Have you seen the new Digma videos? If you haven’t, go watch them immediately at digma.com, then share them with your social network. I’m serious. Stop reading this blog because someone on your “friends” list is waiting and needing to hear one of these messages. And the good news is, they are so well done that he, or she, will actually listen! After you’ve completed this modern mission trip, come back and read the rest of this article, and I’ll share with you another effective way to use these visually engaging and contemporary videos. OK, ready? Go to digma.com and I’ll see you in a few…
You’re back, great.
So here’s my own Digma story.
I was looking for a way to lead my junior Bible class into a discussion about theodicy; that is, how God can be all-powerful and yet allow an evil world to exist. The discussion would lead into a Bible study on the great controversy motif of Scripture, which they could then share with others. That was the plan.
So first we watched Ty tell his own story in the Digma video, Paradigm Shift. When he told my students that the reason he couldn’t believe in God was because of the extensive evil in the world, these born-and- raised Christians could begin to see through the eyes of a similarly young non-believer. Perfect! The video ended and we talked about what we’d seen. After a lively class discussion, I then played the role of 17-year-old “Ty,” and asked them theodicy-related questions from “his” perspective. Before answering the questions, they were given time to read the verses from the great controversy Bible study we would be using later. They were then to formulate responses based on Scripture, with help from me when needed. Using the video as the “hook” to capture their attention, and being able to carry that “hook” as a role-playing analogy, through the rest of the lesson could not have been a more perfect scenario.
At the end of each class period I always leave five minutes for the students to write down comments about the day’s class. The Digma video was mentioned, unsolicited, very favorably in almost every response. Numerous students said that by talking to “Ty,” using Scripture they felt much more confident in their ability to share this important message with someone who needs to hear it. Mission accomplished!
The next time we met, a handful of students still hadn’t had the opportunity to defend the goodness of God in our role-playing scenario. I began that class by playing another Digma video, Atheist Too, for the students. This time the students found themselves sitting next to me, an “atheist,” on a plane trip. My first question was, “So, you believe the Bible has an answer as to how God can be who He claims to be, and yet allow all this suffering? Let’s see. Tell me.”
At the conclusion of our unit on theodicy and the great controversy, the students were given the option to take a quiz over the information, or share the study with someone outside of class. More than 75% chose to share it!
Thanks Light Bearers for these great tools to capture the attention of my youth!
David Sherwood
David and his wife, Jeannie, have three crazy kiddos: Noah, Luke, and Anna Joy. David enjoys taking photos of his kids, writing down random thoughts, dining out with his wife, philosophizing and studying the Bible with young people. He can almost always be found at home working alongside his family to habilitate his 2-year-old, brain-injured son, Luke, who has given them more spiritual instruction, and inspiration than any book or sermon ever could.
