May
2004
Shalom
Friends,
In Holland, Michigan, where we live, the weather is perfect tulip weather
- cold! Tulips are on our minds because this week is the city's annual
TulipTime festival, one of the largest hometown festivals in the U.S.
About 500,000 or more tulips are in bloom around the city, and they
last a long time as long as the weather is cold.
Once again, we have several things to share with you.
Book in Progress: Listening to the Language of the Bible
As
we mentioned last month, we are working hard to put together our first
book, called "Listening to the Language of the Bible: Hearing
It Through Jesus' Ears". It is about the confusing words
and phrases in the Bible that become rich and meaningful when we understand
them in their original culture. It has many short, readable essays on
Hebraic ideas, biblical images, and word pictures with insights on how
they can impact our lives today. With this first book, En-Gedi is now
an independent publisher with its own ISBN numbers, barcodes, and ability
to sell through bookstores. We feel that the Lord is pointing us in this
direction, so we will be working on more printed and electronic resources
in the future. Thanks for continuing to pray for us.
End-of-the-Season Fellowship Dinner - Friday, June 11, 2004
Our dinner in March was wonderful, and we hope that you can join us
for our end-of-the-season Fellowship Dinner on Friday, June 11 at
6:30 PM at the Zeeland
Community Center. Along with an evening of fun and fellowship,
we will give a talk called:
We
will be sharing some of the rich insights we can get from the Bible's
words, and how understanding them can greatly enrich our study of the
Bible. We think that the talk will be quite practical and helpful for
your own study and Christian growth. We hope that we also will have
our books available by that time.
Once again, our dinner will be potluck-style, and freewill donations will help with expenses. We just ask you to bring a dish to share - we will provide tableware and beverages. We also ask that you RSVP by email (egrc@egrc.net) or phone (616) 355-2200 and give each of the names of those planning to come. Location: Zeeland Community Center, 14 S Church St., Zeeland, MI.
Newly Available: En-Gedi Seminar Sets on Audio CD
Because people are currently using CDs much more than audio tapes, we are now offering our seminar series as audio CD sets, as well as cassette tape format. All sets are still priced at $20 each, and all have 4 - 6 hours of audio seminars in each set. To order them, go to the Online Resource Center, or we can process your order with a credit card by phone (616 355-2200). There are 3 series to choose from:
Jesus, The Master Teacher - Dr. Randall Buth: 5 Audio CDs + Study booklet - $20
Description: Five sessions discussing Jesus' teachings in the light of his Jewish culture.
Topics: How Jesus described having a saving relationship with God in the language of his first century Jewish culture; how Jesus used rabbinic techniques to tie different scriptures together in his messages; an explanation of why Jesus said to Peter "Upon this rock I will build my church"; a discussion of what the often misinterpreted terms "bind" and "loose" mean. Includes booklet containing scriptures and other relevant texts.
Jesus, The Messianic Agenda & The Apocalypse - Dwight A. Pryor: 4 Audio CDs - $20
Description: Lecture Series by Dwight Pryor, President of the Center for Judaic-Christian Studies. Four talks on one of the most important topics to Christians - the message and mission of Jesus. Issues such as the Kingdom of God, the end of the age, and Jesus' messianic agenda are clarified by looking at them in their original Hebraic setting.
The Gospel According to John & Jesus - Dr. Steven Notley : 6 Audio CDs - $20
Description: Six talks with Dr. Steven Notley, scholar of the first century Jewish context of Jesus. Topics include: The tension between John the Baptist and Jesus, the origin of Jesus' term "Son of Man" to describe himself; Jesus' overall ethical message in the context of rabbinic culture; and how Jesus would have responded to the 9/11 tragedy, with a discussion of Dr. Notley's own experience of being on the scene at the time. (Also includes an interview with him about 9/11 on WCSG Christian radio.)
Lecture
Series: The James Ossuary: Ancient Relic or Modern Forgery?
We have been enjoying the series of lectures on the ossuary (bone box)
that may have belonged to James, the brother of Jesus. The series is
sponsored by the Center for Study of Antiquity at Cornerstone
University for four Wednesday nights in April and May. The first
two speakers were convinced that the ossuary is authentic, and made
very good arguments to that effect. In the next two weeks, the two speakers
will be making presentations against the authenticity. The lecturers
are some of the most knowledgeable in the world on this topic, if you
are in the area and can attend. Seminars are at Matthews Auditorium,
Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, 3000 Leonard St NE, Grand Rapids,
MI, 7 - 8 PM, May 5 & 12. More information is available on the En-Gedi
Calendar of Events.
May Website
Features
For those of you who read our Water From the Rock devotionals,
we have now ended Genesis after 3 months of study! Now we are going
to focus on Wisdom, with insights for living based on the book of Proverbs
or other Bible texts. Jesus' culture had an enormous amount of wise
applications from the scriptures - we are sure it will be very rich.
We would also like to encourage you to submit articles and stories that
have been helpful to you and which you think would be appropriate for
this theme. Articles should be between 300 and 450 words and be based
on a scripture passage - go to the Water from the Rock page and click
on "Submit a Comment" or use this link. As always, you can
find out what is new on our latest features page.
Israel
Study Trip: The Life and Land of Jesus
July 9 - July 22, 2004
There
is still a little time to join us for a study trip to the land of
Israel with Dr. Steven Notley, as the last day we can accept
applications is June 1. We currently have 27 people, which is
a nice-sized group, but we would still welcome a few more.
The program will center upon the life, ministry and land of Jesus. With
the land as our classroom, with archaeology, history, geography, language
and culture as our resources, we will journey back into the religious,
cultural and geographical environment of Jesus' ministry and homeland.
The aim is that each person may experience what was felt by the two
on the Road to Emmaus. May our hearts burn within us as He speaks to
us on the way.
The cost of the trip will be $1,725 plus the airline ticket to Israel
(about $1,300 from Chicago). This is an outstanding value, and
our guide will be one of the best. More
details are available at
this link or at www.emmausonline.net
Once again, we covet your prayers
for us during this busy and critical time for us, as we move into new
venues and seek the Lord's leadership.
Thank you so much!
Lois Tverberg & Bruce Okkema
En-Gedi Resource Center Directors
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©2004
En-Gedi Resource Center, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization solely dependent
on your
tax-deductible contributions. We very much appreciate your support.
www.egrc.net