A Day in the Living Education-Charlotte Program

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Estimated Reading Time: 5 min.

Are you curious what a day in the Living Education-Charlotte program is really like?

This post is going to explore an “average” day—not a day with an activity or something exceptional going on. Why? Because a lot of thought has gone into creating a routine that encourages students to take care of themselves, learn, work, and even to have fun—and, to do this even on a “boring” and “average” day. Even if the program doesn’t interest you or is not practical for you to attend, this post is still useful as it highlights principles and actions that can be applied in anyone’s lives.

Wake Up and Go!

No day really begins until you wake up, even in the LivingEd program—although word is that Mr. McNair is coming up with some assignments for the students to do while sleeping. The students have to be at the classroom (about a 15 minute drive away) by 8:15, but a lot of preparation needs to happen before they leave, so they have to get up early! The students are encouraged to keep their beds made and their room clean—there are dorm inspections once a week to ensure the houses are in tip-top shape—and they have to be well-groomed and in dressy casual clothes for classes and work. On top of this, preparing breakfast and lunch is encouraged to save money and improve the quality of meals. Students get up at the latest of 7 am (unless they forget to set their alarms), and many are up earlier than this. While this time of the day is not exactly anyone’s favorite, making a routine that promotes good habits is critical for being productive. 

Classes Every Day 

Every day, our classes begin at 8:30 and go all the way to 12:30. Each class period is 55 minutes, allowing for four class periods every morning. With classes on all five days of the week, the 9-month program gets as much quality class time in as possible without being overwhelming. Three days a week—Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays—the program features fundamental classes on doctrine, surveying the Bible, and Christian living. On Tuesday, there is a music class (from a Christian perspective) and a writing workshop to help students develop writing and musical ability. On Thursday, the students have a class on personal finance, speech, and applying the fruit of the spirit in life. On both Tuesday and Thursday, the curriculum has one class period devoted to presentations from ministers at Charlotte and in the field. With this structure, we learn the fundamentals of biblical truth, develop musical and public speaking skills, and even get practical life advice from true followers of God’s way of life. 

Work-Study Program 

The students have the chance to work for the Church from 1:30 to 5:30. We get to work in a positive and Christian environment, allowing us to get to know the people behind the work a little bit better and to help out ourselves. The students can also get some unique job experiences. For instance, the Living Education department has students write forum summaries and Student Life posts (like this one) in addition to other intricate tasks. The Editorial department even lets some transcribe sermons. And there are more positions with more possibilities than just these available, but I am too lazy to talk to people about the details (and it’s not part of my average day anyway). 

Evening 

The “average day” so far has included four hours of class and four hours of work. But our day is not over yet. Once the students head home, we are encouraged to cook ourselves dinner to save money and to be healthy—some of us (me) don’t always do that, though. But it is not all work and grinding. After class on some days, we get together in the evening and watch a movie, play games, and do homework together. Other days, we simply collapse into a blob of animate matter and sleep. But even being exhausted is good because it means we had a productive and long day, and the average evening is quite eventful with some studying or fun going on for whomever wants to join in. 

Takeaways

The LivingEd program gives four hours of instruction, four hours building experience working and applying God’s word in a workspace, and free-time to build quality habits and have fun. And this is just an average day! This everyday flow is meant to reinforce a foundation of godly knowledge and habits that will serve the graduates for the rest of their lives. And, it’s also just pretty fun to be in.

Kaleb Johnson is a student in the Living Education-Charlotte Program. He graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in the spring of 2022. In addition, Kaleb enjoys writing, video-making, trying new activities (anything and everything), playing chess, and debating (it’s not arguing!) with people. He currently works in the Living Education department producing written content & videos and helping with a variety of other projects.

Choose Your Own Adventure…Carefully

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Author: Nathan Kroon | Student Leader, Living Education – Charlotte, 2022-23

Estimated Reading Time: 3 min.

Mr. Argus Wiley began his forum by reading from The Power of the Success Sequence for Disadvantaged Young Adults.

This report explores the financial success of married adults who followed the success sequence in their younger days, and compares it to those who have not. Studies show that 97 percent of adults who followed this sequence found relative financial success by their mid-30s. You may ask, “What is this special sequence?” It’s simple: get an education, get a career, and get married—in that order.

The Importance of Insight

Before the day of his forum, Mr. Wiley had us fill out a professional “career insights” test, and later handed out the students’ individual results to them. He remarked that we “may be both delighted and frustrated”  with our results, because they tend to be very accurate. He made a point of how important it is to learn about what we are all good at in our work, and how it should affect how we select our careers. He noted that no job will ever be 100-percent tailored to a specific person, but that the students can use their insights to help make it more so.

