Bible podcasts, videos, blogs, printables, and more to help you know, trust, and apply the Bible.
from Yvon Prehn to help you know, trust, and apply the Bible
This is a new section for the Bible805 ministry, and the Ministry Miscellany Podcast goes along with it. It consists of tips, strategies, and resources for people who teach the Bible.
I'm doing it because, though a few detours have taken place, the primary activities of my life have been teaching the Bible, involvement with my church, and Christian ministries. I am incredibly, humbly, and joyfully grateful for the life and many, many ministry experiences the Lord has given me, and though I hope the Lord gives me many more years to serve Him (my grandmother taught Sunday School class into her 90s), I have already been at this long enough that I have some suggestions that might be helpful, some ministry advice that might be encouraging, and some resources that I've found helpful.
I feel the Lord wants me to pass them on. They are humbly offered with no claim of expertise or guarantee of success. Most is offered for free--only my personally authored books have a cost. Also, the Bible805 ministry takes no advertising, nor do I participate in any affiliate marketing schemes where I would get paid for promoting something. There are no hidden agendas for anything I tell you about.
I'll post the availability of new material here along with the podcast and on the Lion's Voice, the Bible805 Ministry newsletter.
What are your expectations for Easter at your church? Especially for those who are visiting for the first time and who may be totally unfamiliar with the Christian faith?
In answer to that question, I’d like to propose that you make it OK for visitors to reject Jesus at your Easter Service and in our podcast today I’ll tell you why (and of course I’ll include how to start then on a path to accepting Jesus in the future).
Following are five realities to keep in mind–
This is a true story. Though the specific event discussed is Easter, the lessons learned from it can apply to any event. In addition to applying to any event, we can all identify with the situation here. The challenges of ministry are so huge it is very easy to get overwhelmed in one area and totally forget another one. May the Lord have mercy and help us all.
Here’s the story–in one of my church communication seminars, at the break, a woman literally came running up the aisle to talk to me.
“Oh, thank you, thank you,” she said, “Now I understand what went wrong.”
I had just been talking about the importance of letting people know what you did on a regular basis (and maybe even where you regularly meet) when you hold a special event if you want positive results from your holiday outreach. The advice had been helpful to churches in the past, but her response was more excited than most, so I asked her to tell me more about her experience.
She then told me about a special Easter service her church put on that was a huge amount of work and an equally huge disappointment in results. Here were the details:
What kind of relationship do you have with someone, if you meet them, have a great time, and then walk away, never to call, talk, or see the person again? Not much of one is it?
In contrast, what about a relationship where two people meet briefly but then keep in touch through letters, emails, phone calls, and other get-togethers? What if they take time to interact and get to know each other? We’d label that a meaningful relationship.
If we want any kind of relationship, friendship, or romance to progress, we know we’ve got to expend some effort to grow the relationship.
As a church, we begin relationships with the people in our communities when we host outreach or holiday events. Sometimes they develop into a meaningful, long-term relationship with visitors, but in the majority of cases, they don’t. Take time to consider some of the following thoughts and evaluate how your interactions with visitors.
A.I. is not a dark force to be afraid of, it is a tool and like any other tool, it can be used to help or to hurt.
But it is very different in one way that is incredibly important for anyone in ministry and that is for you to understand that YOU can make a difference, a BIG difference to the content served up by A.I on the web.
Please bear with me for a few minutes while I explain this because if you understand what I’m saying and will encourage you to do, it can make a huge difference in the lives of untold multitudes around the world now and into the future.
I am not exaggerating.
Here’s why–following is the podcast and then the rest of the text that goes along with it.
Icebreaker questions are those questions we ask at the beginning of studies to get people talking. Some ministry leaders consider them a waste of time and want to jump right into a study or lesson, but from decades of ministry, I think they are essential. Following is the podcast of this content and below that, the text.
