What's New?

Do you ever pray scary, downright dangerous prayers?  The kind that you know God will answer because you’re so confident you need sanctifying in that area of your life?

After Ben Seiler, a minister to college students, attended an NBS2GO workshop discussing how to use one of our Bible studies, he had this to say.

What if I am not a gifted teacher?

From time to time, we are asked questions regarding specific “how-tos” as it relates to leading a neighbor Bible study. When it comes to facilitating groups, we all want to be effective leaders. Below we have compiled various aspects of leadership to consider. Whether you have been a leader for many years or you're just beginning, take time to go through the list and be prayerful as you step out in faith.

The NBS2GO LENT Bible study is now available in four new languages!

We are thrilled to share the following languages are now available: 

Italian 
Spanish 
Romanian 
Russian 

Click any of the live links or forward one to a friend!

Would you like ample time to prepare yourself to worship our Savior on a pinnacle day of our faith? The LENT Bible study was written for this purpose.

National Good Neighbor Day is Wednesday, September 28th, and we have filled this newsletter with ideas to inspire you!

Created in the early 1970s, National Good Neighbor Day was established by presidential proclamation in 1978 by Jimmy Carter. Every year, all across the country, people make an extra effort on September 28th to intentionally be a good neighbor and build community.

Let’s start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start.

Beginning a neighbor Bible study is exciting! As a new school year approaches, you may be full of faith and expectant of what God will do. You may have prayed, invited and now it is time to begin your neighbor Bible study. 

Reposted with permission from Family Life Local, a Cru ministry. 

Now is the perfect time to meet your neighbors! Why not plan a neighborhood 4th of July Parade? We know, this is a big step for some of you, but others of you are totally ready. So, let's do this!

How do you trust God in a crisis?  In these unprecedented times, God's Words can give comfort and hope.

Great news!  Trusting God During a Crisis Bible Study is NOW available in Ukrainian on the YouVersion Bible App.

 Do you know a pastor or missionary who has close access to the Ukraine people?

 Could you pass this along to someone who might desperately need to know that God is with them in crisis?

SAVE THE DATE and register for the next Let Your Light Shine!

Tuesday, March 29^th 12:00 pm CT

Listen to others who have attended past workshops:

“The NBS2GO workshop (“Let Your Light Shine” – Fall) was awesome! I put four of the ideas to work and saw God open completely different doors with neighbor families with whom I had not been able to connect before. So thankful and excited about what God is doing!!!!!” Karen from Texas

Listed below are the best Christmas resources we have for loving and reaching neighbors. We pray that the Lord will lead you to draw close to Him and bring others with you during this wonderful season. As always, we love hearing if you are taking a step of faith to reach out. Please reply to this email with your prayer needs and we will pray!

1. Enjoy the Let Your Light Shine at Christmas video filled with 40 minutes of ideas and personal stories. This video will give you vision and encouragement to take your specific giftings and capacity -- emotionally, physically, and financially -- to love those God has put on your heart and in your path. See also the Let Your Light Shine Christmas newsletter.

2. The Advent Bible study available on nbs2go.com.
   
   The Advent Bible plan on YouVersion.
   
   “I had the opportunity to do the Advent study last year with my family during the height of Covid. Despite being as much as 500 miles away, we joined together to study this unique approach to Scripture. Not only did it unite our family, but it also had a way of drawing me in and slowing me down to meditate on the witnesses and surroundings involved in the birth of Christ.” Nancy
   
   "This Bible study made the story of Jesus' birth come to life. It is so personal and engaging. I have never done a study like this before." Rita 
   

3. Would you like to lead the Advent study with a neighbor or family member?
   
   Check out this 47-minute recording of the November 9th Called To Lead Workshop: https://youtu.be/r8IhbEx0LIA

4. Do you know someone who speaks one of these languages? Forward one today!
   
   Afrikaans Advent study
   Dutch Advent study
   Italian Advent study
   Japanese Advent study
   Korean Advent study
   Polish Advent study
   Portuguese Advent study
   Romanian Advent study
   Russian Advent study
   Ukrainian Advent study

5. Join us on the Called to Shine Instagram account where you will receive encouragement and inspiration to reach the people around you. Called to Shine is a community of women who believe Jesus is our light and long to shine!
   
