours for worship service, and 1 hour for worship band practice).

The Sunday school lesson was focused around Noah’s Ark. For the first point, we went right to Scripture to find out why the flood happened in the first place. Genesis 7:1 states that Noah was righteous in his generation in the NIV. Other translations went as far as to translate this passage as “you [Noah] alone are righteous” in the entire world. The earth was also said to be filled with violence, which triggered God’s judgment. After discussion about these points with the class, we started talking about the most important aspect of the story, Noah’s faith. There were three major things that stood out in the story that revealed the strong faith of Noah. 1) He built the ark for about 100 years, 2) he built his enormous boat on land, and 3) he was the only person on earth who listened to God, so we interpreted into the text that Noah must have been mocked and ridiculed by other people. Though a class discussion, we determined that we need to have faith like Noah’s and how we could obtain such faith in our lives. We can do this by being faithful to God and God’s will through persecution or ridicule. We can do this by listening to God even when his tasks seem as ridiculous as building a huge boat on dry land. We can do this by completely dying to ourselves and living for God, just like Noah did when he devoted his entire life to God’s will. However, such measures, as we discussed in class, can only be done if we let God change us, depend on others for accountability, and completely die to our will and self.

Questions:

1) 1) What is the meaning of “dying to self” in your opinion?

2) 2) What are some other life applications we can use through the story of Noah that you know?

My 9th Practicum Post

2009-04-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

This week for my practicum I spent 4.5 hours (1 hour worship practice for both services , 1 for Sunday school, 1.5 for Sunday morning worship, and 1 for Sunday evening service).

In Sunday school this week, Kara, continued our lessons through the book of Ephesians. For this particular lesson, we looked at Ephesians 4:1-4. These verses outlined a formula for a person who is living out the "call". Those criteria were being completely gentle, completely humble, be patient, love one another, and make every effort to keep unity. After looking at this list, two big things jumped out at me. 1) This list all seemed to be leading towards the goal of unity. Love, patience, humility, gentle all lead to unity in mind and spirit if accomplished well. As a result, this is another passage within Ephesians that is focused on the unity of Christ's body. 2) Paul makes this statement "as a prisoner". What exactly does that mean? Could he not say this formula if he was not a prisoner for the lord. Through the discussion, I am convinced that the phrase "as a prisoner for the lord" makes Paul the example of living the life worthy of the "call". This is made evident because he was arrested for doing such a good job. Therefore, I think Paul is calling us to also be "prisoners for the Lord", Christians that strive for unity within the church and strive for evangelism to the point where are very lives could be in jeopardy.

Questions:

1) What do you think about the statement "as a prisoner of the Lord"? Does your view line up with mine?

2) What do you think "completely" means in that list?

My Lesson Week!!

2009-04-01T06:05:00.000-07:00

Kara Tomaszewski
Teaching Report I
Time Spent: 4.5 hrs (SS-1, Worship Practice-.5, SService-1, Lesson Preparation-2)
A. My Lesson
This week, we were continuing our series on Ephesians, and my lesson landed on chapter 4. I chose to select only a small portion – verses 1-15 – so we could really focus in on what it means to serve God and discuss how to live a life like Paul told us to: to be a prisoner for God.
9:30 – 9:40 Arrival: The 20s group is almost always right on time, so we leave the first ten minutes for fellowship so everyone can catch up with each other. Every week, someone from the group brings breakfast, so people are also gathering their food at this time. When everything was wrapping up, I had pastor Stephen list any announcements that he had for our group for the week

9:40 – 9:55 Prayer: At the beginning of this time, I asked for the group to provide any prayer requests they had, any praises, or what God was doing in their lives. For each prayer request, I asked if someone from the group would be willing to pray for each specific request at the end. When all prayers were covered, I closed the prayer.

9:55 – 10:30 Lesson: Our class is a very discussion oriented class, so after we read the scripture, I basically guided the group along with discussion questions. I began by asking someone to read Ephesians 4:1-15.
1. As we can see here, Paul is telling us we need to live lives “worthy of following Christ,” how do we do that?
-A life of total surrender.
-A life so full of Christ that each person is unified with God and eachother.

2. One thing that I found interesting was that Paul makes this statement “as a prisoner for the Lord”. What do you guys think that means. I’m not sure myself, but I just found it interesting. What do you think this means? Is Paul the example of living a life worthy of the call or is he just listing criteria needed to live a worthy life for the call?
-Giving up everything to follow God.
-Making a choice to be fully committed to Him.

3. There are 5 criteria listed, 5 applications for us, to be people who live a life worthy of the call. What are they?
-I wrote these 5 points on the whiteboard and we discussed their
meaning:
1.) Be completely humble
2.) Be completely gentle
3.) Be patient
4.) Bear one another in love
5.) Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the
bond of peace. (which is explained in verses 4-5)

4. What do you think completely means?

Keep the unity by every means possible. The first 4 points in the formula give us the means to be unified in Christ. If we are humble, patient, loving, gentle, we will be able to work together better and strive for Christ better. This is the main message. We need to be unified.

5. What is meant by unity?
-Being one in the 5 points made above.
-If we carry all these things out, we will be united as a body of Christians.

6. How do we do this?
-We must first carry out the 5 points of criteria within the church, and then take it out into the world.

7. Do we need to combine denominations or keep separate to love each other better?

8. How do we become more humble as Christians to other Christians?
-Put God above all things, we must treat each other as Paul described within the church and outside.
-People see how we treat each other as Christians.

