Coordination
Proposal
To list it out:
Monday 7/5: 7pm - 9 Message 1 w/ PSRP
Wednesday 7/7: 7pm - 9 Message 2 w/ PSRP
Friday 7/9: 7pm - 8:30 Message 3 (message only; open session; self study)
Saturday 7/10:
9am - 12: Messages 4 & 5
4pm - 5:30pm Studying & Test for Messages 4 & 5.
Lord's Day 7/11: 2pm - 5 Messages 6 & 7
Wednesday 7/14: 7pm - 8:30 Studying & Test for Message 6 & 7
Friday 7/16: 7pm - 8:30 Message 8 (message only; open session; self study)
Saturday 7/17:
9am - 12: Messages 9 & 10
4pm - 5:30pm Studying & Test for Messages 9 & 10.
Lord's Day 7/18: 2pm - 5 Messages 11 & 12 (no corporate study/testing).
See examples for Message w/ PSRP | Two Messages in 3 hours | Study & Test
Notes on the Proposal
Challenges/Constraints:
As much as possible not to conflict with college training starting 7/21 WED. (SST will end by July 1st this year.)
July 4th this year falls on LD. LSM messages are available only on 5th and on. A good number of saints will have 5th off but it might not be good to assume it ("Take time-off or miss the first message" seems harsh ....)
Review of last semiannual
We think the way we did the study/testing was quite profitable, esp. the testing part; a bit more time for studying would be ideal but instead of extending the time, maybe we could encourage more self-study beforehand for the willing/able ones.
We heard that some felt two messages back to back a bit heavy, but this time we won't have the luxury of holidays on Fridays, so at least not back to back 2-3 days in a row.
As we need to use week days:
We feel better to avoid interfering with the prayer of the church; thus not proposing using Tuesday evenings.
We suggest using Friday night but make it open with the intention to enable some small groups to encourage non-trainees to listen to the message (in our Zoom meeting, not their own; still a training). By making it message-only (self study), ending relatively early (some 8:30 depending on the message length), the small groups could have their own gatherings afterwards, including some who might not even listen to the training message.
The proposal is thus a combination of
"The traditional way" of 2-hour for one message + PSRP right on the spot for messages 1 & 2.
The message-only open sessions on two Fridays.
The 3-hour for 2 messages + 1.5-hour study/test for 2 for the rest as we did in the past Winter training.
Why 7pm for weekdays? Just follow what Fremont and nearby churches do. It is always good for some to be earlier but others later. We hope the trainees will pay the price to follow the training schedule one way or the other. Fridays we definitely would want it earlier at 7pm (vs. 8pm), so we won't completely take out the time for saints in the small groups meeting on Friday evening who may not have the capacity to be in the training (open sessions) two weeks in a row.