One of the things that’s always part of IBF, in the week-long summer block week, is that students lead the mid-week service at the church in Melun. They are involved in all aspects of the service from leading worship to prayer and announcements to preaching. This young lady was one of the two students that preached in this week’s service.
I got back to Châtellerault late last night so let me give you a quick run-down of the week…
Country Roads & Packed Highways…
Let me start by saying that when you have to travel long distances and opt for the highways… it’s nice to be able to drive, once again, at 130km/h (81 mph). Having spent the summer back in North America… we’d become re-accustomed to the lower speed limits.
When traffic gets dense however, the speed limit gets thrown out the proverbial window.
I drove up to Melun on Sunday evening but since August is the biggest of the two vacation months in France, I was not alone. Given the millions of people living in the Paris region, Saturdays and Sundays, in August, are terrible times to be heading toward the capital. What’s more, the highway I take is the highway that connects Paris to all of western France, Spain & Portugal… great tourist destinations.
As you can see… I found myself stopped on the highway at one point. When it’s like that, you’re happy to even be crawling at 30 km/h (20 mph).
Thankfully, I’ve been here long enough to know a few work-arounds. You can’t drive 130 on the country roads, but it’s faster than doing the highway crawl with thousands of other cars and country roads are beautiful in their own right.
Dr. Daniel Segraves… Scholar & Gentleman
During the summer block-week, in addition to courses from the core curriculum, a special guest speaker is brought in to teach twenty hours worth of courses on a different topic. To give you an idea of the wide range of what can be taught, last year they were taught on managing their finances and this year Dr. Daniel Segraves taught on finding the Messiah in the Psalms.
What an incredible study!
He showed the extent to which New Testament writings quote from the Psalms and, very often, with an eye to affirming that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah.
It was a privilege to assist with translation. The only drawback… it’s hard to take notes and translate at the same time!
Dr. Segraves has written some 19 books that will help enrich your understanding of God’s word. He’s also written an extensive study on spiritual gifts that I’m eager to go through… downloadable for free here.
What a blessing to meet and spend time with he & his wife.
20 Students, 40 hours, Great Blessing!
In addition to the forty hours of class time, students are required to present an oral thesis which consists of the following.
At the beginning of the year they are given 50 (1st year students) or 100 (2nd year students) questions for which they must seek biblical answers. The could be questions of a theological nature or just questions that someone curious about God may ask. They then pick three questions “from a hat” and have to answer them with nothing but their bible and any notes that could easily fit in their bible.
It’s quite a challenge that requires diligent preparation. Last-minute cramming won’t work here!
One young man had lost all of his notes, on the train, a few weeks ago. That would be enough to rattle most students. Fortunately for him, however, he had memorized all the verses that he’d planned to use for all 100 questions!
Amazing!
These are the kind of young people that your giving to missions is allowing us to help train… Thank you!
What an awesome week. Thank you for being part of it through your prayers and your giving.
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AIM Long 