Bible Reading Marathon

The 'Athletes'
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-borrowing some words from those who participated-

Bruce Nygaard:

25 books. 23 people. 13 hours. 1 great time.

If anyone thought it might be boring to read the Bible for 13 hours with only short breaks and no discussion, our Bible Marathon on Friday-Saturday proved the opposite!
The more we read, the more we found ourselves energized as book flowed into book and morning flowed into afternoon. The best part for me was reading IN COMMUNITY. For example, whenever the Pharisees said something daft (which was always), we laughed. And whenever Jesus said something so brilliant that only Jesus could have said it, our exclamations punctuated it.
It was nice not to have anyone putting their own spin on the message. And reading together as a group kept us on pace with God's train of thought, rather than getting snagged by thorny details. We could better see what's gloriously important (and what isn't).
Here are a few comments from other participants:

Zethu: God's word unedited, no one's opinion, no additions. Just His voice! I described the marathon to a friend as being like standing under a waterfall and feeling the water gushing over you. You do not feel the [individual] droplets, you feel the goodness of the whole. You are cleansed, not only because you realize your faults, but because you're reminded of the beautiful bigger picture…

Takadzani: Most of the time I read the New Testament with a very inquisitive mind, asking trivial questions, thus losing the central message-- the message of the cross and it's power! Reading the Bible in this manner helped me see the simplicity that we often complicate.

Thato: Everything came together for me. I get it now!

Felix: Doing this Bible marathon helped me see more clearly the simple fact that Jesus is being preached… It really is all about Him!

Mercy: Reading through the book of Hebrews in one sitting was just simply wow! It hit me again as to what Jesus actually came and did. And it was really great to feel part of a family. I feel encouraged to continue reading the Bible…

It looks like we will be doing this again sometime!

Thanx 2 everyone who prayed with us for this weekend.

Valentine's discipleship ministry

Archie, Valentine, & Paul.
(Paul visited our campus & we set up a meeting for a time of input in Valentine's life.)

We are giving our lives to advance the gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom into the nations through SPIRITUAL GENRATIONS of laborers living and discipling among the lost.


This is what we hope for & pray will happen with those that we hang out with on a regular basis.

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As I was driving some students back to campus, Valentine shared about his journey into a ministry of personal discipleship as a result of the input he has been receiving from us.

Valentine is also involved with SCO (Student Christian Organization.) He went to their chairperson & shared his vision for discipleship. SCO gave him their blessing, and he now has about 10 guys, some of whom have made a decision to follow Jesus as recently as 2 months ago. He went on to ask me for continued input on how to disciple these guys.

Wow! This is the kind of thing that we pray for, but when something like this happens I am still blown away by God's power!

Valentine Anye from Cameroon, is now teaching the next spiritual generation what it means to be a follower of Jesus & how to pass it on to others.

Please pray for Valentine & his guys.