Workplace Etiquette

As someone in a leadership position in his work, Mr. Wiley described the most important aspects that he looks for in hiring a new employee. First, can they be at work, on time, with a smile, in a proper uniform? Second, can they be nice to people who are not being nice to them? Third, can they provide a good experience to customers and keep them safe? General managers are responsible for building winning teams of employees, so they are not looking for slackers. Once you move into a management position, you answer to the district manager, who looks to build a bench of great leaders who are capable of teaching others the standards around the workplace. Up and up the promotion ladder climbs, and yet workers will never be in any sort of position where they will not have to answer to anybody. It is therefore important to always maintain proper working etiquette, and never lower your professional standards.

Furthering Your Success

Mr. Wiley assured the students that if they stick to following the success sequence, they will all have easier lives in terms of finances. He then gave the students a number of helpful tips that he guaranteed would allow them to achieve further success. He instructed them to wake up early, not stay up too late at night, work out/go for a run daily, read daily, be a coachable and dependable person, persevere, own up to everything (sometimes even when it’s not their fault), never stop learning, help others along the way, learn to control their emotions (even facial expressions), and, most importantly, to smile along the way. Mr. Wiley conveyed through his forum how important it is to work towards success and to plan ahead— carefully.

Nathan Kroon is a Student Leader at Living Education. He originally hails from Washington State and is a 4th generation Christian. Currently, he works at Headquarters as a Video Editor and is the Lead Landscaper at the LivingEd dorms. His hobbies include playing guitar, listening to music, drawing, and watching movies.

What Purpose Does a Sermonette Serve?

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The sermonette is an important portion of the Sabbath service. 

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Forum Summary: The Value of Being Skilled

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Author: Kaleb Johnson | Student, Living Education – Charlotte, 2022-23

Estimated Reading Time: 3 min.

“He who has not taught his son a trade by 12 has taught him to steal.” – Old Jewish Proverb

In the latest forum, Mr. Stafford spoke to the Living Ed students about the importance of developing skills and choosing an impactful career. He pointed out that most people fail to succeed at life because they never developed useful skills. But the people who did put the work into learning a trade or getting an education end up with all the options and success. 

How to Become Skilled

Apply the seven laws of success. These are a powerful tool, and Mr. Stafford encouraged the students to look over these and see where they can develop them in their lives. 

Have a diligent hand. We must learn to be diligent independent of reward, and from this, we will gain profit (Proverbs 10:4). 

Prepare your livelihood before marriage. Those of us who are men should establish a career and have security in our profession before choosing to get married. Mr. Stafford pointed out how failure to follow this is the cause of a lot of problems in marriages. 

Leave nothing to chance. “Time and chance happens to them all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Mr. Stafford pointed out that this verse refers to “them.” But for true Christians, nothing is from chance but all is from God, meant to teach us (Romans 8:28). We will get what we sow (Galatians 6:7). 

Pick the Right Career 

What career we are going to develop our skills for is a major decision, and Mr. Stafford gave three areas of self-examination everyone must consider before picking their career. 

  1. Your needs and your values—find out what suits your personality and ability. Are you someone who needs a creative and independent work environment? Maybe you prefer a job that deals mainly with information, knowledge, and data. How important is job security to you? These and more are all questions to consider before choosing a career. Find your values and needs and find the career that aligns with them. 
  1. Career interests—what career interests you? Maybe you want to have a job where you deal with others socially. Or perhaps you like to fix things, work with your hands, or work outdoors. Consider all of these questions carefully before embarking on your career!
  1. Job characteristics—what about the job is important to you? Location can be a big one. Do you need to be challenged by your job? Some jobs have lots of travelling. Is that desirable or undesirable for you? These questions need to be considered before such a big decision!

Final Thoughts 

Mr. Stafford highlighted basic skills that apply to any career: people skills, being a hard worker, social skills, and reading skills (reading can be quite difficult to make yourself do). There are a lot of jobs that will become available in the near future in a wide range of careers. Mr. Stafford encouraged the students to develop skills now to anticipate this demand, so we can have productive lives with lots of choices and options. 

Kaleb Johnson is a student in the Living Education-Charlotte Program. He graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in the spring of 2022. In addition, Kaleb enjoys writing, video-making, trying new activities (anything and everything), playing chess, and debating (it’s not arguing!) with people. He currently works in the Living Education department producing written content & videos and helping with a variety of other projects.

Digging Deeper: Root of Bitterness

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Author: Mr. Kenneth Frank | Faculty in Theology, Living Education

Estimated reading time: 8 min.

Did you know Paul warned Christians that if they fell short of God’s grace, they may develop a root of bitterness that defiles them?

