This past weekend, April 6-7, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop called “Be God’s Co-Worker.”  In this workshop we learned essential skills for conducting a Bible study in our homes with people that don’t really know too much about the Bible but are interested to learn more about it.  Since this is basically what my teammates and I will be doing in New York over the summer, this workshop was incredibly helpful and relevant.  We learned all about how to become disciples of Christ that can make disciples who can make disciples and just take part in growing God’s kingdom.  One of the essential elements that we talked about was finding the “person of peace” within the community that we’re working in that not only are willing to learn about Christ themselves but also can connect with and bring others in the community.  This workshop shared with me helpful methods of studying the Bible that can not only help me in my own personal studies but also help me in studying the Bible with others.  We talked about the “three-column Bible study” that involves writing the passage in the original text, writing, in your own words, what you see in the message, and finally writing in the “I Will” column how you plan to carry out the message in your own life.  I know that I personally never would have thought of studying the Bible in this way had it not been presented to me, and I believe that it will be extremely helpful in studying with others in the community this summer and even in the weeks/months/years after.  After this workshop, I feel more and more confident and prepared for my internship this summer and I can’t wait to be a part of spreading the word and doing work for the kingdom.

I had the opportunity to go to a workshop called “Be God’s Co-Worker”. I was excited going into it even though I had no clue what it would be about, but who wouldn’t want to be able to work alongside with God? The first point we talked about was becoming disciples that are disciple makers. So being able to not only use our gifts and knowledge of God and the word, but also taking it out into the world and helping others become as knowledgeable and willing to work as Gods right hand men. We also went into depth of how to put on a bible study and the process of getting people involved, even people who don’t know God. You must be a person who is willing to learn more about Christ. You do not have to be a Bible Scholar to lead these lessons. God does the teaching as you lead people to read, study, and obey the word of God. You just have to be receptive and open to anyone that is willing to learn. One of the main points that I pondered upon was the realization that a personal bible study can always be good, but doing a bible study as a community or with a group of friends can transform you. Being able to hear the ideas of other people and their opinion on things is totally different and can help you open up your eyes to new things or even look at things from a new perspective.

 The biggest thing I took from this weekend is realizing that you have to build relationships with people. This is the number one most important thing in not only starting a bible study, but in teaching people about Jesus. When you truly care about someone, it makes you want to help them more, and keep the bond you have with them. People do not care what you know until they know how much you care. So build the relationship, get to know each other, and then eventually it becomes easier to talk to them about Jesus and things going on in their life because they realize that you actually have a deep care for them.

This past weekend, April 6 & 7, students and disciples gathered in the home of Marvin Crowson for a home bible study workshop.  The focus of the workshop was to gain insight and practice starting home bible studies in a way that encourages community, scripture reading, accountability, and sharing/discipling.

At Harding we are blessed with endless possibilities for bible study participation.  But what will it look like for students after graduation when the harding groups are no longer available.  Will we have the self-discipline and wisdom to establish our own bible studies.  This week I decided to give it a try.  Our group is still uncertain of exactly what verse one would start with if in a new group of varying levels of believers/unbelievers.  We opened up to the Gospel started reading and paused for discussion when anyone came across something that struck a cord with them.

Before attending the Market Outreach Event I was not certain as to what to expect besides learning about church planting. I knew that I would end up enjoying it, but because I was not aware of what activities we would be doing, I admit that I was not all that excited before going in. However, after the first night attending, I was glad that I had made the decision to go.

It was a great two days in which I learned about how to talk to those who have not had exposure to Christ before, which of course was very beneficial because this is something that I will have to encounter once I am on my internship in New York. One of the main things that we focused on those two days was the person of peace. A person of peace is someone that is open to hearing about the gospel and brings others so they too may hear God’s message. This particular person does not necessarily have to be part of the church already but simply willing to learn more about Christ. I learn that in order for the person of peace to be effective and bring more people in, he or she must be receptive,be of good reputation and also active in the community.

