Verse to Consider: Titus 2:11-13, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…”
Greetings.
Hello everyone and happy Thursday! So much has happened since our last update that it feels like forever since we last wrote to you all! In our last update, we had just held our first School of Biblical Studies class with our new students. Here they are! (And Staff)
These students have proved to be such a fun and amazing group. Their passion and commitment to seek God through His Word have been a truly wonderful inspiration to our lessons. How incredible it is to see 9 people who have chosen to spend their time studying the Bible! We’ve been running at full speed these past months as we take our students on a journey through the Scriptures.
What’s Happening?
Our School of Biblical Studies (or SBS) is made up of 2 semesters (one for both Old and New Testaments). Each semester is made up of “units” that cover specific collections of books of the Bible. For instance, we just finished up our first unit called “Christ to the Church.” In this unit, we covered the the following books: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts. We are now just beginning our next unit: “The Life and Ministry of Paul.” As you probably guessed, we are covering the 13 epistles written by Paul in this unit. There are two more units within our New Testament semester: “The New Testament Church” (Hebrews, James, 1-2 Peter, Jude) and “The Life and Ministry of John” (John, 1-3 John, Revelation).
To compliment our School of Biblical studies, we also run another program called the “Biblical Narrative Series.” Each time our school starts a new unit, we host a Narrative Series night where we give a simplified overview of all the books contained in that unit in one night. This series is open to the public and designed to give those who can’t be a part of our SBS a chance to get an overview of the entire Bible over the course of 10 months.
Since we just started our “Life and Ministry of Paul” unit, we held our second Narrative Series lecture this past Monday. In two hours we gave an overview of the structure, themes, historical background, and timeline of all 13 of Paul’s epistles! Take a look at the turnout…
At 40+ people, our Narrative Series is constantly growing! It’s been so encouraging to see the reception we’ve had among the local churches and ministries. This is easily one of the most impactful things we do as a ministry. So many people feel that having a good grasp on the content of their Bible is out of reach, or only for those who are able to attend Seminary. Emmaus Ministries seeks to provide opportunities for anyone who desires to study their Bible inductively and know it in a deep and personal way.
Big News!
Finally, Samantha and I have some exciting news to get out in the open…
That’s right! We’re having a baby!!! 😀
With a due date of August 30th, Samantha is 12 weeks along, and we couldn’t be more excited about this wonderful gift!
Our Need.
Because of this recent development, Samantha and I have some important changes to make. Given our small, single hotel room, we’re in desperate need of a new living space. This has been a long standing desire for us since we’ve yet to have our own space in 4 years of marriage. And now we feel the need more than ever. In order to make this change, Samantha and I need to increase our monthly support. We have been operating under budget since we started working with Emmaus Ministries, gaining just enough support to cover our essential bills. Our current goal is to have $3,000 in monthly support. We’re currently sitting at around $1,200. We need some help.
We’re so thankful to be working here with Emmaus Ministries, seeing people’s lives change as they encounter God through His Word. It’s been incredible, and we’re not done yet! If you or perhaps someone you know might be interested in supporting us in this mission to equip the body of Christ with God’s Word and helping us find a home for our new baby, we would love to talk with you and answer any questions you might have. To see directions on how you can begin giving immediately, click here.
-Jacob and Samantha McRae (and baby)
The McRae Family 