By Brenda Cannon Henley
One of the other time worn and tested Bible stories I truly enjoy teaching to children or adults was unearthed during my recent move to Florida. I found great delight in sitting in the floor with the boxes all around me traveling down memory lane while I was supposed to be working diligently to be prepared for the big moving truck.

As Mama Cole would say, I was “dilly dallying,” instead of working. But, oh, the rich, vibrant memories my travels brought back to my mind. Our ministry was blessed in the fact that our pastor held a sincere belief that children should be loved and taught the Word of God. We saw many complete families come to our church by way of the children that rode one of our 53 bus routes that operated all over the greater metro Atlanta area.

We also saw many homes righted, marriages and families saved, and men, women, and children unite in worship and growth and enjoy an active, growing church ministry. In many cases, it became a generational set of events with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins getting involved. Even now, many years later, when I get home for a visit, it is not uncommon for me to see one or more families from those years of teaching. When I hear the ringing “Miss Brenda,” it is usually from a student I taught years ago.

We were also blessed to have wonderful buildings in which to teach. After our church grew to build the “new” 2,638 seat auditorium, the Super Church we founded occupied the “old” building where thousands of boys and girls heard the gospel message. The baptistry made a perfect puppet ministry stage area and we had modern technology sound and lighting.

One of my favorite stories to teach is the 17th book of the Bible, Esther. There are so many facets to her life and story that I could teach on her life for months. And when I think of Queen Esther, I am once again amazed to hear intelligent people say the Bible is boring. It isn’t.

In far off Babylon, the disbursed Jews were threatened with destruction. Esther is the beautiful and dramatic story of how God chose to save them through Esther and Mordecai. If you want a concise view of this book, it could be outlined:

I. Queen Vashti’s fall
II. Esther’s rise
III. Haman’s evil plan
IV. Esther’s intervention
V. Haman’s plot backfires
VI. The celebration feast
VII.The epilogue

There are so many exciting twists and turns in this wonderful story and I always cheer when the villain gets what’s coming to him. I challenge you to read the ten chapters of Esther for yourself and determine the many stories to be gleaned from these verses. We will choose several to share in future writings.

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788, or
[email protected]

[3-4-2019]