and Dumb

I did the reading about the comparison of blindness and deafness to spiritual matters. I had known those terms were used as analogies but I did not ever really think about it. Essentially, when someone was spiritually blind and deaf they were dumb. It meant that even though they were hearing the truth they could not understand. Even though they were seeing the truth they could not see it. I too am dumb sometimes. I hear people tell me things and I can see with my mind's eye that it is a bad idea but I just walk strait into it anyways. This analogy is so appropriate on so many levels. If we are blind then we need to find someone who is not to lead us ( no blind leading the blind spiritually or physically). If we can not hear, for whatever reason, we need to stop and watch carefully what is happening all around us. Sometimes I am so amazed by the wow factor of life and Gods role in it.

Like A News Room in Antioch

Despite the 2005 Life of Christ students telling me that I would enjoy the seminar I was kind of dreading it going into it. Friday nights are not meant for school after all. Well it turns out I did enjoy it. Working with everyone was a lot of fun and I think we all got along pretty well until the proof reading. Even that didn't get too out of hand. It was an interesting experience. I thought it would be impossible to get as much as we did, but we did it.
The project made me feel inadequate in my knowledge of scripture. I was afraid to look at my Bible when I got back. When I finally did and realized how much we missed, my feelings of inadequacy were confirmed. We missed A LOT of the sayings of Christ. But on the other hand, we also got A LOT of the sayings of Christ. It really makes you wonder how accurate the original Gospel writers were. It is still up to faith, however, and I am completely still assured in my faith in the accuracy of the Bible.

Class Project

I had heard all about previous projects and what the previous classes had to do for them. I felt like I came expecting it to be an incredibly hard 8 hours of my life. Once Toby had read off what we had to do as a class, I got relieved and excited at the same time. Dividing the project up into categories and trying to figure out what all Jesus said in the Bible was a challenge. It got a little chaotic to start out with, so I wondered if that would reflect the final product of the project.
I really enjoyed the things that my group personally got to work on through the project. The first thing my group got to work on was parables and kingdom of God. I felt that we got a lot done through those, however I think it always felt like we were still missing something, which we were. As the project went on, I worked on many other things - commissions, more parables, and the last supper. There was one other thing that I got to work on, or witness working on. It was the introduction and conlclusion letter. I enjoyed seeing the dynamics of the letter and how they were written. Overall, I came into the room dreading the project and ended up enjoying it for the most part.

Seminar

I was actually looking forward to the seminar. I was in Pauline last year and had an amazing experience at the similar last year. One of the coolest things was watching the group as a whole, intensify in their jobs as the night progressed. Seeing people's passion for the word was inspiring. Though there were times of tension in deciding what we should do, it was awesome to see the encouragement that was taking place between groups and between the editors and so forth.I knew going into this venture that I would again be reminded of how much I didn't know, but I was encouraged and to be able to reflect and see how much I have learned from my first year as a ministry major to now, and recognize the confidence it has given me in the Word. Thank you religion department!

There was one major issue that disturbed me though. As we were trying to recall all these "Sayings" I realized that "these are the words of my Savior, and I can hardly remember them!" it was easier to recall the stories and narrative, but was much more difficult to remember exactly what Jesus said... which saddened me.

Life of Christ Seminar

I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked into the Maddox at 3 pm on Friday. I had heard what other classes had done in the past. I have to say I was alittle nervous and wasn't sure how good I would do. When Dr. Foster gave us the assignment, I was at a lost of words. I had no clue on how to start a project like this. I mean Jesus said awhole of things. Me saying awhole of things sounds kinda dumb, but it was all I could think of. So to put this all in a format and to work as a "Church" was a difficult task. I was glad this was a class project, because immediately people started throwing out ideas and dividing Jesus' saying into catagories. This really help me to develop ideas and have a starting point. I loved the group I was in. Not only did we get our work done, but honestly I actually got to know people in my group who I didn't know anything about. I was very much impressed with the class as far as remember what Jesus said. I was amazed at how people were just quoting Jesus from memory. It encouraged me and made me realize that the minister majors at Williams know the bible. That was a big deal to me. I have only been a christian for three years and I honestly don't know all of Jesus' sayings as well as I should. So being in a group helped.
After we started working I started to remember Jesus' saying. I think my group work really well together. All of ours ideas and memorization came together to provide the parables for the project. I thought we came together pretty well as a class to put this project all together. I thought the way we spilt into groups and then came back as a whole class work well. We all got to voice our opinon and put our thoughts together. I thought the outline we choose was good and it seemed to flow pretty well. I thought maybe a few people tried to rule the project alittle to much, but it showed leadership on their part. So I can't really complain on that. All in all the project was kinda hard, but we came together as a class to present the sayings of Jesus' in a proper outline, that made sense and flowed. I learned alot, and again was amazed by my fellow class mates on their knowledge of the scriptures. The one thing I learned the most was that I need to improve my knowledge and memorization of scripture. The seminar was enjoyable and I would probably do it again.
Adam Godwin