B. Response: The 20s group usually has really great discussions. Here is what people said:
Being “worthy to follow Christ” means that we are all worthy to do so, but the way to do it well is to follow the guidelines of the verses. They saw a connection between this and being unified with and outside the church.

Michelle Mowat said that being a prisoner of God meant fully surrendering to God – Paul was a model of what this meant. Paul in a way was saying, I can do this, so can you. Nathan Strobel said that this was an encouragement from Paul and that we’re not in those terrible circumstances, what’s stopping us?

Pastor Steven made sure to note that the word “completely” in the list of criteria was a big word with a lot of depth. It is not something to be taken lightly, but means something like totally, or fully! Also, Zach was saying how the “5 criteria was not just to be carried out with the church but with the whole world. Mike Ferwerda said that unity is accomplished by doing the things in the list. I mentioned that it seems if we carried out each of the 5 things 100%, unity would come naturally.

Pastor Stephen said that many people are still debating if unity means under one authority, as in actually one church, or if it is fine if we remain separate. He did, however, say that if we all have the same goal, to serve God with our whole hearts, the church will still be united.

C. Supervising Teacher’s Evaluation
After class I met with Pastor Stephen and he said that overall things went well. He is always very encouraging, and said that for my first Sunday School lesson it went very well. He did want me to go deeper though, because even though our discussion lasted the whole class, he really likes to dig into things. He said it was age appropriate, and it was good that no one fell asleep this week. He did say that even though our group is very talkative, I should always be prepared for people not to talk.

D. Things I did well
1. I think I did well at preparing a lesson that was relevant to today.
2. I think I did well at bringing up questions that the group either also had questions about or could wrestle with the answers.
3. The lesson flowed well, there were really no awkward pauses, or times where I didn’t have anything to fill in.
4. I did my research as to the historical-cultural background of the passage.

E. Things I need to improve
1. I should prepare for a class where no one will respond.
2. I can work on going deeper into the text, relating it to other areas of the bible, maybe a word study as well.
3. I could transition better between topics.
4. I could share a story, mine, or someone else’s that relates to the lesson.

F. Questions:
1. How do you prepare a lesson as if no one will respond?
2. What do you do if no one is responding?
3. The people that usually sleep in our class weren’t there this week, what do you do with people that fall asleep in Sunday School?
4. How do you get people to respond with their lives after a lesson like this one?

#7!!!!!!

2009-04-01T05:59:00.000-07:00

This week at Post Script after Exit 59 let out, we talked about 2 Timothy 3; In that passage there is a lot of talk about the end of days and different sorts of things going on in society and the church at the time. We talked a lot about what it means to live life even though it is very hard at times and we find hard times just as much if not more as easy times.

We kind of went off on a tangent of how to live a Godly life, where i kind of shared about the idea of there being tons of donts but that God wants us to do... he wants us to love, and to do the things that he tells us in the bible.

I really enjoy the sunday school class just because it is a way of having community time with people from the church. I love it and how we can be the body of christ to each other and edify each other towards Christ.

Some random questions:

- How are we supposed to live a Godly life?

- What is the role of the church as a community?

POST!

2009-03-25T06:22:00.000-07:00

This week at church: wed night – 1 hour, Sunday morning worship practice – .5 hour, Sunday school – 1.5 hour, service – 1 hour = 4 hours.
This week, Zach led the Sunday School class. We opened the class by asking for prayer requests, then we prayed for each request right after it was made. I liked this because usually, we sped forever making prayer requests, then at the end no one remembers any of them. This way, everyone was remembered and no one was left out. Then we talked shortly about what we learned the week before as a refresher, and talked about how chapter 2 and three were related. We dug into Ephesians 3 and read the whole chapter. We found three things – 1. First and foremost, we need to be saved by grace. 2. God’s people today are found in all nations, not just one. 3. Both Jew and Gentile alike can share in the body of Christ – the church! So… if God’s wants all to share in the body of Christ, what is the church to do about it? We came up with this: the church should display the Lord’s wisdom, should be unified, and should grow spiritually as to cause others to grow spiritually. We also talked about some things concerning this matter, and I will display them as my post questions: How is the church doing this?
What are we doing wrong / right?
What can we do better?

kara

Alternate Practicum Report

2009-03-25T05:56:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, I preached at church for both the 9:00 and 11:00 services. It was quite the experience to say the least. I was very nervous before the first service and I knew that something had to change with the sermon but I had no idea what it was that I had to change… So I went on and preached the sermon, it went ok, but it kind of left a sour feeling in my mouth I guess.

I had a quick critique with Darren and Mike and they said that I needed to drive it home more, they said they felt like the sermon was like I was learning to drive a stick for the first time, lurching forward then stopping. Then after that a lady pulled Darren and I aside and said how she didn’t think I should be preaching that day because of a recent church split in a church nearby that some of the people had come to our church and that my message wasn’t fitting for them.

That was rough… I was broken quite a bit after the first service, but it made me rely on God all the more. I switched around a lot of stuff for the second service, and it ended up going very well. Darren said that it was a totally different sermon the second time, and it was at least a hundred times better than first service.

I am going to meet with Darren soon to talk about it.

Here is my outline:

Introduction

· Where do you think people pooped back in the day?

o In the toilet?

o In the sewer?

o In a river? … ok maybe

o No, in a basin.

· Everyone had one in their house, usually in a back room, and was for one thing, people would do the doodoo

o And after doing that and stuff they would simply throw it out the window!

§ Awesome, I know.

· Read

o 20In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

· Wha???

o This passage says that something that is for ignoble purposes… like one of those basins.

o Can be wiped clean for noble purposes…

§ Made Holy.

