The Super 7-hour Seminar

When I first imagined this seminar idea, the only thing that went through my head was, "Seven Hours!!!! Seven stinkin hours!!!" But note Dr. Foster I am not complaining....yet! And I have this theory that when you're in Wal-Mart time elapses faster than it does outside Wal-Mart, so in order to make this experience go by faster I dreamed it took place in the most scholastic Wal-Mart I had ever seen. That was all a big joke by the way, though the Wal-Mart theory still holds.

Before this seminar I felt I had a clear understanding of the Gospels. But I realized right off that I have become ignorant when it comes to the Gospels....and even the rest of the Bible. I guess this comes from poor reading habits of reading and seeing but not reading and opening my mind to understanding. The project went real well and I enjoyed seeing unity among people that you don't normally see yourself associating with. It made me realize how particular I was with my selection of friends. But God showed me a lot through this seminar. And a lot of it was personal concerns that I need to fix. I don't know if anyone else really felt the same way or not, but it helps to understand your faults and see areas where you can improve and mature in your walk with God.

Life of Christ Seminar

The seminar last Friday was a great learning experience in many different ways. When we first read the letter, I didn't know how the class would do in constructing a gospel without any of the New Testament. I sure didn't think that it would be that accurate, but as the night progressed, I began to learn that we have a class that knows their Bible pretty well. I think that writing this gospel probably gave us all new insight into the minds of the actual gospel writers. Getting the story straight and in order must have been next to impossible. At this point I may I say that we must remember what we believe about inspiration. Of course since we know that order was not the main focus of the writers, we should not be troubled with the seemingly unchronological accounts that we read. I think our exercise helps us to really focus on the main point of what the gospel writer was trying to say about Jesus.

Another thing that I might point out as this point is what our purpose was in writing this gospel. As we all have been in different classes and have been taught about genres, I'm sure we all at different times have wondered why knowing literary types is important. Surely by this point in the game we've realized that they are indeed almost vital for good interpretation. I say that to say while I think that we, in the end, stayed true to the genre of gospel, but the purposes we tried to stay with, encouraging and informing, almost strayed away from what the gospel genre is. I know that in the letter, this is what we were asked to do, but I'm almost sure that the focus of the four gospel writers was more of trying to retell the story (good news) while emphasizing certain important theological details they felt were important for there hearers. As I said I think we did end up doing this.

Writing a Gospel

Personally, this experience was necessary for several reasons. I was reminded of how ignorant I am of God's Word. This seminar has fueled me to develop a healthier study of the Word. I have a passion for the Scriptures that is different than before.

I also enjoyed the group experience. I felt that it was a great time of fellowship. Wrestling through certain passages and attempting to jog each other's memory of how a particular story went, allowed me to draw closer to several individuals.

The last thing I'll comment about is the feeling I had while writing this gospel. For the first time did I ever gain some what of an understanding of how early scribes felt. I have a whole new respect for them. They were taking on a task that was so crucial. These new believers, old believers, and nonbelievers needed a written account of the life and ministry of Jesus. How important was the willingness of these scribes? It's changed our lives as well. We have a written copy!

Jesus Seminar: much better than the last one!

The project that we worked on last Friday during the seminar was far more than I had originally expected. Unlike most of my classmates I was looking forward to the seminar, but not knowing exactly what we would be doing for seven hours and staying until ten did worry me. When Dr. Foster gave us our assignment and we read the letter, I thought that the task was a neat idea, but also overwhelming. At first I was not sure if we could finish it on time or if even it would turn out the way we wanted it to, but we kept on working; and while we were waiting to compile the different parts together, I knew that it would turn out great.

I think that one thing that made this project so great was that it gave us a greater appreciation for the scriptures. It seems we all found out that we did not know the scriptures as well as we thought we did or as much as we would like. However, as a group we were able to recall enough for the completion of the "Antiochian Gospel". I think that as a result, the whole experience will give us a desire to learn more about and to pay more attention to the Life of Christ, thus causing us to get more out of the class than we would have before the seminar, or at least I know it does for me.

