Giving Honor

We at Wonder City have always encouraged our members to read the Bible at home on their own. However, it wasn’t until last year that we gave them a concrete way to approach reading the Bible. For 2005 we suggested that our members read one chapter of the New Testament (N.T.) every weekday. By doing this they would complete the N.T. in a year. This also gave our members the freedom to miss a day without becoming too discouraged.

Nathan and I knew of one lady who was faithfully reading through the N.T. She would call one of us whenever she had a question. It was also evident in her life. Everyone could really tell a difference in her.

The surprise came at the end of the year, when we asked the church who had completed the N.T. Not one, but three ladies reached the goal. After confirming each of them, we decided to honor these ladies and encourage them to continue studying, as well as encourage the church to follow their example. We decided to purchase these ladies leather N.I.V. Study Bibles with their names engraved on them. We presented the Bibles during worship services on Sunday, January 1st (unfortunately, we were unable to have their names engraved since they had just arrived in the mail). So, on Sunday, January 22nd, we re-presented the Bibles (complete with names). Below is a picture of two of the ladies (Renee H. [left]; Corrie T. [right]. Jennifer C. was unable to be present for the photo.)

As I was working on cropping the picture for this post, Corrie called me. She was so excited about her new Bible. She told me that I wasn’t going to be getting any more phone calls with questions, since she has her study Bible she can look things up for herself. Of course, I told her I always welcomed her phone calls. She is so excited to have that Bible and be using it.

This year we are again encouraging our church members to read the N.T. on the weekdays, but we have added Psalms and Proverbs on the weekends. I hope that as this year draws to close we will have many more who are reading the Bible at home.