On The Job Training

The new school year is starting up and it has me thinking about how students are trained for the life ahead of them. Many of us have had the experience of getting our first jobs, or even our career jobs, and realizing that the “training” you received in school did not prepare you for the job you were about to do. As a teacher, the thing that prepared me most for the job was student teaching and the mentor teacher I had in my first year. Once a month my mentor teacher would sit in on one of my classes and then we would meet and he’d give me feedback on changes I could make to make me even more successful. I cannot overstate the value of those meetings! There’s no substitute for on the job training.

There’s no surprise that Jesus knew that. His whole ministry was training for His disciples. His followers lived life with Him. They heard His words, they saw His actions, they listened to His teachings and they asked questions when they weren’t sure. We have the accounts of Jesus’ life in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) because the disciples paid attention and learned from the Boss. Prior to Jesus’ ascension He told His disciples to “go and make disciples…” and, maybe you’ve noticed, the disciples didn’t ask, “but how?” They learned on the job.

Fast forward 2000 years later and “WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?)” bracelets became trendy. While that trend has passed, we are still looking to the life of Jesus to give us the tools we need to live lives of impact for His kingdom. When we need help dealing with the situations that come up in our lives, there’s no better place to look for answers than His life.

This Fall we are launching a new Sunday morning series we’re calling “On the Job Training.” We’re reading and learning through the book of Luke with a fun twist – we’re going backwards! We get to hear from multiple speakers and look at different stories from the life of Jesus that address how to live like Him in our daily lives. We have copies of the Gospel of Luke in journal format that we’re excited for you to receive and use as we move through the text. I hope you’ll join us on Sundays through November as we dive into the life of Jesus on a whole new level.

-Stephanie Combs