Pastor Marty Roberson is a 1999 seminary graduate in his first call at Port Royal Lutheran Church, Port Royal, PA. Pastor Roberson started teaching Crossways and The Divine Drama® recently after attending a Living Word Workshop in Montgomeryville, PA, last year. Pastor Roberson says that he felt like he was "back in seminary" with all the notes he took at the workshop, but the experience and knowledge he gained were invaluable in helping him prepare to teach his Crossways classes.

Currently, Pastor Roberson teaches two sections of Crossways , with about 22 people attending one or the other session. He also teaches The Divine Drama® to 18 teenagers in confirmation class. He begins his Crossways classes with Scripture reading—right now the class is working through Psalm 119 a few verses at a time—and then the class spends some time in contemplation and prayer. The group reviews the previous week’s material, making sure to answer questions and trouble spots. Then they dig into the new lesson, spending an hour and a half, with a break in the middle. Pastor Roberson says he loves questions and comments, as they tend to generate good discussions.

To prepare the lessons, Roberson says he goes through the manuals as if he were a student.  He then goes to the leader’s guide to fill in the gaps. He tends to follow the manual closely because he finds it very well organized.

The biggest help to him in preparation, however, was the Living Word Workshop he attended last year. Roberson says it gave him the understanding and the knowledge to be an effective teacher of the Crossways and The Divine Drama® courses. Becoming a student first subsequently made him a better teacher.

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