At the University Church of Christ, our adult classes have begun studying a DVD series called “Faith Lessons” by Ray Vander Laan. So far, the feedback has been extremely popular, with people even wanting to buy their own copies of the material to share with friends and family.
I meet with the teachers each Wednesday night to go over the material for the next Sunday, share experiences from the previous Sunday, and exchange ideas. Shortly thereafter, I compile the notes into a lesson outline and email it to the teachers. The teachers then put their own spin on it.
I thought I’d share these materials with the readers, as any church would benefit from this excellent material.
(I help lead a small group of high school juniors and seniors. They love it, too.)
Background
Ray Vander Laan is scholar in the Jewish roots of Christianity and historical backgrounds. The “Faith Lessons” series was filmed on location, and Vander Laan takes his viewers throughout the Mediterranean world to learn excellent, powerful scriptural lessons on site.
His material is sold through Zondervan.
We are starting in volume 1 and taking them in order. I’ll add lessons as we go.
These are MS Word documents and really need to go with the DVDs.
Crossroads shot at Tell Gezer
For the high school lesson, as the introductory montage of Bible land scenes flashed by, I paused the DVD and challenged the students to guess what each was a picture of. For easy ones, I wouldn’t let the adults guess. For the hard ones, the adults got to guess, too. The kids and most of the adults had never seen pictures of most of these locations. It was loads of fun.
(Going from memory: Jordan River, Dead Sea, Masada, and Jerusalem, centered on the Dome of the Rock. There was an earlier scene of fishing in the Sea of Galilee.)
Wet Feet shot at the Jordan River
First Fruits shot at Tell Jericho
Iron of Culture (David and Goliath)
PROPHETS & KINGS
Innocent Blood (Baal worship and abortion)
Who Is God? (Elijah on Mt. Carmel)
I have watched all of the Faith Lessons DVDs 7 in all I think. And they are excellent to put a picture with the bible story – it gives a great perspective of what you are reading about. We have used these as our Wednesday Night church lessons for an entire (small) congregation and we have used them for small groups also.
I was actually given the first five volumes a couple years ago and we watched them as a church in Louisville. They were universally praised by our congregation which is pretty rare at any church for everyone to like something. Now that I have moved on to ministry in Fort Worth we have occasionally watched these and they have been praised here too. They are great lessons. Vanderlaan really illuminates scripture and brings out points that many of our people have never thought of.
We have been using them in our Tuesday night small group. Great perspectives – especially on the stuff you thought you had figured out.
I agree. I've used various components from the entire series in academic (high school Bible classes) and in ministry (adult classes) settings. I look forward to your comments and lesson prep. Another digital tool I've found helpful is an interactive CD titled Walk Through Jerusalem. I forget who published it, but it should be available somethere.
Pingback: “Faith Lessons” by Ray Vander Laan: On Baal Worship and Abortion « One In Jesus.info
Pingback: “Faith Lessons” by Ray Vander Laan: Lachish and God’s Wrath, Part 1 « One In Jesus.info
Pingback: Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan: Run! The Passion of Elijah « One In Jesus.info
I am wondering what Ray VanderLaan’s Church background is and what Denomination is he affiliated with? I have searched the internet but can find no statement of faith or doctrinal belief system. Can anyone help me?
Jerry,
Dutch Reformed.