After you’ve done your observation, word studies, outlining and answered the questions you generated, it’s time to start putting it all together. In this step, you want to collect, refine and organize all those details you observed into a coherent meaning.

Wondering how to put all the tools and pieces of Bible study together so that you can tackle a specific passage of Scripture? Here’s the overall procedure.

You’ve probably heard a teacher, pastor or preacher say something to the effect “and then God told me.” What’s up with that? What role does personal experience and/or personal revelation play in Bible study? For me, the bottom line is: Scripture takes precedence over emotions and experience; and teachers ought to strive for accuracy and precision in their language. Here are the guidelines I use when teaching.

Today we often seek preachers who tell us stories, make us laugh, and tickle our ears with poetry and platitudes. We would rather listen to Jon Stewart than Jonathan Edwards. We ought to think critically about how far we have slipped down the slope of valuing style over substance.

As a ministry leader, you often do surveys. But what questions should ask? Which questions solicit the best input? After 30 years in ministry — and countless surveys! — these are the questions I’ve found most helpful.

While serving as the Director of Women’s Ministries for over 20 years, every January we had a “state of the ministry” meeting where we would focus on two questions: 1) What are we doing well? and 2) What can we do better? But what criteria do we use to answer those questions? Numbers do not always reflect an accurate picture.

You’ve probably heard the joke that the greatest insult you can give a Bible teacher is that your work is both original and good. Why is that funny? The part that’s original is not good, and the part that’s good is not original. The goal of Bible study is to be right, not original.

Putting servant leadership into practice: thoughts on leading from moral authority rather than hierarchy.

Failed CEOs shared these 7 habits. What about leaders in the church?

Approximately one-third of those who started a Bible reading plan in January abandon it by February. By May that number will drop to half. What if you are one of the statistics?

What is Lent? Is it an official Christian holiday? Was it instituted in the Bible? What — if anything — is required of believers during Lent?

Have you decided to read through the Bible as one of your New Year’s Resolutions? Here’s a great selection of updated plans to help you keep that resolution.

You have seen, heard, and sung the Christmas story so often you can recite the details by heart. Most of what you know is likely “cultural mythology.”

There’s nothing like the Christmas season to force you to face the fact that life is often neither joyful nor triumphant. It raises the question, what is the true meaning of Christmas? Or what is there to celebrate about Christmas? Listen to one of these messages to get you in help you celebrate the true reason for the season.

Bible Study software has made biblical Greek more accessible for those who never learned the language. Now with 1 click you can access the Greek word and its conjugation but what are you looking at? Clicking on a verb in your study software may tell you something like “V-FAI-1S” which stands for a “Verb- Future Active Indicative-1st person singular.” But what does that mean? Here’s a helpful primer on Greek verbs.