A. Time spent this week
SS=1 Hour MW=1 hour NW=2 hours Youth group=2 hours Total time spent this week: 6
B. My class this week
Week four in the fireproof series. This section is titled “He first loved us.” We watched a video clip of Caleb talking to his father about how his wife Catherine is responding to the Love dare and how difficult it is to love someone when they aren’t respecting you and rejecting your attempts to love you. Caleb’s father uses the opportunity to show Caleb that this is exactly what happens when God loves us and we reject Him.
Next we read a great illustration about Michael, a mob boss, who fell in love with Camilla, a Christian. The romance seemed like it would work, but that is because Camilla did not know of Michael’s connections with the mob. Camilla’s love for Jesus Christ draws Michael in, and he comes to Christ, and the two wed.
The main point this week is about loving someone who doesn’t really want our love; loving someone who rejects us. Caleb’s father makes the statement that we can’t love those who don’t love us simply because we don’t have that love to give. We can’t truly love others until we experience the love of Christ.
C. Questions this week
1.Can people who don’t know Jesus not know what love is?
2. How can I persevere in loving others that reject me and not burn out or be bitter?
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
WEEK 10 JON BLANCHARD
A. Time spent this week
SS: 1 hour Morning Worship: 1 Hour Mid week: 1 hour Youth group: 1 hour Total Time: 4 Hours
B. My class this week
We are in week three of the “fireproofing your marriage” series. This week we talked more about the differences between the way men and women communicate. In the movie Fireproof, all of the struggles Caleb and his wife go through can be broken down into one basic issue: Cable desires respect from his wife and she wants to feel loved. Since neither person is receiving what they need, they are not reciprocating their spouse’s need. This causes much conflict and strife in a marriage, mainly because each person is out to meet their own needs instead of the other person’s. Marriage is about trusting when we love the other person fully, they will love us back in the way that we need.
Put downs and negative comments towards our spouse make men feel disrespected and make women feel they are not loved. Some exampled comments sound like this:
- That dress looks good, but you would look better if you lost a few pounds like you wanted to (women)
- You aren’t much of a fix-it man, why don’t you just call a repair man? (men)
In both cases, we are looking at our spouse in a judgmental light, telling them that they aren’t good enough. Rather than say what’s on our mind, we need to rethink the way we say certain things and how they are received by the other person. It isn’t difficult to be more tactful about our opinions: just be quiet more often.
I found myself a little bit frustrated with this lesson mainly because it places men into a negative light. The “put down” statements men make towards women seemed to include belittling questions about a woman’s physical appearance; the statements made by women always seemed to be simple and shallow, usually about being able to fix things. Are men lacking in depth? When I brought this idea up, I was told I was wrong and it was only my perception that things were this way.
C. Questions this week
1, What do you do when your Sunday school material isn’t a very good quality?
2. If your opinions are being discounted and ignored, how do you deal with it?
SS: 1 hour Morning Worship: 1 Hour Mid week: 1 hour Youth group: 1 hour Total Time: 4 Hours
B. My class this week
We are in week three of the “fireproofing your marriage” series. This week we talked more about the differences between the way men and women communicate. In the movie Fireproof, all of the struggles Caleb and his wife go through can be broken down into one basic issue: Cable desires respect from his wife and she wants to feel loved. Since neither person is receiving what they need, they are not reciprocating their spouse’s need. This causes much conflict and strife in a marriage, mainly because each person is out to meet their own needs instead of the other person’s. Marriage is about trusting when we love the other person fully, they will love us back in the way that we need.
Put downs and negative comments towards our spouse make men feel disrespected and make women feel they are not loved. Some exampled comments sound like this:
- That dress looks good, but you would look better if you lost a few pounds like you wanted to (women)
- You aren’t much of a fix-it man, why don’t you just call a repair man? (men)
In both cases, we are looking at our spouse in a judgmental light, telling them that they aren’t good enough. Rather than say what’s on our mind, we need to rethink the way we say certain things and how they are received by the other person. It isn’t difficult to be more tactful about our opinions: just be quiet more often.