Another method that I learned about and one may use that is effective. was the I.C.R.A. model. This model demonstrates how to get the product (God’s word) to the lost through topics to talk to them about. For example, the I stands for incarnation, C stands for crucifixion, R, resurrection. If one is able to talk through and explain this to those whom they are working with, one is more likely to be successful. Making and keeping the  connections one has made is also something that is crucial in order to keep one’s fellow brothers and sisters encouraged.

These are just a few of the many things that I learned this weekend, all which I will be able to apply once I actually began to do church planting myself. I came out of this experience very encourage to go out and tell others about Christ and it gave me guidance as to how to began the church planting process and cannot wait to begin doing that this summer!

On Sunday, April the 7th, I had the opportunity to attend a retreat called “Be God’s Co-Worker” hosted by Marvin Crowson. At the retreat, I learned so many things about taking the skills I have been given and using them out in the world or on the mission field, if I find myself there. We heard a speaker explain how to begin a home Bible study step-by-step from inviting people you meet to engaging in conversations about faith and about what God has done for you. We also discussed the true meaning of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. Incarnation is the mindset that we are the hands and feet of Jesus. Crucifixion is the act of giving up everything for someone else out of love and it is the ultimate test of how far you’ll go. In order to do this, you have to let go of your pride and reduce. Jesus did not fit into the “kingdom of the world” and I think we forget that sometimes. Resurrection is a total dependance upon God. Jesus revealed Himself to His disciples after His resurrection and when the 11 show up, some are doubtful. How many times are we doubtful in our walk of faith? More than we’d like to admit. Some of us say that if we saw the resurrected Son of God, we would have no doubt in our minds that He is who He says He is. So why did the disciples have doubts? I came away completely pondering that thought and it still has me wondering what I would have done if I had been in their position.
One of the things I took away from the retreat was that the hardest part about ending world hunger is the distribution. So many times we have all of the things we need to fix a problem, we just don’t know how we are supposed to get it there. The question is, how do we get God’s product to the lost?

On February the 28th, a group of students and I included traveled to Heifer International whose headquarters are located in Little Rock, Arkansas.It was a great experience to learn about their mission and what they do. I learned that their mission is to work with communities to end poverty and hunger and at the same time care for the earth. They help families to get out of poverty by empowering them with self-reliance and hope for the future. It was pretty amazing to me to see how a gift as small as a heifer can turn into something big, profitable, and at the same time bring hope to entire communities.

We watched a video  where some women felt hopeless and thought they could not do anything to contribute to their families, but through Heifer International they came to the realization that they are valuable for their communities and that there is hope. Heifer International trained them to become hardworking women that were able to provide to their families. Heifer also trained them to learn how to write, read, and work with animals. These women and communities were coming out of the cycle of poverty by passing on the gift to other families.

Heifer International provides communities with a reliable source of food, but also a reliable source of income. Agricultural products like milk from cows or goats can be shared within the families and sold at market. This new income along with the training in sustainable practices that these families get allows them to clothe their families, provide them with medical care and send their children to school.

As we just passed the halfway point of the semester, I am feeling a little discouraged by what I haven’t been able to accomplish towards my internship so far.  The plan is for me to accomplish a significant amount of research this semester, towards my Trout Magnet internship I will be taking part in this summer. I knew it was going to be a challenge to find time amongst taking 21 hours and playing baseball, and it definitely has. Although it has been challenging to find time, I believe this is beneficial for me to stretch myself and learn how to effectively manage my time. After all, one day I’m going to have a full-time job and kids and I will be wishing I had the schedule I have now. It is actually a blessing that I am learning these skills now in order to be better prepared for the future.

The first step in my research for the internship involved making a list of objectives.  This includes things such as researching opportunities to market Trout Magnet in the western U.S., further develop their social media presence, product testing, and others. Once I laid out the list of objectives, I met with Jeff Smith, the Trout Magnet owner,  to talk about them. When we sat and talked, Jeff approved my objectives and stated which ones he felt were more urgent than others. First, it is vital that I develop a full understanding of the company and their products. Part of understanding the company is finding out who their customers are and how they have been able to reach them effectively.  By understanding this, I will have a better idea of how to market their product in the West, since this area really hasn’t been broken into quite yet.  Also, I need to learn how they run and manage the business on a day-to-day level. In order to do that, I will need to spend time at the shop, as much as possible, in these months leading up to my internship.

