Essays for Bible School

There is a new site for the Generation Word Bible School students to respond to essay questions. The new site is set up as a blog with 61 entrees or posts. Each post corresponds to a chapter in the textbook Framework for Christian Faith. Each post is titled after a chapter and is followed with an essay question to respond to in the comment box. At this time about fifteen of the questions are ready, but all 61 posts are set in place. Take a look at Generation Word's Online Bible School Essay Blog page.

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

New Quiz Site for New Textbook

I have just established a location on the internet to create, host and evaluate online tests and quizzes that will correlate with our new Bible school textbook, Framework for Christian Faith. I have had three people email just this week to sign up for the Generation Word Bible School. The material is ready but the sign up, evaluation and certification process are being assembled as we go. The first chapter test is complete and can be accessed here:

Introduction to Apologetics - Section A, Chapter 1

There are sixty one chapters in the book, and some of them are monster chapters.

Please take this test. It is free for the students and you do not have to register your name to take the test or to have it graded. Give me some feedback if you have time. I can rewrite the test questions, but I can not rewrite the book until the second printing which will occur after we have distributed 3,000 books (or, about 3 1/4 ton of paper.)

I am planning on adding to the assessment segment of the Bible school a blog page with a few essay questions. We envision having at least one essay question for each chapter. Students around the world can comment on the essay answers posted on the blog. This could simulate a classroom environment with feedback, motivation, a variety of perspectives, along with the negative features, such as fear, peer pressure and classroom bullies. There will also be additional reading assignments available.

Here is the Generation Word Bible School profile page which will serve as an index to all the tests that we create. You can see this first quiz at the bottom of that profile page.

The text and information from chapter one can be found here.

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Audio Christmas Card

There are several things I need to add to this blog including responses to the rapture discussion and the atheistic crimes/violence. Also, I want to add a couple of blogs which include a brief teaching on Paul's intention for the Greek adjective translated "heavenlies" in Ephesians 1:3 and my plan to add online tests, an essay blog and online reading opportunities (or, assignments) for the Generation Word Bible School. But, for today I would like to give you a link to Toni's and my audio Christmas card. I hope you enjoy it and we wish you a Merry Christmas!

Click here to go to our audio Christmas card

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Spilled Walnut Stain

Yesterday in my 8th grade shop classes the students were staining their oak end tables. We spent three days staining 100 of these tables. Finally on the third day the inevitable happened. As one student was repositioning his end table he knocked another student's one quart can of dark walnut wood stain on the floor. The stain splattered everywhere and on everything in a 10 foot radius. If this ever happens to you the first response is to prevent the students from walking away from ground zero which would result in stain being tracked through out the shop. The student whose stain was spilled quickly escaped ground zero to get something to begin cleaning up the mess before the wrath of Mr. Wiemers was released. After having left walnut foot prints all the way to the sink and back, she returned to ground zero with two paper towels.

It was at this point I realized I was observing a future sermon illustration. This poor student was going to try to hold off my anger, disappointment and frustration by bringing two inadequate paper towels to clean up a quart of walnut stain pooled up on the floor and splattered in every direction. Not to mention, in her attempt to help, she had tracked the stain across the shop and back and others were preparing to follow her. The usefulness of this illustration is enormous and its application will surely be used some Sunday morning.

It did remind me of the time a friend of mine cut his thumb off on the table saw in high school. With the student's thumb laying on the table saw the teacher that day said, "I'll go get a band-aid," and then left to locate a bandaid!? Both paper towels and band-aids are useful but not when we are dealing with a quart of walnut stain and a severed thumb.

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com