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Welcome to SBS International
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A little reflection on my time in SBS. |
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Monday, 10 March 2014 05:38 |
How SBS saved my life:
by Tricia Dougan
Is this too strong of a statement? Or is it the truth of what happens to your life when you are actively in the word of God?
I always use to say, “I would never do an SBS, unless God made it extremely clear, there is no way!” Last spring God made it evident that He was changing the plans. I was planning on finishing my last year of college and moving on from there. But of course the Lord knows more than we do and He knew I needed the SBS. I am still going back and finishing school, but this was a little sidetrack that turned into a pivotal year for my faith and for my overall well being.
For the last two years I had struggled with anxiety. This anxiety was a daily battle and had begun to affect my health, my grades in school and my overall approach towards God. I can confidently say that this has completely changed. There was not a certain day, or a certain book of the bible, or a certain piece of advice that changed this for me. It was the continual act of being in the word of God and learning who God was. It was never about me. The Bible is not about us. The Bible is about God and who He is and who He will remain to be. He is the hero of the story, he is the focal point. And yet He still makes us a part of the story, He still loves us in a way we will never be able to fathom, He still places trust in us that we did not earn, and He still pursues us when we are actively running from Him.
I assumed coming into this school that I would get all of my ‘Head’ questions answered. That my theology would be concrete in every way. Don’t get me wrong, my views on many things have changed and have become more stable. And yet the biggest thing this school has done for me is a renewal of my faith. After being in YWAM and seeing many amazing miracles and incredible acts of faith I would have assumed that this is when my belief in those things would have increased the most. But for me, after studying the word of God, after reading the gospels and seeing the acts of Jesus and the disciples, after reading the Old Testament and seeing the faith of those who loved God, I can honestly say this school has renewed my faith in miracles. My view of how incredible the Holy Spirit is has changed, my desire to share the gospel with others, my desire to pray and see healing, my desire to share the good news with the nations has increased a million fold during this school.
I am not sure how this happened. Again there was not a certain instance but a year full of studying who God is and what His word says that has changed everything for me. I feel more stable in my life than I have ever felt, I feel ready to make a huge transition and move back home. A transition that would have terrified me and possibly made me crippled by anxiety a year ago.
This is my personal story of SBS. I am not saying if you have anxiety that it will be solved by this school, I am simply sharing my own experience. I can assure you however that if you do this school you will see the face of God in a whole new way. You will work hard, and there may be days where you are annoyed with all the reading you have to do. But I can assure you that you will change, if you allow God to show you himself in this book. God of the Bible is the God of today. He is still actively moving in the world and in our lives, He still fervently fights for you and He still calls us into the greatest story ever told.
Isaiah 26: 3 ESV " You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."
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Last Updated on Monday, 10 March 2014 06:09 |
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Seminar For SBS Graduates |
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Tuesday, 10 December 2013 08:23 |
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I entered into the Bible College classroom as a 19 year old and was immediately assaulted with bible teachings that were very different from what I had been taught in church. This led to a huge crisis in faith for me. I didn’t know what to believe about the Bible anymore, or even Jesus for that matter. Thankfully my next step was to do a BCC which restored my faith in God and His Word! A few years later I had the opportunity to do the full SBS. I was able to go deeper in the bible than I had ever imagined.
But if you are like me, you realize that the SBS helped bring lots of answers, but also created a lot of questions! That is why I am so thankful that in YWAM God has called Mark Masucci (Lakeside Montana, USA ) to offer new seminars geared for SBS graduates. Many of us SBS graduates go on to staff and lead SBS’s around the world, but we still hunger for a better understanding of broader theology topics.
Leading the Biblical Studies department here in Kyiv, Ukraine, my husband and I realized that we want to keep offering ways for our staff to go deeper, beyond teaching books in the SBS. Mark Masucci graciously was willing to come teach his ‘Old Testament Theology Seminar’ this January 13-31, 2014. But this is too good to keep to ourselves, so any SBS staff or graduates who would like to join us are welcome. You can register on our website www.ywamkyiv.org/otseminar. It is worth 6 UofN credits.
Angela Doerksen
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 December 2013 08:29 |
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Monday, 14 October 2013 15:34 |
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By Serena (SBS Turner Valley, Canada)
I have just finished grading a student’s work. In some parts they did fantastic; in others, there were serious challenges. After grading their work, I wrote them feedback: “You did this great”; “This is what I want you to work on, this is how you will get more depth.” And at the end I encouraged them. I shared how I was frustrated in SBS that I could not look at all that I wanted to, but that this is just the beginning of Bible study. And that as they keep studying the Bible, “it just gets better.”
As graders we get to pull out the best from our students. We are their coaches. Just like a sports coach encourages their players to be the best they can be, we do the same. A sports coach will identify a player’s weak spots and work with them on those weak spots until they are no longer an obstacle to them playing the best they possible can. As graders we are our students’ coaches. We get to cheer them on. We also get to help correct those areas that they are weak in. This will help them to get the most out of the Word and their time in SBS. I love that we have something that most sports coaches don’t. We have the Holy Spirit to help us identify those weak spots. We can pray in the process. Ask God to show you your students’ weak spots. He knows which are most important to work on right now. And ask God how you are to encourage each student. When we deal with people, there is usually more going on than meets the eye. God knows better than we do what each student needs most. It may be something you never would have expected.
Why do I love grading? Because I love my students. I want God’s best for them in everything, and that includes in their SBS work as well.
