For the past couple of Decembers, I have contemplated jumping into one of these “Bible In A Year” programs for the upcoming year….and then the calendar changes to the next year and those plans quickly dissolve. And sure enough, 2018 would be no different. January 1, 2018 came/went and another well intended start to my Bible reading campaign didn’t even get off the ground. I shrugged it off and figured I would do it next year.
Fast forward two weeks and I am at an Equip Training session at Park Church (put the next one on your calendar, April 9!). I don’t remember the specific discussion for the evening, but there were breakout sessions and all attendees were challenged to go to a session on a subject where you felt your life was lacking/needed improvement. While I certainly could have gone to any of the four sessions, I decided to head to the one that specifically dealt with scripture knowledge (or lack thereof).
The conversation centered around the discipline of getting into the Word and what the impediments are to regularly reading the Bible. The participants were all very candid about their journeys, where they were at as it relates to scripture and where they wished they were.
One recurring theme was that no one was where they wanted to be.
So the session ended and I was chatting with a couple of the guys from my Community Group who were also in this breakout session. As we talked, it struck me that
1) we all had a desire to read the Bible more, 2) Park Church had a yearlong Bible reading plan already set up and 3) we all see each other regularly.
This confluence of events seemed to set us up pretty well for a low key accountability group to keep us all on track in an area of life that we had just expressed we wanted to improve in. I suggested we start using the Park Church YOTB program and start a group text thread to check in daily on how we are doing. Both guys were on board so we started with the following day’s reading (we have since added a 4th person).
I am happy to say that we are about five weeks in and no one has missed a day.
Some days it is a text as simple as, “I completed today’s reading of ….”. Other days we share thoughts on the reading or things that didn’t make sense and then some dialog begins. There are no expectations other than getting the daily reading done and checking in with the other members of the group.
Following the Park Church YOTB plan has been great because it is a chapter a day and is very manageable….but it still helps to foster the discipline of getting into the Word six days a week. I would encourage anyone that has a desire to gain a better understanding of scripture to grab a couple folks and start following the YOTB plan. It is simple, low commitment and has kept us all on track.
#yotb
#gopi
#idwtgu
A blog by Drew Hegner.
Drew is part of the Shrewsbury Community Group, serves faithfully in Park Kids in various capacities, and is simply one of the best men out there. If you want to learn about selfless service, befriend Drew and his wife Rachel. Also, if you need someone to whip you into shape so that you can also run marathons – Drew’s your guy.