I found myself a little bit frustrated with this lesson mainly because it places men into a negative light. The “put down” statements men make towards women seemed to include belittling questions about a woman’s physical appearance; the statements made by women always seemed to be simple and shallow, usually about being able to fix things. Are men lacking in depth? When I brought this idea up, I was told I was wrong and it was only my perception that things were this way.
C. Questions this week
1, What do you do when your Sunday school material isn’t a very good quality?
2. If your opinions are being discounted and ignored, how do you deal with it?
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
WEEK 10: PHILLIP TELFER
Time Spent this Week: 7.5 hrs
2 hrs: youth group
2 hrs: open gym ministry
1 hr: Sunday school
1.5 hrs: Worship service
My Class this Week:
Mike returned from his weeklong vacation for spring break this week. He began the class period by reviewing the entire book of James. He had the class make a list of the main topics that had been discussed throughout the book.
- Warnings, Wisdom, Faith and Actions, Taming the Tongue, Patience and Enduring, Temptation, Power of Prayer, Prejudice, Perseverance, Submission, Suffering, Jesus, James, and Sin were the responses.
Mike then asked the class to give a summary statement of the book of James using the subjects that had been expressed in the previous list of main topics.
- The book of James gives wisdom and warning of temptation.
- The book of James reached perseverance through temptation and warnings of sin.
SUFFERING:
Mike tried to sum up the book of James with a review of suffering. He told the class that his teaching style is one of questions and his goal as a teacher is to get the class to think. But he went on to tell them that this week he intended to provide them with some important information. He began telling the class about the misconception that life gets easier when a person decides to become a Christian. He mentioned a book called “The Road less Traveled” by Scott Peck which opens with the statement, “Life is difficult.”
Life doesn’t get easier as a Christian. Then he asked some questions.
“In what ways have you thought that if you get through this problem/struggle, then life would be better?”
- school, Chemistry, homework, sickness
“Is life easy afterwards?”
- not necessarily…new problems arise
- Taylor: optimistic thinking is what gets us through certain struggles
PERSEVERANCE & PATIENCE:
“How do perseverance and patience set an example for others?”
- Non-Christians wonder what we have and they want it.
- Christians realize that if we can get through it, so can they.
RIVER ANALOGY:
Mike ended the lesson with an analogy of a RIVER. He drew the river on the whiteboard and had it represent struggles/suffering we endure in life. He said that no matter how hard we try to avoid these problems in our lives, we will not be able to go around it. We have to go through it.
Questions:
1. What is the effect of telling teenagers that they will suffer in the future? They are going through so much already, it seems quite depressing to let them know that life isn’t going to get any easier…in fact, it will get more difficult.
2. How do you think youth will feel when they realize when they finally manage to cross their current river of suffering, there will only be another, wider river with swifter rapids to cross on the other side? I know it is part of reality, but is this what they need to hear? I would much rather encourage them with something like: “regardless of what may come your way, God WILL provide you with the strength to stand up to temptation and discover His way of escape into holy living. Is that just me?
2 hrs: youth group
2 hrs: open gym ministry
1 hr: Sunday school
1.5 hrs: Worship service
My Class this Week:
Mike returned from his weeklong vacation for spring break this week. He began the class period by reviewing the entire book of James. He had the class make a list of the main topics that had been discussed throughout the book.
- Warnings, Wisdom, Faith and Actions, Taming the Tongue, Patience and Enduring, Temptation, Power of Prayer, Prejudice, Perseverance, Submission, Suffering, Jesus, James, and Sin were the responses.
Mike then asked the class to give a summary statement of the book of James using the subjects that had been expressed in the previous list of main topics.
- The book of James gives wisdom and warning of temptation.
- The book of James reached perseverance through temptation and warnings of sin.
SUFFERING:
Mike tried to sum up the book of James with a review of suffering. He told the class that his teaching style is one of questions and his goal as a teacher is to get the class to think. But he went on to tell them that this week he intended to provide them with some important information. He began telling the class about the misconception that life gets easier when a person decides to become a Christian. He mentioned a book called “The Road less Traveled” by Scott Peck which opens with the statement, “Life is difficult.”
Life doesn’t get easier as a Christian. Then he asked some questions.
“In what ways have you thought that if you get through this problem/struggle, then life would be better?”
- school, Chemistry, homework, sickness
“Is life easy afterwards?”
