Building the Bible: Created to Build
Building the Bible
Created to Build
I've always loved building with LEGO.
I built with friends a lot. We'd build castles, create scenes and then play out whatever stories we had made up.
But some of my favorite memories are building with my dad.
We could sit together with a bunch of LEGO bricks and instructions and work on something piece by piece. At the time I thought we were building whatever was pictured on the box.
Looking back, my dad was building something else too.
I think there's something about building alongside someone that does that. You're working toward something together. You're talking. You're figuring things out. You're spending time together.
Maybe that's one reason I've always connected building things with God too. Our Heavenly Father doesn't just hand us a finished product. He invites us into what He's doing. Somewhere along the way, while we're working with Him, He's building a relationship with us.
I kept those LEGO bricks.
Actually, I kept them even though I didn't have kids of my own yet. Boxes of pieces that had once been castles and spaceships and whatever else we imagined.
I just couldn't get rid of them.
The same pieces.
A new generation.
I'm glad I didn't. My son and I build and play with those same pieces today.
I've always had a hard time throwing away good pieces.
Some of the same LEGO pieces I saved from my childhood are still being built with today.
Whether I'm building a business or a website, an event or a storefront, I've always enjoyed making things.
I started learning how to cook simple things. I've burnt plenty of them along the way, trust me. I've gotten better and I am the kind of guy who loves leftovers! This year that turned into making 12 breakfast casseroles and enough pulled pork to feed 90 people at our Breakaway Fall Retreat.
I also love working with my hands. I got into carpentry and started building tables, usually with someone working alongside me.
I love taking leftover pieces and making something with them.
But after 18 years in youth ministry, the most important things I've helped build aren't things at all.
They're relationships.
I've watched relationships begin with students I barely knew and grow over years. I've been there for baptisms and graduations. I've gotten to be part of weddings. Now I get to watch some of those same students serve, lead and build ministries of their own.
That makes sense to me because we were created by a Creator.
God has always been building something in His people.
And the Bible has some pretty incredible building projects.
Noah's Ark
The Tabernacle
The Temple
God told Noah to build an ark, and He gave him specific instructions for how to do it.
Noah had to keep building before he could see the reason for everything God had asked him to do. Board after board, day after day, he was practicing trust. The ark was being built, but so were Noah's faith and obedience.
When I started in youth ministry 18 years ago, I couldn't see the students I'd someday baptize, the weddings I'd attend, or the leaders I'd watch build ministries of their own. I could only build what God put in front of me next.
He's building the builder.
Then God gave Moses and the Israelites detailed instructions for the Tabernacle. The dimensions mattered. The materials mattered. The furniture mattered. God even gave people like Bezalel the creativity and craftsmanship necessary to do the work.
I love that creativity and craftsmanship were part of what God was doing.
Later, David prepared and Solomon led the construction of the Temple. Again there were plans, materials, craftsmen and a lot of work. They weren't simply constructing an impressive building. They were creating a place centered around the worship of God.
In all three stories, God's people were building something, and God was doing something in them at the same time.
Not everything we build stays together.
I've also learned that building sometimes means being willing to start over.
My mom was a potter when I was growing up. I watched her spend time working the clay only to smash it when it wasn't right and start again.
That wasn't wasted work. The clay was still there.
I've built successful things, and I've built things that failed. I've learned to keep the pieces.
Recently, one of our students gave me a haircut. He's become an awesome barber.
Sitting in the chair in the barber shop he's built in his garage reminded me of when we used to run Lucky Scruff out of my brother's garage.
I never planned on having to "smash" that business and close the doors during COVID.
But sitting there I remembered that I still had some really nice brushes, combs and other supplies left over from those days. I have no idea why I kept them all these years, but now there's a bag of them sitting in my truck waiting for him when I see him Wednesday night.
A piece from something I built gets to become part of something he's building.
He's even adding a second chair!
I love that.
Every business needs to understand that.
Every ministry does too.
What if building something helped us build relationships too?
There are a lot of teenagers in our community who aren't going to a Sunday School class anywhere this weekend. Most churches don't even offer Sunday School anymore.
That means there are students around us who may not have someone regularly sitting across from them, opening the Bible with them, answering questions and helping them learn how Scripture connects with their life.
I want us to keep finding creative ways to change that.
Building the Bible
That's why we're trying something new at Concord Students called Building the Bible.
For three weeks, we're going to study Noah's Ark, the Tabernacle and the Temple. For each story, we've purchased LEGO scenes with detailed instructions that allow our students to actually construct the biblical scene we're studying.
We'll open Scripture first. We'll look at the instructions God gave His people, what they built, why it mattered and what God was building in them through the process.
Then we'll open our instructions and build the scene together.
Yes, I hope some students come because building sounds fun.
But I hope we're building much more than what's pictured on the box.
Want to build with us?
Building the Bible is a free three-week experience for students in grades 6–12 at Concord Community Church, beginning September 20.
Building the Bible Info & RegistrationYears from now, I don't know where those LEGO scenes will be. They'll probably be taken apart and turned into something else.
But I hope the relationships we build outlast the LEGO.
That's what my dad was really building when he sat down with me all those years ago.
And that's what I want to build with these students.
The program doesn't have to last forever. The things we create don't have to stay together forever.
Sometimes you build something. Sometimes you tear it apart. Sometimes you save the pieces for years without even knowing why.
I'm learning to keep the pieces. God seems to have a way of using them again.