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GodWorx helps equip all Christians to influence their workplace and integrate their faith, by making disciples and unleashing the kingdom of God wherever they are.
Thank you for joining the God Works podcast where marketplace multipliers are ordinary people with extraordinary influence. My name is Carrie Whitcher , and I am privileged to lead the National God Works strategy team. God works to equip all Christians to integrate their faith and influence their marketplace by making disciples and unleashing the kingdom of God wherever they are.
Earl McJett:Welcome to another episode of the God Works podcast. I'm your host, Earl MacJett. Today, we are joined by doctor Dave Smith, professor emeritus of Bible at Indiana Wesleyan University and author of the True North Bible Study. Welcome, doctor Dave.
David Smith:Earl, thanks so much for having me. I'm looking forward to our discussion.
Earl McJett:And I am very excited to discuss this with you as well today. Thank you so much for your time. Your website refers to the True North Bible Study as an adventure in kingdom cartography. This sounds intriguing. Can you explain to us what you mean by that?
David Smith:Absolutely. Cartography is the study of map making. And if you think about it, it's not just, directions that we go north, south, east, or west. It's whether or not we see ourselves as being earth dwellers or kingdom of heaven dwellers. And so map making is not just 2 dimensional, but it can be three-dimensional.
David Smith:And in this case, that's what true north is all about. How do we calibrate our lives in order or in in in a way that fashions us to be fit for heaven when we get there? And so that's what the truth is all about, how to read, how to interpret, and how to apply the word so we actually look and sound and act more like Jesus every day.
Earl McJett:Wow, well, tell us about the process of developing the True North Bible Study. What was that like?
David Smith:Yeah, thanks for that question, because that's the story behind the story, if you will. You can look at the book, and that's the actual material, but the origin of that will go back about 15 years. And I've taught at Indiana Wesleyan since 2000. I've also taught up at Kingswood University in New Brunswick, Canada for about 5 years. And during that time, I would often go into local churches that were pastored by my former students.
David Smith:They would invite me in, and they would invite me in to teach bible study methods to their laypeople. And I would go in on a regular basis and do this. And almost every time I did that, when I got done teaching, I have a end the session with a q and a time. And the lay people, the church, would turn to their pastor and say, now was doctor Smith your professor? Yes.
David Smith:Did he teach you how to read the scriptures like this? They would say, yes. And then the lay people would say, then why didn't you teach us
Earl McJett:how to
David Smith:read the scriptures? Now, that happened again and again and again until I realized something. It was a epiphany that I had. I was teaching pastors how to read scripture. I wasn't teaching pastors how to teach other people how to read scripture.
David Smith:And so all of my curriculum in the classroom and of True North changed radically. So instead of me teaching people just simply how to read, I taught people how to teach people how to read, which makes it disciple making material, not just material on biblical interpretation. So that's the overall goal of, True North. The name of the material True North, disciple making in the word. That's what I'm attempting to do.
David Smith:And that's what's really kinda caught fire, if you will, And I hope it begins to change the culture of churches, so that no longer are they just thinking about, I'm gonna go to church on Sunday morning so I can hear the pastor tell me what he's heard from God. Monday through Saturday, I can be at home and read the scriptures myself and hear from the Lord 7 days a week.
Earl McJett:That is wonderful. So how can True North help to equip people who are not called to vocational ministry to share their faith journey where they live, work, and study?
David Smith:The call is a really interesting term as it's used biblically. Often, we hear the word call like it's a call to vocational ministry, but the word Paul is used with every single Christian. We are all called to be image bearers of Christ to all the people that are watching. I mean, you know this passage from the Sermon on the Mount. Let your light shine before men and women that they may see your good works and glorify our father who is in heaven.
David Smith:We are all called to be image bearers. So that's what true north is all about. It's telling us to be able to read the words of Jesus to interpret them. Now now the word interpret can be it sounds like a technical term. Let's just say that I can read the words of Jesus, understand what they meant as he spoke them, and then to be able to apply them to our cultural settings in the here and now.
David Smith:And when we do that, we become image bearers of Christ. People will see us and ask questions about our behavior, about the way we react in very difficult situations, whether they be life situations or even life and death situations. How come we act different from other people? And the reason is, let me tell you a story about a man named Jesus who changed my life radically. That's what True North is about.
Earl McJett:That is so profound. So if someone's interested in pursuing this Bible study, you know, it sounds really practical and like it's it's the kind of thing that will help people to share their faith and to disciple other disciples, in their lives. How much Bible do they have to know before they begin this study?
David Smith:0. Absolutely 0. I make a presupposition, and that is this, that when I was 25 years old, I I wanted to date this young woman. Her name happened to be Angie. And she said she would not go out with me unless I go to church with her.
