Camp Shoshanah 2009 Teacher's Workshop

Last week was a landmark for the future of Ariel Ministries. Twenty-five people from across the globe joined me at Ariel's Camp Shoshanah to participate in a first-of-its-kind teachers' workshop event. Together, we explored various techniques for teaching Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum's series on the Life of Messiah from a Jewish Perspective. Participants from Australia, India, Israel, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States quickly formed a tight-knit family committed helping one another to develop the skills necessary to teach this material. Attendees ranged from teenagers to septuagenarians. They all encouraged and spurred one another towards the good deed of bringing this important series to the believers back home.

One of the most important discoveries for the participants of this workshop is that they have a unique style and voice given by God for their use as teachers. Attempting to copy Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum's style will not work for most people. In fact, the students discovered that if they tried that approach, they failed. However, many other effective formats for teaching this material were demonstrated during the weeklong camp, including Table Talks, Socratic Circles, Family Time Devotionals, Lecture and Audience Talk Back, Poems, Stories, Songs, and more.

One important assignment required all of the participants to view Dr. Fruchtenbaum's teaching on the Five Facets of the Kingdom Program and the Parables of the Kingdom from Matthew 13 on the DVD series covering the Life of Messiah from a Jewish Perspective. All of them studied the material and prepared a unique ten-minute presentation covering some portion of the material for presentation before the entire group. Every one of the 25 workshop participants hit a home run, knocking the ball out of the park. In the process, all of them learned that they have the ability to teach this material effectively.

During the past year, we have been explaining that by the year 2019 we are praying that the Lord would raise up 5,000 people who are capable of teaching this course of study all over the world. Understanding that Jesus was, is, and always will be a Jew is essential to understanding the entire Bible... not just the New Testament. Well-meaning Gentile believers all over the world follow a fictional Jesus, created in the minds of many by some of the Church Fathers. Satan has used men like Justin Martyr and Augustine to distort what the Bible teaches by introducing allegorical interpretation of the Scriptures to the Church. In the process, knowledge of God's plan for both the Church and Israel has been obscured. The Apostles would not recognize the teaching of Reformed Theology. The Jesus they learned from was not a Reformed Theologian. He was a Jew, and the only way to understand His place in HIStory is to view His ministry in that context.

The participants in this ground-breaking workshop will join a growing number of teachers around the world who are committed to seeing the proper Jewish understanding of our Messiah taught in Churches, Messianic Congregations, Sunday and Shabbat Schools, Home Bible Study Groups, Christian Schools and Colleges, Seminaries, and around family dinner tables. Please pray for the attendees of this workshop as they step into the works God has prepared for them. We covet your support of Ariel Ministries as we follow God's leading.

Follow Me, Mark 1:16-18

Arlie Francis
Executive Director, Ariel Ministries
August 20, 2009