Jeff Adams

A couple of years ago I had a burden to write a new tool for laying a biblical foundation in the lives of disciples of Jesus Christ. We had been using the same material for almost 20 years and, while it had served us well, I was concerned to provide something that was more comprehensive in content, more interactive in engaging the student, and more flexible in use whether one-on-one, small groups, classes or individual study. The result was called Directions. The initial printing was gone in less than a year and we are into the second printing. Last year it came out in Spanish.

In order to be flexible, the material had to be as free as possible of culturally specific illustrations. I wanted no scripture verses written out so the the student would be forced to open his or her Bible to answer the interactive questions and assignments, building a dependency on the Bible and not on any other book. I was careful to compare several languages and Bible translations in each reference used to be certain the right answers could be found in any language or version.

The responses to this point have been gratifying and I am thankful for the many encouraging reports I have been receiving. At the moment, I am going through this study with a Korean brother and we are having a great time!

These past couple of weeks it seems that Directions has been bumped into warp speed. While in Argentina I took a copy as a hospitality gift for my Swiss missionary friend. He loved it! During our conference with his leadership team he shared it with the entire group and many of them got very excited. Right now, they are investigating the possibility of printing and distributing it in the southern cone of South America.

I had another copy to give to a friend in Buenos Aires. Still another friend had come from States to meet with us about mission opportunities. He saw it and also wanted it. He is ready to have Directions translated in several languages in India. Already, Directions is being translated into some other languages, too.

The really neat feature about all of this is that none of this was planned. This is just something God is doing though the natural path of relationships. If I remember correctly, that’s what discipleship is all about.