Furthermore, I want to congratulate my fellow classmates for a job well done, and for all the effort and thought that they put into the project. I especially want thank the people in my group for being pleasant to work with and for all of their input.

seminar

I, along with most of the class I'm sure, was not happy at all of the prospect of spending seven hours...in what I feared would be merely lectures from dr. foster and dr. gore and maybe someone else. And though it wasn't the Friday night that I would have picked, I ended up enjoying much more than I thought I would. I enjoyed getting to know some of the people in the class more, and seeing everyone work together in a group setting.
I really saw how little I, and some others, knew of biblical stories. Yes, we know the gist of the story, but when it comes to details, we're not so good. It really made me appreciate the details in the story more.

Comments on the Seminar

The class project made me think about the difficulty there must have been for the original authors of the Gospels. I fully believe that what they wrote was inspired, but the pressure they probably put on themselves to make sure that the information was accurate and exactly what God wanted had to have been intense. The text may be inspired, but the writers of the text where human and we can relate to the emotions that human beings go through when they are under pressure to perform in an area of such great importance. The reason I mention these things, is because I think we all had an opportunity to experience the same pressure during the project.

In the above mentioned paragraph, I mentioned pressure several times. The pressure I am referring to are the following. I experienced the pressure of writing down an accurate text. It is easier to verbally tell someone a story and for them to get the general idea, but when you try to put the story on paper the wording becomes crucial. I realized very quickly the other night that I did not know the stories in scripture as well as I thought I did. The fear I had of putting the stories accurately on paper were because the effectiveness could be lost or if someone recognized the story as being inaccurate they would discredit the whole thing. When it comes to God's word, it is not just about telling a great story, it is about getting a great and sincere response. The pressure of not telling someone what God had intended for them to hear is a heavy burden that I have come to the conclusion, I do not want to bear. To sum my comments up, I learned more about what I need to learn as usual.

evThe adventure of writing "The Gospel According to Willy"

I was not excited about having one of the few times i have for myself taken away for a class that already has me stretched to my limit. I began the process of whining in my head and psyching myself down for the torture that was bound to lay ahead. When I got there and the "letter" was written I was even more discouraged because I knew this would be boring.
I was wrong! As soon as we began fleshing out how we were going to go about writing this letter I began to get involved in a way that I had never really done before. I was really excited to see that everyone got involved. I was also glad to see the energy that went forth into getting it done and getting it done as correctly as possible. I learned a lot about my group and about myself as well. Mostly that I am not near as polished in the Word as I thought I was. This seminar will be one of those things i will look back fondly on from time to time remembering all the fun I had learning about the bible with a bunch of people i barely knew.

I was upset about the whole idea of giving up one of the few times I have for myself in a class that was already stretching me to the limit of my time. I went knowing I would hate it and that I would be bored out of my mind. My attitude did not get any better after the letter from Barnabas was read. I braced for seven hours of headache and internal whining.
Then we started fleshing out what we were going to do and I found myself getting more involved than in anything that I had ever participated before. I learned a lot from my group and about my group. I was also pleasently surprised to find that everyone got involved it was unbelieveable. I also learned a lot about myself. Mostly that when it comes to biblical knowledge I am nowhere near as polished as I thought I was. This seminar is one of those things you will remember and carry with you through your progression in education. I will remember fondly on all the fun I had learning about the bible, my group, and myself.

Life of Christ seminar

When I first heard about the seminar I admit I was a little worried about sitting in a classroom for seven hours. Then when I heard that Dr. Foster was taking up the bibles at the beginning of class that really worried me. But after understanding the assignment I began to think that we did not have enough time to do the assignment. I loved doing the seminar. It helped me understand the gospels so much more, by having to write down all I could remember about the parables and miricles.
The fact that we worked the whole time in a group was the most effective thing we could have done. There is no way for one person to have done this in the amount of time we had to do the project. As ministry majors it is important to learn to work in groups because alot of church work involves working with committees on fulfilling a certain goal. I would love to see this time of project in all the ministry classes and more so in the upper level classes.

