Written by Cameron Wisniewski, News Reporter
DAYTON, TN – On Monday Sept. 12, Bryan College hosted a promotion for an upcoming Scriptorium event during Chapel. The Scriptorium will be held on November 7th in Rudd Auditorium. The speakers were Aaron and Emily House, leaders of a ministry called Piercing Word. Piercing Word aims to encourage Bible memorization. Pastor Jim Woodchuck is the pastor at a local church, and invited Mr. & Mrs. House to speak at Bryan. The organization travels around the country putting on dramatized Bible showings to encourage appreciation for God’s Word.
After the service, Mr. & Mrs. House set up a table outside of the cafeteria, where they offered a book for purchase about Piercing Word. They also discussed the earlier chapel service. They offered opportunities to get involved with Piercing Word. These opportunities involve, among others, being a member of the dramatizations, becoming an audio technician or donating money.
One of the major questions that came up had to do with why Scripture should be memorized. Pastor Woodchuck believes memorizing Scripture is necessary because people need something concrete for their faith. “Faith is not empty, it is exercised with a goal or an object. Of course, the ultimate goal is God Himself, and one of the ways that God’s revealed Himself is His word,” Pastor Woodchuck said.
Mr. House believes that memorizing Scripture is important because people need ready access to God’s word. “A lot of people say, oh I don’t need to memorize God’s word because I have it on my smartphone. Well, the Bible on your smartphone is a sheathed sword, and how many sheathed swords won spiritual battles, or battles in general?” said Mr. House
While knowing why memorizing Scripture is important, it is also important to know how to memorize well. Mr. & Mrs. House said one of the suggestions often given to new memorizers is the Three Verse Challenge. This is when the memorizer finds one of their favorite Bible verses and memorizes the verse immediately preceding and following it. Another suggestion that Mr. & Mrs. House give is the Psalm of Your Age, where someone memorizes the Psalm matching how old they are.
Mr. & Mrs. House believe that memorizing Scripture is an excellent pursuit, but another major draw for the Scriptorium is the dramatization of Scripture. “I think Scripture was meant to be expressive. We forget that the Bible was written by real people, with real emotions, for real people with real emotions. And when you add the emotion back into it that’s already there, you experience it for the way it was meant to be experienced,” said Mrs. House.
To get involved in Piercing Word’s ministries, go to piercingword.org. A video guide is available at warriorsoftheword.com, as well as a leader guide to help lead people through the course.
Cameron Wisniewski is a junior communications major at Bryan College. He is from Georgia, and likes to read and play video games in his spare time.
