Temple Tour # 4 Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses

This past week our students went to a local Kingdom Hall to hear about the Jehovah's Witness faith.  This was the first time for all our students ever being in one.  It was once again a fantastic way for the students to hear from another viewpoint, and then match it up with what scripture teaches.  It was a very different type of temple tour, as the Jehovah's Witnesses kind of "preached" to us about why Jesus is not God in the flesh, and was a created being.  So sad to see people believe such a lie.  Anyway, our students left feeling more equipped and aware of where to take Jehovah's Witnesses to when witnessing with the scriptures.

Dealing with Tactics, Abortion, Homosexuality and Good and Evil

This past week we were blessed to have two guys from Stand to Reason ministries come and teach our students.  These guys travel all over the world teaching on apologetics, and we sure were fortunate to have them with us.  The first two days, Alan Shlemon spoke on tactics in defending the faith.  This was a great tteachingthat helped our students learn how to effectively communicate with people.  Alan then took on two very difficult topics, homosexuality and abortion.  Amazing teaching to say the least.  What I loved about his teaching was his sincere love for people, and how loving people must be before all things when witnessing to them.

The second half of the week Brett Kunkle from Stand to Reason spoke on some deep topics as well.  Good and evil, the existence of God, and a few others.  Brett has a ton of experience with college students and our students really related to him well.  No doubt, a great week all around!

Skeptic and Defender Debate # 3 "Salvation Can or Cannot be Lost"

The above picture is of the winning side of our thrird Skeptic and Defender debate.  Each week our students are improving in so many ways as they hash out tough issues in front of a live audience and judges panel.  This past week they tackled whether or not a person can lose their salvation.  It was a great one!  

Temple Tour #3 Bahai Faith Center

This past week our students visited a Bahai Faith Center for their temple tour.  Once again, a very beneficial eye opener for them. These temple tours are driving our students to know more and more why they believe the Christian faith to be the true faith that has the only answer.

The Lordship of Jesus

This past week our students were asking questions to people on the street about the Bible.  I started to talk to a young couple who were very open and our discussion quickly turned to the concept of absolute truth vs relative truth. I could see the layers of their unbeilief begin to unfold as I shared some truths with them.  Then, after about 30 minutes of discussion, these two young people said they wanted to give their lives to Christ.  I went a step further.  I told them that what they needed to do was not just accept Christ as Savior, but also to surrender to his Lordship in their lives.  I had a crazy thought and asked them if they would bow on their knees with me rite there on the street to pray and receive Christ.  without hesitation, they said yes!  Although a bit akward, it was a powerful testimony they were making...despite people walking by and cars slowing down to see what in the world they were doing, these two surrendered to Christs Lordship rite there on the corner of Chemekata and Liberty...a corner I have come to dub "Collision Corner".  They live about an hour from Salem, so I called a pastor in that area and he has already followed up with them. Pray for spiritual growth for Richard and Ashley.

Testing the Bible

This past week our students were challenged to know whether or not the Bible truly is God's word to man via a great series of teachings from my good friend Joe Castanada.  Our students looked at the reliability of the Scriptures from historical, archeaological, and prophetic angles.  It was an amazing eye opening week for us all.  If the week could be summed up in one statement Joe made it would be this, "It is all in or all out with this Book. You either accept all of it, or none of it."  

Temple Tour #2 Unitarian Universalist Church

This weeks temple tour was at a Universalist Unitarian church.  This was a very interesting time for our students.  In the end, our students were discussing the craziness of the whole worldview of this church.  To this church, there is no absolute truth, Jesus was just a good guy on earth, and there is a ton of contradictions in their belief systems in which our students saw.  This is why I love doing these temple tours.  it exposes our students to so much, and forces them to look to God's word for truth.  As i always tell them, the more you know God's word, the easier it is to identify false teachings.  This particular church even had dual gender restrooms which took me by surprise.  My goodness what is becoming of our world?

"The Lions Den" Equips our Students

The above picture is of our students partaking in what we call "The lions Den".  This is an interactive training activity I created to help equip students at defending their faith.  One person is in the middle (aka the lions Den), and all the others sit in a circle around them.  We create a scenario, and then the conversation begins in which the person in the middle has to answer 3 questions regarding to the situation.  for example, one scenario could be your in a conversation with some people and they ask you why would you believe in God if there is so much evil on the world.  Thus begins the conversation.  It has proven to be very effective and useful for the students, as well as humbling. We do the Lions Den once a week.

Exposing Cults with Dr. Bob Wright

We had Dr. Bob Wright from Corbon University with us this week teaching on Cults.  It was truly an amazing week and the students learned a lot about the false teaching of Cults such as Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, and various others.  Most importantly, Bob taught some great stuff on how to effectively reach out in love to people of these different belief systems.  A nugget of truth Bob left us was some great advice about how to finish strong in ministry.."Keep your sense of humor and loose your sense of smell."  In summary, stay light hearted, and expect ministry and people to disappoint you at times.

Does God Exist? Student Debate # 1

This week was our first "Skeptic and Defender" debates for our students.  They were debating with each other the existence of God.  they did a great job, and it was sure a pressure cooker in there.  We had members from our YWAM campus and local youth pastors and friends form the panel and audience.  The students are eager for their next debate next Friday.

Team of students taking notes and listening to the opposing viewpoint present their case

A Visit to a Sikh Temple

Our temple tour this week was of a local Sikh Temple.  The Sikh's showed us amazing hospitality as we sat and ate delicious snacks and drank tea together. Our students heard about the Sikh faith and in turn were able to ask the Sikh's their viewpoints on many areas of life.  One thing that stood out to our students was how kind and welcoming they were.  "We could learn a lot from their kindness"s said one of our students.  On the same note, our students were broke for how the kindness the Sikhs showed are in direct correlation to their belief in reincarnation and Karma.  Later in the week our students had an hour long intercessory prayer time for the Sikh's of the world.

"Sure, but I'm a pantheistic pagan witch if that's okay."

Our students did an awesome job on the streets their first week.  They were definitely challenged in many conversations.  One of our students asked if she could ask a lady our questions of the day.  In response, the lady said, "Sure, but I want to let you know I am a pantheistic witch if that's okay."  Talk about diving rite in!  In one sentence our student was caught off guard and asked me after he conversation, "What is a pantheist?"  This is why the Outward Apologetics School is so vital.  Pray for our students as they hit the streets three afternoons a week in the school.

The Discipline of Apologetics

This week our students were challenged by our speaker Peter Koenan.  Peter taught on Apologetics as a foundations and spiritual discipline in the life of the Christian.  It was an amazing week and went very deep into theological thought. From worldview, to the problem of suffering in the life of the Chrisitian, the week really forced students to grapple with the tough questions. This week really layed a great foundation for the next 6 weeks of the school.  If I could sum up Peter's week in one thing he said it would be this..."A peacemaker is someone who is willing to go into conflict for the sake of the truth."  

Fall time in Oregon

One of the great things about Oregon in the fall is pumpkin patches.  This weekend we took the kids to our favorite one, and they had a great time.  The kids are now about a month into school, Anders is in 6th, Aidan 5th, Abby 3rd, and Autumn kindergarten.  This of course keeps Sarah pretty busy, as she has Annie and Alistair to wrangle as well.  We are truly amazed at how quick time flies bye.  Kids are a precious gift from the Lord.  I just wish these gifts did not have to grow up so quick!