Tag Archive for: Forum Summaries

Author: Hyabiel Daniel | Student, Living Education – Charlotte, 2023-24

Building a strong, intimate relationship with God while maintaining discipline involves making conscious choices and demonstrating unwavering commitment.

In this forum, Mr. Hernandez explored the significance of dedicating time to God and persevering through life’s trials by drawing inspiration from the life of Daniel and insights from the Psalms

Daniel’s Example & The Greatest Law

Daniel and his friends serve as shining examples of individuals who remained steadfast in their commitment to God despite facing numerous challenges and trials. One of the key takeaways from their lives is their unwavering devotion to prayer, studying God’s word, and spending quality time in communion with Him. They embodied the greatest law – loving God with all their heart and mind – and allowed this love to guide their actions.

Elect Few & Martha and Mary’s Story

Scripture teaches that God selects a chosen few to receive His blessings and spiritual insights, making it a precious treasure worth pursuing. It’s a reminder not to overlook this remarkable opportunity, as it can profoundly shape our spiritual journey. In the account of Martha and Mary, we see a clear distinction between the choices they made regarding their time. Mary’s decision to prioritize spending time with Jesus illustrates the importance of our choices in allocating time for our relationship with God. This choice is particularly pertinent given that we will inevitably encounter trials of faith.

Endurance in Tribulation & The Power of Psalm 27

The concept of enduring trials is exemplified by references to tribulations, including famine and adversity. It emphasizes that God’s protective care also requires active effort on our part. Romans 24:35 reminds us that even in the face of potential persecution, we must remain steadfast. King David’s secret to resilience was his deep, personal relationship with God. This connection sustained him through life’s trials, including after moments of sin. Additionally, the Holy Spirit serves as our indispensable helper and guide on our spiritual journey.

Delving into the study of God’s word is a fundamental aspect of nurturing our relationship with Him. This practice allows us to cultivate a heart aligned with God’s own heart, unlocking the wondrous insights and wisdom contained within His teachings. The transformative power of God’s word penetrates every facet of our being, equipping us to endure trials with a solid spiritual foundation. Psalm 27:58 serves as a heartfelt plea for God’s mercy, demonstrating the importance of steadfastness during challenging times.

The Glory of the Lord & David’s Relationship with God

Psalm 8 magnificently captures the splendor of God’s creation and harks back to the beginning of all things. King David’s profound relationship with God empowered him to face the formidable giant Goliath without fear. Additionally, practices such as prayer and fasting played significant roles in his spiritual journey.

In conclusion, Psalm 2:12 encourages us to embrace discipline and seek wisdom. Additionally, we are reminded to find rest in God’s presence, as beautifully articulated in passages like Matthew 11 and Psalm 91. By drawing from the wisdom of Daniel’s commitment and the transformative power of the Psalms, Mr. Hernandez reminds us that to be able to grow toward spiritual resilience and a deeper relationship with our Creator we must be able to make conscious decisions such as making time for God that includes praying, fasting, and meditating.

Hyabiel Daniel is a first-year Living Education Student. She is from London, United Kingdom, and typically attends the Seven Oaks Congregation. She enjoys studying social sciences and also loves spending time reading books, baking, and spending time with loved ones.

Author: Lexi Mitchell | Student, Living Education – Charlotte, 2023-24

In the latest forum, Mr. Strain began by asking the students to think back to when they applied for Living Education.

In these applications, the students outlined reasons they wanted to attend the program. He then asked us to compare our answers to how we live our daily life now that the program had begun. How well are  we living up to these goals? 

He provided a summary of the LE students’ reasons for wanting to attend the program. They were: 

1. Become grounded in church teachings and improve spiritual life
2. Learn lesson that will guide their lives
3. Prepare for a future family
4. Form relationships with young people of like mind and make friends
5. Experience being part of the work of God at headquarters in Charlotte
6. Be surrounded by others with similar goals
7. Prepare for ultimate success in the future
8. Prepare for personal and professional life based on the Bible
9. Build confidence in interacting with others
10. Acquire skills to become a Godly leader

Living Ed is giving us a chance to accomplish those goals. The material is in our grasp. How exactly, though, should we go about trying to accomplish them day-to-day? To answer that question, he offered a few key principles  to consider.

Stay committed and focused on your goals. 

Living up to the goals we set is more difficult than just writing out beautiful sounding words.Mr. Strain suggested that we try to fully internalize that we have been presented with a 9 month window of opportunity. Having a sense of urgency is crucial when it comes to once in a lifetime chances like the one we were given. 

“It will pass quickly,” he warned, “so every moment is one to take advantage of.” 