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Last Updated on Monday, 14 October 2013 15:37 |
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The Importance of the WHY Question in Inductive Bible Study |
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Written by Judy Smith
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Monday, 22 July 2013 09:42 |
This is a “Back to Basics” reminder. I want to focus on the Why question as the bridge between observation and interpretation. (See original handout used in the SBS called, The School of Biblical Studies: the Basics Of Bible Study. This handout is found under The Method in the Menu: it is called Overview of the Method, The Basics of Bible Study). Note in this document Question number 13 under interpretation questions and also on page 5 the number 3 point.
In recent years the bridge between observation and interpretation has been changed in some SBS manuals. Instead of the Why question as the bridge, Historical Background has been put in as the bridge between observation and interpretation. I see this as a less than helpful change.
In The School of Biblical Studies a student is first asked to explore the text using variety of observation questions. The next step is to move from Observation to Interpretation. The Why question gets a person started. The student begins to ask Why questions about what they have observed. This leads to more Why questions. In fact Why questions keep coming. There are no limits on possible Why questions.
Why questions require deeper thinking, more digging, maybe more observation, and most likely Historical Background research. It is one thing to observe and answer what happened, where it happened, when it happened and who it involved. It is another thing when the student asks why it happened, and why it happened at that place and at that specific time and to those individuals. This opens up a whole new view of the Text. The answers to why questions are more complex. It is getting at the reason for things.
For example, I can observe that Isaiah has three main themes in Chapters 40-47. The themes are: idolatry, God as Creator (not just of the physical creation but also of events and new things) and third Godʼs ability to interpret and explain the past and to predict the future. If I then ask, why are these three themes highlighted in this section, I have then entered into thinking about the reason these three are put together.
I developed a whole lecture on Idolatry due to the Why question. I asked myself, why are people into idolatry? Idolatry is so foreign to my worldview. I had a hard time understanding why Israel keep turning to idols. This lead to considerable thinking and research (Historical Background) on the worldview of an idolator in the Old Testament. I would never have done the background research if I had not asked the Why question.
The point I am making is this. Why questions lead to Historical Background considerations and research. A person does not know what Historical Background to research or consider until they start asking a battery of Why questions.
In summary, the Why question is the bridge between observation and interpretation. Letʼs ask the Why question, lots of why questions.
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Last Updated on Monday, 22 July 2013 10:17 |
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Written by Lindsey Lautsbaugh
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Tuesday, 28 May 2013 11:23 |
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I had a conversation recently with a YWAM leader about lecturing in SBS. The conversation went something like this:
Me: “How did your lecture go with our SBS Students?”
Him: “Good, but we didn’t cover the whole book, in fact we only got a few chapters in, but it went well.”
Me: “Why did you not cover more of the book? Did you lack time or were there lots of questions?”
Him: “No, I’m just tired of us focusing on the content and not leading by the Spirit and how He wants to minister the truths into the students lives. I’d rather have ministry time than covering all the chapters.”
I understood what the leader was saying and I agree with it in many ways. He didn’t want to make the Word of God just content without any life application which changes the students lives. Amen!
But, it also got me thinking... do we see the content of the Bible as a road block to life giving and spirit led transformation in our students lives? Is it possible to study deeply and also experience the active work of the Holy Spirit in our midst? Of course!
We’ve all heard things along these same lines. Things like:
“SBS students are always so dry because they just study the word all the time.”
“Too much time in the Bible makes you a dry Christian”
“Academic Bible study is not life giving”
If you serve in the SBS then you are probably thinking the same as me, “God forbid!”. Of course the Bible doesn’t make you dry, quite the contrary... it brings us life and hope. I’m proud that the SBS students on our campus are the most excited students on our campus! Serious and deep study of the word is completely in line with life transformation, not an obstacle to it.
However we have seen how often we do not make the connection for our students. Deep and serious study of the word needs to be an activity completely engaged with the work of the Holy Spirit.
Here are 4 ideas for us as bible teachers that I have to avoid splitting the Spirit & the Word in your SBS:
1. Study with Passion: How we approach the Word in our preparation time feeds into our our lectures. We should be praying and meditating all the time as we prepare... even if we are diving into timelines and Greek words.... we should constantly be stopping and asking the Holy Spirit to make this come alive to us as teachers
2. Apply, Apply, Apply: We all say that “Application is the goal of Bible Study” but if that is truly the goal then it should be done throughout our lectures, not just at the end. If you only make application at the end of lectures then you are not modeling how easy it is to gain life from Scripture. Your students will then struggle to make application in their studies. Especially the harder passages, demonstrate how to make life-giving application!
3. Demonstrate Dependency: We often ask the Holy Spirit to lead us in lectures but our students don’t know that. So make them see it! I remember Maureen Menard pausing in an SBS lecture on Acts and saying, “I’m just asking the Holy Spirit if there is anything else I need to cover, let’s just pause for a moment.” The whole environment in the room changed as the students were aware of her active inclusion of the Holy Spirit during a Historical Background lecture.
4. One on One Interaction: Constantly engage the students outside of class. It’s as simple as asking, “What did God speak to you in lecture today?” as well as “Do you agree with the dating of that book?”.
My prayer for SBS is that we would be like the Apostle Paul in Romans 11. At the end of one of the most academically challenging sections in the whole Bible Paul bursts into worship of the living God, “Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom of God!... To him be the Glory forever Amen!” (Romans 11:33,36). May our deep study of the Word and the leading of the Spirit lead to deep adoration and worship to the Living Word, Jesus Christ!
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 28 May 2013 11:26 |
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I am prepared to go anywhere, provided it be forward. I determined never to stop until I had come to the end and achieved my purpose. ~~ David Livingstone