Teaching, teaching, teaching!!!

Flying home to Kona from Oahu - Mauna Kea peeking through the Clouds

When I decided to staff the Chronological School of Biblical Studies, I seriously never thought I would be teaching in front of groups of people. I thought maybe my teaching role would be more casual, one-on-one discussion style teaching... that my role in staffing would be grading and serving in the background... mainly because teaching in front of people still gets the butterflies fluttering in my tummy. Not to mention, I've learned under so many amazing teachers that I kind of struggle with insecurity at times. Okay, a lot of the time. ;)

I guess God had another plan. And while I'm still such a beginner, I'm growing to actually love teaching in all settings, not only informal. Ron Smith, the founder of the SBS, said this: If you want to be a teacher, be willing to take ANY teaching opportunities you are given. Teach children, teach adults. Teach one person, teach groups. If you want to develop your gift of teaching, you have to PRACTICE. When I heard this, I prayed and told God that I was open to him using me more in the area of teaching the Bible. I also asked him to give me opportunities to teach the Bible to Pacific Islanders.

I think he heard my prayer.

So this quarter I am teaching in several classroom settings that I didn't ask to teach in, but was invited by others to teach in their groups. Here's some of it:

• Leading a weekly Bible Study on the book of Titus with some YWAM staff who work with a ministry called Island Breeze. Through the study I am also teaching them the Inductive Bible study method.
• Teaching weekly in the Asia Pacific DTS on how to study the Bible inductively and why it is valuable to study it!
• Leading worship at the Youth Group of Central Kona Union Church, which includes sharing on the Bible with local South Kona teens and the aunties and uncles who faithfully serve food and pray for the youth each week.
• Teaching 1 & 2 Thessalonians on April 29th in the C-SBS.
• Teaching Colossians and Philemon on May 25th in the C-SBS.

So... I guess my word of advice and encouragement to you is this:

Don't limit God by insecurity or fear! Whatever God is leading you to do... maybe it's a good idea to just DO IT. Even if it's uncomfortable... God wants to use YOU! He can use anyone, but he wants to use you for something unique to who you are. So... LET HIM. Don't limit God!!!

While I am so excited to go on outreach to Fiji and Samoa in July-August, I am excited that God has me doing ministry here in Kona, Hawaii now... after all, this is where my feet are, so this is my mission field. (Thanks, Pastor Mike for that quote that always reminds me of this truth!)

Until next post... Aloha!

Jillian

New Quarter, New Testament, New COVENANT!

We have started the last quarter of the CSBS - the New Testament!!! Its exciting to see our students learning and growing in their love for Jesus as they dive into His Word.

I will be teaching 1 & 2 Thessalonians in 2 weeks and I am so excited about these books! So many times people just see the stuff about End Times and want to pull apart the passages that discuss these. But rather than focusing on the details of Jesus' return, Paul focuses on the right attitude and response that believers should have towards the reality that Jesus will come again. I will write more on 1 & 2 Thessalonians after I teach, but here's a photo of Thessaloniki with Mount Olympus in the background... this is the Port city where Paul preached for 3 Sabbaths in the Synagogue and many Greeks and women became believers (see Acts 17:1-9). This same church of new believers is to whom Paul writes his two letters.

Outside of the CSBS, I am also going to be leading a Bible Study this quarter for a group of Island Breeze Dancers. Island Breeze is a ministry of Youth With A Mission, and I had the privilege of working with them in Australia for two years, though I didn't dance!!! Island Breeze exists to know God and make God known through His inherent gifts and expressions within the Nations. I will be starting with Titus and teaching the Inductive Bible Study Method and then possibly doing one or two other books... Super excited for this opportunity to teach Pacific Islanders, and super humbled that I was asked by a friend to teach him and his teammates!

I've been continuing to work with the Youth Group at Central Kona Union Church, which is going well. We are seeing many young skaters coming for our Friday Night meal, though we have yet to see them stay around for the "youth service"... we believe God is using our times of just feeding them and hanging out with them to open the door to future ministry with them. Please pray that their hearts would be open to the message of the Gospel and that we, as the youth leaders, would be sensitive to how God wants to reach these broken kids. Every single skater kid that I've met so far is from a broken home, and several are high school dropouts.

Outreach preparations are coming along, and it is exciting to see God opening doors for us in Fiji and Samoa, as well as for the other teams working in China and Brasil!

And I just have to share some amazing blessings I've received in the past few weeks:

• I felt God wanted me to give $100 away to a friend going to Kiev, Ukraine to teach. I mailed a check off then checked my mailbox, and a friend had written me a note with a check for $100 inside!
• I was feeling a little lonely and forgotten, and I received a super encouraging and thoughtful card from a friend who is part of the missions council at my home church, HCC... also finding out that they had a little surplus that they wanted to give to me to bless me... I was SO encouraged!
• My dear friends, Zada and Diana, are treating me to a weekend in Oahu with them: a much needed vacation, but also a time with family friends that have been a big part of most of my life! Again, this couldn't have come at a better time...

God just seems to know what we need, when we need it. Must be that Sovereignty thing. ;)

More to come, but Aloha for now!

Jillian