· Grandma’s China…

o Your grandma has fine china… and as we all know it has its purpose…

o Normal eating on your own or with your family

§ Use normal eating utensils and plates

o When distinguished guests come over

§ Use the fine china

o Why?

§ The Fine china brings honor to your family, it distinguishes you, and shows people they are worth it.

When I first read this passage…

· I had no idea what to talk about.

· I thought it all had to do with heresy this, and confrontation that, and church this and worker that…

o But really, this passage has one main idea behind it. In order to read that… lets read a couple of parts again.

§ V.14 – points back to 11-13 (Read that)

§ V. 15

§ Verses. 19-22

§ V. 24

o So when re reading this we see that it isn’t so much about those things but about being a pure lover of God.

· And even going further than that: how to present ourselves as pure to God.

What period of the church calendar are we in right now?

· Lent, obviously.

· During lent we give up things with the intention of denying ourselves something and in its place focusing on God.

o Kind of as a symbolism of dying to self.

· Then on easter, we celebrate what?

o The resurrection of Christ

· Celebrating that just as we were dead to sin we are now alive in the resurrection of Christ.

o Alive in the resurrection…

This is a tricky thing…

· Hi, im a college student at IWU, and I know all about how tricky this is. We learn every day about how we are supposed to be holy and sanctified.

o However, the connotation of that is we need to purify ourselves or make ourselves holy.

o Maybe you can relate?

· But no, it is nothing like that… much like in this passage, we present ourselves as holy… we don’t make ourselves holy… it seems to be already done.

Seeds are crazy little things…

· A seed isn’t really living… it ready, and willing probably to begin to grow, but in order to do that you need some outside sources right?

· Right, you need water and sunlight

o Then the seed will grow into this beautiful living plant, not over night, but over time.

· We were much like that seed.

o You and I were much like the seed when we first came to God

o We were for all intensive purposes dead… but we had potential.

So, we were dead, now we are alive…

· Life goes in stages

o First, you are dead

§ Some people don’t ever get out of this stage

§ They never come to know Christ and therefore they stay dead… forever.

§ That’s the point of evangelism

ú But evangelism isn’t the point of this message.

o Second, you have to die…

§ Yes, you were dead before, but the dead have to die in order to live…

ú Romans 6:6-11

§ We have to die in order that the old can be wiped away, in order that the old self, the self that is a slave to sin and this world dies forever.

§ It is all because of the power of Christ

ú Romans 8:11

§ It is only when we die that we can finally be alive in Christ.

o Third, you are new, and you are living!

§ This is the basic gospel, the basic good news.

§ The whole of the gospel hinges around this idea that we, as dead souls are to be born again…

ú John 3:3-7

o We are raised again and live as new approved people in Christ

So what do I mean by being approved?

· Well, its kinda like going on a date…

o Now girls, we typically hear about your side of things on this illustration, but here is the guys side.

§ We first think “ah, ill just go like this…”

§ But then we start wanting to look good so we start to work

ú In middle school this = putting on axe

ú But now we dress up nice, brush our teeth, mess up our hair a little so we look rugged and put on some cologne or something to hide “man smell”

§ So we are all ready and go to pick up the girl…

o Notice something, we look our best… but it isn’t enough.

o We don’t go thinking, yeah, I look great, that’s why she likes me… if you do think that, youre crazy.

o All that preperation hinges on something that you cant brush or make shine

§ But it is in the moment when you see each other and there is that gaze… looking into each others eyes and approving of each other for who you are, not how you look.

§ The dressing up didn’t do that, that is love.

o In the same way, we kind of go through these motions of looking good to God. We tithe, we pray, we shine our shoes, we read our bibles…

§ But in the end it doesn’t matter

§ All that matters is that look from God, the look of approval and love that only comes from his grace and love.

o Read from Ragamuffin Gospel Pg. 20

Read 2 Timothy 2:22

· We are being made new, as the old self is killed we are being made new.

o 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

· Like it said in 22, we are to flee sin, but then pursue something else.

· Im kind of sick of hearing “don’t”

o We hear that all the time

o That when we are trying to do it on our own, we want to hear the donts…

o That isn’t what God intended. He wants us to leave the old behind and live in the new

o To live in the resurrection.

· Therefore, we become do-ers

o This is what God intended for us…

§ We pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace,

ú Ephesians 5:17-21

ú Philippians 4:4-6

ú Colossians 3:12-17

§ I hope I don’t sound like a broken record, im trying to drive a point.

· This message is in preparation for easter…

o That’s what life is all about…

o We were dead and through the work and blood of Christ we were made new, we were resurrected…

Read 2 Timothy 2:20-21

· Right now, I am speaking to my fellow poop basins… if I can say that.

o Maybe we should start a club… “poop basins anonymous”

· You and I were once simply that…

o We were gross

o We were ignoble, dishonorable, cheap, menial

o We were for all intensive purposes dead and worthless…

· But, it is the gift of God that we can have life, and life to the fullest

o Read the message version of the passage

What is it for you?

· What is something that needs to die?

· Pray with me –

o God, speak to us now

§ What is it in you that you need to let go of? That needs to die?

ú Ask God

§ Now you have to pull the trigger, then God does the killing.

o Heavenly father, giver of life and death, and the power of resurrection, we pray that you would kill the remnants of the old inside of us.

o Whatever it is.

o Lord, thank you for that power that is making us new and alive. I pray that we would live in the resurrection and that you would ready us for the celebration of your conquering the grace.