   ♡ Inspiring women to love their neighbor
   ♡ Equipping them to shine for Jesus

The little boy peered out the window into the night, then suddenly smiled. A lamplighter was climbing his ladder again next to their door. He lifted the globe, lit a flame, and then climbed down again. The boy turned to his parents, “Look! He’s punching holes in the darkness!” Years later Robert Louis Stevenson would write a poem about his experience. 

Do you want to reach out to your neighbors but don’t know how to begin? Make a Fresh Start! This 4-week group training will encourage and equip you to take simple steps towards beginning a Bible study. Each seventy-five-minute video call will include training tools, group discussion and application.

Here's what others are saying about the Fresh Start group training...

Let Your Light Shine This Spring

. . . shine like stars in the universe. (Phil. 2:14-15)

Just as the closest stars shine the brightest, so we can shine the light of Christ into the lives of those near us – our neighbors, acquaintances, friends. In spring we automatically feel more hopeful as the weather warms up and flowers open. We can get outside and connect more with others. As we do, Jesus’ light within draws them closer to us, and ultimately to Him.

“Oh man, another one of these things,” she thinks to herself, as she pulls the red envelope out of her mailbox. “How many ways can I say no?” She takes the stack of mail inside and plops it all down on the kitchen table. The little red envelope, with her name written on the front in her neighbor’s neat cursive handwriting, is the only remotely interesting piece of mail she’s received today in a big stack of boring bills and advertisements. She sits down and sighs. “What’s she invited me to this time?” Inside the envelope, a cheerful pink and white card invites her to a Valentine’s Day tea given by the neighborhood Bible study. She smiles. She’s been receiving invitations like this for two solid years, and she’s running out of excuses. Her neighbor is a great gal – their sons are the same age and love playing together. But this Bible study stuff is not for her. Of course, this is just a tea party. It would be fun to meet some of the ladies in the neighborhood. How dangerous could it be?
 
Little did I know it at the time, but that Valentine’s Day tea was extremely dangerous for me. It turned my whole life upside down! And not just mine, but the lives of my husband, my children, and even my 66-year-old father.

 The tea was a starting point – the tiny spark that lit a raging fire within me.

 When I finally said yes, I was pleasantly surprised that the gals at the neighborhood Bible study were regular women, just like me. No one wore long dresses or shouted Scripture at me. During the tea, I heard a five-minute teaching on God’s grace. It was exactly the simple message my tired, hungry heart longed to hear – that there was a God in Heaven who loved me, not for how well I could behave or how many good works I could accomplish, but just for ME.

As we pray every day at 10:02am asking God to send out laborers (to coincide with Luke 10:2), we believe Kelin is an answer to that prayer! Once she was aware of the tools NBS2GO offered to help reach neighbors for Christ, she did not delay to reach out and begin a Bible study in her neighborhood in Honduras. God led Kelin to become an ambassador for NBS2GO in Honduras, as she now helps train and equip churches to fulfill the mission of NBS2GO – “Reach the people around you, begin a Bible study group.” 

Thank You. Two simple words — both written and spoken — hover as an endangered species in our ‘hurry up and get it done’ culture. But we see in the Book of Luke that Thank You is important to God.

Six years ago, Chris and Elizabeth McKinney threw a small fish fry in their driveway with 4-5 families around them. Having just moved into the neighborhood, they thought it would be fun to get to know some of their new neighbors. They enjoyed it so much, they planned several other get-togethers and soon met another couple who said they’d love to help create a sense of community in the neighborhood. The following year, they worked together with a lot of neighbors to pull off a larger block party where 75 adults and kids attended. The parties continued to grow from there and they saw a shared desire - even hunger - for community amongst neighbors.