English Corner (ELL)

Temptation: Part of a Balanced Breakfast?

2007-11-27T12:30:00.001-08:00

Playwright Oscar Wilde (who was ruined by incidents of sexual misconduct in the late 1800’s) is famous for his quote on the subject, “ I have learned to master everything in life,” he said, “except temptation.”

We are tempted when we desire to go after something that promises to make us happier, or promises us pleasure of some kind, or promises us ease… but this is usually accompanied by the promises that it won’t cost us something, or that we won’t get caught.

People try to find all kinds of ways to deal with temptation. Nearly 100 years ago in America there were many doctors that argued from science that our behavior is the direct result of the things we eat. They reasoned that in order to curb the sexual temptations of youth, a scientifically formulated diet was the answer. Their quest was to unearth these formulas and create the perfect foods to combat the rising tide of sexual temptations in young people in their generation. They made hospitals and sanitariums where people could go, and try to beat their addictions through diet and exercise; they experimented with various foods and beverages. One such doctor – a staunch vegetarian taught people that be eating mainly whole grain breads, this would help keep them away from sexual temptations… His name was Samuel C. Graham. We still eat a cracker that bears his name. One doctor, a follower of Graham in Dansville, New York believed he had achieved the perfect formula of vitamins and minerals to do this. He called it “granula,” later changed to “Granola,” he also was responsible for a variety of other such remedies like, “corn flakes,” and one interesting food that they said was “like eating the bristles from a broom” - they called it “shredded wheat.” His name was John Harvey Kellogg. One of Kellogg’s “Wellness Sanitarium” patients believed that he had formulated a beverage as a coffee substitute that would achieve the same temptation beating results. His whole-grain remedies would be called “post-toasties” and “grape nuts”… His name was C.W. Post.

Today, Americans eat 2.7 billion boxes of cereal each year… containing enough sugar for every American to be coated with three pounds each…vitamins and minerals enough to reach the moon and back every year but, today we are consumed by temptation on every front… Internet pornography is experienced by 70% of all men on the internet at least once a month. I was recently surprised by the report by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers in 2003 saying “the internet was a significant factor in 2 out of every 3 divorces in America.” Now, I know what you are thinking… it is always about someone else, but if you think you or the men in your households are immune, you may want to think again… A year 2000 Christianity today poll gave the startling statistic that one of every three ministers admitted to having intentionally visited a pornographic website. I could go on, but I think the point is made…We are loosing the battle.

No, the battles are not won and lost at the breakfast table, or at any other external front -Temptation begins in the heart. In Matthew 15:10 Jesus said “it is not what goes into the body that defiles a man, but what comes out of the body.” James 1:13-15 tells us that our own desires “drag us away” and when “desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.”

The Bible teaches us that the only cure for temptation is an encounter with Jesus that we call “Salvation”, implicit is our initial act of “repentance” or an initial turning away from sin. This is the work of Justification, where a stone-cold, dead sinner experiences the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, and is made whole and clean positionally before a righteous Judge in Heaven. Strength is then gained by acts of resistance through the power of the indwelling Spirit… the more we resist, the more strength is gained; this is the ongoing work of Sanctification. Where I was made free from the penalty of sin, now I am winning victory over the power of sin. Looking forward to the day when I shall achieve total and unconditional victory over sin, this is called glorification – where I will be free from the presence of sin altogether.

Our prayer for ourselves and for those that we reach out to this month is that God will grant us repentance; that we will be freed from the slavery of thousand lost battles with temptation; that we will be usable tools in the hands of God; and that Christ will be magnified through our lives - Because a good breakfast…is just not enough.

Prayer Needs

2007-10-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some things to pray for:

1. We need a couple of new teachers for adults, and a couple of teachers for children. This would completely fill the gap that we are experiencing right now. With those filled, we will more adequately fill the current need.

If you know of anyone interested, have them email me at jamesb@shbc-okc.org

We will provide training at some point in the near future :)

2. There are new laws that affect immigrants - these laws go into effect November 1st. The thrust of these new laws has more to do with businesses that hire illegals, and government monies that provide benefits to illegals. It does not have a direct effect on our ministry.

However that being said, this will force a down-sizing of other services in our area that could bring us a flood of new people. At current staffing, this is going to be a stress to the system. We need to pray for new workers, as well as wisdom in dividing classes etc...

