After teaching and equipping ministry students from various denominations for more than a decade, I began to see the limitations of the formal, corporate environment for creating true disciples of Christ. While our various ministry schools were quite transformational for the individual students attending, we weren’t creating disciples who raised up disciples with the same level of spiritual growth. I found that a model based on teachers and students is very limiting.  

As I looked more closely at the growth of the early church in the book of Acts, I began to long for a way to bring the same types of break throughs and transformations our students were experiencing into a small group setting that wasn’t dependent upon a charismatic teacher to captivate their audience. The Encounter the Word study series emerged from a deep desire to equip believers, both new and mature, in a God-led experience of the Holy Scriptures. The Lord challenged me to believe that he alone is the most captivating and transformational teacher in any setting, and we can trust him to lead us into the deep revelations of his Word.