Please meet my new book "Bible Trivia"

Proverbs 8:10-11 - Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies.

Hosea 4:6 - My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.

At this time I would like to bring my latest book to your attention.  It is in keeping with my belief that we must learn as much as we possibly can about Jesus and the Bible.  If we have only heart knowledge about Jesus, we might be fooling ourselves into believing that Jesus taught something that He didn't.  We must combine head knowledge with heart knowledge; both must be there. 

My new book, "Bible Trivia" is an easy way to become familiar with the highlights of the Bible.  There are 90 questions taken from the Old Testament and 110 questions taken from the New Testament.  Each question includes Chapter and Verse where the answer can be found.  There is also an answer key, just in case there is some confusion about what the correct answer is.  As I said, these questions are not in depth questions but are meant to be fun and to offer a look at some of the most familiar parts of the Bible.  This book can also be used as a trivia challenge for Bible study groups of all ages.

"Bible Trivia" is available on Amazon for only $5.49 and also qualifies for free shipping.  Check it out now, while you are thinking about it.

Bible Word Search

 

Some time ago Kelly spoke with you about a book titled "Bible Word Search."  Since I am the author, I would like to take this time to share with you the format of the book and a little about what I was hoping to accomplish.

I would like to start by saying that in every Bible study I have attended, with the exception of one, the leader started with a Bible story, read it, and then proceeded to ask questions about the story, hoping to generate a discussion.  This works minimally, but I have never witnessed a truly exciting Bible study.  My hope with this book is to change that.

Educators, and particularly music educators, will tell you that when you practice a composition in the same way all the time very little is learned or changed.  This is the concept around which I wrote this book.  In order to learn you must approach a subject in many different ways, ie: go in the front door, back door, a window, and many other approaches.  For this reason I chose a series of topics, such as "Titles for Jesus."  Do you know that there are over 100 titles for Jesus mentioned in the Bible.  Most people do not.  Using the topic "Titles for Jesus" I then developed a fill in the blank section by finding the Chapter and Verse where a specific title was used.  I then developed a Word Search grid where these titles can be used to do an old fashioned word search.

This Bible Study can be done alone or with a group.  If done in a group each title can be discussed to determine who referred to Jesus in this way and why He was called by that title.  I also included a very short pararaph about the history of a topic as well as a dictionary that included many terms that might be unfamiliar.  I hope that you find this book to be as educational and entertaining as I did when I wrote it.  You can find a copy of a sample puzzle on this blog by clicking here.

How Do You Say "I Am a Christian"?

As I said in an earlier blog, I have spent the last couple months doing a lot of reading and what I found was a lot of confusion.  There is a tremendous amount of information available and much of it results in the scattering of Christians to the far corners of the world.  There are so many opinions being promoted that even strong Christians can be led astray, if they don’t stay in their Bibles and continue to grow in their faith.  Even among Christians differences are becoming more and more evident, so that one Christian may doubt a Christian brother or sister.

I believe that Christians need to start pulling together again and talking about what they believe.  I also believe that Christians need to start standing up for Jesus instead of just sharing their faith at church on Sunday morning.  For that reason we are developing a line of products that can gently or boldly say to the world, “I am a Christian.”  Over time this line will grow, because we want to make available designs and products in a wide price range.  We hope that all Christians will be able to find something that they like and will want to use.

Please check out what is already available and keep checking back as new products and designs continue to be made available.

Learn More Than You Thought You Could

I am wondering how many people are out there like me, who endure Bible studies rather than anxiously look forward to them each week.  At least in the Bible studies I have attended over the years it seems that the leader, whether pastor or lay person, does and says pretty much the same thing week after week.  A Bible passage is selected, the leader tells the story, explains it and asks for comments.  A few people, usually men, may respond but very seldom does any real dialogue happen.  Then everyone leaves telling themselves they have learned something, even though they have repeated that same Bible passage in the same way many times.

I have found a Bible study that I am truly excited about.  It can be used alone or for some really energetic dialogue with a small group.  Titled “Bible Word Search” and written by Charles Christopher Martin it presents a very new way to approach Bible study.

Instead of focusing on a Bible passage and studying that passage in depth, Mr. Martin chooses a topic and researches that topic.  Let’s choose one of the topics, “Characteristics of a Believer”.  The reader is given a list of Bible passages to look at and find a word or words in each passage that identifies the characteristics of a believer.  I must insert here that I found characteristics I didn’t know existed.  These new ideas invite discussion, because some will agree, some will be amazed they never saw that before, and some will question the new idea.

After this list is compiled the reader can then take it to a word search grid and do a normal word search, just for fun.  There is a small Bible dictionary included, just in case someone encounters a word they do not recognize and of course, the usual answer key.

I found this to be a much more exciting way of approaching Bible study.  Too often we get into a rut and do things the same way time and time again.  In using this approach one notices ideas and concepts that are looked over when doing Bible study in the traditional way.