Mission to the far side of OKC

2007-10-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

Missions to the Far Side of OKC
Well, coming off of a mission trip like we experienced in Cambodia, it is a hard transition back to the reality of the day to day grind. All I can think about is the faces of those that we left behind; seeing the images of their courageous faith; feeling their penetrating questions in the pit of my stomach.
“What will happen to us,” one asked? “If I accept Jesus, and go out to that lake and get baptized, what will happen to me?” She explained that in Buddhism, when someone dies, when someone is sick, or when there is some terrible thing that happens, the whole village will come to fill in the gap, and help. But as soon as they publicly declare their faith in Jesus, the village will turn their backs. Even before we left, this actually happened. Many of the villagers came and told them “they were on their own.”
What sobering thoughts I have had since then! More than anything, this trip has brought me through a time of self examination. I am asking myself, why is God not doing here what He is doing there? Why are we not seeing such colossal faith! Only one answer: God came down that day in response to the active faith of our church at work through our obedience to our evangelistic responsibility.
Do you remember when Jesus went back to his hometown, and taught in the synagogue there? The response of the people was: “isn’t this the carpenter’s son,” and “Isn’t that Mary’s boy?” There was a freakish level of disregard for the Son of God - an arrogance of assumption that God refuses to work around. The Word sums it up in Matthew 13:58, “he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”
We have to ask ourselves:
Do we sense the urgency of the message we are proclaiming?
Are we proclaiming it with the same enthusiasm that we do overseas?
Do we try to share the gospel as intentionally here as we do there?
And most importantly, do we have the same expectation that God is ready to do more right here in our midst?
After reading this queote from the founder of the Salvation Army, I sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity:

"'Not called!' did you say? ...Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. – (William Booth)

May we all renew our passion for Jesus, and claim this city in His name!
James Biesiadecki
Mission Pastor, SHBC

Cold winds!!!

2007-10-23T03:17:00.000-07:00

Those that participated in EC in the past semester may remember last year when the temperature dropped. We almost lost one student for every degree the temeperatre went down!!! It was certainly a discouraging time. At that time our attendance was almst exclusivly Vietnamese. As we prayed through the situation, it seemed apparent that we were victims of the hge dropout rate of ELL coupled with the fact that our primary student base was made up of people who find cold weather intolerable. After all, in Vietnam, cold weather was 80 degrees.

So we started broadening our base to include more hispanics, it started with one couple, and has multiplied. Not only that, but our Korean base has expanded without any effort of our own. These changes, have brought some great stability. If it were not for these changes, we would be experiencing the same drop in attendance. Thank the Lord!

Remember, that many of the factors that lead to high attendance, are out of our control, but our most unused tool in affecting the lives of our students is prayer! Do not forget to lift these people up, and do not forget to lift up each other.

Have a great week, and remember next week is WESTERN WEEK. So get out your boots and hat! Yip-ee-kay-aye!

James

Remember what we re about!

2007-10-10T20:43:00.000-07:00

Monday the 8th

2007-10-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

We continue to have a good streak of new students, and the attendance seems to be healthy. I would like to encourage you to continue inviting people. Typically, ELL programs suffer a 50-75% dropout rate. Our numbers in the past support this. So, in order to maintain a healthy attendance, we have to continue bringing people in. Pray that the Lord will bring the people that need it most.

Monday the 15th will have no classes. Half of the teaching and support staff of EC will be out. We will try to recover from the missed week with a mail-out to remind students for the 22nd.

Also, we do want to pray for Elvon Pearsons family with the loss of her mother.

Some of our students at a Gathrite class fellowship

2007-10-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

Fuel for Prayer

2007-10-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

PRAYER REQUEST: Pray for two of our level 4 students. As i have plainly and clearly shared the gospel with them, I am convinced that they do not know the Lord. I am continuing to pray for them, and would like to see them come to Christ. Pray for understanding, and open opportunities.

PRAISE REPORT: One of our student's husband was arrested and had been in jail for several months on immigration violations. She was having a very difficult time maintaining their two restaurants, and caring for their 2 children. Well, her husband was released this past week, and it looks like he may be able to work toward citizenship or a more permanent status. Continue to pray for Sophia and Chen.

A new week ahead

2007-10-08T05:39:00.000-07:00

As wee look at this week in English Corner, be sure to pray for our students. The drop out rate for ELL is on average 50-75%. That is a steep curve to work around, and can be discouraging for all of us. Try to remember a couple of things as we look at this week:

1. Our ultimate goal - One of our ultimate goals is to demonstrate the love of Christ to peoples who do not know him. So long as we are faithful to that ultimate goal, it doesn't matter if there are 100 students or if there are 10.

2. The difficulty of learning language - These people are entering into one of the most difficult studies that you can do. You can study other things and once you have a relative handle on it you can get by, and blow a lot of smoke - leaving people with the assumption that you really are smart. But with language this is not so. You can't fake it for long before you run out of things to say.

3. Remember not to live and die on the numbers - It can be really easy to get excited about the numbers when things look good. But beware: When the numbers go down so will your enthusiasm. We don't do this to grow a big group, we do this so that we can be available for those whom the Lord draws. If we are faithful with the "little" things, he will bless us with much.

4. Why do we do this - We do this because the Lord has called us to this ministry. We are missionaries right here at home tilling a hard and dry ground. It is an act of worship to the Lord for us to minister to these people, and one day the Lord will reward those who have been faithful. Thanks for being faithful!

5. Prayer will make or break our effectiveness - we cannot simply rely on the prayers of others, but we should be in active communion with the Lord so that we are empowered to do what we have been called to do.

Let's look forward to a great week.
James

Thanks

2007-10-08T05:36:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to thank all of you for you kind words and prayers this past week. Brandi's Father is doing better, although it he is certainly not over this yet. We spent a few days with her family, I am sure we will go through this a few more times before it is over. Continue to pray for Brandi, as I know it will be a difficult thing to deal with when the time comes.