...means Toby finish this

Sunday morning when I looked at the bulletin at church I couldn't help but laugh. It said "Blessed are the merciful for they will recieve mercy." The one that we couldn't remember was right there.

I was thoroughly challenged during the seminar. I thought that I was fairly literate with regards to the Gospels, but I honestly felt bad that I did not know enough Scripture to fill the stories. These are the words of Jesus, I should know them. The things that Dr. Foster said during our last group session resonated with me all weekend, and I have been challenged ever since to not say "It'll do" or "That's good enough."

I was also happy that I did know some Scripture and was able to contribute some to the discussions. I have been so wrapped up in learning about theology and how to apply it (while that is obviously extremely important) that I have failed to have a deeper relationship with God and read Scriptures enough to be able to use them without a copy of the text.

God humbled me Friday night.
-Steven

project

so i looked forward to the all night project from the time it was announced to when we actually started. the night actually exceeded my expectations. i learned so much in one night it is unbelievable. i found out that i know a lot about the gospels, yet i dont know a lot about the gospels. it really makes me upset with myself because in this nation im free to know them as well as i want to know them, but i dont. i now appreciate the gospels much more than i used to, because it was hard enough for me to remember the dialouge from the ones i had already read!
it did a lot for me spiritually, too. i developed a passion for the gosepls, wanting to read them and learn more. originally it was just to check back on the work, ill admit. but when i read i caught the passion and importance of the words of Christ more than i ever had before. i knew that the words of Jesus were and are important, but now they have taken me even more than they used to.

Life of Christ

I had only ever heard good things about the seminar for either Pauline or Life of Christ so I was pretty excited going into the event. I couldn’t wait to find out what we would be attempting to do for the next several hours. When I read the letter and found out that we would be compiling the sayings of Jesus, at first I thought, “Well at least we’re not writing a Gospel,” but then I thought, “Holy crap, I probably don’t know anything.” When it came to actually composing the sayings of Jesus my part really was that of either a starter as in an idea would flash and I would be able to get the ball rolling in the other members of my group or I would help with the details and pretty much everyone I worked with filled the same role so everyone was a nice complement to the other even though our knowledge of what Jesus said was left wanting.
I learned a few things out of this seminar and that is that I know more than I thought I did about the Bible but of course not as much as I should know and on those two facts Dr. Foster accomplished his goals. I also learned more about the group dynamic and enjoyed helping coordinate in some of the organizing. As a group when left to our own devices we do get kind of crazy and not all ideas are heard but I do think for the majority everyone who wanted had a good amount of input upon everything. In my perception everyone really worked to their limits by searching their brains for all of the information that they could and also by employing their “flexible attitude.” I’m sad that I probably won’t have another opportunity to participate in a seminar while I’m at Williams.

Toby

"This just in...'Life of Christ Seminar Renders Williams Students Knowledgeable'..."

Oh, the seminar! Oh, the Jesus we quoted! Oh, the Jesus we couldn’t remember to quote! It was an astounding seven hours of brainstorming, typing, and running back and forth to the editors. I felt like a news reporter: “I got the story we we’re needing!” “Hold the front page!” “Who’s doing the story on the Good Samaritan?” “Toby’s working on the Parable of the Ten Virgins!” I was astonished at what I could recall of the biblical accounts of what Christ said. Though, I don’t always focus on it, Jesus said many, MANY things. I never knew how much I remember of Jesus speaking: the parables, the “Sermon on Da’ Mount,” the account at the cross, and before Pilate; I found great joy that I was able to recall these things. As Dr. Foster told us at the end of class, “I want you to realize how much you know of the New Testament; I want you to realize how much you DON’T know of the New Testament; and I want you to understand how important it is.” I realize all three of these things.

