An Interview with Steve Case
Last week, we released The Audacious Seven: Life Lessons from Seven Saints Who Didn't Back Down. We love this curriculum and think that you will too!Recently, we asked Steve Case a few questions about The Audacious Seven, here's what he had to say:
TYC - Let's start with the obvious... with Bible literacy a concern for so many churches, why is a curriculum featuring historical figures important to teach in youth group?SC - These people are not our history... they are our present. Look around the table at Thanksgiving... that’s YOU. These people are us... today and our students in our future. I see the Saints as people who will be leading us to God for generations to come. Even if you have never taught using the Saints before you can embrace this book. These were Awesome servants and they can teach our students to be awesome servants.TYC - What are some ways that you use curriculum in your own ministry?SC - First these lessons don’t have to be taught together. Break them up. Teach the Saint Patrick lesson at the meeting closest to St Patrick’s Day. The same goes for the St Valentine lesson. Teach the St Francis lesson on some bright day in the Summer. St. Joseph is a great lesson to be taught in an empty sanctuary during a lock-in.TYC - What are some tips you'd give folks using A7 in their youth ministry?SC - You can teach these lessons in the youth room on a Sunday night or you can follow the old idea about starting a business or buying a house....location location location. Get out of the youth room. Teach these outdoors or flat on your back on the floor of the sanctuary. The lessons are very flexible and can accomodate any youth minister’s creativity. They are also VERY low prep. We’ve all waiting until Saturday night to plan a lesson...okay....we’ve all waited until the drive to church on Sunday to plan a lesson. These are great pull-it-out-of-your-hat lessons.TYC - You’ve got lessons about a guy who floated while he prayed and a woman who hid her identity and lived as a monk for 20 years. Isn’t that a little... you know... out there?SC - Most of our lessons we teach the students come from a man who walked on water and cured a man’s blindness by spitting in his face. Is a floating priest or an holy escape artist really that much of a stretch?TYC - What are your hopes for groups teaching A7?SC - I really hope these lesson open new doors. Teaching using the Saints is unexplored territory for some ministers. But your students already know St Patrick and St Valentine. Most have seen the wooden statue of St Francis in a garden someplace... why not get to know these name and images as real people...real people who stood up and said “Bring it on” when the world tried to turn their lives upside down.