Skyline, Cinci!
Our Precept Training Team hosted 5 training workshops in one weekend! Last week was full. Then, there was the more than a foot of snow threatening three of these workshops. The weather channel was the number one site of the week! One workshop was cancelled in Baltimore due to inclement weather. 40 folks were registered to become Precept Upon Precept Bible study leaders! Though it was tough to cancel, what are ya going to do when the airport is closed! Thankfully, there are multiple opportunities for these eager leaders in the next few months thanks to our Precept Network Teams. Check out some of the training around you!
Minneapolis, Columbia, Milledgeville, and Cincinnati weren't shut down by the storm. The airports, however, were freaking out passed the Mason Dixon line too. My flight to Cincinnati was going to cost over eight hundred dollars and may or may not get there! Cue the six hour road trip through the frozen tundra in a rental with four wheel drive!
As a Dad of three rambunctious munchkins, solitude and silence are both a necessity and a rarity. Five hours in the car and a quiet night to sleep... I wasn't mad. I had two routes. One was shut down with stranded folks being rescued from cars. I opted for the other route. When passing through Lexington, KY things got a little crazy. The highway was shut down because of an overturned truck. Good 'ole Google Maps redirected me. The crazy came in largely due to the one lane roads I experienced and the sheer terror of being a Tarheel fan in Wildcat territory. Check out this short video that I posted on Instagram of the road.
Early Saturday morning, over a hundred folks came to Grace Community to learn the "Essentials of Inductive Bible Study!" The snow did not deter them and I'm so glad it didn't keep me from getting there too!
I resisted the urge to find something to sled down this amazing hill before the workshop began. I was blown away that so many people responded with a hunger and desire to get into God's Word for themselves. Standing room only, y'all! Our amazing volunteer team grabbed some bistro tables for folks to use as a standing desk!!! The whole time I kept thinking of the men who lowered their friend through the roof to get to Jesus! what if we had packed houses and coffee houses of people wanting to get the tools to dive into God's Word... Not in China or Zambia, but the US!
While standing room only was encouraging, the most exhilarating part of the whole weekend, the thing that really gets me geared up is that only four people had ever embarked on inductive Bible study before! Over ninety-five people were exposed to and equipped with the powerful tool of inductive study! They were pumped! It was like a shot in the arm of straight espresso to see how excited they were as they discussed what the Spirit was teaching them through the Word.
Then, the encouragement just kept rolling... We were going through the power packed chapter of 1 Thessalonians 1. When folks were testing out their skills, I happened to look up and start walking around the room. It almost knocked the wind right out of me, but I was hit with how many young men were eagerly, voraciously devouring the Word. They were leading out when we discussed the text. They were the first to make application to their own life within our group. They were pastors, elders, and church planters! I had so many great conversations with men of all ages who were exstatic about discipling other men in the Word! Oh that the Spirit would bring an increase, raising up more laborers through them!
Needless to say, I was boasting in the work of Jesus with this particular workshop. The Spirit of God is doing some legit things through the Word of God among the people of God there. Cincinnati, though cold, is on fire for making disciples with inductive study. It was such an encouragement to see and experience people that WANT to be established in God's Word.
Finally, no part of the weekend would have been possible if it weren't for a great God and a great team. Our team in Chattanooga worked it, but our amazing horde of volunteers in Cincinnati rallied. They worked it. They even surveyed folks, with a great response I might add, to see what the next training workshop in the area should be! This was their first time sponsoring a workshop and they did an amazing job! We're praying that the Lord would raise up a Precept Network Area Team Leader through their efforts.
I can't wait to see what happens with the Bible study leaders and disciple makers in Cincinnati, Lexington, and Louisville as a result of our time together! I can't believe, too, that this is my "job!"
