Preacher Finds Good Use for Way of Life Bible Study Materials

The following testimony is by Don Whitecar, former missionary to Belize who is currently starting a church in Pocatello, Idaho: “After one year in Belize, we had a little over 100 saved and in various stages of Christian growth. The attendance was consistently over 100, and a few had grown to the point to be workers in classes, etc. It was at this time that I used Way of Life’s 52 week One Year Discipleship books . I gave every family one that they read and answered the questions during the week. In the Sunday evening service announcements, I would go over the answers. We had great participation, and it is this effort that grounded the largest group that made up the foundation of that church. After that point, I used those discipleship books by assigning a newly saved person to a grounded Christian who had already been through the book. They would work through the book together. Before the service began on Sunday evenings, it was common to see several places around the auditorium where people were going over the books. That church has used over 250 copies of that text. After the second anniversary of the church I began a Bible Institute to teach more in depth. We met on Monday evenings for 1.5 hours per class (2 classes). My wife offered speech classes (Bible story telling, etc.) for the ladies. Our classes were always well attended, and Way of Life’s Advanced Bible Studies books were always the text (for the Bible classes). The students were turning in their answers to the review questions for homework. We went over the answers in class. The questions from the homework became possible test questions at the end of each section, in addition to the information from my lecture notes. Later, I added to this. We picked a textbook, and I assigned due dates (always Sunday evenings) for the review questions to be due. We offered this to the entire church. We had upwards of 40 to 50 reading and answering the questions. This method was my favorite because it brought the information to so many more people. In December of 2017, just before I left, I remember going in to the evening service and overhearing two of our church ladies commenting to each other of how hard a life the Waldensian Christians had to live. Most Christians around the world don’t even know who the Waldensians were! Thank you for the hard work to provide these materials for our ministry. We are using the discipleship book again here in the new work, and one of the ladies is reading the history of the churches already. Your Sowing and Reaping book is another great tool to train new workers. I taught through that in Belize on Saturday morning visitation meeting. I pray every day for your ministry, and I am thankful for your enormous efforts to put out good material.”

​(Friday Church News Notes, April 19, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

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