The BEMA House

The BEMA House is officially open.
Let the crazy experiment begin.

The journey to this place has been a crazy one.  If the reader is unfamiliar with the BEMA program and what we're attempting to accomplish, they should definitely check our BEMA's website first and couch this conversation within a larger context first.

The house wasn't even a part of our plan for this school year.  It was sitting on my long-term goals list somewhere around the 5-10 year mark.  Yet, when God blew the doors open (no pun intended) on the opportunity to rent out the next door house to my family's residence, after much prayer and some waiting, we jumped on the opportunity.

We arrived in Moscow and were set to move into the BEMA House in the second week of August.  On the first week of August, however, the owner decided to do a complete and total remodel on the home.  This was great news and concerning news at the same time.  The great news is that we'd get to enjoy a brand new and clean home with all-new appliances for our great experiment.  The concerning news is that we had three female residents signed up to move in in less than a week.  We all crossed our fingers and proceeded as planned.

The house wasn't ready on time.  The girls were incredibly gracious and were able to change their plans and give the workers another week to work.

The house still wasn't ready.  We were able to get the girls' moving trucks unloaded into the bedrooms and the management company put up the girls in hotel rooms for a few nights.  To make a long story short, we got the girls into the house on the night before the first day of classes.  The last two weeks has been a combination of getting the rest of the house in order and waiting for the work to be finished up.  We finally have gotten settled in the home and there is only a few small items we are waiting for.  We feel like life in the house has finally started and we are anxious about seeing what God is going to do.  We have had our first meeting and have even planned our Grand Opening party.

Here is a short video giving you a tour of the premises:




The house is designed around three guiding principles:
COMMUNITY -- We will seek to share life together.  We want to live in such a way that our paths intentionally cross every day, multiple times a time.  We will share laundry facilities and kitchens.  We will eat together and watch TV together.  We will have common places to study, to relax and to converse.

DISCIPLESHIP -- The study groups we have talked about before really aren't the essence of the discipleship process at all.  They are simply the preparation.  The biblical concept of discipleship started when a rabbi invited the student to follow him.  Acceptance of this call was not only the greatest honor of first-century biblical culture, it was also a complete change of plans and abandon to follow that teacher for the next few years.  You followed in his steps all day, every day, every week, every month, all year; you were in a never-ending atmosphere of "learning by doing; learning by following".  A bible study is not discipleship.  A small group is not discipleship.  Even a daily gathering each day isn't discipleship.  At least not in the biblical sense of the term.  Even the life of the BEMA House isn't discipleship; but it is an experiment in that direction.  Maybe God doesn't require that we make disciples the way He made disciples.  But I'm wondering why more people having asked that question or tried to pursue that call.  This is the discipleship experiment for BEMA.

PURSUING GOD -- We hope that the BEMA House creates some very intentional and unique spaces to pursue God.  In a world that busies itself with so many "other" things, we want to create spaces where we rest in the things of God.  How do we learn how to pray and listen?  How can we create an atmosphere where the "God conversation" is the right conversation to be on anybody's lips at any time?  These are the questions we want to ask about what we're trying to accomplish at the house.   The students are asked to take part in intentional spiritual discipline during their time at the house.  They will study the Text, they will memorize the Text, they will write out large portions of the Text.  They will try to find rhythms of rest and Sabbath.  They will try to find how to dwell with, converse with, and listen to God.


All in all, I'm incredibly excited to see what's going to happen in this great experiment and I can't wait to see all the things that God's going to do that will be outside of our design and plan.  I can only hope that we will be disciplined and attentive enough to catch it.