Since 1984, I have had the privilege of leading Bible studies with the young people that have come to camp and some of their friends. We have had 25 different teens involved with the PIGS (Pleasing In God’s Sight) Bible Study these past two months with an average of 17 attending each week. For the past five years we have met each week on Tuesdays from 6:00 until 7:30 pm at the home of Curt and Patsy Ericks in Rapid City. It is a joy for me to lead these young people in a study of God’s Word.

For the past 16 weeks of Bible study, (we take off May through August for camp) we have been studying Ephesians chapter four. The study is entitled, “Live the New Life”. We have gone verse by verse in this study. I give them a handout and I attempt to encourage them and to challenge them with the Word of God. Some weeks we may cover one or two verses. I use a lot of cross-referencing with them to show how the Bible all fits together and is very practical to our everyday life. I stress the need for three things: How do I apply this? How do I make this practical? How do I pass this on to others?

We use this Teen study for training of our staff (but it is open to all teens). At Rainbow we have the belief that we are training young people for Jesus Christ, not for Rainbow Bible Ranch. The Lord used a ministry called The Navigators in my life for four years. The Navigators trained me, not for The Navigators, but for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Today I use the training I received many years ago in the lives of young people and their families. Never in my wildest dreams did I think God would use me in the ways that He has. My dear friend, Bob Menges from Okinawa, Japan wrote this note to me on my Sayonara (good-bye) Scroll, “Chris, God wants to use you. Just let Him.” Since leaving Okinawa in 1983, I have been slowly learning to “Just let Him”.