I praise God that, though a few detours have taken place, the primary activities of my life have been teaching the Bible, involvement with my church, and Christian ministries. I am incredibly, humbly, and joyfully grateful for the life and many, many ministry experiences the Lord has given me, and though I hope the Lord gives me many more years to serve Him (my grandmother taught Sunday School class into her 90s), I have already been at this long enough that I have some suggestions that might be helpful, some ministry advice that might be encouraging, and some resources that I’ve found helpful.
I feel the Lord wants me to pass them on. They are humbly offered with no claim of expertise or guarantee of success. Most is offered for free–only my personally authored books have a cost. Also, the Bible805 ministry takes no advertising, nor do I participate in any affiliate marketing schemes where I would get paid for promoting something. There are no hidden agendas for anything I tell you about.
This is a new section for the Bible805 ministry, and the Ministry Miscellany Podcast goes along with it.
I’ll post the availability of new material here and on the podcast on the Lion’s Voice, the Bible805 Ministry newsletter.
Observing Lent isn’t about a denomination, or whether your church is liturgical or not. Lent helps us to put the Christian life into a biblical perspective. It’s a time to practice saying “no” to ourselves in little things so we can say a bigger “yes” to God in the bigger decisions of life. It can truly be a time for significant spiritual growth for the individuals in your church as well the church as a whole.
Following is motivation for celebrating Lent and descriptions of resources, including free handouts and a Lenten Devotional and Journal. If you are in a hurry and don’t want to bother listening to all, go to www.Bible805.com and the resource links will all be on the home page.
Text and resources for Lenten resources follow. You can listen to a podcast of the content below or read the text that follows it. The Resource links are at the end of the article.
There are two sources for videos of the Bible805 content, one is Youtube and the second is the Bible805 Academy, a source that allows you unlimited rights to show the videos in your church, homeschool, small group, Bible class or any other way you want to use them. More details on both sources follow: [Read more…]
Through the Bible in Chronological Order Reading Plan, schedules and journal pages: https://bible805.com/through-the-bible-in-chronological-order-schedules-and-journal-pages/
Free eBook, Not Safe, But Good, with additional motivation for reading in Chronological Order and Reading Schedules:
ALL NEW–START HERE, a plan for curious people to begin reading the Bible, a new paperback book with a shorter reading plan, 11 books in the New Testament to introduce you to the Bible and the Christian faith: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G4W9YW5Z?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
FREE downloads (no ads, all legal, I give you permission to show them) of the videos mentioned below:
https://bible805academy.com/collection/read-your-bible-in-chronological-order [Read more…]
We want our people to share their faith and this communication gives them an easy and non-threatening way to do it. One year, I posted the material below on our Adult Sunday School Class website and gave out a sample to our adult class. I printed the black and white image on a blue parchment-type paper. I encouraged them to go to the website and print it out for their Christmas letters and to share with friends. You are welcome to copy any or all of it and you can put them on your church or class website for your people to share.
Below the sample that I shared with my class are some color versions, spot-color separations, and versions that are in a tri-fold brochure format. All of these are available in two ZIP files at the end of this article. This letter/brochure or any other piece that clearly explains the reason for Christmas and the meaning of salvation in Jesus is essential for your church to share at all your holiday outreach events. Jesus came to save us from our sins, not to give us reasons to buy stuff or even so we can have wonderful family celebrations. We need to be clear about the true Christmas message to people who may only come to our church at this time of year–this piece gives you an easy and effective way to do it. [Read more…]
I apologize for the trouble and confusion the next few months may cause as Bible805 shifts to new ways to serve you.
#1 EVERYTHING, every resource from Bible805, the Bible805 Academy, and Bible805 Images is now FREE ! It will take me some time to update the current free status of items that previously had a change—but be assured if you go to the following sites—EVERYTHING is free:
www.Bible805.com
www.Bible805Academy.com
www.Bible805images.com [Read more…]
Popular advice on preaching and teaching advises that the teacher scatter into their lesson illustrations from their lives to make their message more relatable.
Doing that may have some value, but it also has some pitfalls that may lessen the impact of your message or lesson. Following are three reasons why this might be the case and some advice on what to use instead of personal illustrations. [Read more…]