2011 Lectureship Report
Terry G. Jones
The Twelfth Annual West Virginia Christian Lectureship, hosted by the Pennsboro Church of Christ, has now been completed. After months of planning, praying, and preparing, it is now but a memory. Anxious anticipation has turned to rejoicing and reflection.
It is never easy to determine the degree of success achieved by an event of this nature. However, there are at least five goals that we endeavored to achieve by the lectureship.
Praise. The first, and highest, goal is that of praising God. Absolutely no success can be claimed if our heavenly Father is not glorified. “I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore” (Ps. 86:12). Each session of the lectureship focused on praising God in song, prayer, and preaching.
Pertinence. The theme chosen to guide the lectureship should not be selected because it is novel or cute, but rather because it is pertinent. The theme for study, as well as the particular subjects that will be preached, should be chosen because of their relevance to the souls of men. Unquestionably, this goal was accomplished by the theme, “Oh How I Love Your Law” – A Study of Psalm 119. Each of the 22 sessions exalted God’s Law and demonstrated the pertinent place it should have in the lives of men.
Presentation. The teaching of God’s Word is the primary reason for any lectureship. Speakers were chosen because of their biblical soundness, experience, and ability to proclaim the truth. This year, fifteen speakers from five states were called upon to present expository lessons from Psalm 119. Every lecture was magnificent, and each speaker demonstrated extensive preparation and extraordinary presentation of his material. It has been commonly observed by those in attendance that this lectureship has provided a much needed study of this great portion of the Bible, and that the presentation of these lessons has been invaluable to those who heard them.
Participation. Without a doubt, the single most difficult thing to accomplish with a lectureship is great attendance. Great effort is put forth by those who host a lectureship to inform, invite, encourage, and plead with folks from far and near to participate in the lectureship by being in attendance. The daytime sessions were well attended with an average of 100 people. There was an average of 183 attending in the evening. Monday night enjoyed the largest crowd of 215. We are so very thankful for the effort of every person who attended.
Publication. It is my personal belief that the lasting value of a lectureship is accomplished by the publication of a book containing the manuscripts submitted by each speaker. Although this requires the greatest amount of work, it is hoped that it will enable the value of the lectureship to continue for years to come. We could not have been more pleased with this latest volume. Also, as in years past, we hope that all of the manuscripts will be available to be accessed soon from the West Virginia Christian web-site.
With the completion of this year’s lectures, we now turn our attention to 2012. The 13th Annual WVC Lectureship will be hosted by the Steer Creek Church of Christ, and brother Gene Miller will serve as the director. They have already begun preparing for that, and we will pray for God’s blessing upon their labors. –PO Box 644, Pennsboro, WV 26415.
(Editor’s note: The Pennsboro church of Christ hosted the 12th Annual West Virginia Christian Lectureship September 25-28, 2011, and did so in an outstanding manner. We are very thankful for their great service to the brotherhood of the Lord’s church in our area, and we highly commend the eldership, the deacons, Terry, and all of the unnamed members who worked so hard! We thank them for the privilege our paper had of being associated with them.)