When Dan and I arrived in Missouri from our 5 hour long trip with no stops and packing the night before, I was beyond excited to finally be in the town of Branson. When we arrived we were given our room and told to get moved in and meet for dinner at 6 o'clock. That didn't give us much time since we had arrived at 3 o'clock. Furthermore, we packed up a van and my car full of things to put in our small hotel style dorm room. I look at it now and really have no idea how everything fit. We didn't get full unpacked because we couldn't decide where to place the furniture for the longest time, but finally got somewhat organized and headed to dinner. That night was food and fellowship with the Institute class. We played games such as fish bowl and picture telephone and tried to learn all the names of our fellow class mates. And that was really it for our arrival.
Our first full day we got straight to it. We dug into God's Word and had some fun building our community. We had two amazing speakers that day. One being Chad Hampsch, he is the Vice President of The Institute, and he talked with us about the first core value for The Institute TRUTH. The other being Joe White, he is the president of Kanakuk Kamps. Both very knowledgeable and gifted in speaking but have two different approaches.
The high points of Chad's talk were these.
There are four factors of how people make decisions
1. Tradition
2. Reason
3. Experience
4. Emotion
And these factors rein true throughout history and by know what factor your generation uses to make decisions is huge to help you be able to share the gospel. Our generation believes that tradition is old fashion and silly so don't follow the traditions. Our generation believes that reason is nonexistent to the point of irrelevance. This is why you have the statements like, it feels right to do this, it may be right for you but not for me. He focused on two scriptures after this - John 18:28-38, which states that Jesus is the truth and then 1Kings 18:20-39, which asks worshippers of idols how long they will hesitate between two opinions?. It was powerful to think about if I am hesitant to take truth lightly and not seek it out. He left us with what his prayer is for us here at The Institute "to move away from opinion which is based on you and go to conviction which is based on truth." Powerful huh.
The high points of Joe's talk were these.
He quoted the full book of Ephesians to use from memory. It was incredible. He then gave us a quick overview of the full book.
Chapter 1- to the saints - chosen by God
Chapter 2- saved by grace for a poetic mission
Chapter 3- a mystery fulfilled: designed for worship
Chapter 4- gifted to equip: set apart for Godly living
Chapter 5- filled with the spirit: a marriage designed
Chapter 6- fully armored to flight and overcome
He then encouraged us through these things.
Effective Bible study, Read it like...
1. A Love Letter
2. It is the First Time
3. Imaginatively
4. Prayerfully
5. Studiously
6. Intimately
M&Ms of the Bible are Memorize and Meditate
Walking in the Spirit is like breathing
Exhaling is confession and Inhaling is where Christ takes the thrown again.
After the speakers we spent the afternoon at Moonshine Beach on Table Rock Lake. We played recreational games at the beach and then had a cookout there with burgers to eat.
On Monday it yet again was another packed day.
We had Keith Chancey talk to us at two different times of the day about the nest two core values of The Institute - discipleship and character. We went over our full handbook and set great expectations for the year. We had an 80s skate party at the Branson Skating Rink and then had dinner at Fudruckers.
The high points of Keith's talk over discipleship were these.
Matthew 4:17-19
The first word Jesus says in his ministry is "Repent" - verse 17
Then come discipleship in how Jesus asks men to follow him - verse 19
Follow Me in Greek is "Deute" which is to come here or come now or to perform a certain action.
The high points of Keith's talk over character were these.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Galatians 6:7
Philippians 2:3-11
Our character is worth so much more than our personality. He compared it to an iceberg analogy of your personality is the part that you can see and your character is the big part you can't see. Your character is what makes you a great follower of Christ so be aware if it.
Well gang that is it for this post. I know it is long and they will be long until Sunday when I get everyone caught up with what I have learned so far. I will share about the next three days tomorrow! Be encouraged by the truth we live by and the example that we can follow and that He wants a relationship with us.
Philippians 2:3-11
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