- not necessarily…new problems arise
- Taylor: optimistic thinking is what gets us through certain struggles
PERSEVERANCE & PATIENCE:
“How do perseverance and patience set an example for others?”
- Non-Christians wonder what we have and they want it.
- Christians realize that if we can get through it, so can they.
RIVER ANALOGY:
Mike ended the lesson with an analogy of a RIVER. He drew the river on the whiteboard and had it represent struggles/suffering we endure in life. He said that no matter how hard we try to avoid these problems in our lives, we will not be able to go around it. We have to go through it.
Questions:
1. What is the effect of telling teenagers that they will suffer in the future? They are going through so much already, it seems quite depressing to let them know that life isn’t going to get any easier…in fact, it will get more difficult.
2. How do you think youth will feel when they realize when they finally manage to cross their current river of suffering, there will only be another, wider river with swifter rapids to cross on the other side? I know it is part of reality, but is this what they need to hear? I would much rather encourage them with something like: “regardless of what may come your way, God WILL provide you with the strength to stand up to temptation and discover His way of escape into holy living. Is that just me?
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tyler Klein: Week 10
A. Time Spent this week: (Youth Group 2, Sunday School 1)
B. My Class this week:
1. Waiting for People to Arrive:
Mike was back this week from Spring break, but the youth group had just arrived back from a 20 mile hike the night before, specifically 1 in the morning, so we all just talked and waited for “stragglers” until around 9:25. The attendance was really low today. Then we started the lesson.
2. Begin Lesson:
Mike started by asking everyone what Phil had taught about the last week. Kids responded that it was about suffering, so Mike when on from there, saying that for today he was going to finish up the book of James. With that he asked the girls to pass out the Bibles in the room. After everyone had a Bible Mike asked them to take a few minutes and bring out the main topic of the Book of James. Some of the topics that were mentioned were: warnings, wisdom, faith vs. actions, taming the tongue, patience, endurance, temptation, the power of prayer, perseverance, submission, suffering, sin, and patience (second time). In the middle of the list Seth Bye arrived, causing a distraction. I expected more people to come in late and distract, but Seth was the only one.
With all of these topics up on the board Mike asked a follow-up question, “what is the purpose of the book of James, and what did you take away from it?” Because today was so dead no one really gave an effort or an answer.
3. Mr. Mcdivitt’s thoughts on James
With no one answering, Mike went right into explaining his purpose for teaching the book of James, that he wants for the class to be challenged and to understand their faith better, specifically through the topics of suffering, patience and perseverance in James. He explained the book “The Road Less Traveled” and brought up its summary statement that “life is difficult”. He wanted for the class to understand that they need to make it clear to people and even that they understand that when you become a Christian things aren’t going to be automatically easy, it’ll still be a tough life, maybe even harder as a Christian. But that is why patience and perseverance are important, because if we display those traits to those around us we can affect others for Christ. If we can take life’s difficulties in stride then our faith will grow and mature in ways we cannot fathom.
4. Dismissal:
Then all of a sudden the class was over, probably because we started late, but Mike explained the he was going to be done teaching for a few months and that Pastor Tony was going to be teaching the class for that period. We ended with prayer, and the strange session of Sunday school that was this morning was ended, as was the remainder of my observances for this practicum. It was a great experience, and I was blessed to get to learn from Mike and Phil when he taught. The kids were great and the environment taught me a lot.
C. My Questions for the week
1. When you know people are going to be coming in late, how can you effectively keep the attention of the class?
2. If everyone were tired, like this morning, would it have been better to have a mellower, fellowship building time rather than a teaching time? None of the kids were in any kind of readiness to learn today, it just seemed like a waste of time and effort.
B. My Class this week:
1. Waiting for People to Arrive:
Mike was back this week from Spring break, but the youth group had just arrived back from a 20 mile hike the night before, specifically 1 in the morning, so we all just talked and waited for “stragglers” until around 9:25. The attendance was really low today. Then we started the lesson.
