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get your flashlight

by Keith Kenemer

I will never forget the year I failed to take my flashlight to youth camp. Growing up in Detroit, Michigan, a flashlight was not something I needed often. Streetlights were everywhere. But one week at camp, where the floor of the forest was covered with the roots of silver maple trees, taught me a lesson I’ve never forgotten—the importance of a flashlight. My shins have never been the same.

Training is like that flashlight. The Word says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). We need ongoing training to light the way to more effective teaching. In my life I have endured several serious illnesses. During those times, I went to doctors who were up-to-date in their certification. How much more important is it for teachers of the Word to improve constantly?

A Team Church training event provides teachers with
the knowledge they need to teach effectively. Team Church provides experienced teachers who will train your staff so they can train others. Sounds like 2 Timothy 2:2, doesn’t it? “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.”

Team Church events are held on Saturdays and feature five tracks of education: preschool, children, youth, adult, and administration. Workshops are 50 minutes long with ten-minute breaks. According to Dennis Talley, Sunday School Director of First Free Will Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, IL, Team Church reminded his workers of many things they had forgotten and provided valuable information they needed to know. He felt it was a profitable day for his Sunday school staff.

Dr. Charles A. Thigpen said it well in the Echo (Tennessee Free Will Baptist state paper), “Sunday School is one of the best ways to teach our Lord’s commands. This is why we have ‘Christian Workers Conferences.’ These are designed to better equip our present and future leadership in Sunday Schools to do a better job.”

Team Church has your flashlight waiting.

Keith Kennemer is a Customer Sales Representative at Randall House Publications. He served as National Church Training Consultant with Evangelical Training Association and worked for many years as a director of Christian education in local churches: kkenemer@randallhouse.com

 

 

 

 

©2005 ONE Magazine, National Association of Free Will Baptists