Resurrect us. Amen

Teaching Report for Zach (for 3/25/09)

2009-03-25T04:34:00.000-07:00

For this week’s practicum, I spent a total of 7 hours (1 for Sunday school, 2 hours in Sunday school preparation, 30 minutes in Sunday morning worship practice, 1.5 hours in worship service, and 1 hour teaching the pre-teen class on Wednesday night (1-hour prep).

Our class is talking about the book of Ephesians. I took over at chapter 2. I decided to get the big idea of chapters 2 and 3 before we looked at them in detail. I saw a theme that could be missed if we didn’t take the time to look at the big picture. As a result, my lesson plan was as follows:

Intro—Praises and Prayer Requests

· Pray for each one at a time

Start: --Debrief what we talked about the last class by re-reading the text

· First talk about how chapters 2 and 3 work together to show the three step process of coming back to Christ

· Read 2:1-10

o What is the text saying? What is the first step?

· Read 2:11-13

o What is the text saying? What is the second step?

Dig: -- Read chapter 3

· Start by reading 3:1-5

· I’LL READ VERSE 6

· Read 3:7-9

· I’LL READ VERSE 10-13

· After this, what is the three-step process that we see

1. First we need to be saved by grace (accepting Christ’s gift)

2. God is now for all nations (a plan throughout time but now revealed in Christ)

3. Jew and Gentile Both sharing in the body of Christ (the church)

· But what is the church supposed to do? It’s all fine and dandy that we now know Christ wants everyone to share in the body of Christ, but what are we to do about it? (Read 3:10-21)

1. We see that the church is to display his wisdom

2. We see that the church is supposed to be unified

3. We see that the church is to grow spiritually and cause others to grow spiritually

Questions: --

· Tell me how you guys fell about the church. Are we doing this?

· What are we doing wrong?

· What are we doing right?

· How can we do this better?

Pray: --

· Dear Lord, help us to understand that you are a gracious God who’s ultimate plan is to bring us closer to you. Thank you for revealing yourself to us and your plan to us. Help us to accomplish it. Let us embrace your gift to be saved by grace. Let us embrace the fact that you are a God for all people. Let us understand that it is our duty to be unified in mind and body, that we may bring as many people back to you as possible. But most importantly God, we understand that this will only be accomplished by your love. Pour out your love on us God, so that we may be able to do your will.

· “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within u, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen!

There were only 6 people at my Sunday school class on Sunday (we usually have 9-12), but I feel class went well. I think the class as a whole benefited from the more intimate setting. Individually, responses varied. Dylan slept throughout the entire class because he worked all night the night before. Michelle, in contrast, was engaged the entire class. She was eager to read and answer the questions I had. The same goes with her husband Steve. The only exception with Steve is that he was a little more critical of the way I was teaching. I think he (the pastor) pictured my lesson covering a few verses instead of a few chapters, so he butted in with details he wanted the class to know that I didn’t cover in my big picture overview. Kelly and Tony Sugar were both participatory, but not to the extent that Steve and Michelle were. Overall, however, I felt that there was decent participation in the group.

I really feel that my lesson plan was carefully put together and I executed the lesson plan in class very well. I took me exactly an hour to get through the class and I covered every point that I intended to. Therefore, I have to say that I had great direction and leadership of the class and moved them toward the points I was trying to make. I had good questions for them, gave each person plenty of opportunities to participate, etc. My evaluator felt the same way.

The main thing I need to improve is my public speaking skills. I spoke too soft and quiet and I fumbled over my words every now and again. The only thing that my evaluator told me to do was make sure I cover main details of each chapter if I have the chance even if the desired goal is to show that main ideas of each chapter.

QUESTIONS:

1) What do you guys think about my evaluator’s critique? Should I have covered the details even though I my purpose was to look at the big picture?

2) Do you see anything in my lesson that needs to be improved?

blarg

2009-03-18T06:38:00.000-07:00

This week for my practicum, I spent 4 hours (.5 for worship band, 1 hour for sunday school, 1.5 hours for church, and 1 hour for teaching wednesday night pre-teen class).

This week we talked about works righteousness. are we saved by works or by grace. As a class we decided that you cannot be saved just because of works. Anyone can do good works, but you are truly saved BY grace, works goes along with grace in the form of discipleship. If we are saved by grace, we should be shaping our hearts to be more like Christ, then the desire to do works will come along with it. I wish I could write more, but this was really it for Sunday school. I really think we need to do something different tho because we are losing people, not in numbers but in activity. Everyone's always falling asleep, so we just need to revamp something. Any ideas?

Zach's Practicum Post #6

2009-03-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

This week for my practicum, I spent 4 hours (.5 for worship band, 1 hour for sunday school, 1.5 hours for church, and 1 hour for teaching wednesday night pre-teen class).

in Sunday school we continued our discussion in Ephesians chapter 1 and chapter 2. though we talked about a majority of topics, the main topic for discussion was about works righteousness. Are we saved by grace and grace alone? Are we saved by grace AND by doing good works? Are we saved only by good works? As a class we decided that the only thing that literally SAVES us is grace. We are not saved by anything that we personally do. HOWEVER, salvation includes a path of discipleship. When we go down this path and grow in our faith, we gain the heart of Christ because we become like him. As a result, if we are truly saved and growing in our faith, good works are unavoidable. That makes good works an expression and evidence of salvation, not the grace-giver. Anyways, that was the position our class corporately agreed upon.

questions:

1) what do guys think about the relationship between works and salvation personally?

2) what is your opinion of my class's consensus about the issue?

#6 !!!!!

