Who can use it?
I have designed the materials for individuals, small groups, or churches.
Individuals can use the materials in personal study.
Small groups can use the materials as an ingredient that will launch further discussion and prayer. The writings are short, and the audio recordings last 12-15 minutes -- short enough to leave a lot of time for you to take the materials wherever God is leading your group to go.
Churches can use the writings as bulletin inserts or as handouts on a literature table every week, to provide continuity as the church walks into new gifts together.
What are the materials?
The materials center on three topics: The Miracle Lifestyle, Prophetic Song, and Culture Shapers. In each topic, I am posting --
A monthly assignment. Assignments are designed to get you to act on God's word. They are not academic; you don't need to send papers (I don't have time to grade them) and no grades are given.
A weekly blog. These teachings will be short and concise, and are designed to work as bulletin inserts so churches can distribute them week by week.
Audio recordings. For now, these are available only in The Miracle Lifetsyle course, and are updated every other week.
We will also offer materials for sale as they become available -- we already have a book, a workbook, and a CD available for the Prophetic Song class.
Why is the school online?
Frankly, I'm at my best teaching face-to-face. I felt God was calling me to develop workshop materials, to maximize the impact of my traveling ministry. But how would I get the word out about the workshops?
As I prayed for wisdom, I sensed God was showing me to make the materials available online. This way, my materials can go to the ends of the earth. They can serve people and small groups who aren't in a position to conduct a workshop. And they will help me connect with other ministries of similar vision.
So I've tried to make these materials as useful as I can:
You can start using the materials at any time. Each month's material is designed to stand on its own. You can always go back and read blogs posted earlier if you have time. And we've posted a Getting Started page for newcomers, with links to a few basic teachings that will help you start at any time.
You are free to use the materials in any setting you like. Use them on your own, in small groups, or in your church. Find creative ways to use them.
Send the links to missionaries. Many nations find it hard to find affordable resources. If we can serve missionaries freely with these materials, we are grateful for the opportunity to do so.
The materials are available on a donation basis. If you can't afford to give, feel free to use the materials anyway. But if you would like to help support us with this and other projects, we are grateful for your help. You can send checks to the address below or donate online via PayPal; GospelSmith is a 501(c)(3) orghanization and sends tax receipts at the end of each year.
You can also support us in prayer, and by helping us get the word out about the online school. See the School Promo Kit (coming soon), which includes announcements for the school in a variety of formats. Use whatever materials will best serve you in advancing the kingdom of God.
Where can you use these materials?
There are several places where you can do the assignments. Start in the sphere of responsibility God has already given you: your home, your work, your school, your friends, or even the ministry you already have in the church. A few insights:
We all have many opportunities all around us, but they are easy to overlook. In a class that meets every other Tuesday night, we had an assignment to "edify, exhort, or comfort 20 people" in four weeks. We discovered that we all had been overlooking ministry opportunities all around us. And it was very healthy for us to discover that some of the richest opportunities were in our homes.
As you begin to act, the Holy Spirit begins to teach. Begin by making the assignments as easy as you can. Don't try to be all-knowing or all-powerful. Simply care about people. As you do the things that are easy, your comfort zone will grow.
How does the school work?
Here are several ways you can use the resources -- you may think of others.
As an individual. Read the blog once a week, and commit yourself to the monthly assignment. You may get more out of it if you --
Use the buddy system. Remember the buddy system in camp, when we paired off to look after each other? Connect with a friend by phone, by email, or face-to-face and work through the materials together.
At the coffee shop. Meet other friends for coffee every week or two to discuss what is happening as you do the assignments. Share highlights from your notebooks.
In small groups. Print the weekly blogs and make them available to the whole group. Or if you use the audio recordings, you can play them in your meetings and they are short enough that you will still have plenty of time left for discussion, prayer, personal ministry, etc. As you do the assignments together, you can encourage and minister to one another.
As a church. Make the weekly blogs available as bulletin inserts so the whole church can be trained. Print or post the links to the monthly assignments. Then appoint someone to collect testimonies as people do the assignments. You can also use these materials as an outline for a class.
Jesus calls those who labor and are heavy laden to come to Him and find rest. Make the asignments restful, joyous, playful. Jesus has done the hard work of breaking the power of sin and releasing abundant life to us. See how much fun you can have as you feast on His finished work.