Viewing entries tagged
Sunday School
Today’s E100 reading looks at the story of Noah’s Ark. Everybody knows this story, right? Children love drawing the zebras and monkeys, and adults endlessly speculate about how everything fit and what it might have been like. But all of those things distract us from the message that Noah’s Ark is intended to convey. Do you know what it teaches? There are several important lessons that we should hear from Noah’s Ark no matter what our age.
Just because you’ve sat through a bunch of sermons and Bible studies, it doesn’t mean that you understand what makes them work when they do or fall apart when they don’t. Let’s dissect some of the most common reasons an otherwise interesting Bible message lacks power or impact. Then, hopefully, next time you have an opportunity to give a talk, you’ll know where to start.
With 2020 almost drawing to a close, instead of a regular post, I thought I’d share a behind-the-scenes look at the studios where we film our sermons, vlogs, and Sunday School videos. Some people have asked whether I film these at my home. Others have wondered whether I use my phone to record them. If I was relying on my own talents and resources, I probably would. Thankfully, God has provided a great team. They have invested a lot of time and research in getting the right lighting, sound, and picture quality to ensure that what you see online doesn’t distract from the message we’re trying to communicate. Out of gratefulness for them, let me show you what things look like from the other side of the camera.
On Sunday, the team responsible for our weekly children’s ministries gathered for a BBQ and celebration of God’s goodness over the past year. As part of our time together, we discussed some quotes from Samuel Williamson’s book, “Is Sunday School Destroying Our Kids? How Moralism Suffocates Grace.” For those of you with children at Grace, don’t worry: our Sunday School isn’t destroying them! But Williamson argues that when we get Sunday School wrong – and it’s easy to do – it has the potential to destroy our children’s faith. Let me explain why.