2. Begin Lesson:
Mike started by asking everyone what Phil had taught about the last week. Kids responded that it was about suffering, so Mike when on from there, saying that for today he was going to finish up the book of James. With that he asked the girls to pass out the Bibles in the room. After everyone had a Bible Mike asked them to take a few minutes and bring out the main topic of the Book of James. Some of the topics that were mentioned were: warnings, wisdom, faith vs. actions, taming the tongue, patience, endurance, temptation, the power of prayer, perseverance, submission, suffering, sin, and patience (second time). In the middle of the list Seth Bye arrived, causing a distraction. I expected more people to come in late and distract, but Seth was the only one.
With all of these topics up on the board Mike asked a follow-up question, “what is the purpose of the book of James, and what did you take away from it?” Because today was so dead no one really gave an effort or an answer.
3. Mr. Mcdivitt’s thoughts on James
With no one answering, Mike went right into explaining his purpose for teaching the book of James, that he wants for the class to be challenged and to understand their faith better, specifically through the topics of suffering, patience and perseverance in James. He explained the book “The Road Less Traveled” and brought up its summary statement that “life is difficult”. He wanted for the class to understand that they need to make it clear to people and even that they understand that when you become a Christian things aren’t going to be automatically easy, it’ll still be a tough life, maybe even harder as a Christian. But that is why patience and perseverance are important, because if we display those traits to those around us we can affect others for Christ. If we can take life’s difficulties in stride then our faith will grow and mature in ways we cannot fathom.
4. Dismissal:
Then all of a sudden the class was over, probably because we started late, but Mike explained the he was going to be done teaching for a few months and that Pastor Tony was going to be teaching the class for that period. We ended with prayer, and the strange session of Sunday school that was this morning was ended, as was the remainder of my observances for this practicum. It was a great experience, and I was blessed to get to learn from Mike and Phil when he taught. The kids were great and the environment taught me a lot.
C. My Questions for the week
1. When you know people are going to be coming in late, how can you effectively keep the attention of the class?
2. If everyone were tired, like this morning, would it have been better to have a mellower, fellowship building time rather than a teaching time? None of the kids were in any kind of readiness to learn today, it just seemed like a waste of time and effort.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
WEEK 9 JON BLANCHARD
A. Time spent this week
Sunday school: 1 hour; Evening Worship: 3.5 hours; youth group: 9 hours; Total hours: 13.5 hours
B. My class this week
This week we continued the “fireproofing your marriage” Sunday school venue. Our leader started off by handing us a map of the differences between the male and female brain structures. Apparently the male brain is focused on sports and sex, while the female brain is focused on love and shopping (it was a joke). We did talk about the differences between the way men and women communicate though. In a society where men are taught not to show emotion and women are typically tender and emotional, it becomes difficult to get the right message across.
We watched a clip of the movie “Fireproof” again, this week discussing the perceptions we have of our significant others because of how we communicate. The main character, Caleb, is venting to Michael, while Caleb’s wife is out to dinner with a few girlfriends from work. Caleb believes that his marriage is falling apart because his wife does not respect him and his wife thinks he doesn’t care about her anymore or show any type of affection towards her. Because of this, both people have come to the same conclusion: they are incompatible.
We were each encouraged to talk to our spouses (my fiancé in this case, because I am not married yet) about how we can better communicate. Jocelyn (my fiancé) and I both laughed at the clip, but we also talked about how we needed to learn each other’s way of communicating better.
C. Questions
Is it appropriate to teach Sunday school without the use of scripture?
How do you teach a series that is not primarily focused on the Bible to a person who comes in during the middle of the series?
Sunday school: 1 hour; Evening Worship: 3.5 hours; youth group: 9 hours; Total hours: 13.5 hours
B. My class this week
This week we continued the “fireproofing your marriage” Sunday school venue. Our leader started off by handing us a map of the differences between the male and female brain structures. Apparently the male brain is focused on sports and sex, while the female brain is focused on love and shopping (it was a joke). We did talk about the differences between the way men and women communicate though. In a society where men are taught not to show emotion and women are typically tender and emotional, it becomes difficult to get the right message across.
We watched a clip of the movie “Fireproof” again, this week discussing the perceptions we have of our significant others because of how we communicate. The main character, Caleb, is venting to Michael, while Caleb’s wife is out to dinner with a few girlfriends from work. Caleb believes that his marriage is falling apart because his wife does not respect him and his wife thinks he doesn’t care about her anymore or show any type of affection towards her. Because of this, both people have come to the same conclusion: they are incompatible.
