Siesta Summer 2014 Bible Study: Anybody Game for “Children of the Day”?

Hey, Everybody!

It’s almost May and, around here, that means it’s time to announce our Siesta Summer Bible Study for those who are itching to take a journey together. In all these years of doing summer Bible study together here on the blog, we’ve never gone through one I’ve authored. The biggest reason is that I really love to go through other authors’ courses with our blog community. That’s a refreshing blast of Holy Spirit-breath to me and you can count on us doing that again next summer.  The other reason is that the launch date of one of mine never coincided well with the beginning of summer.  With Children of the Day (an in-depth study of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians) coming out in May, the timing works out perfectly. I ask you to trust my heart on this and know that we’re not doing the study this summer so that I can drive up sales. I can’t prove my motives to you but I give you my word. That’s all I know to do. Any of you who still find it uncomfortable can, by all means, choose another Bible study by a different author and feel completely welcome to formulate your group right here in the comment section to this post. Just start your comment with the words in all caps “ANOTHER OPTION” and get together on line and choose which Bible study you’d like to do. There are so many fabulous ones available. You have my complete and joyful blessing to use this community to put your group together. Any way we can serve you is a tremendous honor to us.

For those of you who would like to do Children of the Day with our community this summer, here are a few important facts:

* We’ll start Tuesday, June 3, 2014. Around here at Living Proof, we formed the habit of Tuesday Bible study over the years so that’s why we choose it as our gathering day but you are welcome to commit to any day of the week that works for you. Simply adapt the instructions to that particular day.

* Children of the Day is an 8-week study so we will wrap it up on Tuesday, July 29, 2014.

* As we’ve done in past summers, we’re only asking you to commit to “gather” with us and/or with your group every other week since summers are so busy. We will still stay on schedule for each week’s homework but you’ll only need to check in once every 2 weeks.

* I will put up a short video greeting here on the blog by 8:00 AM every other week on our gathering days, starting with Tuesday, June 3rd. The greeting will include instructions for discussion in your small groups or with the blog community at large. Your “discussion” with the blog community will take place through your response-comment to that post.

* We strongly recommend forming small groups for the pure camaraderie and accountability of it but you are also very welcome to go solo. The best small groups of all meet face-to-face but, if that’s not possible, try to formulate one on line. You might even Skype. Do whatever would benefit you the most and offer you the fellowship we all need so desperately.

* You only need the Children of the Day workbook to participate in the summer study. You don’t need to download the video sessions. All discussion questions will be based on the written work alone, as we’ve done in past summers, so that no one is forced into the extra expense. Each week we will put up a link to that week’s COTD video session for those who also want to include those but I will leave that option entirely to you. There will be no pressure whatsoever. People often ask if the video sessions and homework portions are the same lessons. They are not. They are designed to complement one another for a comprehensive approach to 1st and 2nd Thessalonians but they are not redundant. They are on different segments and concepts found in the 2 letters.

Does that answer many of your questions?  OK, now for the schedule:

Between release date (first week of May) and June 3rd, acquire a workbook of Children of the Day but don’t start it yet! No homework needs to be done before our first gathering. The workbook looks like this:

You can find it at your local LifeWay Christian bookstore by the first week of May, or click here to order online at any time:  COTD workbook

GATHERING ONE: June 3, 2014 – Our summer Bible study launches! By 8:00 AM that morning, God willing, you will find a brief video greeting from me and instructions for that day’s participation/discussion. Again, you can do it any day that week. We’re just choosing Tuesday as our official gathering day. You will “register” for summer Bible study by leaving a comment on the June 3rd post with your name and city and whether or not you are participating in a group or going solo. I will give you the specific instructions at that time. At the bottom of the post will be a link for that weeks’ full-hour Session 1 video if you choose to add on that option.

Do Weeks 1 and 2 of homework for Gathering Two.

(June 10th – link will go up for COTD Session 2 video for anyone going for that option.)

GATHERING TWO: Tuesday June 17, 2014. Brief video greeting from me and instructions for that day’s gathering or discussion. (Link for COTD Session 3 video for anyone taking that option.)

Do Weeks 3 and 4 of homework for Gathering 3.

(June 24th – Link will go up for COTD Session 4 video for anyone taking that option.)

GATHERING THREE: July 1, 2014. Brief video greeting from me and instructions for that day’s gathering or discussion. (Link for COTD Session 5 video for anyone taking that option.)

Do Weeks 5 and 6 of homework for Gathering Four.

(July 8th – Link will go up for COTD Session 6 video for anyone taking that option.)

GATHERING FOUR: July 15, 2014. Brief video greeting from me and instructions for that day’s gathering or discussion. (Link for COTD Session 7 video for anyone taking that option.)

Do Weeks 7 and 8 of homework for Gathering Five.

(July 22 – Link will go up for COTD Session 8 video for anyone taking that option.)

GATHERING FIVE CONCLUSION: July 29, 2014. Brief video greeting from me and instructions for that day’s gathering and closing. (Link for COTD Session 9 video conclusion for anyone taking that option.)

Here is the above schedule in diagram form thanks to my beloved assistant, K-Mac. You can enlarge it to see it better or copy and paste it to a document and print it out if you’re that kind of weird person…because I am, too:

Sound fun??!? Yep, it also sounds like a bit of work but not a single word of Scripture will drop to the ground. We can  have confidence in advance that the pursuit of Christ through His Word will completely alter the summer of 2014. I’m ecstatic to have the privilege of spending these 8 weeks with you in Bible study. You are a tremendous joy to me. Our God-given emphasis right now at Living Proof is on stirring up women who are less-discipled in Scripture to come to love Christ through His powerful, living, relevant Word. We would be thrilled for you to help us by inviting some women along who have never before done this kind of thing. Take the chance and ask them! So many women have a hunger for God. They just don’t know exactly how to identify it. Bring them along if God opens that door!

Source:  http://blog.lproof.org/2014/04/siesta-summer-2014-bible-study-anybody-game-for-children-of-the-day.html