Pastor's Teen Workshop

ABC is very blessed to have a number of men with teaching gifts, and/or the doctrinal maturity making them "able to teach." As a result, the Sunday evening Bible class is taught by these men on a rotating basis, and Pastor Bob is free to teach a Pastor's Teen Workshop.

Twice a month Pastor Bob teaches this class for the teenagers of Austin Bible Church. The Pastor calls it a workshop because he keeps it more interactive than any other scheduled service at ABC. The students take turns reading various Bible passages, participating in various activities, and contributing to a variety of topics in conversation with the entire class. Questions are encouraged at all times, and each student is provided every opportunity for active participation.

Some unique characteristics:

• Pastor Bob does not "adapt" the Bible to the world of the 21st Century American teenager. Rather, he demonstrates to the 21st Century American teenager that the Bible is alive and powerful, God-breathed and profitable for every born-again believer regardless of age.
• The teenagers of ABC are encouraged to consider their spiritual gift and ministry -- not in terms of what they might be when they "grow up" but in terms of what they are, and how they might minister to the entire Body of Christ right now.
• The teenagers of ABC understand that Bob is not just their parents' pastor, but he is their pastor -- teaching and shepherding them as well as their parents in the local church body.

Another big emphasis in these workshops is the application of prayer for one another. Each young person is encouraged to offer up their burdens for the entire class to join with them and together petition the Throne of Grace. We're learning to love one another and bear one another's burdens, and it's exciting to see this pattern continued in the prayer support for their former classmates who have gone off to the military or have departed for college in other towns.

With a common grounding in the Word of God, ABC teenagers have recognized a capacity for activities outside of Bible class. Whether it's bowling, swimming, and/or back yard cookouts, personal rapport is developed with a foundation that no secular peer group (school, sports, work place, etc.) can match. The emphasis has to remain in this order -- teaching first, activitities second. Fun and games are not any kind of "bait" in order to lure young people into a teaching opportunity. Like every other believer-priest in the Dispensation of the Church, our teenagers must exercise positive volition towards the Word of God in order to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.