TSBC E-Quipper - October 2010 Issue

As the Rubber Meets the Road

By Russell Hohneck

My passion in ministry is that all theology works out in practice – it is the “rubber on the road” concept. Recently I experienced an incident where the rubber and the road were not working together. As I cruised along, the rubber didn’t stick and gravity brought us hard onto the road. The bike was totalled and I ended up a little worse for the experience.

The same result occurs when theology is gained for the purpose of learning and little attention given to how it is to be practiced. The Lord surely is the master at putting the two together. This is easily identified in the title by which the Lord is endearingly referred to throughout the Scriptures as “the Shepherd.” The greatest theologian then is known in terms of a very practical task. Shepherding the flock of God is the heartbeat of the Lord and biblical history and Scriptures are strongly marked with this analogy (e.g. Exodus 34; Psalm 23; John 10; Luke 15; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter; Hebrews 13:20). Even in heaven itself, Jesus will be known as the Shepherd:

“. . . for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, . . . .” Revelation 7:17.

No wonder at the end of three years of training His disciples in theology and personal mentoring, Jesus says to Peter while probing Peter’s love and devotion for Himself , “tend my lambs . . . shepherd my sheep . . . tend my sheep.” Shepherding the flock is the heart of the greatest Shepherd and every theology and ministry needs to reflect that very practical “rubber on the road” shepherding if it is to be centered on Christ.

I believe that TSBC has this focus as it trains and equips people within the church. Theology and shepherding go hand in hand and TSBC is striving to bring the rubber of theology to the road of faith.

For further reading:“The Minister as Shepherd” by Charles Jefferson.

Sermon Series Update

At Riverbend Bible Church, we are two weeks into a four-week sermon series entitled "God's Gracious Hand Towards Sinners".

The four passages we're covering are;

1. David's Sin (2 Samuel 11) – Done!
2. David's Rebuke (2 Samuel 12) – Done!
3. David's Confession (Psalm 51)
4. David's Lessons Learned (Psalm 32)

If you interested in listening to the sermons you can get them here: RBC Sermon Audio

TSBC E-Quipper - September 2010 Issue

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children
by Joe Fleener

When you read a verse like Ephesians 5:1 what catches your attention first? For many of us it is the command, “be imitators of God.” I would like to suggest that the command is surrounded by some profound truths, that if missed will skew our view of God and His desires for us.

1. We are told in verse 4:32 that we are forgiven people in Christ!
2. We are told in 5:1 we are beloved children!

These are wonderful, life-changing truths; truths simple enough for a child to understand and yet deep enough to soak into our souls over a lifetime.

When was the last time you consciously and deliberately reminded yourself of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

The gospel is the truth, that the eternal, holy Creator of the universe, planned before the foundation of the world to provide the means for sinful men to be reconciled to Himself by sending His Son, the second person of the Trinity – fully God, into the world as the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ, who being fully man while still fully God lived a perfect, holy life fulfilling God’s just requirements, finally submitting Himself to death on a cruel cross being judged as a sinner, though innocent, in the place of sinners, satisfying the divine wrath of God, then raising triumphantly from the dead in three days conquering sin and death for all those who put their faith in Him and Him alone for their salvation.

Have you placed your faith in Christ and Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins? Have you acknowledged before God that you are that sinner in need of His forgiveness which is only possible in the person and finished work of Christ?

If so, listen to this – “You’re forgiven! And if that wasn’t enough, you have been made His child! You are a son/daughter of the Living God!” As a child there is nothing you can do to earn more of God’s favour and there is nothing you can do to lose God’s favour! Rather than this being a license for sin, for those who know they are forgiven sinners, this is our motivation for child-like obedience.

You have a Father who loves you with an everlasting love! He has already provided for your greatest need, in Christ. Everything else is insignificant in comparison.

Wow! Now when you read the command in Ephesians 5:1, “be imitators of God,” what comes to mind? We imitate God because we love Him as Father!

Of course, I want to imitate my Father. This isn’t drudgery, this is a joy. Imitating Him is the most natural expression of thanksgiving I can offer as a forgiven, beloved child. And when I fail, which I will, I can run to my Father who forgives and, by His grace, gives me the desire and ability to glorify Him.

Create Your Own Website - Finalweb

Sereena has become a Finalweb reseller and now has the ability to help you with creating your own website. If you're interested in designing a website for your church, ministry, family, school, or business, take a look at her website at www.redbrickhouse.co.nz

There are many templates to chose from at very affordable prices. Sereena can help you through the process and show you how to maintain your website yourself. It's easy. Click on this picture . . .

TSBC Expository Preaching Training

This past weekend at The Shepherd's Bible College we conducted one round of preaching labs for seven students who had been attending the Homiletics 1 course this term. Homiletics 1 is a preliminary course in preaching that begins the process of expository preaching training.

Each student had spent the preceding six weeks preparing their sermons which culminated in an evaluation of their sermon delivery.