Foster's Seminar

My thoughts toward having to attend a seminar that would last seven hours outside of our regularly scheduled class time, to say the least did not thrill me. Afterall, we would spend more time in one day than we would in class for two weeks. This was not exciting to me as a commuter. However, as the seminar approached I decided to attend.
Right from the beginning of the seminar my attitude changed. From the way our assignment was presented (rolled up like a scroll, etc.), to how we had to establish leaders, all added together to make the evening fun. Being on a tight schedule, in order to finish by the deadline, left very little time to get bored which also helped the seminar to be a success.
The seminar challenged me to remember all that I had read and studied in the past about Jesus' life. Without a Bible you either know it or you don't and as Dr. Gore would say, "I had been weighed on the scales and found wanting."
I think the seminar helped us come together, not just as a class but as friends. It helped me realize that though we are all taking classes in hopes of earning a degree, we have another common goal, each of us are trying to fulfill what God has called us to do. I hope that we all continue to be as supportive of eachother and of other Christians as we were Friday night.

Comments on the Product of the Seminar

Even though I was not at the seminar, I looked at the finished product and thought to myself "WOW! if I had my Bible taken away from me could I tell someone about the complete life of Jesus Christ?" and honestly the answer is no. I didn't realize how much I depend on my Bible to tell me about the life of Jesus that I quess I have never really taken the time to comprehend what His life really encompassed. It's sad I know but very true. The Gospel Project 2005 was completely an eye opener for me. All the times I have read the Bible but not really comprehended all the books as a whole. Project 2005 was a great success in my book. Thank you for sharing it on the web.

THE GREATEST SEMINAR EVER!!!!! REALLY IT WAS

Concerning the seminar that was held on Friday afternoon from 3:00 to 10:00; I thought it was exceptionally well. I thought that the group as a whole worked great together. It seemed, to me, that everyone that was there did their part. I went in to the seminar thinking that it was going to be extremely boring, but I was proved wrong. I had an amazing time and I learned many important aspects over the big picture of the life of Jesus.

My group was the responsable for writing the beginning of the gospel and I was, along with Wade Smith and Ben Banks, put in charge of creating and expounding on the the outline. I got scared! I was not sure I could help in recalling all of the information that we needed to put in the outline. We got through it though. I learned that I knew more than what I thought, but I need to study the gospels more. Anyway, I thought that the seminar was great and we need to do another one sometime no matter how much of a geek I sound in saying that.

Seminar Response

I really enjoyed the seminar. By the way Dr. Foster was talking, I knew it was going to be good, but I was worried about it lasting 7 hours. Those seven hours flew by and we could have used more that seven. I figured that we would have to write out a gospel or something like that. It was good that the whole thing was a secret because I learned that I need a better working knowledge of the gospel, and if I defiantly knew what we were going to have to do, I would have studied.
The experience was better than I expected. The letter and everything made it quite interesting. I enjoyed working with a group because we helped each other fill in the gaps of what we did and did not remember. It also allowed us to grow as friends with those we did and did not know well before the seminar.
I also gained a respect for the gospel writers. We had 7 (intense) hours to write a gospel, but we had over 30 people working on it. Two hundred and ten hours if only one person was working, and we still needed more time. We would have had to have a lot more time if we did not have the computer to help in the editing process. The gospel writers put a lot of hard work into their gospels, and even with 30 people working, their gospels are still better than our gospel.

FRIDAY

This Friday I had already made up my mind I wasn't going to enjoy the project. I was going to go do it get it out of the way and never think about it again. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it, but I was wrong. When I found out we would be writing. Our own account of Jesus life I thought this could be neat. The thing I learned from the project was how much I didn't know about the accounts of Jesus. I thought I had the gospels pretty much memorized but when the Bible was taking away from me I could remember big points but there were so many things I didn't know I just took for granted because I could just look them up. I also enjoyed getting a chance to put my knowledge to the test and see what I knew. Although I didn't want to go at first I enjoyed it and learned some things about my own knowledge of Christ in the process.