David Smith:Now, you need to know that on on tomorrow, we celebrate our 43rd anniversary. So this woman made an impact on me. Congratulations. I went to church with her. Thank you.
David Smith:I went to church with her, and it happened to be a Good Friday. And I'd never read the Bible. I'd never been to church. And it was on Good Friday, So it was right before Easter. The pastor was preaching on Mark chapter 15.
David Smith:And he said, Everybody open your Bible and turn to Mark 15. Earl, I had no idea what he was talking about. I I actually needed a map to be able to figure out what was going on in the Bible. Angie turned in her Bible to Mark 15 and handed it to me. That changed my life.
David Smith:I found out that Jesus died for me. Now I didn't give my heart to the lord then, but I began a journey on this map called the old and the new testament. And so when it comes to using True North, you need absolutely no bible background whatsoever. The first quarter of the book is teaching us why the reading of scripture is so important. So it's kinda the, if you will, the biblical and theological foundations on the authority of the word and why it's important to radically transform our lives.
David Smith:The last, 3 fourths of the book is how to do this. You need to know no bible whatsoever. I'm assuming you know nothing. I'm actually assuming you don't know what the chapters and the verses mean. So it is my way of coaching, of guiding, of directing.
David Smith:So think of it this way, it's really written in the first person. Like, you and I are sitting across the table from each other in Starbucks, and I am discipling you in how to read scripture. Now, Earl, all the material on my website, it's called trunorthbiblestudy.com. No periods. Just trunorthbiblestudy.com.
David Smith:All the material out there is free. There's a workbook, about a 180 pages. You can download electronically onto your laptop, your phone, your your tablet, or if you want to, you can print it out and take it to Staples and have them, bind it. How whatever whatever means you want. But it's me discipling you in how to scripture.
David Smith:So I'm giving everything to you for free for one particular direction, is that then you would actually disciple somebody else with this. Now hear me carefully. We are all called to be disciples. Very often in our current culture, our goal is to become a convert, and then somebody will say, would you like to move ahead in discipleship? That's not a biblical understanding of conversion.
David Smith:You don't become a convert and then stop there. That's the beginning point. Most people have not been discipled. That's why they don't disciple other people. So allow me through True North to disciple you in how to read the scripture, and I will give you everything for free.
David Smith:But what I'm begging you is would you then please promise to do discipleship with one other person? And invite one other person to have a Starbucks coffee with you once a week and work through the material. Now online, you'll be able to find either a 9 or a 12 week bible study that you can go through. It's all laid out there. And as a matter of fact, Kingswood University has actually done a full video class with me.
David Smith:That's also there. So not only do you have the text, but you have my wonderful smiling face to to go along with the the that goes with the material. But I want to make a kingdom force of disciple makers. And if somebody has not been discipled, go through this material. As I said, I speak first person in this book.
David Smith:The very first draft of it, I gave to a number of my former students and I asked them to read it. And they said, doctor Dave, this is really good, only it doesn't sound like you because you always talk to us like we're the most important person in the room. So I actually rewrote it to be totally first person, very conversational. So it's just you and me doing this, and then I want you to do that with something else. And that multiply out to 2 to 4, 8, 6.
David Smith:So there will become in local churches kingdom forces of disciple makers in the word.
Earl McJett:Oh, that is wonderful. I'm inspired by your vision as well. We will reprint the, URL, the web address, that you cited in the show notes. Can you repeat that for us one more time, please?
David Smith:Yes. All one word, true north bible study dot com. And if anybody has any questions, there is a contact, link on that page, and they can contact me, send me emails, any information about their church. And I often go into local churches and do weekend seminars on teaching people how to read scripture. So if they wanna get some more information, that's there.
David Smith:And finally, let me just add this one little bit. If you go down to the bottom of the home web page, you'll see a link that'll toggle it between English and Spanish. So, Spanish teachers, the if there's somebody in your church that is Hispanic and, does not know how to read scripture, this will this is done in their heart language, so they as well can can read.
Earl McJett:That is so wonderful.
David Smith:And, in the videos that Kingswood has done, the videos actually have a, Hispanic, subtitles that that go along with it.
Earl McJett:Wonderful. Well, thank you so very much for your time today here, doctor Dave. It's been wonderful talking with you, and thank you so very much.
David Smith:Earl, thank you for your time. I appreciate it. And, I I am just excited about what might happen, in a contagious way if somebody actually begins to pray, to read, to interpret, and to apply the word in community with other people, it is radically transformation. That's my goal.
Earl McJett:Wonderful. Thank you so very much.
Carrie Whitcher:Thank you for listening to this episode of the God works podcast. For more information, go to www. Godworks. Life. That's godworx.life.
Carrie Whitcher:Please like and subscribe to this podcast and share with others who may benefit. And remember, you too are called to be a marketplace multiplier as God works through ordinary people with extraordinary influence.