Preparing for Week 3

2007-09-24T06:38:00.000-07:00

History reveals to us great followers of Christ. One of the great examples is that of Damien of Molokai (Joseph Damien of Belgium). He resided on a Hawaiian Island that is home to some of the highest cliffs, the greenest palms, and ferns... I know you are already envious... thinking, yes, that is a great example... Well, he was not there for the tropical climate, and our view of how he spent his leisure time may not be so enticing. You see, the isle of Molokai is where the lepers of the islands were sent. Leprosy in those days had not treatment, and no cure, so people would be sent there to die in a "colony of the dead." But Joseph Damien's heart burned with the love of Christ, and so risking infection himself, he went there to live, and minister to the lepers in order to share Christ with them.

It was in the process of ministering to them that one day pouring boiling water in a cup, that some splashed out onto his foot. He was stunned by the fact that he did not feel it, so out of curiosity, he poured some on the other foot, and there was no feeling there either. He probably paused for an eternity at the horror of what he was witnessing - realizing that he was seeing the advanced stages of the dreadful nerve disease in his own body.

Joseph Damien poured his life into these people, he loved them with a love that few of us are willing to risk. That morning as he entered the pulpit to preach, the people were very surprised t hear a change in his opening line. Usually he opened by saying. "My fellow believers." but on this morning, he opened by saying, "my fellow lepers." He didn't stop preaching, but now he preached with empathy that he formerly did not posses.

We see this same love played out as the Son of God empties himself of his glory, and comes in the form of a man. He was with God; he was God, and yet he dwelt among us. As we embody the love of Christ this week before the international students that God has brought us, lets keep in mind that we are no better, we have no more to offer, we have nothing that will help them in this world except Christ in us - not ministering down to them, but coming to them as "fellow lepers" who have found the cure.

Selah,
James Biesiadecki

Week 2: Moving Forward

2007-09-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

Well, we got week two underway. To me it was confirmation that we are in for a different kind of semester. Although I have not received the total count, there were over 60 there all together, and there were about 5 new students added.

The first night, I told our students that we have the best teachers around. I am convinced that if you could measure the hearts of our teachers compared to any other ELL classes available to these students, my suspicions would only be confirmed.

Continue to pray! On the back of the Bookmark/prayer guide you will find the items to pray for throughout the week:

Monday: Pray for our classes
Tuesday: our support team
Wednesday: SHBC International ministries
Thursday: Our students
Friday: Our language missionaries

Thanks,
James Biesiadecki

I will give more a more full description of these in the days to come.

ENGLISH CORNER BEGINS: Great Expectations

2007-09-11T06:48:00.000-07:00

Last semester English corner started with about 20 people. My hope this semester was that we would meet and exceed that number - at 6:15 the students started coming... and they kept coming... and coming... and coming. The waiting room was at capacity. The final count was 40 students! But that was not the greatest part of the night. The students were excited - the teachers were excited: The atmosphere was electric. All of the students worked their way trough the stations, until ending up in the large group area that more resembled a pep-rally than an English class.
What was different this year? As we walked in the southern most part of Fielder hall, we walked in past a bulletin board that was filled with prayer cards for English Corner - Our church is committed to prayer for this ministry. International people came in with crinkled, worn brochures...ones that were passed out by our church family. Our teachers came out in force...some came in from work, some from work and then errands... but they were here and they were ready. The difference: the Lord was at work in and through his church and as a result, He was there!
As I think back over all of the preparation that has gone into this, I am reminded that "spiritual fruit requires spiritual preparation." Prayer must be the "boiler in the basement." You don't see it as you walk around the building, but without it, it makes for a cold lifeless structure. Prayer connects us in spirit to the Lord who saved us, and gives us the warmth and power that we need to do the "spiritual" works he has called us to.

Let's continue to expect great things from God and attempt great things for God!

For the Prize,
James Biesiadecki
Mission Pastor, Southern Hills Baptist Church

Testing... Uh... I mean Placement Interviews

2007-08-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

Opening night is upon us! I want to remind you all of the important role placement interviews play in the process of English for Language Learners (ELL). Without consistent placement interviews, student dropout rate will note a significant increase. Students will become frustrated very early in the process if they are in over their heads, and the "shame" of being demoted to a lower class is more than many are willing to bear.

When testing, if in doubt, always go with the lower score!!! It will be a pleasant experience for them to be promoted if we are wrong.

Just a quick thought.
James

Teacher Planning Meeting

2007-08-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

Here we go!!! Our first teacher planning meeting is scheduled for Aug 27th. We will be having Chinese food to celebrate our kickoff, and will discuss opening night, room assignments, and lesson planning.

I will also have flyers to pass out. It is definatly time to get those out!!!
Look forward to seeing you there.

Let me know if cannot make it, as i will be ordering food for you all. :)
James

Check out the English Corner Video

2007-08-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

A special thanks to all who were able to participate.