Seminar

I don't imagine that I'm going to say anything anyone else hasn't already said. But a few things that the seminar impressed on me was first of all my lack of exact knowledge. For instance, I had Herod the Great as the one whom called the for the census, and I had the shepherds following a star. While these differences aren't major they are false and inadequate. The seminar has challenged me to do my daily readings slower, in shorter increments, and with closer attention to details. Further, the seminar made me think about some of the critical analysis some have offered up about authorship. Many scholars point to multiple authorship at different time periods for just about every book in the Bible. They point to minute stylistic differences and exclaim "this must be a different author!" But the fact is, I saw multiple authorship (on a more obvious scale) in play last Friday night. The stylistic and linguistic differences were not miniscule they were blatant and drastic! So if multiple authorship is true, I suggest that it is very limited and collaborately written during the same time period.

Lessons Learned in the Seminar

After allowing the experience of the seminar a few days to soak in, the one thing that has remained in my mind is my new level of appreciation for the writers of the gospels, especially of the Gospel of Mark. When one has the Old Testament in one's hand and nothing but oral tradition upon which to rely, one understands just how important the written gospels are. We had difficulty remembering details about Christ's teaching, about his miracles, and even about historical details. I can now definitely sympathize with the writers of scripture with respect to chronology. Through writing the class gospel, I understood that the sequence of the events in the life of Christ is immaterial when compared to the message of his deeds and his teachings. Therefore, I feel little need to concern myself with perfectly reconciling the gospels' chronologies, focusing rather on the content of the message.

Another important lesson learned was teamwork. From what I observed, the class worked well together, all giving what they could give to the project. Most importantly, we saw how individual effort through the writing of pericopae led to a larger, cohesive unit of text. Vocabulary did differ from writer to writer, and each pericope had its individual flavor, but together they formed a gospel. When put together, the whole was indeed greater than the sum of its parts. Even though each person played a slightly different role in the grand scheme of writing this gospel, we all came together for one purpose. Some people were leaders, and others were less visible. Even so, all were important. Much like the church, we all have different roles, but all of our roles are necessary. To those who may not have received as much recognition as others have and to those who may have been less visible in the seminar, here's to you.

I really need to study the bible more...

First entering the Maddox center on that Friday evening at 3:00p.m., I feared the worst. I figured that we would just sit there and Dr. Foster would give us a topic and we would do nothing but look through commentaries and dictionaries for 7 hours straight doing research on something. Needless to say, I was very pleased when that was not the case and Dr. Foster gave us the letter instead a commentary on Mark.

When Charles started to read the letter at first I was very confused on what we were supposed to do. Then, when we went into the room, it finally clicked with me and I realized that this wasn't going to be too bad. At the beggining, when groups were being formed, I didn't know what part of the gospel I wanted to deal with. I knew some about the birth and some about the life and ministry of Jesus, but I didn't know specifics and I figured that is what we wanted to put in our gospel and not just stories like "and Jesus healed this person." So, the only thing that I felt I could help in was the Passion story.

After we were dismissed and got into our groups, I felt that I didn't know enough about this aspect of the gospel also. We split up our part of the gospel into more parts. I dealt with the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. I felt that this part of the story lacked much compared to the actual gospels. I didn't know exactly what to put about it because I wasn't actually present at the resurrection and there were so many stories that had popped into my head of Jesus visiting people and I couldn't get the facts straight so I just sort of omitted them.

