I had the privilege of attending the Bible Course in Edmonton this year. I only planned on going for the first week but ended up requesting time off on the second day so I could attend for both weeks. Each teacher presented engaging topics, but there are some I found most informative and inspiring.
Pastor Taron taught the first session and went into great depth on the nature of God and man. For each attribute, we went into Scripture to back up the claims made. Going over the nature of God was a great reminder of how awesome and powerful He is, beyond what we can even imagine.
Gerry Mielke led the next session, and I found his presentation on the history of the Church of God very informative. Hearing about the hardships D.S. Warner endured when starting out was very inspiring. We also worshipped in song with Br. Mielke, which really helped energize us! After his session, we had lunch and got to enjoy the great food provided by the amazing kitchen staff. We also enjoyed time for fellowship.
After lunch, Pastor Klinger led his session on apologetics. We learned the evidence behind our beliefs and how to effectively witness to others in different situations.
On one of our last days, several people performed “skits,” demonstrating scenarios and how to witness in them.
Pastor Krebs taught the final session on discipleship. I found his presentation on prayer very useful. He went over different types of prayers such as intercession, praise and adoration, and praying God’s Word.
The last day was dedicated as a question-and-answer session, and the teachers went over questions submitted throughout the two weeks of the Bible Course. This was very helpful as it provided an opportunity for them to address specific questions and show us the answers in Scripture.
Throughout the week, there was one Bible verse that kept coming up and that I find very encouraging: 1 Corinthians 10:13.
I’m not going to write it out here because one of the main activities during the Bible Course was looking up Scripture references, and I think this is a great way to encourage people to read the Bible (even if it’s just to satisfy their curiosity as to what exactly a verse says).
Stefan Makus
Edmonton, Alberta
I had the privilege of attending the Bible Course this year, and it was a really big blessing and an eye opener for me. From technically not having that much vacation time to be able to go, to my bosses being very willing to let me take the time off, everything that happened was an answer to prayer!
We started each day with a short devotional led by one of us students. After that, Pastor Taron shared on Systematic Theology – God’s plan of salvation, where we talked about who God is, where the idea of a God comes from, and how we know that we actually serve the one, true God.
After that was Brother Mielke’s session, where we usually began with singing some songs, which was a very enjoyable and blessed time. The topics he covered were Church of God history and prophecy. During one of his sessions, we looked at the biography of D.S. Warner, and I found it really interesting to see how God worked in his life and also used him to start the Gospel Trumpet publication. Even though he faced many hard things in his life, he always strove to do what God wanted him to do.
After Brother Mielke’s session, we had lunch, and then came Pastor Klinger’s session. We looked at the topic of apologetics and sharing your faith. During this session, we considered some of the “hard” questions that others may ask us at least once in our life, such as “Would a loving God eternally judge and condemn people?” “If God really exists, why is there so much evil in the world?” “Is there an absolute moral truth?” And “Does God exist?” Pastor Klinger showed us how we can lovingly and in a kind way show people the way to God through those questions.
The next session was taught by Pastor Krebs, and we studied what it means to be a disciple of Christ, and growing as a disciple of Christ. We talked about the fact that our identity is in Christ, and only He can tell us our identity. We also discussed that a disciple doesn’t try to be the master; he tries to be like his master, and if you want to know what the master is like, you need to spend time with Him and follow Him very closely. We also looked at the fruit of spiritual disciplines, and one thing that really stood out to me was that whatever is on the inside will come out. That means that we really need to be saturated in God if we want to show Him to the world.
I am very thankful that I was able to be a part of the Bible Course and am thankful to everyone who prayed for it.
Corinna Schulz
Steinbach, Manitoba
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