“Living Education—Charlotte” begins August 15

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On August 15, we plan to begin our first year of “Living Education—Charlotte.” We will accept a limited number of students for our first year, as we focus on building a Godly foundation for life! All students will attend daily classes at our Headquarters facility, in this one-year intensive training program. Class titles will be “Principles of Christian Living,” “Fundamentals of Church Doctrine” and “The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ.” We’ll also study the “Acts and Writings of Paul,” and get an overview of the Old Testament through our “Old Testament Survey” class. This program is for young adults who believe in the Way of God and want to learn more about how to build their life on that Way. Students must live in Charlotte for this program as this is a face-to-face learning and mentoring program by our Headquarters faculty and staff. If you are up for the challenge of this intensive learning experience, listen closely for more details and information about how to apply in next week’s The World Ahead weekly update!—Jonathan McNair

Rightly divide the word of truth

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As we begin the new calendar year, consider the challenge of a “Read the Bible in a Year” project. Many of the popular online Bible sites like Blueletter Bible, Bible Study Tools, or Gateway Bible provide an easy way to create a reading schedule. They often allow a user to select multiple approaches to reading the Bible in the year. You can select the “Genesis to Revelation Plan” and read through day by day as our Bibles are typically formatted today. Another option that is often included is the “Old Testament/New Testament Plan,” which includes a reading from both the Old Testament and the New Testament each day, again, completing the whole Bible in one year. Most of these sites offer a “historical” or “chronological” approach, reading portions of the Bible according to when they occurred.  All of them allow the user to print out a paper version of the program if they desire. The point is, reading the Bible is important.  If we just open the Bible each day to wherever the pages happen to fall, we won’t truly be students of the whole Bible. We’re exhorted by Paul to study God’s word in order to “rightly divide the word of truth.” The literature, telecasts, and classes offered to members of the Church are most effective if paired with a daily reading of the word of God. Read the Bible this year—you’ll be glad you did!—Jonathan McNair

“focus points”

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This week, our TWNow program focused on the dangers of social media. Part of the attraction of Facebook, Pinterest or YouTube is the natural human desire to see or read something new. As Christians, we’re no different. We’re curious and we want to learn. But with the flood of information washing over us from every direction, it’s challenging to know where to start, even with Bible study. Part of a pastor’s job is to focus our attention on one topic at a time, through weekly sermons and Bible Studies. But how about our own personal Bible study? Where do we begin? Living University helped to provide focus points for personal study through its classes. The goal of our new “Living Education” team is to continue to assist our members and ministry by providing a roadmap of “focus points” over the course of the year. Our new format, however, will be designed to be available to all members. Stay tuned for more information about how to register and participate!—Jonathan McNair