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Pablo and Judi Perez Pablo and Judi formerly served with Leadership Resources International in the discipleship and training of key pastors through a process called Training National Trainers. In 2013 they transitioned to working in Ecuador with United World Mission where they are involved in discipling, starting a new church in Quito, helping other missionaries and churches with their discipleship and developing a network of churches with that same focus.

Several weeks ago, our family, alongside others from our church, was given opportunity to serve a local family with some home projects.  The tasks included several jobs that our children could be a part of as well and we were thrilled to be able to serve alongside one another as a family.  As the days drew closer, we wondered what exactly it would look like to enter someone else’s home with a willingness to help where needed. It wasn’t without some hesitancy, some hoping , trusting, praying, and questioning of what we would be doing and how exactly will this all go?! But God! God, who knows the beginning from the end, had gone before us and had chosen a group of willing workers to uniquely help and come alongside this family.  Even the children involved with this opportunity were uniquely picked by the Lord to come together to encourage this family and their own children. We were blessed to witness the Lord at work in His people over the next several days. We wat...

The Borisuks Mark and Charity's goal is to strengthen the local church through Discipleship and Leadership Development. This is accomplished through home Bible studies, translating and publishing resources, and developing a training institute. They partner with the local church by providing training and Biblical resources to church leaders, and equipping them for effective study, righteous living, and accurate teaching of the Word of God. As servants of Christ, we labor humility and joy that the majesty of God may be made known in East Asia.

Biblical Counseling, The outworking of the Command of One-Anothering Much of life within the Body of Christ might be described as “one-anothering”. The New Testament repeatedly calls believers to live in harmony and community by speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:15), exhorting one another daily (Heb. 3:12-13), edifying one another (Eph. 4:29), and comforting one another (2Thess.4:18). These passages and countless others challenge us to pursue an intentional lifestyle of living like Christ and speaking of the Gospel of grace and truth. This is essentially what it means to be a disciple. This is what it means to be a biblical counselor.   Jesus demonstrated a life-style of a biblical counselor. Truly, He was the Wonderful Counselor (Is. 9:6), he lived the truth perfectly, (which is what speaking the truth in love actually means in Eph. 4:15), choosing to speak only His Father’s words (Jn. 8:28). Therefore, our goal is to encourage and equip his disciples to competently speak G...

Amazing God….Amazing Works BCC Family, Where would any of us be without God’s gift of faith--a gift unmerited and undeserved? Scripture would tell us that faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). I also believe faith can be bolstered by seeing God work. Recently a Rebuilding Hope Initiative team (2 families and 2 men) came together to serve and bless a local family that had some needs. Oh, how each of us, when reaching out to help others, enters into the same classroom as those we seek to serve! Amazing God, Amazing works! The following are few of God’s works I was able to observe: The family we served was a perfect fit for our team. We had children the same ages as their children. We had couples the same age as the couple. We had matching occupations.  Barriers were broken down between the team with the family allowing the team to enter their personal space.  Opportunity for discussion concerning the Gospel was open...

The Beakleys The Beakleys have been in South Africa since July 2002. David is the Principal and Academic Dean of Christ Seminary, where he teaches biblical languages, Bible study methods, preaching, and various books of the Bible. He also serves as an elder and pastor of Christ Baptist Church, where he shares in preaching, teaching, and discipling. Carol maintains the home and has many opportunities to teach and disciple women. She has a teen girl Bible study in the home, runs a ladies Bible study during the week, and also holds several discipleship groups involving both teens and married women.

Jill Hostetler Jill has been working with CEF since 2001. CEF’s three-fold purpose is to Evangelize, Disciple, and Establish children into local Bible-believing churches. Jill’s role is to oversee the development of the Central Illinois chapter of CEF, which includes teaching and training, 5 Day Clubs in the summer, and Good News Clubs during the school year. Jill also helps with the ministries at Camp Good News. Please pray for Jill Hostetler and her family.

Blake Gerber recently sent this to our care group leaders and I asked him if I could post on the blog. It gives a great picture of how Proclaiming (the 3i's) and Preparing (the 3m's) come together for salvation and growth in Christ. Pastor Ben Dear Care Group Leaders, Last week I included a  link to some printable sheets  that can be used for reading Scripture with others.  These sheets  are from David Helm's book , One to One Bible Reading . Today, I want to continue the focus on reading Scripture with  others by sharing with you a 4-part series of short lessons in which Helm explains  the What/Why/Who/How of  one-to-one Bible reading. This is a great series! He shows that one-to-one Bible reading  can be done with  anyone -- Unbelievers, New Believers, and Established Believers.  As we talk about discipleship at BCC, we often mention the 3M's (Membership, Maturity, Multiplication) and  one-to-one Bibl...

The Peltons-Brandon, Mandy, Caleb, Benjamin, Annabelle                                      Brandon and Mandy partner with Chicago churches and intentionally come alongside and disciple 20-somethings as they transition to life and work in the city. This critical season, believed by many to be the "defining decade," brings great opportunities and challenges for young adults. They aim to help these 20-somethings submit all areas of life to the lordship of Christ and discover and participate in His mission to the world.

Part of our church's purpose statement is to "proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord." Read below for how BCCer, Lauren Yoder, has been trusting God to apply this to her life: "We are doing the 'Read the Bible in a Year.' We always have neighbor kids over to swim or jump on the trampoline.  At 7pm, my alarm reminder goes off, so whoever is over hears me say, 'Time to read the Bible!' At first, the neighbor kids would ask what we were reading, and I would explain that we are reading the Bible in a year, and so we read a little every night, and they were more than welcome to read with us.  Now I just say 'time to read,' and they come on in.  So we all sit in the living room and pass around the phone app Bible, and read it and talk about what it means.  We have had adults and kids join us, and some of the kids came to Vacation Bible Camp as well!  We also got two of the kids a Bible storybook, so it is easier for them to understand.  Pr...

I recently had the chance to interact with some counselees challenging them to become more a part of their local church. In doing so I built a brief document consisting of Scripture passages with my observations/interpretations drawn out of them and then an application section at the end. The document focuses on 2 areas, Service and Membership. Hopefully you find it as encouraging and challenging as I did in my study of it. =) Service Scriptures: ·          Romans 12:4-8 o    Every believer has specific gifts to contribute to their local body (v.4) o    Every believer is part of their local body (v.5) o    Every believer has unique gifts to contribute to their local body (v.6a) o    Every believer is called to use their gifts to the utmost for the benefit of the body (v.6b-8) ·          1 Corinthians 12:4-27 o    There are people w...