Another part of the research process, in which Jeff mentioned was more urgent, is for me to become familiar with their products.  Since it is a fishing company, this is the fun part!  It is what I call “my kind of research”.  However, I went out to the Little Red River once over spring break with Josiah Pleasant and didn’t have quite the success I was hoping for.  I think this was primarily due to high water conditions and the fact that I was using very heavy fishing line without a fluorocarbon leader as recommended.  Next time, I plan on being properly set up and fishing in more optimal conditions. Although not catching anything was discouraging, I see it as part of the process.  It’s part of me figuring out what works and what doesn’t work. This way, when someone says that the Trout Magnet doesn’t work for them, I can empathize with them and tell them exactly what they need to do differently.

Although, as I mentioned earlier that I’ve been slightly discouraged by my lack of progress in my research process, I plan to kick it up a notch.  The weather is getting warmer and I look forward to some days on the water where I can get a better feel for the Trout Magnet. I also will be getting with their advertising company to implement a promotion that will gather information to help us market the products in the West.  In addition to that, I will be researching and finding companies that will provide leads to potential customers out West.  All of these research pieces are very important for me to develop before I actually start my internship in June.  Exactly what I will be doing for Trout Magnet during the internship in June will be based on how much research I can accomplish from now until then.

(Hopefully next time I’ll post a picture of me actually holding a fish.)

Last Thursday the NiMA interns were able to all take a field trip of Heifer International. Fist we visited the Heifer Village, the non-profit’s headquarters in Little Rock. We learned about the values they promote and some the work that they do all over the world. The goal of Heifer is to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and to take care of the Earth. The new HQ building is a integral piece of their taking care of the Earth stance. This 94,000 sq. ft. building is roughly 40% more efficient than the average office building and it was build with a 7 year pay back period. To accomplish this they used many innovations like cold water cooling, hot water heat and almost all natural lighting with supplemental LED lighting, something rather new when the building was built. On top of that, the building is beautiful, proving that practical doesn’t mean drab.

After we finished at Heifer Village we went to the Heifer Ranch. There we learned about many of the animals they place around the world and a bit about how they pick what animals to send where.  We also saw a video about a project in Nepal. I surprised at how much Heifer often changes the cultural structures already in place. In Nepal they took women who afraid to talk to anyone and made them family leaders. Although they radically improved the families standard of living, I was shocked by way they upset the family dynamics. They actually didn’t talk to the husbands at all. None the less, I think that what they are doing is a good thing and the major impact they are having in many countries is impressive to see.

We have all heard the saying “It’s the little things in life that matter most”. Little things like a smile from or to a stranger, or maybe just being able to sleep in an extra thirty minutes, or Just nice jesters in general that people do, just because they want to. Maybe it even gives you joy to do something nice for someone with no intentions of getting anything back. It’s the things like this that make us happy in life. It’s the little drops of water, the little grains of sand, that make the mighty ocean and the beautiful land we have. So just think of that ONE little thing that you do for someone, that ONE smile you give them as you pass by may give them hope of something more in the world. Something better than what they have all because of something you did.

Going on the visit to Heifer International we learned about how their organization sends a simple goat, or camel, or even a pig, over to one family in a community to help give them milk, food, and even electricity. Just giving that one animal doesn’t only help out the family you give it too, but once their animal reproduces they pass on the offspring to another family in their community, and this process just continues. We watched a video of some ladies in Nepal who received a goat. Once she passed the offspring on to another family, by the time they took the video, the community already had 17 other families who had goats. All because Heifer International brought one lady a goat. You giving hope to one family, actually gives hope to build up a whole community and better the economic conditions. That one little thing can make a change in a whole community and eventually branch out into a whole nation.

Doing something as simple as buying an animal for someone else not only causes change in your heart but also the people receiving it. It’s showing Gods love in something that didn’t even start out as a “Christian” organization. It gives others hope that they can do better in life, and there are people willing to help them. So I just encourage you to think about the little things that you do in life and how they might effect someone else. Not only one person but the impact that one little thing can have on maybe even a nation one day.