2009-03-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

This past week was spring break, as you know, and over spring break i went to Georgia to work at Hephzibah childrens home. Well, when we got back to IWU the dorms were locked on saturday so i ended up going to Connersville, IN with my friend for the night and consequently to church with him in the morning. It was a high school sunday school and we started off with worship at the beginning. Then, for the rest of the time we primarily talked about how to reach out to people. Everyone talked about how to reach out to their friends at high school, then they talked about welcoming people into the church and then they all talked to me seen as i was new and they wanted me to feel welcome. We then talked about how it is usually awkward to come into a church and that all the church can do is welcome someone because it really depends on the person with how awkward it is for them. So we ended up the conversation talking about that and class ended after about a half hour.

Questions!

Is it awkward for you when you go to a new church?

How can a church make you feel welcome when you come to visit?

second practicum joe. 2 hours church. 3 hours wednesday night

2009-02-25T09:54:00.001-08:00

This was my second week and I was hoping that I would actually become friends with these kids. The first week it was kind of awkward because the kids didn't know me so they didn't talk to me.

The kids this week were more friendly and started talking to me. We had fun we chilled and I got to know them. We went and picked up some kids at their homes. They were a couple of kids who had bad attitudes but they were hilarious. One wanted to slap me and the other wanted to punch me. I laughed and they laughed too, it was cool connecting with them. One girl turned 16 and was asking me where she should work, Sonic or McDonalds? I told her Sonic. We chilled out and finally got back to JC body shop. Charlie introduced and then we all started doing the Electric slide, a couple of the bigger youth started dancing with me. It was hilarious, they took it seriously then they saw me just fooling around so then they started fooling around. It was awesome.

The message was short, I always wished they would make it a little bit longer, but they would lose the kids attention, but I don't know.

I look forward to this part of the week every week.

blogger!

2009-02-25T06:55:00.000-08:00

hours: 1-youth group, 1.5-church, .5-worship practice, 1-sunday school = 4 hours.

This sunday, I felt was kind of pointless, to be honest. It was an "intro to ephesians" but as we read in Hendrick's book, i feel that it could have been something we could have done for homework. We talked about how in revelation, the church of ephesus had lost their 1st love - their love for eachother. We then started Ephesians chapter 1... how Paul started with spiritual dealings, instead of the typical worldly problems he usually starts with. Basically, for the next couple weeks we are going to be talking about Ephesians, the topic of love, redemption, and how the spiritual world runs parallel with ours. One of our main focuses is going to be on how we see the Spirit leading us. Do humans under analyze the Holy Spirit? Underanalyze the Holy Spirit? What do you think? Do people think their thoughts are the Spirits, and push of the leading of the Holy Spirit as merely their thoughts? And on the topic of this class in particular, how could this have been taught better? How could we have been given sufficient homework to discover the "intro to ephesians" for ourselves.

Report 5... word!

2009-02-25T06:10:00.001-08:00

This week in post script (the name of the sunday school class) we talked about a sermon on 1 Timothy 6. We talked for quite a while on what is going on in our lives and how this certain passage associated with us. To me, after verse 11 was very light-sheading on my life. It says, "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things (previous passage is talking about love of money being evil). Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith." I most relate with the part about fighting the good fight for faith because i have been learning a lot about how as a guy i am to be a warrior for God in my life, internally and externally. But ya, we just went around, talked about what we have been learning as well as things that we would want to share with the others in the group. We also talked extensively about the money passage talking about maybe what we are supposed to do and be as christians. It was a good week at church, i enjoyed spending time with people after the service.

2009-02-25T06:10:00.000-08:00

This week for my practicum, I spent 4 hours (1.5 at Sunday service, 30 minutes at worship music practice practice, 1 hour at Sunday school, and 1 hour at our Wednesday night class).

In Sunday school class we started our new series on Ephesians. The pastor talked about chapter 1 within that book; however, he pretty much just read the chapter and talked about it...it was like a sermon. There was no group discussion at all. Because of this I had a hard time focusing in on what was happening during the lesson. I hardly remember anything that he said during Sunday school. As a result, however, I learned more about running a Sunday school class than I did about Ephesians chapter 1. A Sunday school teacher should keep a class discussion oriented to engage the students. Otherwise, students are in danger of zoning out. I was one of those students this week, and I was also not the only one. I noticed about to other students flipping through other books in the Bible, one student looking out the window the entire class period (or so it seemed) and even a student who fell asleep! As a teacher, you have to get the students involved in the lesson or engaged in discussion or the teaching will completely be lost in my opinion.

Questions:

1) How are we supposed to engage students in Sunday school?

2) If you do have a lesson that requires a lot of talking on your part as the teacher, how can you keep the lesson informative while also keeping the students engaged in the lesson?

Practicum 5

2009-02-20T06:44:00.000-08:00

For last week's practicum, I spent 3 hours (1.5 hours at servive, 1/2 hour at worship practice, and one hour at Sunday school).

In class we talked a lot about Paul's calling and Ananias' calling from God. Paul was called on the road to Damascus. Jesus showed up to him, Paul was blinded, and then Paul was changed. There was no confession of sins or anything. God just changed him. Then we talked about how Ananias was called to pray for Paul's eyesight to be restored. Ananias questions God about this calling because Saul was arresting Christians, but God again told him to pray for Paul, so he went and did so. After discussing these calls in detail, we talked about other callings from God like Moses and the burning bush, Gideon, Samuel, etc. All of these men did what God wanted them to do even tough some argued with God, questioned God, or doubted God being able to work through them in their weakness. After discussing these callings, we were asked how we should respond to God's calling in our lives. God has called us all to greatness and to minister to people for the glory of his name. So, are we willing to trust God with everything to follow his calling, even if it can endanger our lives?

