“I was praying for 20 . . . and I got those 20 . . . I prayed for 30 . . . got 37 . . . prayed for more and more . . . they kept coming,” says Pastor Steve Rust, Macedonia Lutheran Church, Burlington, North Carolina.
“Parables of Jesus was highly successful – with people literally fired-up after each class session. It is an eye-opening and life-changing Bible study; I love how the study reveals the brilliance of the parables as to why Jesus chose to tell those stories.
“I offered it as a 10-week course, one hour per session, held on Thursday mornings from 11:00 AM to 12 noon and Thursday evenings 7:00 – 8:00 PM.
“Each person had his/her own Parables of Jesus student manual. They were to have read each week’s lesson and completed the Questions for Reflection ahead of time. When we all gathered for class, here is how it then so effectively worked:
- I opened with prayer.
- We read together the lesson’s parable as recorded in the Bible.
- We went through all of the pre-studied questions for that lesson.
- Great discussions evolved.
- We then listened to the Parables of Jesus DVD for the ‘next’ lesson.
- Homework: People were to do the next lesson plus questions, so as to be prepared for class the following week.
- We ended with prayer.
- People left class full of excitement!
“The DVD was a great component to these classes. By showing the ‘next’ lesson at the end of each class session via DVD, the people not only were privileged to hear Dr. Wendt himself present the lesson but their appetites were whet for going home and completing their homework for that particular parable to be the topic the following week.
“Yes, I am SOLD on Crossways International materials. After the first couple of hours at a Crossways International workshop several years ago, I knew I had found my preference for biblical resources. Thank you.”
