With my teaching in the Bible College here in Bogotá, we are always look for ways to expand the outreach and the scope of this ministry. Until now, my teaching has been limited to the classroom. I do teach and preach each and every Sunday somewhere and often teach in classes and conferences in between. But my work with the college has enabled me to form the next generation of Christian leaders here in Colombia, both for our own churches and for other Christian groups as well.
This week we took that teaching effort to a new level as we developed a classroom on the air. A chain of Christian radio stations here in Colombia offered a one hour space on Saturday mornings to teach a class via radio. This class is being offered for college credit at the undergraduate level. This past Saturday was my first class.
I arrived at the station about fifteen minutes early in order to find the sound studio and get situated. The local personnel from the Bible College were present as well so that they could handle the introductory material as well as the other functions during the program. For the first ten minutes, they presented the program and how it would function, along with a Gospel song or two. Then it was my turn to teach.
I taught the lesson in three ten minute segments, with a short musical break in between. The breaks are intended so that the students who are listening can take notes, find the segments of the text book we are using and referring to, and so they can call in to the station with any specific questions they have. That enables me to focus the teaching and to answer pertinent questions immediately. After thirty minutes of teaching, my part was over.
The local administrative personnel then continued explaining to the students how they were to do the homework required and then how to send that information in so that they could get academic credit. This program is broadcast on dozens of Christian radio stations all over the country of Colombia and has the purpose of introducing many new people to the possibility of studying for the Bible College degree by extension and modular courses.
We are offering classes in basic ministerial skills to begin with, laced with Bible and doctrinal teaching to be sure. This current class is on the subject of Christian Education with a focus on training Sunday school teachers for both the children’s and adult classes. We have material for the teachers at each age level as well as the general information on how to teach.
This method has an additional advantage as well. I can record my lessons ahead of time for when I am out of the country and traveling to the States. In that way I can continue to teach during the entire year; both when I am in the country and when I am back in the States to speak to supporting churches.
Also, this increases the amount of time I can be teaching, as my regular teaching duties are limited by the hours in a day and the days in a week. This way I can teach late at night and early in the morning by recording lessons at those times and then presenting them when I am normally busy with another class or activity. We praise God in that He has opened an even greater door of opportunity for service and ministry here in Colombia.