Aim to do what we should do before we do what we want to.

He explained that in life, and in this school year in particular, day to day activities end up being around 80% grunt work and 20% fun.

(But with Mr. McNair in charge, it may end up being 90% work and 10% fun!)

For people in any field, the hard work must be done before true leisurely work can be done. He stressed to the students to avoid letting the amount of work make us overwhelmed or demoralized, and to know that leisure will happen. Even if the work gets difficult, fun times will occur as well. 

An additional point he made is that for some, this is the first taste of freedom they’ve ever had. No parental supervision, no one constantly over their shoulders, and no one to make decisions for them but themselves. 

Attending LivingEd requires self discipline. 

Part of becoming an adult is to have prudence, and learning how to manage time and resources, as well as taking care of the physical state, are all components of that. As an example, he provided a quote by Ben Franklin:“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

A part of having effective time management is to seek God’s guidance DAILY in everything. Nothing is more important than personal study and prayer, and it can’t be replaced with some other form of study- even instruction in class is no substitute.

Develop effective communication skills 

The students were implored to get to know our class instructors, work supervisors, headquarters staff, and fellow students. If we need advice or help, these are the people to look for.

He reminded the students that our words, both spoken and written, are powerful tools, but can also be dangerous weapons if used incorrectly. In spoken communication, it is critical to be mindful of vocal tones and inflections, because those can cause misinterpretation of the message trying to be communicated. He also emphasized the danger of written communication such as texting, because once the message is sent, it can’t be taken back.

Make good friends

A final point that Mr. Strain made to help the LivingEd students succeed at accomplishing our goals is to make friends. As shown in Proverbs 18:24, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother”. 

Today, such a friend is called a best friend, and although it’s impossible  to be best friends with everyone, we can aim to be as close with as many students as possible. 

Certainly, being in God’s Church could enable having multiple true friends. Being surrounded by others with similar goals makes that process much easier.  However, finding one who sticks closer than a brother is a true blessing, so that is something we can aim to put effort into as well.

These nine months are a serious time. It’s imperative for us to make the most of it.  We were encouraged to think about personally being fertile ground where the sower is scattering seed in the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, which will produce much fruit.

Mr. Strain finished the forum with the following powerful closing statement, which the students will be sure to hold on to for the duration of the year.

“Study hard, work hard, and you will have time and occasion to play hard. Success is yours to choose.”

Lexi Mitchell is a first-year student in the Living Education-Charlotte Program. She is from Long Island, New York. At home, she worked as a lifeguard and a swim instructor. Currently, she assists in the Living Education department as a social media manager and as a producer of written content. She enjoys reading, cooking, exercising, and spending time with family.

Author: Lexi Mitchell | Student, Living Education – Charlotte, 2023-24

In the first forum of the 2023-2024 school year, Mr. DeSimone explained to the LivingEd students that having organization in all aspects of life is the key to maximizing time and effort. 

To demonstrate, he introduced to them the “Five S’s of Lean” number game. The goal of the game was to prove just how inefficient working can be without an organized system in place. It’s easy to fall into habits of disorganization, and it’s easy to assume that work done under those conditions is ‘as good as it’s going to get’. But, as the students quickly learned, that is far from the case.

The S’s stood for:

1. Sort: Keep only what is necessary and discard everything else- when in doubt, throw it out.
2. Set in order: Arrange and label only necessary items for easy use and return by anyone
3. Shine: Keeping everything swept and clean for inspection for safety and preventative maintenance of equipment.
4. Standardize: The state that exists when the first three pillars of the 5S’s are properly maintained.
5. Sustain: Making a habit of properly maintaining correct procedures.

The 5 S’s Game

Mr. DeSimone then had the students participate in the game, which had several rounds. Each time, he gave out sheets of paper with numbers distributed across the entire page. He asked the students to identify and cross off the numbers 1-49 in ascending order within 20 seconds. During each round, he incorporated different aspects of the 5 S’s to make the number sorting more efficient. 

In the first round, there were 99 numbers on the page with no organization at all. 

In the second, the numbers 50-99 were removed from the page. 

During the third, numbers were organized into grid boxes. 

Finally, in the fourth, numbers 1-49 were lined up in ascending order. 

With each round, the amount of time it took to eliminate numbers decreased dramatically. This game proved the benefit of organization, and showed that the more we force ourselves to be organized, tasks that we complete will be done much more efficiently.