I also felt that it was hard for me to focus on the Jewish target of our gospel because I couldn't find many or any Old Testament Passages on the Resurrection of Jesus. Other worries came up in my mind such as "there is no way that we are going to finish this by 10:00." But some how, in an act of God's mercy, we finished it on time. I looked back on "The Antiochian Gospel" on Dr. Foster's website and I noticed one small problem. In the part where group 1 put the little drummer boy, it says "Wise men from the east saw a star and followed it to Jesus. And both worshipped him." I think we need to change the both because it implies two wise men but other than that I thought that it turned out good.

A look back at Friday

All last week I thought that the seven hour seminar was going to be the most boring thing that I would ever experience. Now I feel like an idiot. I learned so much from the experience and have gained new insight into things that I never really thought about. I learned that I don't know as much about the OT as I should. I came to this realization when I took on the task of looking up OT support for the birth of Christ. Isaiah is a fat book and thumbing through it looking for one or two sentence phrase is a tough job especially when you haven't taken the time to read the book. It was kind of like a slap in the face as I came to the realization that I really need force myself to sit down and read the OT.

Also, I have gained a lot more respect for the writers of the gospels. They may have had more time, but this was still a huge job to accomplish, especially for the author of Mark. All scholars seem to be in agreement that it was the first gospel. What must have been going through the writer's mind the first time he put his pen on the paper and started to write? I believe that the gospels like the other books of the Bible are inspired by God, but to be the first to write an account of the life of Christ, the guy must have be a little nervous. I am so glad that God led the writer to right the gospel and then led three others to do the same. I am afraid that ours would not have been as good if we did not have these previous ones to draw from. I had a lot of fun with the project and it was a great learning experience. Now I just have to take what I learned and apply it.

Seminar Response

The seminar was a unique learning experience. I gained a great respect for the gospel writters. For years, I thought the gospel writter just sat down and wrote their memories of Jesus. I can clearly see how they crafted their memories into the Gospels. John used the seven miracles and the famous "I am" sayings. Mark used the "Son of God" title to reveal Him to others. The unity and clarity of the four gospel accounts make them masterpieces. I can see that the writter did more than just write; they thought first. We did an excellent job compiling a gospel account, but the final product was not as unified and concise as the four gospel accounts. With more time, we could have produced a more unified text.

It seems crazy to say, but if we had more time think of what we could have done. We could have written a clear unified gospel account. In the end, Dr. Foster accomplished his objective even though our account was inferrior to the scriptures. The group I work with kept stumbbling over twentieth century vernacular and interpretation. We thought a twentieth century gospel would be a cool project. Could we write a gospel account for the twentieth century to be evangelized and edified? Maybe I am going to far, or maybe that was the objective. Can we take our knowledge of scripture and evangelize and edify our twentieth century?

A breath of fresh air

For me, the seminar last Friday served as a breath of fresh air to my spiritual lungs. It reminded me of the main purpose for my Christian faith, the story of Jesus. Without this story, I would have no purpose and direction in life. Without it, I would be nothing.
By stepping into the disciples’ shoes, who complied the story from memory and testimony, I was awakened to the importance of not only getting the message out, but getting it right. Therefore, the activity has really helped me to understand how the Gospel writers had to lean on the guidance of the Holy Spirit for inspiration, because writing the story on our own is incredibly difficult! It also helped me to see how different accounts of Jesus may differ but the message is still the same. Jesus came, lived, and died all in the Father’s Name so that we might know Him and live a life that is pleasing to God. This is the message that the world needs to here and I believe that we did a good job of getting that message together.