Pictured below are the seven students. . .


Left to right: Michelle Ward (USA), Zohar Gonen (Israel), Gareth Cross, (Melbourne), Warren Jardine (Melbourne), Sean Hofman (Auckland), Josh Powell, (Wellington), and Reuben Pickering (Cambridge).

The men preached to a group of assembled believers on Saturday and Sunday. Michelle preached her message to a group of forty ladies this morning at Riverbend Bible Church.

What a joy to be involved in such valuable ministry training! The students will continue the training process next term. For now, we take a two week break. Please continue to pray for them.

Preaching Series

I am preaching a series of sermons at Riverbend Bible Church over the next four Sundays. The series is entitled "God's Gracious Hand Towards Sinners" and will focus on how the Lord treats his chosen people with undeserved grace even when they fail Him.

The four sermons trace God's grace toward David as seen after David sinned against Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. The first two Sundays will provide the historical background to the narrative and the last two Sundays will outline the nature of genuine confession. The four passages we'll cover are;

1. David's Sin (2 Samuel 11)
2. David's Rebuke (2 Samuel 12)
3. David's Confession (Psalm 51)
4. David's Lessons Learned (Psalm 32)

Please pray that God will be glorified in the exposition of His Word and that His grace would be magnified in our understanding.

Short Term Mission Trip

I just returned from a week of teaching in South East Asia. Grant Watson and I were teaching a group of 30 pastors who had gathered to hone their skill in expository preaching.

What a joy to encourage these men by walking them through the four Gospels explaining their significance in knowing Christ, the gospel, and tracing the events that led up to Christ's death at Calvary. We focussed on each of the four gospelists' purposes for writing to their given audiences, the features of each gospel, and the circumstances that surrounded each gospel record. Then we walked through each book highlighting the significant themes.


The men responded with such joy and encouragement. We were very blessed.

The days were difficult as we taught in very hot and very humid conditions. We consumed a lot of water. My teaching notes now have sweat stains all over them.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us. We stayed healthy and were able to get through everything we had planned. Our translator seemed to cope with our Kiwi accents. We have made some new friends with whom we will share eternity. Our families back here in New Zealand also seemed to manage without us.

God has been gracious to us.

Riverbend Bible Church - Satellite Photo

Google Maps have recently updated their satellite photo of Riverbend Bible Church. If you click on the photo below it will become enlarged – then look carefully – you can even tell which event was happening at the time when the photo was taken. Can you tell?





. . . Yes, it is Sports Camp 2009.

Sports Camp 2010

At Riverbend Bible Church we are eagerly anticipating our annual Sports Camp which is held over Labour Day Weekend (22-25 October). The weekend is primarily designed as an evangelistic ministry event centred around sport. Teams gather from around the North Island to compete against each other in sports such as rugby, soccer, netball, basketball, hockey, cycling, athletics, kayaking, softball, volleyball, beach volleyball, longball, cross country, and more.

The aims of Sports Camp are:
• to glorify and honour God in everything we do at Sports Camp (1 Cor 10:31; Rom 15:5-6).
• to evangelise the unsaved represented at camp (including both campers and referees) (Matt 28:18-20).
• to challenge and mature the Christian young people in the teams so they can grow in their walk with the Lord and be a witness to the unsaved in their team and in other teams (Eph 4:12-15; 1 Peter 3:15).
• to come alongside team leaders to encourage and support them in their youth leadership roles (Heb 10:24-25).
• to provide a safe sporting environment where, sportsmanship and participation is encouraged.

These aims are achieved by:
• faithfully preaching the gospel using the living and active Word of God.
corporately worshipping God through music and songs that glorify Him both in content and delivery.
• encouraging team leaders in God’s Word and in prayer, in order to promote a unified goal and purpose.
• providing opportunities for Riverbend Bible Church to interact with campers and share the gospel one-on-one.
• providing opportunities for Riverbend Bible Church and other helpers to serve during Sports Camp, thereby modelling a servant heart.
• maintaining a Christlike testimony in all aspects of planning and hosting Sports Camp.

The speaker this year is Mike Penberthy, a former Los Angeles Laker. Here is his bio:
At 6'3" (1.90 m), the NAIA powerhouse guard played for The Master's College in California where he gained much attention. Mike broke numerous school records (including most career points), and was later inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2005. Penberthy played 56 games for the Los Angeles Lakers over two years and was part of the 2000-01 championship winning team. After the Lakers, Mike played basketball professionally in Italy for eight years.

Mike attends Placerita Baptist Church, California – the same church that sent us last year's Sports Camp speaker, John Richard.

Here is some video footage of Mike's basketball days, if you're interested. . .

Man, Sin, and Salvation

Since Donald Stevenson, one of our teachers of theology, is currently in Zambia undertaking pastoral training there, Tony Nuñez taught our Theology 3 block course. Tony is a graduate of The Master's Seminary and is currently serving as Youth Pastor at Howick Baptist Church in Auckland.