God is merciful and forgiving. However, His grace must not be trifled with. Those who fail in God’s grace are in danger of developing bitterness like a deep-seated root of a tree or plant. Paul illustrated it by the patriarch Esau. This Digging Deeper examines Paul’s statement from one of his epistles considering its context and cross-reference to an Old Testament illustration of failure.

Our focus verse is: “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled” (Heb 12:15 KJV throughout). It should be noted that this verse contains words used for the last time in the KJV: fail, bitterness, springing, trouble. This verse warns of apostasy’s consequences.

In danger of bitterness

Paul wrote his epistle to the Hebrews to dissuade Jewish Christians from backsliding to first-century Judaism because of persecution from unbelievers.  Judaism was a legal religion in the Roman Empire; Christianity was not yet. Some brethren were even in danger of becoming bitter against God because of their suffering. Paul warns them that becoming bitter could cause them to repeat the mistake of Esau.

Some expositors suggest Paul wrote this epistle to the Churches of God located in the city of Rome. If that was the case, R.C.H. Lenski in his Commentary on the New Testament paints a scenario: “We may say that the danger was the greater because the readers were a compact body, all of them Jewish Christians, all worshiping in their old synagogues in Rome, which had now become Christian churches. By returning to Judaism some influential former rabbi among them might draw a large number with him. In fact, as these synagogues had become Christian, so they might again become Jewish” (Bible Analyzer 5.5.1.12).

In Hebrews 12:15, Paul likely restated an Old Testament verse: “Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood” (Deu 29:18). The ESV Study Bible explains the meaning of Paul’s statement: “The author warns against ‘bitterness’ by alluding to Deu 29:18, which describes one who turns away from God and pursues other gods. A bitter and resentful person is like a contagious poison, spreading his resentment to others” (Tecarta Bible App).

Joseph S. Exell in his Biblical Illustrator explains the difficulty of removing such a root of bitterness: “Though you may be able to destroy the fruit, and cut down the branches, the root may be beyond your reach. Though the branches be lopped off, and the stem cut down close by the ground, yet the root left in the soil will keep its hold, and send up another stem, and spread out other branches. So with this sin” (e-Sword 13.0.0).

This verse from Deuteronomy was noted for another New Testament illustration, as explained by Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers: “In Acts 8:23 St. Peter makes reference to the same chapter of Deuteronomy as he speaks to Simon Magus, who, above all other men, proved a root of bitter poison in the early Church” (e-Sword 13.0.0). One of my previous Digging Deeper articles, entitled “The Gall of Bitterness,” explained this confrontation between Peter and Simon Magus.

The sin of Esau

In Hebrews 12:16-17, Paul illustrated his case with an Old Testament personage: the bitter end of the Old Testament patriarch Esau. The NKJ Study Bible explains: “Under the Law, the eldest son would receive a double inheritance (see Deu 21:17). Esau lost his inheritance, which included God’s gracious promises, by despising it and valuing the pleasure of food over it (Gen 25:34)” (Tecarta Bible App).

Paul Kretzmann extends this further in his Popular Commentary of the Bible: “That was the sin of Esau, who considered the right of the first-born, though it included the fact that the first-born was also the bearer of the Messianic blessing, so lightly that he sold his birthright for a single meal, for a mess of pottage, Gen 25:29-34. His case illustrates the danger of missed or rejected opportunities. For when Esau afterwards made an attempt to get the blessing of the first-born for himself, he did not succeed, 27:30-40” (Bible Analyzer 5.5.1.12).

Lessons for Christian living

With this context, now we may extract valuable lessons from this passage for Christian living. Daniel Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments derives significant meaning from the words looking diligently: “The Greek might be rendered episcopizing; the word from which bishop [overseer] is derived. Every Christian should be bishop in this respect, watching for the purity of the Church” (e-Sword 13.0.0). Not only should Christians be concerned with the state of their spiritual health, but also that of their congregation since their lives impact it.

Daniel Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments then explains root of bitterness: “Not a principle or an event, but a person, who springs up like a poisonous plant in a garden, and whose noxious quality is contagious. So Christ is beautifully called the ‘root of David;’ and, in the Apocrypha, Antiochus Epiphanes is called ‘a sinful root.’ But the allusion here is to Deu 29:18: ‘Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood'” (e-Sword 13.0.0). Based on this, the root of bitterness can be an individual, who like Esau, negatively impacts a congregation because he now had to live with the consequences of “despising his birthright.” Sins can be forgiven upon deep repentance, but consequences may remain. 