Another thing that I thought was great about it was the dynamic leadership that took place. Nearly everyone took a leadership roll to give input, to support the other groups, and to add to the body of the project. I saw some timid people speak about what they know of the biblical text. I saw the bold people take a back seat to allow some of the timid ones to lead. Also, I was astonished that I was able to step up and take the lead in some things. There were moments of frustration when everyone was shouting and nothing could get accomplished. Generally, the large groups were longer meetings than they should have been, but the small group sessions compensated for the time lost in large group. The people I worked with were very knowledgeable of the text and helpful. The project was definitely a team effort. No one stood out more than anyone else. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Too bad this is my last upper level New Testament class.

Zach Pyron

Seminar '07

Even though I dreaded the seminar, if for nothing else than the unknown and amount of time it would consume, I came away feeling good about it. My fears were releived when I found out that we were able to work as a team toward one goal. Although the goal was a difficult one, it was obtainable with the group working as one. As for myself, I deffinatly reached the goals of being surprised at how much I know about the text and was appauled at how much I lack in my knowledge of specifics.

It was encouraging to find out, not only how much I knew about the text from memory, but more so, how much my classmates knew as a unit. The group dynamic worked wonderfully; building off one another's ideas and even shortcomings. At times, I was sceptical whether we'd be able to get it done, we were able to formulate a good system that worked to emphasize everyone's abilisties and strengths. Over all, it was a good learning exercise and a great experience.

Yep!

Well, I must start out by saying I had a great time at the seminar. I was a little hesitant at first, but my hesitations quickly fell away when we began the project. This project allowed me to recall a lot of the scriptures I have read and allowed be to be an active participant in my groups success. I was amazed at how much I really knew about the Jesus' words in the Gospel's. On the flip side of that, it is amazing to know that I have been reading the Bible for the better part of my life and I still do not know as much as I would like to. However, this project reinforced to me the importance of knowing the Scripture and especially those little red letters that are so important.

This project was challenged the very way I view scripture and the importance I put behind learning the scripture. It also encouraged me to look at the sayings of Jesus and know the promises that he made and the hope that he gave for the future. This project renewed in me a drive to commit more scripture to memory and also learn the context behind that Scripture. This was a very good experience. It was encouraging to see such a big group of students with very different personalities working together for one cause. It would be cool if I could take Pauline and just do the project. ( in other words no paper or test.) It's all good.

Hidden in my Heart

I really enjoyed the seminar. At first I was excited because our task seemed much easier than the previous class’. Writing a whole gospel! When in actuality, I could remember a lot more narrative and general ideas of a gospel then the exact quotes of Jesus, which is much of what a gospel is. In the first few hours I was convicted of my lack of knowledge of Jesus’ words. Hide them in your heart, yeah right! I hid them alright. I hid them so well that I couldn’t even find them. Toward the end however I found myself realizing how much I really remembered and knew. This was because of the group. No saying was out of the mind of any one person. It was the product of several.
I think the group dynamic was just as imperative as what we learned about the scripture. We were a church. It is easy to sit back and judge a church. Their lack of speed and agreement in decision making, seemingly total chaos, tyrant leaders and quite objectors. Not that we had all these characteristics, but it really helped me understand why and how things get to be such a mess with such good people with good intentions. I also gained a better appreciation and knowledge of the gospels. They were oral records of memories. No wonder things that I think should be clarified or included are left out. Better to leave it out than be completely in left field.
All in all, I’d be happy to be locked in the Maddox with ya’ll anytime.

Gospel Project '07

I have to admit that, going into the project, I was less than thrilled about it. Taking eight hours away from my "me" time was not my idea of good fun. Coming away from it, I am a little ashamed at my hostile feelings toward the seminar. It was absolutely amazing! When I heard the assignment, at first I thought, "No problem," only to realize that I didn't know half as much about the Bible as I thought I did. It was amazing to me how much we all wound up compiling.

The lesson has also taught me to be less critical of my leaders--it's hard work! The hours seemed to race by after dinner (yummy...note the sarcasm). It was amazing to see all the teams pulling together. I was pretty proud at all we wound up compiling, then I opened the Bible the next day. We did a good job, but I was surprised at how much we missed. This seminar really taught me the value of having scripture memorized, of knowing it to the best of our ability. It also taught me a few things about how to work together with my brothers and sisters. I saw two sides of the spectrum: the one trying to be heard, and the one trying to lead. Both can be frustrating, and both can be fulfilling. It's amazing what can be learned at one little seminar!

Can You say, DUHHH!

