Eye-Opening

I was born on a Sunday. My parents had me in church the following Sunday. I was baptized at age 7 and rededicated my life to Christ at age 15. When I rededicated my life, I also dedicated myself to read the Bible every day.

I have continued that practice nearly every day of my life. I’m now 52.

I attended a Christian college and immediately afterward went to seminary, earning a Masters of Divinity degree. My emphasis was New Testament studies, where I learned the fundamentals of reading and translating Greek.

I first entered pastoral ministry at age 19 and have been preaching and teaching God’s Word for 33 years now.

I recently completed the course “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement.” It was a nine-day intensive course where we were in class from 9-5 each day and then read and completed homework each night.

I consider Perspectives to be the most important class I have taken in my life.

Everything I have learned, read, studied, preached and taught over the years came together in this class.

I see God’s purpose for humanity, the progress being made and the critical role we as humans play in His story. I now more clearly than ever see the single thread of God’s story running from beginning to end of the Bible.

Just like Abraham, we, too, have been blessed in order to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, and only after all have heard will we see the return of Christ. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

1. Are you a Christian Leader? Slam dunk, you must take this course.
2. Are you a Christ follower? Slam dunk again, you must take this course.
3. Are you a skeptic, maybe an agnostic or atheist? I highly recommend this course. You are already playing with fire. Seek out both sides of the story. You don’t want to base current and future consequences on what everyone in your circle of influence is saying, since most are operating from a similar worldview.
4. Are you one who believes all religions lead to God? Again, this course is a must.

For me, Perspectives was not life-changing, but it was most definitely life-directing.