But 10 years removed from that position, I’m no longer teaching Sunday School. Now, I’m charged with the task of teaching a group of guys (many of whom have not grown up in the church) about the Bible, and I’ve found the perfect curriculum for that job.

It’s the Bible!

For the past 3 years I’ve had a group of guys who get together every Wednesday morning at 6:00 at a local coffee shop and we just read the Bible together. And the best part is the questions that come with the curriculum. This is my favorite and the one I ask most often after we read a paragraph or two (and pause for an uncomfortable amount of silent time): “Anyone see anything that stands out to them or do you have any questions about anything we just read?”

Sometimes that leads to a great discussion, sometimes we just sit there and laugh because everyone is too tired to think of anything, and sometimes I’ll throw in a nugget or two from notes or underlined sentences in my own Bible.

I understand that just reading the Bible is scary, because we think they’ll be bored, but IT’S GOD’S WORD. Frankly, some of it is boring to me, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable. And to my astonishment even after weeks I think nobody really got anything, they keep coming back for more.

“so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:11

Three years ago, I met with 2 guys. Actually, it was usually 1 guy (whichever one didn’t sleep in). We read through Romans together. Both of those guys are now volunteer Young Life Leaders – awesome guys who are loving kids for Jesus. Hopefully that’s an encouragement to you that numbers don’t matter. God knows what he’s doing. Sure it would have been nice to tell people I meet with 20 guys every week for Campaigners (Young Life’s Bible Study) instead of saying I had 2 Campaigner guys, but look what God did.

Two years ago, the group started to grow in numbers and I decided that I would just stick to the Gospels, because lots of the kids were new believers. We picked Mark and read through that for 16 weeks – one chapter per week. When we got done with that, we moved to John and did the same thing.

When we finished John near the end of last school year, we decided to start reading some of the “stories” of the Bible starting in Genesis. I literally sat down with my daughters’ “Little Princess Devotional Bible” and wrote down the list of stories it includes, and that’s what we’re gonna be reading this year – in Big Boy Bibles, of course.

Yesterday, I had a bunch of kids in my room at school (I’m a high school tech guy, too) and several of my Campaigner guys were begging me to start Campaigners next Wednesday, the first Wednesday of school. Can you believe that? It amazes me every time. These guys (there are about 12 now) crave that time together, sipping coffee, laughing together, and reading God’s word and they have to get up at 5:00am. (Their parents are more amazed than I am.)

When I told them I didn’t know if I could meet that first week, because things get pretty hectic at school, I overheard them talking about starting themselves – two of the guys were plotting a coup. Awesome!

Cross posted from www.chrisstorms.com.

Resurgence posted some thoughts under the title “Gospel-Centered Discipleship: How It Looks” and I love this statement.

A gospel-centered church does not just preach the gospel. The gospel is not an addition to our ministry or even a beginning point; rather, the gospel must saturate every part of our church’s life.

I understand the value of topic-based discussions, especially in Campaigners.  Kids seem to always want to talk about topics that “apply to their lives”, and it’s a temptation as leaders to give in, plan for, & do an entire discussion on some topic but leave out the gospel, as if the gospel doesn’t “apply to their lives.” The gospel needs to be in and through everything we do.

So, how do we do that?

1. Rely on scripture. The gospel runs through scripture, so if we are using it Jesus will be central.
2. Most “topical” discussions that kids want to talk about are usually about their misguided responses to a longing for deep relationship with God.  Keep that in mind & steer discussions toward Jesus.

I would take the whole Gospel thing one step further & say we should not only apply it to church, but to our own lives. The gospel of Jesus Christ must saturate every part of our lives.