Biblical Illiteracy

I read an article recently by George Guthrie that didn't surprise me, but it did reaffirm how important it is that we as a church take every opportunity to teach people how to read and study the Bible. Some of the statistics that he gave were:

• 25 million Bibles are sold each year in the US
• 400 million copies of all or part of the Bible are distributed through Bible societies each year

Those are the good numbers, but read on for the rest of the story.

• Only 16% of church goers read the Bible daily
• 25% of church goers never read the Bible
• Only 37% of those who attend church regularly say that reading the Bible has made a significant difference in the way they live their lives.

For those of us who are in leadership in the life of the church it is vital that we not only teach people what the Bible says, but we must also teach them how to read the Bible and apply its truths to our daily lives.

John 8:31–32 (NASB95) – “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

The only way to continue or to obey Jesus' words is to read and to study the Bible!

2011 Vacation

We are on our 2011 family vacation. This year we are visiting Becky's brother and sister-in-law in Baton Rouge. Missouri is also taking the tour of LSU while we are here. Today after attending church at Jefferson Baptist Church we took a driving tour around Baton Rouge. One of the places that we stopped was Oakcrest Baptist Church, the place we served 20 years ago, while I was a student at LSU. I was blessed to be the Minister of Youth and Evangelism there from 1989-1991.

It was neat to share some old memories with Missouri as we traveled through a community that had such a great impact on the early years of our marriage and ministry!