Questions:

1)How do you think we should respond to God's call?

2)Do you think people are right to struggle with and question God's call?

yet another

2009-02-19T22:23:00.000-08:00

Last sunday we talked about something that i don't understand. Something that a lot of people don't understand. God's calling. And how different people respond. And then how God responds to their responses. We talked about how in Acts, Saul was a "Godly man" but not a Christian. His calling was definately unique, but he made no confession. At the same time, Ananias was told to go and pray for Saul - no other direction. Saul has no further confession, but has a changed life. God calls Ananias to do something crazy, and he questions God. After that question, he goes. God nudges, and he simply goes. What does it take for us to hear from God? It may be that we need to either to be so lost - Saul - or so close - Ananias - that we than hear Him. Basically, we were trying to figure out how to hear God and how to respond. We talked about Elijah, and how he prepared himself before God spoke. We also talked about how we talk too much. Some people argued with God, and some didn't. Some were punished, some weren't. Did Abraham act in obedience? Sarah laughs at God's message and is punished. Gideon bargens with God for proof (with the felt cloth) and God offers no such punishment. When we believe and something doesn't work out we are discouraged, but when we don't believe ad it does, we are humbled. How do we make sense of this all? Moses questions and God confirms his call. Job questions and god says, who are you to question me? Ananias prays, Saul serves. Honestly I can't make sense of all of this, but I do know that if God places something on our hearts, we need to listen to that calling and follow it. No matter what. I think i've listed enough questions in here for you to answer, so answer away if you can!
-Kara

Practicum Report Number 4

2009-02-18T06:52:00.000-08:00

This week at sunday school class i lead the class. During the sermon i wrote up some questions and just led a discussion on a few different things. We talked a lot about the enemy and his impact on our lives, so that was a good conversation and a time of being vulnerable and sharing things that are going on in life. We also talked about tithing, the importance of it and the different ways to do it... maybe. A few of us in the group struggled with tithing at our home churches because the tithe money went to making a new church and not actually serving the community; we saw a lot of hypocrisy in that. We also had a good turn out for the group; usually we only have like 5 people, but this time we had like 10 people - that was encouraging.I will update this with the questions that i asked and the notes that i took; right now it is back in my room in my notebook.

Some Questions for yall:

What do you think about spiritual warfare?

What do you think about tithing?

Blogger!

2009-02-11T07:02:00.001-08:00

This week I spent 4.5 hours at church: 1 hour for worship practice, 1.5 hours for the sunday morning service, 1 hour for leading the preteen group wednesday night, and 1 hour for sunday school.

This week we had a missionary speak at our sunday school class. He wanted to get to know us all a little, so the first thing we did was go around the room and introduce ourselves, and tell him something about us. He then gave us an assignment - to write down all the bible verses about missions that we could in about 10 minutes. We took this time to look them up, then shared what we found. Among these verses were Matthew 25:31-40, and 2 Corinthians 7:15. His main point, however, was the great commission - to go into **all** the nations - all!. His point was that missions means everywhere, not just overseas. Everyone should go somewhere, even if it is close. He was a missionary to Australia, a country where only 2-5% people claim to be Christian or attend church. This is in comparison with the United States with its 75-80% attendence. People told him it was a lost cause, but that sometimes fuels him to to more for Christ. He believes that powers and leaders will come and go, but the word of the Lord will endure forever. His longing is to raise up "but" churches like the church in Acts 12 - Peter was imprisoned, *but* the church prayed. While they were praying, God released him for his imprisonment. The church prayed, and God responded. He wants our churches to be these "but the church prayed" churches.

1. How do you think we can make our churches more of a center of prayer?

2. What can we do to be better missionaries? (as in reaching our nation and other nations)

Practicum Report Number 4

2009-02-11T07:02:00.000-08:00

For my practicum this week, I spent a total of 4.5 hours (1 and a half for Sunday service, 1 hour for worship practice, 1 hour for Sunday school, and 1 hour for the class we teach Wednesday night).

In Sunday school this week, we had a missionary come in and lead class. He basically had the class find as many passages in Scripture about missions that we could. He gave us 30 minutes to find passages and then he had us read them aloud. We found over 30 verses as a class. The missionary used this fact to show us the importance of missions. However, the main thing he taught us in class was from the Great Commission. When we read the Great Commission, we tend to forget about the word "all". Christ wants us to go to "all" nations and baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As a result, he told us that the United States was a part of "all" the nations. We do not have to go oversees or become career missionaries to make disciples of all nations. We can also make disciples of Christ in our home nation. This was encouraging to the class, it seemed like the class didn't realize they could be missionaries here. I think he inspired the class.

The other thing he emphasized was prayer. He challenged us to be people that intervened through prayer because things change when people pray. He told us about how the church of acts prayed for Peter when he was in prison after James was put to death. The church prayed and Peter was freed by an angel. He challenged us to be "but the church prayed" people. Peter could have died in Jerusalem at the hand of King Herod "but the church prayed" and he was freed. He used this to show us the importance of the church praying for amazing things to happen and then he requested that we, the church, pray for him in his ministry in Australia.

Questions

1.) What do you guys think about the power of prayer? Discuss it's implications with missions.

2.)How do you guys think we can be missionaries "baptizing people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" and make disciples of Christ in America?

Practicum Report 3

2009-02-11T07:01:00.000-08:00

Hey! So this week at my bible study after church we talked about 1 Timothy 4. It was an interesting discussion about marriage and things like that. In church the service was primarily about how asceticism was a major sin in the early church where people would deny the physical because it was supposedly evil, but the spirit was good. This undermines the nature and creation of God because when God created everything he made everything good, not just the spiritual. We talked about in our group how we deny ourselves different things that maybe we shouldnt be all uptight about. All in all it was an interesting time of talking about God's word and what he has called us to in our lives.