The Myth of Multitasking

A second point that Mr. DeSimone made was that trying to multitask was a dangerous idea. To introduce this point, he referenced a book titled “The Myth of Multitasking”, written by Dave Crenshaw. The passage he read to them told the story of a woman who was trying to explain to the book’s narrator that she was skilled at multitasking. As proof, she claimed that she was able to continue working at her computer while coworkers talked to her face-to-face. Although she bragged that she was able to focus on the two actions at one time, the narrator explained to her that instead of multitasking, she was doing something called “switch-tasking”. 

Switch-tasking is the action of shifting your full attention between multiple different tasks in quick succession. When many people claim to be multitasking, they aren’t actually doing two things at once. In reality, they are simply completing the action of shifting back and forth between things to focus on.

Mr. DeSimone then went on to give a second exercise, wherein he had the students write out the phrase “multitasking is a myth” one letter at a time. After writing each letter, the student was to number it, starting from one. They continued on in that way until the last letter-number pair was written. 

This took a long time, and the students made plenty of mistakes. 

The second time this exercise was done, the students were asked to write out the full phrase first, then follow up with writing the numbers. Doing this decreased the time it took by half. 

His final takeaways from this exercise were that in the first case, no tasks were fully completed until the full time was up. The longer time was accompanied by mistakes and confusion.

But in the second case, two tasks were put out in half the time, and on top of that, each task was done much quicker and more effectively than in the previous instance. 

New Perspectives

These examples provided the students with an extremely important lesson. Organization, order, maintenance, and time prioritization are all important skills for anyone to have, and for individuals who, like the students, have jam-packed schedules, these skills are even more crucial. The students left this forum with new perspectives on efficiency, and were even more prepared to have a great and profitable year. 

Lexi Mitchell is a first-year student in the Living Education-Charlotte Program. She is from Long Island, New York. At home, she worked as a lifeguard and a swim instructor. Currently, she assists in the Living Education department as a social media manager and as a producer of written content. She enjoys reading, cooking, exercising, and spending time with family.

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

Estimated reading time: 4 min.

Mr. Michael Heykoop gave a stirring presentation on radiant faith.

Mr. Heykoop began his forum by recalling when he first read the Sevenfold Mission of God’s Church, articulated by Dr. Meredith in the Living Church News article “The PURPOSE for God’s Church.” He recalled there was one mission that made him stop and think—the seventh, the mission to build an atmosphere of radiant faith. Why does the faith of others matter when we are judged based on our individual faith? 

Mr. Heykoop explained that radiant faith creates an inspirational environment in which people are prepared to do the work of God. After all, we are inspired by the faith of those in Hebrews 11 and examples throughout the Bible. Clearly, the faith of others does impact us. He then explored what the Bible says about radiant faith. 

The Power of an Atmosphere of Faith—and Lack of Faith

The Bible shows that an atmosphere of unbelief has consequences. Mr. Heykoop pointed to the example of Christ in Nazareth, where He did no mighty works “because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). He also referred to the story of Caleb and Joshua, who showed personal faith in God—but the Israelite camp as a whole had a faith-choking atmosphere that led to disobedience and punishment. The Bible specifically warns that lack of faith infects a group. God instructed Israel to send only fearful, fainthearted people home from its army (Deuteronomy 20:8), so that their fear wouldn’t spread. Clearly, the faith of the person next to us is important! 

The Bible also shows that a single individual’s faith can be used to inspire others. Mr. Heykoop turned to the story of David and Goliath. Goliath taunted the Israelites 80 times before David answered the challenge—but this certainly would not have happened by the end of David’s reign! By then, we read of numerous mighty men. These men likely would have lined up to fight Goliath. David’s personal example of radiant faith, over time, came to be reflected throughout Israel. 

Reassuring Faith

The faith of the group can also affect the individual. Mr. Heykoop turned to the example of Elijah. He began reading the account of Mount Carmel and the encounter between Elijah and the false prophets of Baal. As Mr. Heykoop said, this is “one of the most visually inspiring miracles of the Bible.” In this miracle, Baal’s prophets cry out for hours to no effect, but a short, 30-seconds-or-so prayer by Elijah causes God to send fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. Yet even after this, Elijah is afraid and his faith is weak! Elijah fasted for forty days and was still afraid to go back to Israel. Mr. Heykoop showed that it wasn’t until God told Elijah that there were still 7,000 men following God—still faith in Israel—that Elijah got back to work. And after this, Elijah and Elisha perform some of the most profound miracles in the Bible. In this case, the faith of others in Israel encouraged and strengthened Elijah. 

Six Challenges to Take On 

Mr. Heykoop underscored the importance of an atmosphere of radiant faith. “We’re not judged by the faith of others, but the faith of others is a phenomenal tool we can use to grow.” We should hear the stories of miracles and blessings in the lives of our brethren and use them to grow our own faith. Mr. Heykoop then gave six challenges to the Living Education students to help build an atmosphere of radiant faith. 