We were each encouraged to talk to our spouses (my fiancé in this case, because I am not married yet) about how we can better communicate. Jocelyn (my fiancé) and I both laughed at the clip, but we also talked about how we needed to learn each other’s way of communicating better.
C. Questions
Is it appropriate to teach Sunday school without the use of scripture?
How do you teach a series that is not primarily focused on the Bible to a person who comes in during the middle of the series?
WEEK 9: PHILLIP TELFER (TEACHING REPORT)
Time Spent this Week: 7 hrs
2 hrs - open gym ministry
2.5 hrs - youth group
1 hr - Sunday school
1.5 hrs - Sunday worship
My Lesson:
This week I finished our discussion on suffering from last week, and I gave a lesson on the power of prayer from James 5:13-18. I wanted to get the kids to think about something they do every day, adding a greater sense of importance and urgency to what has become a mundane and simple act of faith.
9:00-9:15 Arrival: I talked with the students as they came in. Pastor Tony was there to supervise my teaching. Someone wrote Happy Birthday on the dry-erase board, because it was Cortez's 16th birthday. There was cake and icing to be handed out. Tony gave a brief introduction to the class, before I started the lesson.
9:15-9:30 Suffering: Tony passed out the cake while I reviewed last week's lesson on suffering with the class. Mike had made it seem that people in the United States couldn't know what suffering is, because they don't experience the physical suffering of third world countries around the world. I guided the discussion by encouraging the class to think about where suffering originated. We came to the conclusion that suffering is a result of sin and the devil in the Garden of Eden.
Suffering can be experienced in a number of different ways. I told a story about a mission team that traveled to South Africa. They were warned by the missionaries and pastors living in South Africa that there had been recent tribal activity between local witch doctors. These medicine men had been gathering together and banging their drums, casting curses and spells on people. When the team arrived, the drums stopped beating, but the night the team left - the drums began again. I used this illustration to explain that the devil works in different ways cross-culturally. Suffering overseas is often seen in physical form, but I told the class that I believe suffering in the United States can be seen through complacency, self-subsistence, and a consumer-oriented culture. We don't need a God here, and I believe we are suffering spiritually as a result.
9:30-10:00 Power of Prayer: After this review of suffering, I began my lesson of the week on the power of prayer. I tried to use Mike's teaching style of question and answer. I began by asking Matt to open us in prayer, which he did. I then read the scripture passage from James 5:13-18.
1. Does God answer prayer?
- unanimous YES
2. How do you know? (examples)
I shared a personal testimony about one of my friends at home who had a miscarriage a year ago who had recently become pregnant again.
- provision (friends)
- protection
3. What do we pray for?
- food/meals, football games, health, wealth, and prosperity, protection, traveling mercies, tests, houses to sell
4. What should we pray for (according to James 5:13-18)?
- Suffering hardships
I shared a story about the corruption in Mozambique, Africa when I lived there.
- Physical and spiritual healing
- PRAISE God for His blessings
I went around the room and had everyone name one thing they were grateful for, and nothing was allowed to be repeated.
5. Does prayer change the future?
- the class was confused and mixed in their responses
6. What is required from us for God to answer our prayers? (James 5:16)
- "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other"
- We can't know how to pray for people if we don't share our struggles
- Pure motives (unselfish - praying for the well-being of others and the glory of God)
(Job 16:16-17; Prov 15:8, 29; Proverbs 28:9; Matthew 21:22)
7.When do we pray?
- before meals, bedtime, and during church
8. Are we praying enough? (Phil. 4:6, Mark 9:29)
I think we have lost sight of the role prayer should have in our lives and in the church.
9. Matt: How did you feel when I asked you to pray at the beginning of class?
- pretty comfortable, but sometimes I don't know what to say
10. Class: Do you ever find it hard to pray in public? (fast food restaurants, school lunch)
- unanimous YES
11. Why do you feel uncomfortable?
- afraid, nervous, threatened
- don't want to be judged
- people interrupt you sometimes
10:00-10:05 Challenge: Become uncomfortable in your prayer life.