The first blog of Joe fo sho. 5 hours. 2 at sunday schoo and 3 at wednesday night church

2009-02-11T06:08:00.000-08:00

I started my practicum this past sunday at JC body shop. It was pretty sweet. When I first came into the class there were kids from ages 12-17 or 18. They were all socializing with each other catching up with each other. I joined in and tried to make friends with a couple of them. They all seemed pretty shy or just didn't seem into talking to me but thats ok there high schoolers. Soon Charlie split the group of kids into two groups, senior high youth and junior high youth. I stayed with the high schoolers.

It as interesting to here what Charlie Alcock said about how the youth group was growing. When he first took over last semester on Sunday mornings there were only 17 kids. Now they run close to just over a hundred. He talked about how he talked to the board at the church about how the youth group is growing. He talked to youth about how impressed with the youth at super bowl party. How they were bringing their friends who didn't know Jesus and how they were witnessing to them.

After Charlie had done this he went on in the lesson. He brought up a senior at IWU whose major is Adolescent Ministry and interviewed him in front of the kids. He asked him questions about his school and how non-christian it was and how this guy came out of the school a strong christian. The point was to inspire or build up the kids confidence in being a christian in their school. I liked the point and I think the kids understood it.

Soon we prayed and everyone was dismissed. I enjoyed that Sunday and look forward to keep going with it.

So questions:

1. do you believe kids grow stronger in their faith by being a public school then those who aren't?

Zach's 3rd Practicum Report

2009-02-04T07:01:00.001-08:00

This week I spent a total of 3.5 hours doing my practicum between Sunday school class (1 hour), posts (30 minutes), church services (1.5 hours), and worship practice (30 minutes).

Stuff in class:

We primarily went through the faith chapter in Hebrews (chapter 11 and a little into chapter 12) for our discussion. For this discussion, we continued talking about persecution. With this chapter, we saw that the main characters of the OT were persecuted for their faith, but they keep their loyalty and faith with God. As a result, we determined as a class that persecution is a possible result of following God. But the main theological principle that stuck with us was that we need to keep following God by faith even if we suffer from persecution.

Questions:

1) What do you guys think about following God even if you have to suffer for it? Is that something you personally are willing to do?

2) When you read Hebrews chapters 11 and 12, do you see the theme of following Christ by faith even through persecution?

Practicum numero 3

2009-02-04T06:01:00.000-08:00

This week I spent 3.25 hours at church. Worship practice (.5), church (1.5), sunday school (1), and Posts/Response (15 min) Just as a forward, we're still talking about persecution... Last sunday, we went through Hebrews, chapter 11 and 12, and found the common theme to be - endure hardship as discipline. We discussed how people in the Old Testament chose to be persecuted because they felt the call to be faithful to God. Their challenge (as well as a challenge to us) was to be faithful and stand up for the will of God, and to do what is right in faith. So, the question seems to be reoccurring - what do we do? One thing would be to be in a relationship with God where we would be willing to be in situations of persecution. Even though we may think none of this applies to us, because of where we live, it does. Nathan asked if we should put ourselves in the way of persecution to follow God. Steven and Tony responded with saying that we don’t necessarily have to intentionally put ourselves in a position to be persecuted, but if we do, it should be something that God has called us to do. On top of that, my thoughts are still that if we are called to suffer, we should praise God in and through it because it should be our joy to suffer for the Lord. At the end of class, the common thought was we should incorporate every part of our lives in our faith, including being willing to suffer for Christ. The way I look at it is, if we are fully surrendered to God, and not just "comfortable" with our faith, God will use us, even if that means we are persecuted for it. How do you think persecution has changed to effect us today? Or maybe a better question...Do you think we should be placing ourselves in the way of persecution to serve Christ?

Matt's Second Blog Post. Yo.

2009-01-28T06:18:00.000-08:00

This week in my practicum we talked largely about the scripture passage out of 1 Timothy 2 where it talks about this idea of women in ministry. For myself this used to be a very hot issue in my mind and i thought that no women could be in ministry because of passages like this. However, this passage isnt really about that, it is a very cultural passage (according to the sermon and many other resources). We talked about if we have had experience with this discussion in our lives; i have, my mentor in high school came from a more baptist side of theological thought, and he told me that no women should be in ministry because these verses were to be taken literally in our time as well as in that time. But at the same time i was going to a wesleyan church where they largely said that women in ministry was a normal thing and that it was part of life for some women.

I had to deal with this problem in my mind my first year going to iwu. I would go to my pastor classes and there would be women in the class... this was a problem in my mind, but i eventually just decided that it really wasnt worth fighting because who am i to argue that God really wasnt calling them to be in ministry? who am i to say that their call is a lie? I cannot do that, so i kind of became ignorant of it; then later on i was able to do some reading and thinking and talking to people i was able to come to the decision that women in ministry is a good thing, because it is still a call from God.

