Needham Bible Chapel in Needham, Alabama, announces its 27th Anniversary Conference to be held on Saturday and Sunday, February 19 and 20, 2011. Needham Bible Chapel is located at 2497 New Hope Road in Needham, Alabama. The chapel phone number is (251) 843-2034.
Chuck Gianotti will be the conference speaker. Chuck and his wife Mary are from Rochester, New York. Chuck serves as an adjunct instructor at Kawartha Lakes Bible College and is founder and editor of Elders' ShopNotes, a bi-monthly leadership ministry mailing to church elders in North America, South America, and various other countries. He is involved in an itinerate speaking ministry, maintains a web-site containing teaching on various biblical topics (Bible-Equip.org) and produces a weekly e-mail devotional (E-Meditations). Over the years Chuck and Mary have served in camp ministry as well. During the conference, Needham Bible Chapel will be giving away copies of Chuck's book,
The Formation of the New Testament.
Saturday's subject is: The New Testament: Credible or Not? Christianity rises or falls on the historical credibility of the Bible, particularly the New Testament documents. It has come under increasingly forceful attacks, with major news and magazine outlets routinely publishing scholarly refutation of the historical basis of the Bible and its stories. Some assert that the Bible as we have it today was the result of a political posturing in the early church that was rife with intrigue, conspiracy, and secrecy. Others see it is a genuine effort by the 2nd and 3rd century church to read back into the very human stories of Christ a miraculous component that never existed in the first place. In such a post-modem (and some would say, post-Christian) culture, many are searching for answer to questions like these:
- Are the New Testament writings historically reliable?
- How do we know those book comprising the NT are authoritative?
- Who decided which documents to include?
- What about the apocryphal, deutero-canonical and Gnostic writings?
This presentation sunimarizes the large volume of available (yet very technical) information on the subject by providing a concise analysis of the facts to help you determine whether the New Testament as embraced by Christians for close to 2000 years is worthy of your confidence.
Saturday, February 19, 2011, Schedule:
10:00 AM
Welcome and Prayer
10:30 AM
Message 1 - What's the Problem?
The New Testament did not just dropout of heaven as one complete whole. How then did it come to be? How do we go about determining its historical origins? What actual documents do we have to work with?
11:30 AM
Q&A
11:45 AM
Lunch
1:00 PM
Message 2 - Why Were Some Writings Included?
How did the early church come to identify the current 27 books or parts of the New Testament as being authentic and authoritative?
2:00 PM
Q&A
2:15 PM
Break
2:30 PM
Message 3 - Why Were Some Writings Excluded?
What about those other writings, like the Gnostic gospels, the apocrypha and other writings? Why were they excluded?
3:30 PM
Q&A
3:45 PM
Break
4:00 PM
Message 4 - What Does It All Mean?
So what? What difference does it really make? How is the New Testament unique among religious documents. What does it mean for us today?
5:00 PM
Q&A
5:15
Supper
Sunday, February 20, 2011, Schedule:
9:45 AM
Breaking of Bread
10:45 AM
Break
11:00 AM
Ministry: Chuck Gianotti
12:00 PM
Lunch