CELEBRATING THE BIBLE

This year, here at ASAPH we decided to set aside one month for each branch of ministry. It gives all of us a chance to focus our energy into a single branch for that month. In October, our focus was the ASAPH BIBLE ACADEMY.

The ASAPH BIBLE ACADEMY is a program that encourages Bible memorization. There are ten levels of Bible verses and lists that student memorize one by one. Each level contains about a dozen verses. When a student completes a level, she is awarded a ribbon. She then advances to collect all ten. At completion, ASAPH encourages the student with her own copy of the Bible.  
Since 2012, we have had hundreds of kids begin the program. So, we gathered together on Sunday October 27th to celebrate Reformation Sunday, to celebrate the Bible, and to celebrate the many people who have successfully memorized parts of the Word of God through ASAPH’s Bible Academy program.

ASAPH’s “B” band kicked off the program at 5:00pm. The two-hour program was livened up by contests and quizzes. The ASAPH BLUES TEAM improvised on the B-I-B-L-E song. The ASAPH Brass Band filled the church with the brassy sounds of a few Bible songs as well. Along the way, WEC taught about several reasons why the Bible deserves to be believed. The program’s Master of Ceremonies, Obed, spoke about the importance of the Reformation to personal Bible reading. I did a demonstration showing the huge number of manuscripts that support the legitimacy of the Bible. ASAPH’s girls’ choir joined with young men from the ASAPH soccer teams to sing a choir song I wrote from passages in Psalm 119. To end the program, ASAPH’s pop-music group (Tropic-Asaph) combined with the girls’ choir to sing a song about the Old and New Testaments.

Because of contributions by ASAPH sponsors, we were able to prepare prizes for those who competed and for those who prepared special parts of the program. Bible-themed key chains, bracelets, and magnets brought joy to many faces before and after the program. We were also able to purchase 48 T-shirts for people who completed all 10 levels of the program. Students who had recited all ten levels at any point in the past ten years were given a free T-shirt (plus it was a good way to promote the program even more!)

As I move around the community in these days following the program, I am enjoying seeing Bible keychains hanging from bookbag zippers, bracelets on wrists, and ASAPH T-shirts on young people.  
We look forward to repeating this important program next year. Each October, ASAPH will plan, organize, and direct a celebration of the Word of God. No book is better. No message is more powerful in the lives of humans.

The B-I-B-L-E. That’s the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E!!!



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