We may wonder how this could happen today. William Barclay in his Daily Study Bible explains how some Christians consider it too restrictive to obey Christian principles: “There are always those who think the Christian standards unnecessarily strict and punctitious; there are always those who do not see why they should not accept the world’s standards of life and conduct. This was specially so in the early Church. It was a little island of Christianity surrounded by a sea of paganism; its members were, at the most, only one generation away from heathenism. It was easy to relapse into the old standards. This is a warning against the infection of the world, sometimes deliberately, sometimes unconsciously, spread within the Christian society” (e-Sword 13.0.0).

David Guzik in his Enduring Word Commentary illustrates one way that bitterness can take root in a Christian: “Many are corrupted because of bitterness towards someone they feel has wronged them, and they hold on to the bitterness with amazing stubbornness! What they must do is remember the grace of God extended to them, and start extending that grace towards others – loving the undeserving” (e-Sword 13.0.0). Esau believed his brother, Jacob, had wronged him by stealing his birthright. Esau actually despised it for a mere bowl of pottage. 

Put away bitterness

Bitterness is a characteristic of the ungodly so a Christian must never rationalize it as “righteous indignation”: “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness” (Rom 3:13-14 KJB). James warns against it as well: “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish” (Jas 3:14-15). Paul provides the antidote: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph 4:31-32).

Hebrews 12:15 insists that Christians must look diligently into their spiritual state, as Albert Barnes explains in his Notes on the Bible: “This phrase implies close attention. It is implied that there are reasons why we should take special care. Those reasons are found in the propensities of our hearts to evil; in the temptations of the world; in the allurements to apostasy presented by the great adversary of our souls” (e-Sword 13.0.0).  Christians have much to avoid while living in this world of sin.

William Barclay in his Daily Study Bible offers a final warning about the root of bitterness: “We do well to remember that there is a certain finality in life. If, like Esau, we take the way of this world and make bodily things our final good, if we choose the pleasures of time in preference to the joys of eternity, God can and will still forgive but something has happened that can never be undone. There are certain things in which a man cannot change his mind but must abide for ever by the choice that he has made” (e-Sword 13.0.0).

Kenneth Frank headshot

Kenneth Frank was born and raised in New Jersey, USA, and attended Ambassador College, graduating in 1973. He served in the Canadian ministry from 1973-1999, after which he returned to the USA to pastor churches in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina for 15 years. Having earned a BA degree from Ambassador College he later earned a MA degree from Grand Canyon University before being assigned to the Charlotte office to teach at Living University, now Living Education. Currently, he teaches the Survey of the Bible course to the on-campus students and writes the Digging Deeper column for our online Bible study program. He is married, has four children, and seven grandchildren.

Brother to Brother: Do or Delegate

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Forum Summary: Treasure Your Experience

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Author: Nathan Kroon | Student Leader, Living Education – Charlotte, 2022-23

Estimated Reading Time: 2 min.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and  hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

Dr. Scott Winnail started this forum off in Matthew 13:44, the Parable of the Hidden Treasure, which teaches us to do everything we can to enter into the Kingdom of God. He encouraged the Living Education students to do everything they can to make the most of the program while they are all here. In this program, the students are given an experience that they would never get from a worldly education program.

Fully Jump In

To make the most of their time here, Dr. Winnail instructed us to take advantage of as many opportunities as we are presented with, because they will frequently come and go. He recalled a story of an old teacher from back in his high school years. One day, his class was asked a question, and Dr. Winnail hesitated to raise his hand. His teacher took him aside afterward and gave him an important piece of advice: When presented with a good opportunity, fully jump in. If you take the time to hesitate, you might lose your chance very quickly. One thing you must do first is make sure that the opportunities do not get in the way of your godly priorities. If you have time before you have to make an important decision, pray about it. Ask God for guidance on your life’s presented path.

Guard Your Time

Dr. Winnail described our lives like a vapor, which comes and goes. We need to make sure that we are guarding our time and choosing the right priorities so that we are not wasting our lives away. He quoted from Ephesians 5:15–16: “ See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” As time goes on, the world will become more and more rooted in the wrong values. We must make sure that we are building our foundation on our Rock, Jesus Christ! Our focus should be on spiritual growth. We need to visualize who we have the potential to be in the coming Kingdom of God!

In order to treasure our experiences, we need to make the most out of this current life. To do that, we need to guard our time and fully jump in. Christ knew that His time on earth would be short, but He made the most of His experiences. We need to make sure that we are building the right foundation in our lives and have our priorities set, so that the opportunities we want are presented to us in the first place.

Nathan Kroon is a Student Leader at Living Education. He originally hails from Washington State and is a 4th generation Christian. Currently, he works at Headquarters as a Video Editor and is the Lead Landscaper at the LivingEd dorms. His hobbies include playing guitar, listening to music, drawing, and watching movies.