Friday Five: Michael Kelley
If you’re involved with a small group, attend Sunday-School, or attend a Bible study in your area, it’s likely you are dependent on Bible study curriculum, produced by Lifeway, Group, or other evangelical organizations. Well, who write this stuff? Today, we peel back the curtain as my friend, Michael Kelley, editor of Lifeway’s adult curriculum line, stops by for today’s Friday Five:
What distinguishes Lifeway’s resources from the plethora of small-group/Bible study stuff out there?
Hopefully a few things. Lifeway has a reputation of being first and foremost biblically sound. That’s something we take very seriously and will, by God’s grace continue into the future. Threads are resources geared toward young adults and are built on a few foundational principles:
- Depth: We want depth to characterize the whole experience from the level of intimacy and sharing to the knowledge base.
- Community: These Bible studies assume a discussion built around them rather than a lecture form of teaching. They are built to force personal engagement and introspection that is then shared in a group setting.
- Responsibility: Young adults are, in many ways, leading the charge in the church to change the world. Issues of both evangelism and social justice are forefront in their minds and these studies assume a desire to bring the gospel to bear in the world.
- Connection: We also want to encourage cross-generational ministry; connecting with people outside your specific demographic rather than each age group being a church unto themselves.
It’s hard to find a more divisive issue in American politics than immigration. Good people fall on various sides of the issue. But church leaders are increasingly asking what role the church plays in addressing the needs of both legal and undocumented immigrants.
A few years ago, Steve Harvey, my uncle, handed me a manuscript for a book written by his pastor, Tom Nelson of
