Strengthening Biblical Exposition in Los Angeles
The Simeon Trust Workshop breaks ground in Los Angeles
By God’s grace and for his glory and the health of churches in Los Angeles we hosted the first Simeon Trust Workshop in Los Angeles (January 24-26, 2024). We had a wonderful time learning biblical exposition through attempting to exposit 2 Timothy.
Most teachers and preachers want to improve but are not sure where they should focus or how to make progress. The Simeon Trust Expositional Preaching workshops helps both experienced and aspiring Bible teachers and preachers follow the words and goal of each biblical text so that it guides and shapes the words and goal of the preaching and teaching to our hearers today. We are all unaware of some of our assumptions and weaknesses. The pressure of the small group time, where you present and receive feedback on your expositional work, helps you identify weaknesses and areas to pursue growth in while the instructions and expositions keep us on the right track. When I first experienced the workshop as a participant in Beaumont California in 2022 I knew we had to bring this to Los Angeles.
If you want to register or invite someone to register for our January 2025 workshop you can go to this registration page.
I love the small group time. People become friends pretty quickly and camaraderie is priceless. Here was my crew:
As a first time host, it was a delight to have the veteran instructors Robert Kinney and Romell Williams bless us with their love, knowledge, and competency.
Because it was our first workshop and because many of us in So Cal are overconfident in our expository skills I pleaded with Robert Kinney to be the brother to come and break the seal on this workshop in LA. By God’s grace he came, during his sabbatical, and was the exact brother we needed to prepare our apprentice small group leaders and lead our first workshop. We spent the Tuesday with him and the small group leaders and apprentice small group leaders thinking through 2 Timothy and the pedagogy of leading small groups. It was a delightfully intense time together prepping. We were also gifted with Pastor Travis Rymer from Grace Harbor Church in Providence, RI and Pastor Bryan Winchester from Saving Grace Church in the Portland Oregon area fly out to serve and partner with us in helping the workshop participants make preaching-exposition progress and establish this workshop in LA. I was pumped to have my fellow Shepherd LA brothers, Nam Park, Trevor DeBenning, Jeff Ludington, Matt Jones, and Jon Buck serve as apprentice small group leaders. My fellow co-pastor, Peter Jung, and sister Ruby Bratcher did a superb job administrating and supporting the workshop. Without Peter Jung this workshop simply would not have happened. Without the ministry and support and commitment of the saints of Bellflower Baptist Church this workshop couldn’t have happened. May God help all of these servants experience the truth that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Breaking bread, reviewing the day, and chillin’ together was one of my favorite parts of the week.
My prayer is that God would cause the seeds of truth planted and watered in the workshop to bear fruit in Bible preachers and teachers making progress in conviction and competency. Please take a moment, if you’ve read this far, to thank God for the workshop in LA, pray for fruit from the time we invested together, and pray that God would continue to increase a movement of biblical exposition in Los Angeles and from Los Angeles to our neighbors and the nations. God help us! All glory be to Christ.
If you want to register or invite someone to register for our January 2025 workshop you can go to this registration page.