Short of making the sun stand still, it is no easy thing to make room for four months of instruction in just nine days. Nevertheless, we here at Light Bearers are trying anyway!
ARISE has, for the last decade, been a four-month endeavor. We have known from the beginning that many––most, in fact––people cannot attend a program of this length. And yet, there is something wonderful and intangible about “in person” instruction that videos, books, and audio recordings just cannot capture. So what to do?
Our answer has been the CROSStraining program. Typically lasting two or three weeks, our most recent permutation lasted just nine days. Only nine days? Yes, but with more than 50 hours of in-class instruction and training squished, squashed, and wedged in.
From June 14 to 22, we saw students from all over the US converge here at the ARISE Campus in Jasper, OR. Would the program work? Could it be a success? Would the students be wiped out or still energized, wanting more, by program’s end? These questions, and more, circled in our collective anticipation and apprehension.
Is it possible to condense and cram all of our four-month program into nine days?
And?
And… it was a grand and wonderful success! “The program was 10+,” raved one attendee, a dentist from Florida. The smiles, friendships, baptisms, and formal evaluations all told the same story: this program was a life-changing experience!
In a stroke of scheduling serendipity, it appears that we may have stumbled on a perfect length for the program. Nine days allows professionals, business owners, college students, stay at home moms, and others the ability to attend. Several medical professionals, for example, attended the program.
Is it possible to condense and cram all of our four-month program into nine days? No, not in the absence of a Joshua-esque miracle. And yet, the program was solidly substantive, authentically personal, and seriously inspirational. The curriculum consists of teaching students how to share Christ-centered studies on the major doctrines of the Bible plus instruction on practical soulwinning.
All in nine days.
We’d love to see you here next year. The plan is to run several programs so you can find the dates that work best for you. Those dates will be announced soon, so stay tuned.
We’d love to see you here!
David Asscherick
David is a speaker/director for Light Bearers and ARISE co-founder and instructor. Since his baptism in 1999, David has traveled the globe preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He and his wife Violeta are the happy parents of two boys, Landon and Jabel.
