This story comes from Pastor Chris Hazard in Norfolk, NE. Pastor Hazard describes his successful experience using Crossways International's materials for confirmation classes —for youth and their parents!

Confirmation Class Format. Pastor Hazard has only been teaching The Divine Drama® for a few months, but already he is seeing positive results. The Divine Drama®: Our Narrative is being taught as a follow-up to The Bible's Big Story. Parents are required to attend the Sunday morning Confirmation classes, as well.

The class format is simple:

1. The transparency (the CI teaching visual), for the week's lesson, is placed on an overhead projector. 
2. The picture is explained first by the teacher and then
3. Re-explained by the students.
4. The class then goes over the text of the lesson and
5. The course is occasionally supplemented with other information that the teacher believes to be relevant and important for the students.
6. Upon finishing the confirmation course as a "final exam," the students are required to explain the meaning and themes of the key teaching visuals.

The students demonstrate their knowledge publicly before the entire congregation! Pastor Hazard feels that, at this point, they fully understand the biblical story that centers around Jesus and, more importantly, its impact on how they should live their lives. He also comments that the kids have more fully learned how to interact in a Christian way with one another- attributes which he hopes they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Parents' Response. Pastor Hazard attributes the success of the parent's involvement and attendance, to two factors- the flexibility of the class schedule and the church's emphasis on the importance of parents being involved in all aspects of their children's Christian upbringing, both at home and at Church. He believes that the parents are now taking that responsibility very seriously and attributes it to the parents' experience during the classes.

Parents' Life Changing Experience. Many parents who were maybe on the fringes of the church or had become lax in their walk have been rejuvenated. The parents' response has been remarkable! Pastor Hazard notes that they are understanding their faith more clearly than ever before. It is obvious that the information is really soaking in —one parent remarked that they'd never thought about everything belonging to God!

Simple and Profound. The information presented in The Divine Drama® and The Bible's Big Story is simple but profound, stated Pastor Hazard. Crossways International hopes that this story will be helpful to others as they develop youth curriculum. God Bless!

Click here for more on The Divine Drama®, or click here for more on The Bible's Big Story.

Please contact us with your questions (& pictures!) and tell us about your own experiences with Crossways International's materials and resources.