Ministry Notes
During the recent quarter we’ve seen some very encouraging signs that the framework concept of showing the inner coherence of God’s Word continues to bear fruit. In October, I presented the basic events from creation to Mt. Sinai in a 3-day survey format at a church in Wisconsin. A woman school teacher with many years of experience working within the secular agenda of government education expressed her reaction to hearing the framework approach to the Bible: “I feel alive once again!” She realized, perhaps as never before, that the Christian faith has content that applies across every area of life and all the way through into eternity. Nowhere in secular culture can the human heart find rest from the constant conflict between the inner sense of eternity implanted by God (Eccl. 3:11) and the simultaneous sense of alienation from Him. To know one’s origin, one’s purpose, one’s responsibilities, and one’s destiny provided in Jesus Christ is indeed “to feel alive.”
A worker with a well-known evangelistic ministry on college campuses wrote, “Thank you for your labor! [Your website is an] incredible resource to study and transfer as I minister to college students in North Dakota.” Since the 60s it has increasingly become more difficult to reach university-age young people with the gospel. By the time they arrive on the college campus, they have already learned every subject as though God doesn’t exist, or if He does, He is utterly irrelevant to the subject material. On top of that, they have many years of superficial interaction over social media. The Bible, if thought about at all, is seen as merely a religious book in a far periphery of life. As this Christian worker discovered, our website provides a “big picture” view of God’s historic “show-and-tell” program of revelation. And it does so for free!
As some of you know, I teach a shortened, but more intense, version of the framework through Chafer Theological Seminary. Because this seminary uses the Internet rather than the traditional bricks-and-mortar campus, it enables students to receive advanced training while they remain in their local church at significantly reduced cost. One problem over the years has been the lack of students under 35 years of age when decisions to minister full-time or near full-time are best made. However, this Fall semester I have nearly half the class within that age group. And, being closer to contemporary education, they realize crucial truths missing from that education. For his final paper one student—having majored in linguistics at the undergraduate level—is going to examine the Korean and Japanese “orphan” languages as to their connection with the Babel event. Another student trained as a mechanical engineer has proposed creating a video for young people that will show the difference between real science that tests and measures and the totally different “historical” science that builds upon speculation.
Website Updates
Website visitors will find my most recent series—Our Relationship with God in 2018: Estranged or Intimate?—presented in Connecticut over Labor Day weekend. In this study I try to show the line of reasoning about the basic attributes of God starting with biblical revelation as the final authority and then moving to analogous attributes we possess as creatures made in His image. Then I show how the estranging function of human sin seeks to invent idolatrous substitutes for His attributes, and conclude with the blessings to us provided by His attributes. Readers may find in this series a convenient review of basic spirituality. They will also find for the first time that the notes contain specific references to which slides were shown on each topic. We thought that those of you who listen to the audio would like to view the slides on your tablet or computer. Transcripts for this series are also being added with references to the slides. Soon a CD containing all of the files will be available for order as well.
Because this series focuses upon God’s attributes I had our website people add to the series page a short little song that my wife Carol sang to each of our four sons when we put them to bed as infants. Some parents reading this newsletter might find it helpful in creating a restful end of day time with very young children. For parents of older children, some mothers at Sugar Land Bible Church in Houston have used the framework approach to create a very nice website that I hope will lead to more tools for in-home training of children (i.e., Framework for Families).
Please don’t forget the website update form where you can submit suggestions for improvement as well as pointing out to us apparent errors or misstatements. Someone has already pointed out that my references to the Japanese tsunami event stated that it moved the island group eight inches when in fact it moved the group eight feet! This correction makes my point about high-power events on planet earth even more robust. Please submit your content corrections and well as website improvement ideas through this form. We welcome your feedback.
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Announcements
Bayside Community Church,
Guest Speaker, December 30, 2018
3333 Bayshore Blvd
Tampa, FL 33629
Adult Sunday School 10 AM, Worship Service 11 AM.
Recordings of my Bible studies are available through their website.
Chafer Seminary Pastors’ Conference,
March 11–13, 2019
West Houston Bible Church,
1500 West Sam Houston Parkway,
N. Suite 104,
Houston, TX 77043
Presentation regarding the seminary.
Live stream will be available as well as archived presentations.
Throughout Spring 2019 I’ll be working on updates for the Bible Framework Ministries website.
Prayer Requests
For continued exposure of the Bible Framework website to the global community
For wisdom and good health in creating new materials for the site
For continued financial support that the teaching materials can be used by the poor, particularly in third-world countries
For the continued development of the Framework materials oriented to elementary through high-school-aged children
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