Last weekend, we held an event at our church called Walk Thru The Old Testament. It was an excellent event and provided the perfect incentive to encourage our church to spend more time in the Bible.
I have had experience with Walk Thru The Bible before, way back in 1995. It has been a while since that seminar, and I really didn’t know just what to expect. I was blown away by just how incredible this ministry is, and how it can impact people.
We started planning for this event several months ago, when I pitched the idea to our leadership team. They seemed to be excited about it, but none of us really knew just how big this would actually turn out to be.
Planning continued, and we tried to do all of the preparatory work by the book. We followed WTB’s schedule closely, publishing ads when they said to publish ads, hanging posters when we were supposed to hang posters, making the announcements so many weeks in advance, and working our way up to the weekend of the event itself.
What happened was absolutely incredible. God’s Word was presented in such a way that many people grasped an overview of portions of Scripture hat they had never put together before.
WTB’s Old Testament event is a five hour event, broken into four separate sessions. We presented the first session during our church service, devoting most of our time to it. After a break for lunch, we returned for the next three sessions, working our way through the Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi. Along with the overview, we were taught seventy-seven different key points, with creative hand motions, to help us remember it all.
It was one of the best weekends that our church has experienced in a while. A large number of our congregation made the commitment to stay for the duration, and several people from our community joined us for the day. It was a phenomenal success, and we haven’t heard a negative review of it yet.
Through it all, I learned a few key facts about leadership and ministry. I think I have known these, and they may seem like common sense to many, but they were reinforced in my mind very strongly over the weekend.
God’s Word is a very powerful thing
When God’s Word is presented, I don’t have to do anything at all to “add” to it. It is sufficient. This seminar didn’t do much more than provide an overview of Old Testament history, and yet, there were several people that were impacted by the reality of God’s love for us, and challenged by the Scriptures.
God’s Word doesn’t need me
I think it is an easy trap to fall into, believing that God needs me to help this particular church to survive and grow. In fact, the opposite is probably more true. I am not indispensable. And I am not always even the best thing for our people here to grow from. This was evidenced by the fact that several people put several events into perspective like they never have before. These are things that I have shared and taught in the past, but in this particular format, they grasped it more completely. The light bulb clicked on for them like never before, and it wasn’t because of me.
God’s Word is understandable
This is easily seen of the New Testament, because we are more familiar with it. The Old Testament is trickier, or at least it seems like it is sometimes. There are a lot of kings and prophets and events that are hard to keep straight, and so we get confused. But we can understand God’s Word, and the more we study it, the more familiar we become with it. One lady was shocked to learn when the book of Job was written. When she realized where it fit into the timeline of history, she realized some things about it that she hadn’t put together before. And as a result, I’d be willing to bet she is reading Job this week with fresh eyes.
God’s Word is encouraging
As a result of the weekend, several people are committed to reading through the Bible daily, and many more are digging into it more than they ever have before. And that is kind of the point behind why we brought in WTB. Seeing the big picture has generated a hunger for more of the details of the Word of God. And that hunger will grow as people read the Bible faithfully.
I was highly encouraged by the weekend event. Walk Thru The Old Testament was fun and engaging, and it presented God’s Word in a fresh and vibrant way to many people, myself included. I am excited to see how God works in the lives of his people because of it.
Question: Have you ever experienced a Walk Thru The Bible Event? If so, how did it impact you? If not, what do you do (or does your church do) to encourage and strengthen Bible study? You can leave a comment by clicking here.