October 2002

         Shalom Friends!

                                Here in Michigan the leaves have been                                      beautiful this fall, and we have been                                       enjoying their beauty and blessing the Lord for His amazing creativity. We hope you have taken time away from life's activities to enjoy them. As always, we have exciting things to share with you in this letter - the visit of David Bivin in just a couple weeks, and a trip to Israel next March. We hope you will be able to come hear him at the Fellowship Dinner on November 11, and will consider the opportunity to study with us in Israel.

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Author David Bivin Visiting

During November we will be hosting David Bivin, founder and editor of Jerusalem Perspective, a journal of research on the Jewish context of the gospels (jerusalemperspective.com). David Bivin is a well-known speaker in this field, and also author of several books including Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, on the Hebraic background of the teachings of Jesus. He will be leading a two-day seminar and giving talks at other events, including an En-Gedi Fellowship Dinner. Here is the schedule of events with him:

Monday, November 11th: En-Gedi Fellowship Dinner 6:30 - 8:30 PM, Zeeland Community Center, 14 S Cherry St., Zeeland, MI. You are all are invited to a relaxed evening at this potluck-style dinner - all we ask is that you bring a dish to pass; we will provide table service and beverages. After supper, David Bivin will give a presentation entitled, "Why is it Important to Understand the Difficult words of Jesus? " He will discuss the critical insights that understanding Jesus' Hebraic background can give us about His message, and give some examples from his own study.

Map to Zeeland Community Center

Thursday, November 14th - En-Gedi Pastor's Breakfast 7:30 - 9 AM, (For pastors and seminarians), Zeeland Community Center, 14 S Cherry St., Zeeland, MI Title: "The Messianic Allusions of Jesus " As an author and editor, David Bivin has written extensively on Jesus' use of rabbinic teaching technique in his ministry. One of his most fascinating discoveries is the fact that Jesus uses allusions to the Hebrew scriptures to make powerful claims about Himself as Messiah and His mission on earth.

Friday-Saturday, November 15 & 16 - Two-day workshop Time: 8:30 AM - 5 PM, (Pre-registration is required.) Zeeland Community Center, 14 S Cherry St., Zeeland, MI. The En-Gedi Resource Center, with Jerusalem Perspective, is co-sponsoring a seminar with David Bivin entitled: "Hidden Secrets of the Kingdom of God " "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God." What does this mean? We will discuss a new understanding of the 'Secrets of the Kingdom of God' saying, and how it relates to the mission of the promised Messiah according to Scripture. We will study sayings of Jesus about His mission in their Jewish context and discuss the picture of Him that we gain.

Cost: $200/person. Pre-register by using the En-Gedi Online Resource Center. Or, payment can be sent to En-Gedi Resource Center, P.O. Box 1707, Holland, MI 49422-1707. See the seminar announcement on www.egrc.net for a a detailed description of the course. Please contact us at egrc@egrc.net or call 616-355-2200 for more details. Seating is limited, and just a few spots are still available.

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Further Learning Opportunities with Dr. Notley

Many of you attended one of the seminars that took place with Dr. Steve Notley about a month ago. He is a professor of Biblical Studies at Nyack College in New York who has written extensively about the gospels in their Jewish context. We heard many enthusiastic comments about his talks! We too learned a lot from his excellent presentations, and are happy to be able to extend two more opportunities to learn from him:

Tape Albums Available

We now have tape albums available from Dr. Notley's weekend here in September, entitled, The Gospel According to John and Jesus. In the album are three 120 minute tapes, with a total of about 6 hours of his teaching from over the weekend. Included are talks on John the Baptist and his ministry relative to that of Jesus; his seminar on Jesus at the Epicenter of Jewish Thought; an interview on WCSG radio about his experiences on 9/11/01 at the WTC bombing; and his talk called, "Whose Sin caused the Tower to Collapse?". They are available from our Online Resource Center for $20 + $3 shipping. Or you can send a check to the En-Gedi Resource Center, P.O. Box 1707, Holland, MI 49422-1707.

Study Trip to Israel!

While Dr. Notley was here he told us about his work as director of Emmaus Educational Services, which coordinates study tours to the lands of the Bible, and has taken over a thousand people on trips. He began this after being involved in directing travel and field study for students at Jerusalem University College for several years. During our discussion, we decided to make plans for a twelve-day trip to Israel with Dr. Notley on March 12 - 24, 2003. En-Gedi will be co-sponsoring the trip with Emmaus Educational Services, called The Life and Land of Jesus. Price is still under negotiation, but will be under $2500. Because Dr. Notley lived in Israel for 16 years and has traveled extensively there, he is aware of potentially unsafe areas and will factor that into his plans. If you have been wishing you could go to Israel, this should be an outstanding trip!

Here is part of the description of the trip, The Life and Land of Jesus:

The tour travels the length and breadth of the Biblical stage as it follows in the steps of patriarchs, prophets and preachers. Whether walking through the barren expanse of the Judean Wilderness or enjoying the refreshing waters of a Galilean spring, travellers are encouraged to bring all of their senses in this rich experience of the land and people of the Bible. The land indeed becomes a classroom as we review the current issues of archaeology, historical geography, language and culture and their impact on the spiritual message of the scriptures. Care will be taken to give time for rest, reflection, personal study and individual excursions. 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.

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Update on En-Gedi's Teaching

En-Gedi's directors have been busy leading classes and seminars around our area. Besides the class on Jesus' Bible on Wednesday evenings, we have been giving talks at several area churches. At the end of September we spoke on the "Gospel as a Year of Jubilee" at Oakdale Park Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids. A week later we gave a talk on the "Feasts as a Portrait of Christ "at Cascade Fellowship CRC in Grand Rapids. At First Cutlerville CRC we led an adult education class on Jesus' explanation of His mission in Luke 4. That has been keeping us very busy!

Another major presentation for us this month was at the October En-Gedi Pastor's Breakfast. We showed the pastors the slide presentation we gave at Jesus' Bible class on the sacrifice of Isaac, and shared some insights we had found in Jewish sources. Along with that, we gave some practical tips on how we found images and made the PowerPoint presentation. In all of En-Gedi's presentations we have been using digital images to show the "pictures" in the Bible. As we've discussed this with pastors, we have gotten the sense that they would be helped by giving them training on making digital slide presentations. We are planning to host a seminar on how to use digital images and produce PowerPoint presentations for sermons and teaching in the near future. Please let your pastor know, and let us know if they would like more information.
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As you can see, our plate is full with many good activities. Along with the speaking, we also are working on researching, writing and sending out Bible commentaries, and adding articles and links to our website, which currently has over 270 pages. We are happy to expend the necessary the time and effort to do this and believe the Lord will bless these efforts. At this time and season we are mindful of how dependent we are on your faithful support of this ministry, both prayerfully and financially.

Thank You and Shalom -