April '17 Update: A Day in the Life

The Preaching Program 

Greetings from the Philippines! I am in the middle of my second trip to the Philippines this year, teaching the third module in Davao City. Since several people have asked me what I am teaching when I travel overseas, I thought for this month’s update I would fill you in on the content of the training along with what a typical day looks like for me.

The Expositors Academy

The Expository Preaching program that I teach is a certificate program offered by the TMAI training center in the Philippines known here as The Expositors Academy. The program consists of six, one-week long modules which are taught over the course of three years. Thus, two modules per year are taught with each one focusing on how to preach different parts of the Bible in each module. Here are the different topics covered

Module 1: Fundamentals and Mechanics of Expository Preaching; preaching the Epistles

Module 2: Preaching lab on epistles; instruction on preaching narratives

Module 3: Preaching lab on narratives; instruction on preaching poetry/wisdom

Module 4: Preaching lab on poetry/wisdom; instruction on preaching prophecy

Module 5: Preaching lab on prophecy; instruction on preaching other topics

Module 6: Pastoral Ministry: doctrine and leadership

The first module covers the principles of interpretation, how to study a particular text, and then how to preach it. The epistles are the focus of study in this beginning class. The subsequent classes cover how to study and preach other genres of the Bible. The last module then covers theological and pastoral issues that the pastors encounter in the course of their ministry.

The advantages of this modular approach is that it presents a minimal impact on the schedules of the pastors who are all actively involved in full-time ministry. It also allows for those who live in more remote locations to attend.

 A Day in the Life Because each module consists of intensive training we incorporate variety into the daily schedule. For example, this is what class looked like on Tuesday this week:Open with Ps 119:89-96 and prayerMorning session 1: Parables: introduction to parables and how to interpret;Morning session 2: Preaching lab – OT sermonAfternoon session 1: Parable discussion – class exercise of Luke 18:9-14; discuss parables in Luke 15 (meaning, structure and arrangement)Afternoon session 2: Preaching lab – OT sermonAfternoon session 3: Poetry lecture – elements of Hebrew poetryHomework: Read Ex 19-20. How would you teach Ex 20:1-17?A typical day will go from 9am-6pm. Thus, there is lots of instruction which is why, in my updates, that I often include pictures of me teaching … like this one 😊So, as you can see from the schedule, we cover several different topics throughout the day. Typically, we will also have one or two preaching labs which entail one student preaching a 30-minute message from an assigned passage. He receives feedback on content and presentation from his peers and the instructors. On this particular Tuesday, students preached from Jonah or Ruth.It has been a joy to see the men improve in their ability not only to rightly interpret Scripture but also in clearly and accurately communicating it in their sermons. Please continue to pray for me to give helpful training to the men and for them to accurately and faithfully proclaim the truth to the precious people of the Philippines. Some other prayer requests

  • Tina will join me in Cebu City from 04/29-05/11. Pray also for her as she ministers to the women while she is here (some her ministry includes a conference on anger; teaching the pastor’s wives; speaking to the women of Living Word Christian Church).
  • Please pray for our health and for our safety. The state department sent out an advisory regarding kidnappings taking place in the area of Cebu.
  • Continue to pray for the writing of my dissertation. The first chapter is due on the day after I return and I haven’t had time to work on it during my trip.

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