That is what we talked about in sunday school; what the bible says and what we think ourselves. The group was primarily girls though, so of course they didnt fight it. haha.

practicum dos

2009-01-27T21:54:00.000-08:00

This sunday we continued our discussion on persecution. This time, kicking it off with a quote from "Tortured for Christ" - "Persecution always makes better Christians" (as Zach noted) We wrestled with this quote to determine its value and truth. One thing we brought up is that from our experiences, Christians tend to get too comfortable - and when we are in a good place, we tend to lose our dependence on God. In the book, the author makes it pretty obvious that he thinks people who are tortured for their faith go deeper into their relationship with Christ than those who don't. I really don't think that I can agree with this, because I think there are many things (persecution included) that bring us into a deeper relationship with God. Yes, persecution may be a catalyst of sorts, bring people closer to God faster, and may weed out those who are serious and who aren't, but it isn't the only way. We dug into Philippians which more or less says that no matter if we are persecuted or not, we are still to be strong in our faith. The emphasis is not on the degree to which we suffer, but our attitude and conduct in the way we live our our Christian lives.
We also talked about what he might mean by "better Christians", - one who wants to reach out to all they meet - and contemplated what we are doing to reach our to others? We also talked about how back in the day, Persecuted people were the Church, the Christians were the most liked, and always were the ones helping those in need. How has this changed today, and why? and what do you think about the quote from the book?
Kara

2009-01-27T21:02:00.000-08:00

For this week, our class started our discussion around the quote " persecution always makes a better Christian" from our book. I do not have my copy of the book yet, so I don't recall the title of the book, but I'll have it for next week. From there, we looked at Phillipians chapter 1 and 1 Thessalonians 3 to discover if that quote had any truth. Overall the main point that we saw in the Scripture was that Paul was concerned about how the churches dealt with persecution and that he rejoiced when the gospel was spread as a result of faithfulness to God through the suffering. The church of Thessalonica was the best example of this. They endured there suffering and as a result, they became a model of Christ for the people around them. From this point, we determined as a class that the quote had some truth. Though persecution does not always make a better Christian, it does make Christians more focused and determined to witness to others and provides an avenue to do so. For the point of application, we said that since we do not have a lot of suffering or persecution for Christ, it is harder for us to find people to witness to, yet we are called to do so. To be better Christians, we need to get out of our comfort zones and spread the gospel as we a called to do.

2009-01-22T21:47:00.000-08:00

My Sunday School Practicum Post #1

2009-01-21T07:13:00.001-08:00

The time I spent this week for my practicum was 3 hours. For half an hour, I had worship band practice, for an hour I had Sunday school class, and for an hour and a half I went to Sunday service.

In the Sunday school class this week, we had a considerable amount of people. We usually have about 6-8 members in the class and we had 15 this week. Because of that drastic change in number, I do not know all the names of the people in our class. The names I know are Michelle, Nathan, Kara, Toni, and Steven (the pastor). I am really bad with names, so I will continue working on them.

The lesson was on the topic of persecution in the church. At the beginning of the lesson, we continued discuss the definition of persecution. We ultimately concluded the persecution was “suffering for Christ at the hand of another”. The main argument against this definition was whether or not persecution was all suffering or just physical suffering. We could not determine that answer in this particular class.

We also talked about persecution of the church throughout the world. We found out that there are nine countries in the world that are considered hostile to Christianity. We talked about Iran in particular. Iran only allows Christians to worship in groups of five or less. It is also illegal to convert to Christianity if you were not born of Christian parents. Breaking either of these two laws can result in legal murder or extreme beatings by the government. However, we found out that the church in Iran is growing about 300 members per week. This begged the question. Does the church need persecution to truly grow? For instance, having new people come to Christ seldom does church growth in America. Churches grow by taking members from other churches. What does this indicate? With this question class ended.

QUESTIONS

1.) What do you guys think persecution is? Is it merely physical suffering for Christ or does it include emotional suffering?

2.) What do you think is the best way to interject in a Sunday school discussion without sounding arrogant? Does it really matter?

Practicum uno

2009-01-21T07:07:00.000-08:00

I'm doing my practicum at Main Street Wesleyan in Jonesborro, for the 20s group. Its a lot group discussion things, lead by the pastor, its a really good learning environment... This Sunday we discussed the persecuted church. We worked to come up with a definition, whether it is being physically, emotionally, mentally, etc. We found it difficult to come to a conclusion as to what warranted being persecuted, but we did agree that it was persecution for the sake of God. This is, and has been our focus for the last few weeks, and we have come together with the church to pray for the 9 countries (a different country each week) that are undergoing severe persecution today. The pastor talked of how The Church was formed under prosecution, and wonders if that is how the church is built up today. More and more, churches seem to be growing because people are migrating from one church to another, instead of gaining new converts. He posed the question if persecution is the only way to grow the church.
1. Do we need to be prosecuted to be “better” Christians?
2. Why does the church seem to be growing faster under persecution?

-Kara

Practicum Entry 1

2009-01-21T05:49:00.001-08:00

I am doing my practicum at Exit 59 church in gas city and Ty Konopinski is the leader of the group. It is called post script (we talk over the sermon and the passage and talk about life and stuff).
Anyway, this past sunday was my first time ever going to it and it ended up being really cool. There were 5 or 6 guys there and 3 girls that were from taylor. We talked over the sermon, which was over 1 Timothy 1:18 - 2:7. We talked a lot about 2:1-2 that read, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." We talked about that in regards to how we had a new president on his way into office and how regardless of anything we need to pray for him and our government, especially if we dont like it.
But other than that we talked a lot about life, and where we are going in life. Darren Campbell, the pastor at the church, talked about the next year for the church and what was going to be happening. He also talked about some church planting that is going to be happening in chicago. When he was talking about that, i was feeling God say that he wanted at least part of my life to be church planting in the inner city. I told this to the group because we talked about how people were feeling after the sermon.
I am looking forward to this semester attending this class, everyone is very open with talking about what they think, and thats how we learn.
- Matt Bedwin