I love street witnessing because it forces me to be stretched in my faith. I am not naturally drawn to put myself on the line and make myself vulnerable like that, but I will do it to spread the gospel.
We can't grow unless we are stretched. Every growth spurt is followed by an awkward stage, but that's the only way to reach our full potential. Prayer should be a lifestyle, and this was my challenge to the class: Find someone at school and ask them if you can pray for them.
Response:
I felt that the class was quite attentive throughout the lesson, and I was pleased with their interaction and involvement in the class. They answered my questions, and seemed to enjoy my stories. I also think they received the message well, and I hope they follow through with the challenge.
Supervisor's Evaluation:
Pastor Tony was 100% encouraging. He liked the way I kept the class involved through questions. He also enjoyed the personal insights I shared, reinforcing my lesson. He acknowledged the difficulty of keeping high school students involved and focused for forty-five minutes of teaching, but he thought I did a good job. He was a little unsure about how I had Matt pray in front of the class, but when I brought that around and tied it into the lesson Tony understood and agreed that it was appropriate.
I asked him for some suggestions for improvements, but he really couldn't think of anything. I had my laptop with me, and he said that it wasn't necessary, but that it helped relate to the kids in this technological environment. He also warned me about forcing students to do something like pray and read from the Bible, because not everyone is on the same level academically and this can be a self-esteem breaker.
Things I did well:
1. I thought the questions were relevant to the student's lives.
2. The class period was almost perfect on time. I was wondering how that would play out.
Things I need to improve:
1. I need to be able to teach without notes
2. I need to know the names of the students when I call on them. At one point, I couldn't think of Matt's name.
Questions:
1. I want to involve everyone, but I don't force people to do things they don't feel comfortable doing. What should I do?
2. Would it be better to come without strict lesson notes and risk the chance of going off track, or is it wiser to bring ample notes to ensure a well-guided discussion?
2 hrs - open gym ministry
2.5 hrs - youth group
1 hr - Sunday school
1.5 hrs - Sunday worship
My Lesson:
This week I finished our discussion on suffering from last week, and I gave a lesson on the power of prayer from James 5:13-18. I wanted to get the kids to think about something they do every day, adding a greater sense of importance and urgency to what has become a mundane and simple act of faith.
9:00-9:15 Arrival: I talked with the students as they came in. Pastor Tony was there to supervise my teaching. Someone wrote Happy Birthday on the dry-erase board, because it was Cortez's 16th birthday. There was cake and icing to be handed out. Tony gave a brief introduction to the class, before I started the lesson.
9:15-9:30 Suffering: Tony passed out the cake while I reviewed last week's lesson on suffering with the class. Mike had made it seem that people in the United States couldn't know what suffering is, because they don't experience the physical suffering of third world countries around the world. I guided the discussion by encouraging the class to think about where suffering originated. We came to the conclusion that suffering is a result of sin and the devil in the Garden of Eden.
Suffering can be experienced in a number of different ways. I told a story about a mission team that traveled to South Africa. They were warned by the missionaries and pastors living in South Africa that there had been recent tribal activity between local witch doctors. These medicine men had been gathering together and banging their drums, casting curses and spells on people. When the team arrived, the drums stopped beating, but the night the team left - the drums began again. I used this illustration to explain that the devil works in different ways cross-culturally. Suffering overseas is often seen in physical form, but I told the class that I believe suffering in the United States can be seen through complacency, self-subsistence, and a consumer-oriented culture. We don't need a God here, and I believe we are suffering spiritually as a result.
9:30-10:00 Power of Prayer: After this review of suffering, I began my lesson of the week on the power of prayer. I tried to use Mike's teaching style of question and answer. I began by asking Matt to open us in prayer, which he did. I then read the scripture passage from James 5:13-18.
1. Does God answer prayer?
- unanimous YES
2. How do you know? (examples)
I shared a personal testimony about one of my friends at home who had a miscarriage a year ago who had recently become pregnant again.
- provision (friends)
- protection
3. What do we pray for?
- food/meals, football games, health, wealth, and prosperity, protection, traveling mercies, tests, houses to sell
4. What should we pray for (according to James 5:13-18)?
- Suffering hardships
I shared a story about the corruption in Mozambique, Africa when I lived there.