Seminar Response

Like most I was hesitant, to say the least, about being stuck in a classroom in a "seminar" until 10pm, knowing I had yet an hour+ drive home, last Friday night. Yet, like most again, on the other side of this "seminar" I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to have been a part of it!
What struck me most as we were going through the evening (and indeed what my thoughts about the evening have centered on since) was how similar the experiece was to accomplishing tasks in the local church setting, from a leadership perspective.
There is always a sense of urgency surrounding the task. Everyday we wait another X number of people pass from this life to the next, everyday we wait another X number of teens commit suicide, everyday we wait another 4400 babies die to abortion, etc.. There is always a fear of not getting it "right." Will God be pleased with our work? Will it be true enough to scripture to honor Christ and still be usable in our culture and society (heavenly minded vs earthly good!)? Will we get it by sister Atilla who only shows once a month at the business meeting without so much Hun('in) taking place it fails to ever get started? There is always the matter of starting well and ending well. Has adequate prayer and planning been put in to it ahead of time to ensure a good plan exist that is capable of seeing it through to the end? There is always the matter of leadership within the project, both to be developed anew and to be strenghtened in continued growth. Will it involve those who most need involvement for various reasons? Will it give opportunity for new member Jane Doe to find her niche among us? Will it allow 4 year member John Que to step into the leadership role he is now ready for? Will it allow for the older, very solid leaders to interject their timeless wisdom in such a way as they feel needed in both leadership and leadership training. There is always the matter of various personalities to be knit together in such ways that will create situations where persons can become aware of themselves and others. Sister Senior Saint and Sister Sweet Teen who both have a burden for the lost, but very different ideas of how to reach them. Brother Bible Thumper and Brother Benevolence who each have an intense desire to see God's Word at work in the lives of people, but in very different ways. Those who roll with the punches well and those that strain over a gnat. Those who are adament about presenting our best for God and those who are adament about stewardship.
These and many, many other dynamics go into any project (ministry) that take place in the local church. Likely many of those in our class will find themselves in leadership positions in the local church. Accomplishing the task well as a group many times is as important in the local church as the content and quality of the product produced by the project itself. In the accomplishing of the group-task; individuals discover strenghts and weaknesses in working with others, new individual abilities are discovered, new individual and group confidence is produced, and cohesiveness is bolstered. As the group strengthens, the product being produced by the group also strenghtens, both in quality of content and performance.
As much as reminding us of our great need to better know God's Word, this seminar may have also served as a training ground to the real-life battle ground experienced everyday by leaders within the local churches of America.

Seminar Response

The seminar was a learning experience for me in several ways. I spent the weekend in reflection in several areas of my study life. There are some important truths I have learned because of this seminar, which I hope will enrich my walk with Christ. I have learned and was convicted in the fact that I have read the gospels several times yet; I was not sure where the stories, parables, miracles, and healings I wanted to write about took place in the life and ministry of Christ. The disciples and early Christians kept the word of God in their hearts and passed them down mostly by oral tradition. They understood the importance of preserving the word of God which in their time meant memorizing the word. I have been lazy when it comes to memorizing scripture, and knowing where it takes place in the ministry of Christ.
I need to not only read the word of God, I need to reflect on where in the ministry of Christ this reading takes place and the importance to those involved in the stories. I am reminded of the importance of scripture memorization (yes even today). The authors of our Bible took great care in writing Gods word and we should realize its importance in our lives at whatever level we are in our walk.

Seminar response

The seminar was a great experience. Before the seminar, I was thinking it would be very boring and no fun at all. I found out different. It was a lot of fun and in a way very convicting. It helped me to realize how little I know about the gospels. I feel more confident now in this subject area. I feel that if someone asked me a question wanting to know more about Jesus I could answer with out any problem. I also liked the seminar because it allowed me to work with some very intelegent students that I don't usually work with.

Dido

I was also a little worried that we were going to sit for eight hours and listen to Dr. Foster and Dr. Gore talk the whole night (not that I do not enjoy that...from time to time). But to my surprise it was a meaningful night. Writing a Gospel is not something we are taught in class.
Several things throughout the night encouraged me. To see how well people can get together and work on something that is as important as writing an account of Jesus, and not fight or argue about things, is amazing to me. We did have our disagreements but I believe that they were handled very well and in an adult-like fashion. We did not even start out by voting on committees or conducting a meeting.
What I learned is that I know more than I thought and I could know more. I also saw the importance, firsthand, of knowing the authors purpose and audience in each book of the Bible. I left Friday night with a feeling of confidence, more than I have ever felt, in the Biblical text. I am not saying that I did not believe in it before but I do have a greater respect for the writers and everyone involved. Thank you Dr. Foster for being creative and I hope that the rest of your mowing the yard days will be as enlightening as in the past.