The weekend intensive course covered topics like the origin and nature of man, the fall and its consequences, total depravity, the atonement of Christ, election, regeneration, conversion, justification, sanctification and glorification.

I sat in the block course for several hours over the weekend and enjoyed it very much. Students travelled from Hastings, Wellington, and Hamilton to be here.

Please continue to pray for our student body who sacrifice greatly to be a part of the training programmes.

Eschatology Weekend Seminars

This past weekend, I taught a series of seminars on the Book of Revelation and Eschatology (End Times) at Marton Bible Chapel. The schedule included eleven hours of teaching, starting Friday evening, and ending Sunday afternoon.
We began the weekend by asking, "Why study the End Times?" and answered with the statement: "We study End Times, not primarily to build a calendar, but rather to build a character." Hence, our goal for the weekend was to consider how we might be better prepared to meet our Saviour and how we might be faithful to the task of evangelism while we wait expectantly.

In the sessions that followed, we:
• Discussed and agreed to utilise the literal-grammatical-historical hermeneutic
• Compared the theological perspectives of Eschatology
• Surveyed the Book of Revelation
• Completed a chronological survey of the End Times by compiling selected Scriptures from throughout the Old and New Testaments

A team of TSBC students came with us to enjoy the seminars and to encourage the local saints. We all enjoyed our time Marton Bible Chapel.
Here is a photo we took from the top of the Wanganui tower . . .
Here's some of the TSBC students gathering at the foot of the tower . . .
And here is me with my sweetheart . . .

2011 Impact Bible Conference

Plans are coming together for Impact 2011. The dates are Thursday–Monday, 2–6 June. The speakers are Dr Bill Barrick, Dr Jack Hughes, John Richard, and Lisa Hughes.

The theme is entitled "Stepping into Eternity" and will focus our thoughts on the believer's glorification, the soon return of Christ, Heaven, and other future events. The goal is that we might be motivated to live holy lives while we wait for Christ and make the most of our opportunity to proclaim the Good News while we still can.


Dr Bill Barrick and Dr Jack Hughes will tackle this central theme, while John Richard will address the youth, and Lisa Hughes the women. I'll keep you posted as other elective speakers are added.

For now, here is the artwork for next year's conference. . .

TSBC 2011 Semester Schedule

Next year, we will transition to a two-semester schedule at The Shepherd's Bible College. This will replace the four-term schedule which has been in place for the past ten years. If you click on the graphic below, you will see the schedule in a larger format.

The key dates in 2011 are as follows:
• Orientation Day: 5 March
• First Semester Begins: 8 March
• Impact Bible Conference: 2-6 June
• First Semester Ends: 7 July
• Second Semester Begins: 9 August
• Second Semester Ends: 1 December
• Graduation: 10 December

TSBC E-Quipper - August 2010 Issue

Expanding The Impact

One of the great privileges for the believer is to see God’s work as it expands around the globe. In this edition we hear from Donald Stevenson, the Department Head of Theology, who is on an extended ministry trip in southern Africa. The Shepherd's Bible College (TSBC) is privileged to partner with local congregations throughout NZ and around the world. In addition, TSBC is a partner school of The Master’s Academy International (TMAI) which aids sound, biblical theological training around the globe.

Donald writes:

“My family and I arrived in Zambia via South Africa about a month ago. We are here furthering the partnership of our local NZ church with Samfya Bible School. This school exists to equip the rural Bemba people, a simple, yet loving people among whom the Church is thriving. The Bemba have a great need for sound biblical training and Samfya Bible School plays a key role. As we have fostered our relationship, we now see the opportunity to greatly help the Bemba through aiding their instructors and filling needs where appropriate and possible. Because of our partnership with TMAI, we were able to meet with men while in South Africa who can aid in the further equipping of Samfya’s instructors. We are a privileged family as we see the Lord orchestrating the growth of His Church as a congregation from NZ aids a school in Zambia which will be benefited from a partnership in South Africa. Now, more will be equipped to stand alone on the Word of God as the authority that will bring freedom from the ancestral worship and spiritism that cripples this land! Our God is faithful to build His church and we know that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What a blessing to be a small part of seeing this happen.”

To keep up with the adventures and ministry of the Stevenson’s check out their blog: www.rbcinafrica.blogspot.com


Bibles and teaching resources from Riverbend Bible Church in New Zealand received enthusiastically.

TSBC Courses Underway

Classes began this week at The Shepherd's Bible College. Term three is now underway with the following courses being offered:

• NT Survey 3 (Pauline Epistles): Nigel Shailer
• OT Survey (1 Kings-Esther and Poetical Books): Joe Fleener
• Christian Living 4: Russell Hohneck
• Hermeneutics 2 (Interpreting different Bible genres): Phil Henderson
• Homiletics 1 (Preaching): Nigel Shailer
• Theology 3 (Man, Sin, and Salvation): Tony Nuñez

Please pray for each of these lecturers and their students.