- Physical and spiritual healing
- PRAISE God for His blessings
I went around the room and had everyone name one thing they were grateful for, and nothing was allowed to be repeated.
5. Does prayer change the future?
- the class was confused and mixed in their responses
6. What is required from us for God to answer our prayers? (James 5:16)
- "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other"
- We can't know how to pray for people if we don't share our struggles
- Pure motives (unselfish - praying for the well-being of others and the glory of God)
(Job 16:16-17; Prov 15:8, 29; Proverbs 28:9; Matthew 21:22)
7.When do we pray?
- before meals, bedtime, and during church
8. Are we praying enough? (Phil. 4:6, Mark 9:29)
I think we have lost sight of the role prayer should have in our lives and in the church.
9. Matt: How did you feel when I asked you to pray at the beginning of class?
- pretty comfortable, but sometimes I don't know what to say
10. Class: Do you ever find it hard to pray in public? (fast food restaurants, school lunch)
- unanimous YES
11. Why do you feel uncomfortable?
- afraid, nervous, threatened
- don't want to be judged
- people interrupt you sometimes
10:00-10:05 Challenge: Become uncomfortable in your prayer life.
I love street witnessing because it forces me to be stretched in my faith. I am not naturally drawn to put myself on the line and make myself vulnerable like that, but I will do it to spread the gospel.
We can't grow unless we are stretched. Every growth spurt is followed by an awkward stage, but that's the only way to reach our full potential. Prayer should be a lifestyle, and this was my challenge to the class: Find someone at school and ask them if you can pray for them.
Response:
I felt that the class was quite attentive throughout the lesson, and I was pleased with their interaction and involvement in the class. They answered my questions, and seemed to enjoy my stories. I also think they received the message well, and I hope they follow through with the challenge.
Supervisor's Evaluation:
Pastor Tony was 100% encouraging. He liked the way I kept the class involved through questions. He also enjoyed the personal insights I shared, reinforcing my lesson. He acknowledged the difficulty of keeping high school students involved and focused for forty-five minutes of teaching, but he thought I did a good job. He was a little unsure about how I had Matt pray in front of the class, but when I brought that around and tied it into the lesson Tony understood and agreed that it was appropriate.
I asked him for some suggestions for improvements, but he really couldn't think of anything. I had my laptop with me, and he said that it wasn't necessary, but that it helped relate to the kids in this technological environment. He also warned me about forcing students to do something like pray and read from the Bible, because not everyone is on the same level academically and this can be a self-esteem breaker.
Things I did well:
1. I thought the questions were relevant to the student's lives.
2. The class period was almost perfect on time. I was wondering how that would play out.
Things I need to improve:
1. I need to be able to teach without notes
2. I need to know the names of the students when I call on them. At one point, I couldn't think of Matt's name.
Questions:
1. I want to involve everyone, but I don't force people to do things they don't feel comfortable doing. What should I do?
2. Would it be better to come without strict lesson notes and risk the chance of going off track, or is it wiser to bring ample notes to ensure a well-guided discussion?
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Tyler Klein: Week 9
A. Time Spent this week: 2.5 hours total (S.S.=1 Worship= 1.5)
B. My Class this week:
1. Conclusion of Suffering.
Phil was teaching this week, and he started the lesson off by trying to bring everyone in the class back to what we were talking about the last week. Suffering wasn’t completely finished up after Mike threw out the idea that the kids don’t really suffer, so Phil tied it off by bringing up the fact that there are many different kinds of suffering, and that although we may not deal with the physical types in the US we still run into other types. He also went into detail about how you need to know where something comes from to completely understand it. He asked where it came from, and the kids responded with things that make them suffering, as well as sin and the devil, which were what Phil was looking for, because those two things are the cause of all suffering here on earth. That way we understand that it isn’t God who subjects us to suffering, but rather ourselves and our own sinful choices, stemming from the garden of eden.
2. James 5:12-18 on prayer
After suffering was done, Phil took everyone to James 5:12-18 to talk about prayer for the rest of the lesson. After reading the verses he asked everyone if it’s true that God answers prayer. Being the church kids that they are, everyone answered yes. Phil then hit them with the question, “How do you know?” I think they knew it was coming, but they still didn’t have a ton of answers. They know God does, but not many kids had experiences of it. Phil shared his own example of how a woman who had miscarried a time ago was now pregnant again, answering his semester long prayer for healing in the situation. With that we looked at the examples of what James said we should be praying about, if God does answer pray. There were many examples, like you should pray in troubled times, for healing, etc.