I never thought that I would be doing something like what we did last Friday night. Can I tell the truth in this matter that when I left the LOC Conference I felt so dum. I too like some of my fellow class members went back to look at what was put on paper as the "Sayings of Jesus" and boy was I ashamed. I never knew that I was so unknowingly dum. Duhhh!
However I would like to talk about the conference itself. I have never known a time in my life that challenged me more. Spiritually, emotionally, and physically I was challenged and to do that goes back to our disciplines as Christians. Head, Hear, and Hands. I saw students do things that I was so proud to see young adults doing, and yes there where things that I was not proud of. The overwhelming consensus of the event was that it changed the way I look at knowing the Bible. I don't jack about the Bible, and that scares me. Pray for me as I desire to know more of the "Sayings of Jesus."

Peppee, what is a plethora?

I don't know if we're supposed to use names or not. I'm going to this one time. I like my honorable, honorary brother, Andy Bullington. Um, that's not really related to the seminar, sorry. OK, so I really enjoyed the seminar (Let me pull out my skirt and pom-poms.) It took us a while to get things into gear, I thought, but once people started working, most everybody was very productive. I thought our setup worked well. (By the way, Matt Duran...good job, you made a lot of contributions behind the scenes.)
It really shocked me when I read through Mark and a small bit of Luke later, how much we missed. Granted, there were a lot of things that we thought of and didn't have time or enough information to put it down, but we missed a ton! I mean, we scratched the surface. I think we did well, but there was a plethora (I love that word) of things Jesus said, that we didn't even think of. I had never been that thrilled with the Gospels, when I was growing up, but now that I realize how much Jesus says in those things I really feel an affinity for them.
I want to continue talking about the seminar, because I thought it was so cool. However, I'm gonna cut this one short. I really enjoyed it. More importantly I learned a lot about the sheer volume of our Savior's words; not just the amount of things that he said, but the depth and applicability.

Alex H.

L.O.C. Project

The Life of Christ seminar was different than I had anticipated. The beginning hours flew by extremely fast, and by the last two or so, I was ready to edit and go. I did enjoy the project becuase I realized exactly how much I knew from the Bible and exactly how little I knew. I enjoyed working with our small groups, and I think by splitting up we were able to accomplish a lot more. I noticed that our class has quite a few leaders, and that can be a great thing. It can also be stressful for the group as well. I know there were moments where it seemed as if 20 different opinions were in the room, but only 1 or 2 oculd be heard. I also know that we would have been a lot worse off had we not had those leaders step up. Overall, our class did a great job (in my opinion) on successfully carrying out the task at hand. I gained a great deal of insight about my fellow classmates, as well as my own knowledge of the Bible.
I enjoyed this project, but I do not think I would do it again if given the option. Eight hours was a long time, even though I do not believe the project could have been completed in less. I am very thankful for the experience and knowledge that I gained though.

Class Project

I really enjoyed last Friday's class project. Although it lasted quite a while, time flew by, and I even thought we could have used some more time to finish editing. (Oh well). There are several things that I learned about myself during those hours. Like Dr. Foster said, I learned that I knew more about the Bible than I thought I did, but I also learned how much I do NOT know about the Bible. An interesting observation that was made by our group was how much we knew about what "others" said, but not the words of Jesus. So I realized that I need to take heed of the words of my Savior.
Would I do this project again? Yes! I absolutely loved it overall. I really enjoyed our smaller group work. I enjoyed hearing other's thoughts on certain passages and gaining a little extra insight on certain topics. I did have a lot of fun in the small group, but there were also times where we were serious and had pretty good discussions. The large group setting was a little different. To be honest, sometimes maybe it was kind of frustrating and annoying. Just kidding. But seriously. It was just a little frustrating making decisions, which I guess is something people (I) will have to live with, because it happens...and that's fine. Anyway, like I said, overall, I absolutely loved this project and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

LOX Seminar

I really enjoyed the Seminar on Friday night. I must admit that I was worried because I knew that I would be late due to the EPE and I knew what the Pauline Seminar was like. Both seminars were very good, the LOX seminar was a bit more challenging though because we could not use any narrative. But I feel that we did a successful job. I was surprised at how much scripture I was able to remember and how much of a change it was from just a year ago trying to remember things about Paul. I enjoyed it and was happy with the success and the challenge which it still put on me to continue to learn scripture.
There are a few people who I would like to thank for stepping up during the seminar. The main leaders Toby and Matt Duran, you both did a great job of getting us to stay on track and to make sure that we kept a fire lit under our butts. Also to the Editors, Melanie, Alex, and Michael, we really appreciate the work that you did with organization and everything else you did. Also to everyone else that participated, you did a fantastic job, thank you. Finally, thank you to Dr. Foster for allowing us to be able to have this experience to challenge us and help us realize how much we do know and how much we don’t know.
Matt Justice

