Schools:

Ideas You Can Use

by Mark Littleton

Thinking about home schooling but don't know where to start?
Most states have organizations committed to helping parents who home school their children. These state organizations provide many resources for home schooling, such as curriculum helps, news on new state legislation concerning home schooling, legal aid, state conventions for students and their parents, magazines, and many other needed lines of support. To find such organizations in your area, contact the local school board. If they can't help, call Christian Life Workshops (800/225-5259).

Model preaching.
Smart pastors and leaders know they can learn to improve their speaking by listening to good speakers. A good way to do that is to take advantage of the tapes offered by some of today's renowned pastors. Many radio preachers have tape libraries that can be tapped for as little as $40 a year. One example is Dr. John MacArthur's media ministry, Grace to You (800/554-7223). The tape library not only contains multitudes of expository tapes on whole books of the Bible but also study booklets to go with the tapes. Messages and courses by other staff personnel and visiting pastors, teachers, and leaders are also available. Another resource worth checking out is Preaching Today, a bi-monthly tape "magazine" of sermons (transcripts included) from the outstanding preachers of our time, put together by the editors of Leadership. Call 800/806-7796.

Credit courses by extension.
For the church leader in need of refresher courses or the student who wants to work toward a degree while continuing to earn a living, many seminaries now offer course material away from their main campuses. Example: Fuller Theological Seminary (800/235-2222) has five regional centers outside of California. These centers in turn provide several meeting sites for pastors, leaders, and others who want to work on degrees while remaining in their home area. Fuller offers several degrees-a master of arts in Theology (96 units), a master of arts in Christian Leadership (72 units), and a master of divinity (144 units)-taught on evenings and weekends. There are hundreds of courses offered, all built on the excellent reputation and scholarship of the Fuller faculty. Many other seminaries have similar offerings.

Degrees via Internet.
Columbia International University (800/777-2227) offers over 50 courses in several degree programs that can be taken at home at your own speed. The courses include audio- and video-taped lectures, syllabi, textbooks, a resident faculty adviser, and a toll-free number. Every faculty member can be reached by e-mail.

Also, America Online (800/827-6364) offers a multitude of courses on-line that can be taken for credit with various universities or just personal enrichment. Aol (which features ChristianityToday.com, offered by Christianity Today International) offers the Online Campus, which includes many secular universities and gives courses on religion and spirituality. To find the Online Campus, go to the aol main menu and click on "Education." Then select "Registration and Course Catalog." There you will find a menu that includes "Religion and Spirituality."

Recently, several courses were offered for less than $40 for eight weeks, including "A Course in Miracles," "Life and Letters of St. Paul," and "Living as Soul." Each course meets online at a certain place and time. When you sign on at that time, you can interact with the other students and your teacher about the lesson material.

Tape duplication.
Want to offer courses on tape to your congregation without beginning a costly tape ministry? Kingdom Tapes (800/788-1122) will create master tapes out of your recorded lectures and prepare copies with labels
for as little as $1.30/tape. Kingdom will also provide boxed sets of courses that might be sold or offered in a church tape library for fees as low as $20.00/set. For pastors who want to give their congregation excellent teaching tapes at nominal prices, this is an easy way to go.

Hidden scholarships.
Many Christian colleges offer little-known scholarships to students with the grades and the verve to take a special test. For instance, Grove City College (412/ 458-2100) provides 12 "trustee" scholarships each year that cover full tuition. Last year, over 700 students took the test to compete for the prestigious scholarship. Encourage your college-bound youth to check for scholarships that might be available at the Christian schools they are considering.

Semester abroad.
The Coalition for Christian Colleges and Universities (202/546-8713), which has ties to 90 Christian liberal arts colleges, offers various programs for a semester away from the college at no extra cost and, in some cases, with all expenses paid (even airfare) by the coalition. For instance, the cccu now sponsors the Summer Student Journalism Institute. Fifteen students are selected from member schools to spend their summer in Washington, D.C., meeting and learning from Christians in journalism. In the past year, students have met with U.S. News & World Report and Washington Times reporters, as well as with syndicated columnist Cal Thomas. Grants from various organizations pay for this program.

Mark Littleton is a writer living in Columbia, Maryland

Case Study

Benny Proffitt knew he had a problem in 1979 when the Supreme Court stripped away his right to discuss religious and personal issues with kids on the high school campus where he taught math. At the time, he served as a youth pastor at a church as well as teacher and basketball coach at the local high school. He frequently engaged youth in conversations about Christ and even taught an elective Bible course.

His work came to a halt one day in 1979 when the principal informed him, "You can't teach the Bible next year; you can't organize a club; you can't say anything about God."

Benny's heart was in reaching kids, though. He said to God, "My focus is on the campus; that's where the kids are. We've got to do something!"

God heard his prayers. In 1984, the Equal Access Law came into being. It states that students can initiate and run a club of any sort-including Christian and religious clubs-during noninstructional time. Benny saw the breech was open. All he had to do was get his youth fired up enough to start a Christian club on their campus. Soon, Benny began organizing youth pastors in his home town of Dallas, Texas, to network their Christian kids with other kids to start clubs.

When he was called to another church in Birmingham, Alabama, Benny formed a strategy. Though he was a Southern Baptist, he crossed denominational lines to network with various churches and youth pastors and to begin establishing clubs on campuses all over the city. Today, of the 80 public and private junior high and senior high campuses in Birmingham, 76 of them have Christian clubs with more than 8,000 kids involved-4,000 of them recently trusting Christ for the first time.

This year Benny started First Priority for America "to equip, encourage and empower kids to reach their campus with the good news of Jesus Christ." This former teacher and youth pastor now instructs youth pastors on how to network with other churches, youth pastors, and Christian youth to establish student-led campus ministries.

"Our goal is to get youth pastors and their churches behind the kids to help them start clubs," he explains. The manual provided by First Priority covers the rules of the Equal Access Law as well as tips on networking with other churches, finding a sponsor, and planning fun, exciting meetings

For more information, call 615/221-4963 or write First Priority, 1318 Knox Valley Drive, Brentwood, TN 37027.

Copyright © 1996 by Christianity Today International/YOUR CHURCH magazine.
September/October 1996. Vol. 42, No. 5, Page 110

Last updated: September 17, 1996