1. Pray for the mission of God’s Church. 
2. Pray for the needs we see in God’s Church. Sometimes we can fulfill the needs of others, but often all we can do is pray about them. 
3. Pray for the leadership in God’s Church. Israel refused to follow its leaders—Moses and Aaron—but we can do better. We should pray that God will guide our leaders’ decisions. 
4. Pray about what we are asked to pray about. We should take announcements seriously, and we should maintain that fellowship with each other by praying for one another. 
5. Participate—get to know people. We can’t radiate faith to others if we never interact with them. We should fellowship with others, meet others, and inspire faith through interactions. 
6. Act with faith. We must live by faith to build our faith. We should make consistent plans to step out on faith, doing the right thing even when it’s hard, and give others the chance to be inspired by our faith. 

Mr. Heykoop concluded by stating, “It is essential we not just have individual faith, but an atmosphere of faith.” 

Rod McNair gave a forum recently explaining the psychological benefits of growing and tending to plants. Read about that here: Grow Something. 

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.

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

Estimated reading time: 4 min.

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Don’t squander your Spiritual Inheritance! Embrace it instead. 

Mr. Phil West spoke for a forum, and he informed the students that they had a Spiritual inheritance from both God and their parents. He warned them not to scorn it by expounding on a powerful parable and encouraged the students to cherish and embrace their incredible inheritance. 

An Inheritance from Our Parents

Phil West began by asking how many of the students came to the Church through their parents. He then informed those who had that their parents had fulfilled Proverbs 13:22 by giving us an inheritance. “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.” 

But what is our inheritance? It is something far greater than riches: God’s truth.  Mr. West continued by saying that our heavenly Father also promises an inheritance, one we will receive if we heartily serve God (Colossians 3:23-24). But we have a choice to make: Will we embrace these inheritances or scorn them? It is up to us to choose to listen to our parents and to choose to serve God. 

A Biblical Example 

The Bible has a stark example of squandering an inheritance. Mr. West turned to Luke 15:11—the parable of the prodigal son. He explained that the son demanding his inheritance while his father was still alive was disrespectful, but not unlawful. The father, no doubt gravely concerned, let his son go. The son then went out and wasted his inheritance on prodigal living, not respecting the work his father had done to give him these possessions. Young people raised by parents in the Church can do the exact same thing as the prodigal son if they leave the Church, disrespecting the inheritance of spiritual truth their parents provided. And it doesn’t end well. 

A Lesson for Us

In the parable, the prodigal son did not end up with the glamorous life he no doubt imagined. Instead he ended up poor, hungry, in servitude, and friendless. Similarly, those who leave the Church end up in slavery in Satan’s world and spiritually starving. Mr. West warned the students not to “test” the world. There is nothing but “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16), which will leave us spiritually hungry and morally exhausted. Ultimately, the prodigal son “came to himself” (Luke 15:17), stopped living in denial, and recognized his pitiful state. When it comes to those who leave the Church, Mr. West explained, we hope they come to themselves one day and return. 

The Choice and the Consequence

At this point, the prodigal son decided to return (Luke 15:18). But none of his suffering and pain had been forced on him. Mr. West compared the parable with the story of Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel were raised the same, taught the same values, and given the same chances to succeed. Yet Cain refused to listen to God, control his emotions, and rule over sin. Cain made a choice to ignore God. Abel, on the other hand, offered a more excellent sacrifice of righteousness and is remembered as righteous (Hebrews 11:4). One son chose to follow God and one did not. Similarly, the prodigal son did not have to squander his inheritance. He could have embraced it like his brother. Instead, he chose to despise his inheritance, leave, and then suffer the consequences. 

Embracing Your Inheritance

As the prodigal son returned, his father embraced him and forgave him (Luke 15:20). Through the story, Mr. West explained, the prodigal son had changed so much. First, he had been disrespectful and demanding, but now he was humbled and appreciative. His father embraced him, just like God is always there to forgive, help, and encourage us. But there is a key lesson from this parable: don’t be like the prodigal son. We can skip the suffering and mistakes by choosing to follow God and not squander our inheritance. 

Concluding, Mr. West read, “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). He warned us not to chase after wealth, lust, or the temporary things of this world while we are young, but rather to embrace our spiritual inheritance and make the most of it. 

Mr. Adam West also gave a forum recently. In his forum, Mr. Adam West explained the value of living a simple life in a chaotic world and gave practical tips for simplifying. Read his forum here: Simplify Your Life. 

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.