The Seven Hour Seminar

I was very skeptical about what I would be doing for seven hours on a Friday night. Once the task was introduced, I was still a little unsure of how the class was going to accomplish this in only the amount of time we were provided. As it turned out, I learned a few things.

Not knowing my classmates very well, the project turned out to be somewhat of a "get-to-know-you" project and a unifier. I was especially thankful to be in the group I was. I was able to learn more about particular people even from just observing how they worked in a group. The first impression I had of certain people turned out to be wrong (for both the positive and negative.)

This project also revealed how little I actually know about the Scripture. I realized how difficult oral tradition is for me to pass along. So much of my memory of the birth of Christ is based on more than just Scripture, but also carols and movies. I was convicted that I need to spend more time studying the Bible so that when I'm relaying what Scripture says, I don't include my own personal interpretation.

Overall, this experience was enriching for me. I would do a similar project again if I could be in a group of no more than 10 to do the work (and if I could have the same people in my group again!)

Seminar

To be honest, I was not looking forward to the seminar at all. I did not want to be there and I really did not want to do any work. But after I found out what we were doing and I was exited about the project. I enjoyed the work and thought that it was good practice on what we know about Jesus.
The writing the gospel was very difficult. I had no idea how much work was involved in writing a gospel. I truly admire what the authors have done by giving us a written account of the life and work of Jesus. The project was also very convicting. After we had finished I felt like I needed to go home and study. I know that I could know my stuff a lot better.
I am glad that I took part in the seminar and enjoyed every minute of it!

Seminar-Prodject

What an interesting time. I was nervous about going to this seminar. I expected to sit for hours lessoning to lectures. This project turned out to be something I thoroughly enjoyed. I enjoyed it so much that I shared it with my church Sunday morning and to my surprise the Lord used it to lead into my husbands sermon. I saw the faces of the people questioning as I spoke and even more so as my husband spoke.

The thing that impressed me the most was the fact, I have been in church work for years and do not know the scriptures as well as I need to. I think we as Americans take our lives for granted to much. At anytime things could change very fast and would I, or you, be able to worship the way we do now. What would we do, I do, if all of the sudden we(I) had no Bibles. Could we still share God's word? Or will it be time for Christ return.

seminar

I enjoyed participating in the seminar Friday afternoon. I must admit that I was a little nervous before we got started not knowing what we would be doing. However, once everything was explained by Dr. Foster, I became excited thinking we were part of the "first church" and that the rest of the gospel and history was depending on what took place.
The team work that developed and the seriousness of the occasion was felt. The team that I was on worked very hard to establish a list of parables, miracles, and teachings that we felt were important to pass on to the next generation. Not only did our team work, but every team showed great enthusiasm. You could feel the Spirit of the Lord in that place.
I learned how important it is to learn the Scriptures and how important it is to be able to accurately tell the stories of Scriptures. Most of all, I enjoyed the fellowship with the people I have come to admire and love in the Lord. I thank Dr. Foster for the wonderful working experience.

The [commA]ntiochian Gospel

You could have asked me last week and I would have told you the last thing I would have wanted to do on a Friday night would have been to sit in a classroom. No, I have not changed my mind, but our seminar greatly surpassed my expectations.
If there is something I feel that we as Christian Ministry majors miss out on, it is working with others in a group setting. I know that many CM majors are involved in churches where they do get to work with teams, but there are still many others who do not. In many of our classes (S.M.), we somewhat talk about working with teams, but I think that Friday night we actually got a chance to do this in a hands-on setting. We got to see sides of people we don’t normally see sitting in a classroom and listening to everyone’s thoughts and opinions were particularly interesting. I definitely thought the project brought a sense of camaraderie (at least for me) within the groups.