I'd Do It Again

This past week has been a stretch. There were many tests and projects. I do not think any one thing was too much it was just alot of one things. One thing I would not undo though was the Life of Christ project. I am kinda lame sometimes but I sincerely enjoyed it. I liked the fact that we were left on our own. It gave us a chance to watch the natural born leaders in action. I loved watching other people get uncomfortable. I think we could not have done any better than the small group idea that we came up with.
I could not believe how many close to exact quotes I had floating around unused in my mind. And I am even more suprised at how many parts of the scripture are just big blank spots in my mind. I could probably quote more from Tommy Boy than Jesus. I am very greatful for the different roles played by people. Although we were rarely a democracy, things still came out very nicely. I would definately do it again.

7 hours of fun

You can ask almost anyone around me friday morning and noon that i was scared out of my mind of what we were going to have to do for this seminar. I knew i was going to get into this room of genius ministry students and not be able to participate due to my lack of knowledge. This is my greatest fear: to not know enough of the Bible. When we began our session and got organized i was beginning to feel better. When Andy Miller, Michael Carpenter, Bobby Dixon, Steven Price and I got together to remember all the Beatitudes and the sermon on the mount I was feeling better and better. Through out each stage of the night I became more and more comfortable. I believe that through this I realized I have more knowledge of the gospels than I thought that I did. However, I still feel like I need to memorize more instead of just having a general idea of what went on.

I really enjoyed being with my fellow classmates. Seeing different sides of each. Learning how much others know. I was blown away by the knowledge of a few of my classmates. This was one of the most blessing times of my life and I shall not forget it. I wish I could get my church to see if they could do something like this to learn how much we do and do not know about the Bible and through that be able to address those things that we do not know. This project helped me gain more knowledge of the Bible and my lack of knowledge of the Bible, develop leadership and team work skills, and have fun. Thank you Dr. Foster for having projects to assist me in knowing the scriptures better.

Seminar

The seminar really opened my eyes about alot of things in my life and in reading the Bible that i really had never thought about or even attempted before. One being as Dr. Foster had old how much i really don't know about the gospels and what Jesus said. It really hit me when my group was trying to remmember the beatitudes and we could not remmember all of them. You would think a person studying christian ministrys would be able to remmember the beatitudes but in no way shape or form coul i get my mind to produce every one of them. AS a christian it really challenged me and put a new goal in my life to actually be able to remmember what i read other than reading understanding but not being able to reproduce the actual text.

The other point which i think the whole class came to realize is how sometimes we as christians have to work as a team to accomplish a goal. If the whole class would not have worked together as a whole we would have never have completeed the project. Yes there intense moments that it seemed that everyone might get into knock down drag out brawl but, we worked out our differences and used everyones knowledge of the bible to get the most of this project that we possibly could. WE could have done better in my belief, I think we got under pressure and missed some simple stuff but that is expected no one is perfect. It was a great experience and i enjoyed working with every person in our class and at the same time i am glad it is over even though i had a good time.

LOX Seminar

The first question that comes to mind is, "How accurate are the sayings of Christ that are recorded in Scripture?" We know that the early church had not only the oral traditions about Christ, some eyewitness accounts when the Gospels were written, and not to mention influence of the Holy Spirit, but if the first century believer was anything like me (I tend to forget things) how accurate were the events of Christ's ministry remembered and recorded? We can also look at this question from another angle, "How much creative license did the Gospel writers take in composing their gospel?" Often in Mark, when viewed from a literary perspective, we can see that the way Mark tells the story is as important as what transpired (see Mark 8). Does this even matter in our relationship with Christ? On one hand it does because what we have recorded about Christ helps us to understand who he is, but on the other hand, it does not because no matter how the Gospels came together, we still serve the same Christ.

Overall I found the entire experience challenging and revealing. At times I felt that we might of substituted quantity over quality. Maybe if we would of focused on the sayings that we as group new well, the final product might of had even more substance to it. However, where we ended up was great. I believe we achieved our goals and we were all probably more surprised at what we did know rather than discouraged about what we did not know. My final conclusion, READ YOUR BIBLE AND READ IT WELL!