Open Letter to Harley Swiggum
From Barry Pearce

Training Other Teachers Well, I might have been mistaken. Perhaps this was the most fun. I had a small group sign up for the teacher training. Now I was going to get to read through the entire Bible for the third time. One begins to get the idea that the Bethel Bible Series got me into the Word in a major way. The materials were very familiar to me now, and the Scriptures were becoming more than an overview. Each time I read through, I realized how interconnected the Old and New Testaments are. More than that, I was strengthening my memory of the concepts. My friends from church had some fun kidding me about my memorization of the concepts. You see, Harley, I drove a small sports convertible to work, covering two freeways on my half-hour commute. During that time, I reviewed a stack of concepts, which I changed out every day. So I had about an hour a day dedicated to memorization of concepts. But my friends could see me in my open convertible with a stack of business cards in my free hand. Yes, I had resorted to using business cards for memorization of my concepts. When someone left or changed titles in my company, I got their old business cards. I needed them because I was adding to the list of concepts that you provided in the Bethel Series. What prompted memorization of new verses? Well, it was reading through the entire Bible and seeing relationships between the text in the Old and the New Testaments. As an example, look at 1 Corinthians 9:9. I think that the Bethel Series had us memorize the concept in Deuteronomy 25, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain." (Verse 4) But how could one pass up the opportunity to memorize 1 Corinthians 9:9, "For it is written in the law of Moses, 'You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.' Is it for oxen that God is concerned?" And the text explains that God is concerned for those spreading the word of redemption. It is for this kind of concept that I had to add to the concepts. And, I am still adding, as I wend my way through daily reading. Yes, the Bethel Series got me into a mode of daily Bible reading, and I am continuing in that mode. Also, after I retired, I decided that I had to find time to keep up on the concepts. So I generally spend an hour in the late afternoon looking at a stack of cards. You, Harley, can take credit for that impact in my life. So, I had a little group of dedicated Bible Students. And we did our homework. The group included Michael and Marilda, Jim and Janice, Bob Martin, and Alice. Wow, did we ever become close. Bob Martin has gone to be with the Lord, but I doubt that there is anything I could ask of these folks, that they wouldn't respond with love. And I know from our weekly gatherings over two years that they ended up with a tremendous grasp of the Bible. To continue reading Barry's letter to Harley Swiggum, click Long Term Effect here, or in the frame on the left.