Scott Attebery, DiscipleGuide
Scary. Exhilarating. Trusting.
It was my fist summer at church camp. Recreation time was almost over. We were hot, tired, and ready to swim in the pool. Our recreation leader announced that we had one more activity. He asked for a volunteer. I was all too eager. The leader placed me on a platform about six feet of of the ground. Next, he arranged the rest of my group on the ground into two rows, starting at the base of the platform, facing each other with arms straight ahead crossing each other. Looking down from the platform (which now felt more like sixty feet tall), my team formed a landing pad -for me! Before the leader gave me instructions, I already knew what I was supposed to do: fall backwards into the arms of my team. That’s right, backwards –as in, without being able to see where I would land. It was a call to extreme trust. Everything within me wanted to climb down from the platform. Some of my teammates didn’t look very strong. What if they dropped me? The recreation leader, seeing the look of uncertainty of my face, pulled me aside and said something I’ve never forgotten: “We are stronger when we work together.” I still wasn’t completely confident, but I knew what I had to do. I had to trust the group. (Besides, I couldn’t let the cute blond-headed girl see me back down.) I placed my feet on the edge of the platform with my back turned toward my group. With a deep breath, I took the plunge. What a sensation!
Scary. Exhilarating. Trusting.
Time stood still for a moment. And then, all of a sudden, it was over. My team caught me! I yelled, “Let’s do it again!”
Today, I stand on a different platform. Together with the entire DiscipleGuide team, we have placed our toes on the edge, and we are about to lean back. We are trusting you to catch us. Two years ago, we realized the need to improve our associational curriculum. Church leaders shared their concerns with us. They loved the biblical content of our material, but wanted more
focus on relevant application and greater helps for teachers. Curriculum development is a process. It does not happen overnight. We knew that to make the improvements churches were asking for would require time and resources –both of which
are difficult to come by when you have a small staff Keeping the current curriculum on schedule is a great enough challenge, but to add the development of future improvements is almost impossible. That’s why we began reprinting the writings of Dr. E. Harold Henderson. Since these writings were already proofed and edited, it afforded us time to focus on improvements. We used that time to interview teachers and leaders from various churches and find out what our congregations need. And, at the same time, we were able to assemble a stable of talented BMA writers. The past two years of curriculum planning and development
have been like climbing up the platform at camp. Every rung requires energy and hard work. Now we have completed the work
and are ready to present it to our churches. How does it feel?
Scary. Exhilarating. Trusting.
We have taken a huge risk. After working hard to address everyone’s needs, we know that not everyone will care for all of
the improvements. Curriculum funds the greatest portion of our budget. Proceeds help us to invest into church revitalization efforts. To make any changes to our curriculum is a risk to our finances and, as a result, our ability to help churches. But I believe it is worth the risk to create better curriculum that will serve our churches more effectively. It is at this moment in time that I recall the words of the recreation leader at camp: “We are stronger when we work together.” I believe you will love the improvements we have made to Compass. But even if the improvements aren’t exactly what you would have preferred, we still need you to catch us. We are not a huge business with a massive research and development budget. We are a ministry of the BMA. We are your brothers and sisters in associational work. We are trying to serve you in the best way we know how.
• If you want us to keep making improvements in the future, please catch us.
• If you want to continue having BMA curriculum written by BMA writers, please catch us.
• If you want to see improvements to student and children’s materials as our next project (including a return to printed materials) please catch us.
The winter edition of Compass has gone to print. We are currently taking orders. We are all in and there is no turning back.
If every adult class in every BMA church will purchase compass this winter, this could be the beginning of a new era in BMA curriculum! Call 800.333.1442 or go to discipleguide.org to order.
We are trusting in our association. We are stronger together. Will you catch us?
