I've been around church all my life. I've been reading the Scriptures all my life. There have been seasons where Bible-reading was a drag, others where it was an obligatory-this-is-right-and-good, and still other periods where I was pulled into the story of God and found my own story lost in the wonder of something bigger than me.
That's the kind of experience I had last evening in our mid-week New Community service. Keith Ferrin was our guest speaker and it was a powerful, God-inspired experience.
Last evening, Keith launched our mid-week New Community Ephesians
series by dramatically presenting Paul's letter to the Ephesians. This wasn't about hearing someone "recite". This experience was about hearing
a contextual rendering that points to the author of the story - our God.
Keith Ferrin is a personal friend of 15+ years. We met while serving as youth pastors in the Northwest. We took lots of great steps together. We shared retreats, mission trips, rallies, and lots of conversations over too many lattes. Then, Keith took a step on his own.
Inspired by Bruce Kuhn, a successful Broadway actor who left that stage to launch another. After experiencing Bruce present the Gospel of Luke dramatically over two hours, Keith sought out Bruce to understand more about what had happened to him during that evening. Jesus had become alive through the Scriptures in a way that surprised Keith.
Keith's step that summer of 1993 was to read the book of Philippians every day for the summer. Every day. The same passage. No, the same book. All four chapters. Then one day, Keith realized that while reflecting on what he'd been reading, he had repeated by memory the first several paragraphs of chapter one - word for word... without trying. The Scriptures were being internalized within him.
Long story short - Keith internalized (memorized) the book of Philippians that summer. His next feat? The Gospel of John. In 1996 Keith founded That You May Know Ministries - designed to help people see and experience the author of the Bible who invites us into personal relationship. Today Keith has committed to memory not two, but ten books of the Bible.
Want to experience the Bible from a fresh perspective? Check out Keith Ferrin's schedule - or add him to your own.
Here's one more thought. Practice what Keith teaches - read, soak, repeat... live in one story or book of the Bible, allowing your story to be both discovered and absorbed in the mysterious reality of God's story.
