our regular budget which was nearly balanced as well. On June 8, 1969 we had a Bus dedication serv ice. We thanked God for the bus, the money, the route and turned the keys over to the driver. We have considered calling this #3 bus “ Shasta” be^ cause “ she hasta have” so many things: gas, oil, grease, washes, wax, maintenance, tires, license, insurance and tender loving care. But Philippians 4:19 covers this as well for our Miracle Bus. If you too need a bus for your Sunday school, get the picture o f a bus, and get everyone in the church interested in buying a part o f it from the expensive body, transmission, engine and tires in the hundreds o f dollars to the nuts for five cents and bolts for eight cents which the children will love. Do not have it said o f you : “ Ye have not because ye ask not.” Rev. Roy Nelson is pastor of Temple Baptist Church, On tario, California. T OO m an y people in Bible-preaching churches are satisfied to listen to a Bible message in a church service and just leave it there. The problem o f getting such people involved in a per sonal study program is the major problem o f the church. The growth in interest and in numbers in our church stems from a particular program of Bible study which I therefore highly recommend. Sometime ago, a rather detailed outline study o f John’s Gospel was prepared with definite em phasis being placed on the included outline o f each chapter. For the two week period preceding the first message on the Gospel o f John, a call was made to our people to read the twenty-one chap ters o f this book through again and again. On the Sunday morning when the sermons on John were to begin, an outline o f the first chapter o f the book was given to everyone attending the serv ice. This was also repeated at the evening service o f the first Sunday. The outlines were printed and o f uniform size so that they could be filed in a notebook. On that first Sunday morning an ex- positional message from the first chapter o f John was preached, covering the complete chapter. Then in the evening service o f the first Sunday, a gospel message from the same chapter was presented with a totally different outline. For our Wednesday eve ning prayer meeting o f that first week, I gave a devotional study from the first chapter o f John. The second Sunday o f our series, the same gen eral program was continued, only this time from the second chapter o f the book. Thus, over a period o f twenty-one weeks, we were able to cover the SEPTEMBER, 1969 P e r s o n a l B i b l e S t u d y by William Sloan
entire book o f John. During all this period the new outline for the new chapter was given out each week and the people were given an assignment each Sunday to read that particular chapter seven times during the week. The results o f this twenty-one week study were wonderful indeed. A new appetite for God’s Word was evident in our church. The pastor had studied, prepared and preached sixty-three messages from this wonderful book which brings life to those who believe. The people o f our church had read through the book many times with a prepared outline be fore them. The Spirit o f God had reached many unsaved with the message o f the gospel and a new day had dawned for this local assembly. I am deeply convinced that the Word o f God is not getting out to the world because the Word of God is not getting into the Christian. In this day, when even in so-called evangelical circles there is not a clear emphasis on the Bible as the inerrant Word o f God, there needs to be a new call to the personal study o f this Great Book. I believe that pastors, who are so often busy about secondary things, need to be an example to their flock in THE STUDY OF THE WORD. Rev. Wm. Sloan is pastor of First Baptist Church of Yucaipa, Yucaipa, California. by Dennift M . Kizziar AS we started a new work for God, we tried A to think o f new approaches which would be ■ » effective. One thing was to have our church evening service from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Our basic reasons for this were: 1) It would make it easier for those who had young children and school age children to get them to bed early. 2) It would en courage fellowship after the evening service. By dismissing at 6 :00 p.m., it is early enough for church families to get together for coffee and still arrive home at an early hour. It is also a good way to contact visitors and get them acquainted with some o f the church members. This early hour was an immediate success with nearly as many in our evening service as in our morning service. Another area where we have been working is our Home Bible studies. We have three o f these going each week. We have used the Campus Cru sade study booklets — “ The Uniqueness o f Christ” for evangelistic Home Bible studies, and the other booklets for follow-up. We are anxious to start several more o f these Bible studies in the fall. I am personally convinced that this is one o f the most effective evangelistic outreaches we can have. One other area o f our special interest is that I've been preaching from some o f the smaller 35 V a r i e d S c h e d u le s
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