3. Does whether or not you pray change things?
He asked this loaded question and related it to sports, when Christians on two different teams may be praying for a win, and only one of them will. Does God care in those situations. This got a lot of the teens a little excited, because they all knew the right answer, that God doesn’t necessarily take sides, but they just didn’t know how to explain it. After this Phil took the discussion towards what we can pray for each other about, and how there is a need to confess things to one another so we can pray together about things. We discussed the accountability in that situation with prayer, as well as looking at five scriptures on what our motives should be when praying (they should be pure).
4. Challenge & Dismissal
It was a couple minutes past ten, and Phil gave everyone his challenge, to become uncomfortable in the way we pray. Before this he had everyone talking about how there is a sad uncomfortability about praying in public. He was completely right when he said that in order to grow we must be stretched, so he asked everyone to ask someone they know during the week if they could pray with them or for them. Simple but very effective in the lives of self-conscious teenagers.
C. My Questions for the week
1. Since we had snacks this week, what is a good way to keep them from becoming a distraction?
2. Should we have had snacks right at the beginning of the time instead of during Phil’s lesson? I thought it was going really well, and the cake could have been a distraction bomb. I know Tony was in there, but wasn’t it a bad idea to eat when we did, 5 minutes into Phil’s teaching time?
B. My Class this week:
1. Conclusion of Suffering.
Phil was teaching this week, and he started the lesson off by trying to bring everyone in the class back to what we were talking about the last week. Suffering wasn’t completely finished up after Mike threw out the idea that the kids don’t really suffer, so Phil tied it off by bringing up the fact that there are many different kinds of suffering, and that although we may not deal with the physical types in the US we still run into other types. He also went into detail about how you need to know where something comes from to completely understand it. He asked where it came from, and the kids responded with things that make them suffering, as well as sin and the devil, which were what Phil was looking for, because those two things are the cause of all suffering here on earth. That way we understand that it isn’t God who subjects us to suffering, but rather ourselves and our own sinful choices, stemming from the garden of eden.
2. James 5:12-18 on prayer
After suffering was done, Phil took everyone to James 5:12-18 to talk about prayer for the rest of the lesson. After reading the verses he asked everyone if it’s true that God answers prayer. Being the church kids that they are, everyone answered yes. Phil then hit them with the question, “How do you know?” I think they knew it was coming, but they still didn’t have a ton of answers. They know God does, but not many kids had experiences of it. Phil shared his own example of how a woman who had miscarried a time ago was now pregnant again, answering his semester long prayer for healing in the situation. With that we looked at the examples of what James said we should be praying about, if God does answer pray. There were many examples, like you should pray in troubled times, for healing, etc.
3. Does whether or not you pray change things?
He asked this loaded question and related it to sports, when Christians on two different teams may be praying for a win, and only one of them will. Does God care in those situations. This got a lot of the teens a little excited, because they all knew the right answer, that God doesn’t necessarily take sides, but they just didn’t know how to explain it. After this Phil took the discussion towards what we can pray for each other about, and how there is a need to confess things to one another so we can pray together about things. We discussed the accountability in that situation with prayer, as well as looking at five scriptures on what our motives should be when praying (they should be pure).
4. Challenge & Dismissal
It was a couple minutes past ten, and Phil gave everyone his challenge, to become uncomfortable in the way we pray. Before this he had everyone talking about how there is a sad uncomfortability about praying in public. He was completely right when he said that in order to grow we must be stretched, so he asked everyone to ask someone they know during the week if they could pray with them or for them. Simple but very effective in the lives of self-conscious teenagers.
C. My Questions for the week
1. Since we had snacks this week, what is a good way to keep them from becoming a distraction?
2. Should we have had snacks right at the beginning of the time instead of during Phil’s lesson? I thought it was going really well, and the cake could have been a distraction bomb. I know Tony was in there, but wasn’t it a bad idea to eat when we did, 5 minutes into Phil’s teaching time?
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