By Mark A. KellnerPosted May 13, 2020
The global lockdown following the coronavirus outbreak is changing any number of daily habits for people around the world. While it hasn’t been easy, one positive development is two months of explosive growth for the Amazing Facts Bible School, director Carolyn Moxley reports.
“It’s just continuing to grow. Last year, we had an average monthly enrollment of 2,500 per month, but starting in January, it went up,” Carolyn says. “We had 5,095 correspondence enrollments in March alone!”
April’s numbers were even more astonishing: 6,807 total enrollments. And about 1,375 students enrolled in our online Bible School in April, nine times the average monthly online enrollment last year.
The Bible School—available online here or via postal mail to the United States and Canada—feature the Amazing Facts Study Guides, 27 in-depth, easy-to-understand lessons focusing on the Bible’s most vital subjects in these last days. Topics covered include Jesus’ sacrifice and salvation; what really happens after death; how to live healthier, stronger, and longer; how to improve your marriage and relationships; the truth about hellfire, heaven, and the millennium; and how to be prepared for Jesus’ return.
Also available online is Storacles of Prophecy, 24 Bible lessons that reveal God’s plan for humanity—from creation to the earth made new. These lessons feature questions that are completed by looking up Bible verses and draw on history and biblical parables to convey eternal truths.
Carolyn shares that the mail-in lessons are labor-intensive for Amazing Facts staff and volunteers, who help with grading and preparing lessons for mailing. “With the total number of lessons mailed, that’s a lot of labels,” she adds. “We physically mail the lessons, grade them, and address the lessons.”
During the lockdown, that physical labor is taking place largely away from the W.O.R.D. Center, headquarters for Amazing Facts International. Staff and volunteers work offsite, with people meeting onsite staff at the front door to exchange graded lessons for new ones to process. Another complication is that only about half of the typical number of volunteers are active due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Carolyn shares, “We certainly need prayer for the staffing and the volunteers to handle the additional growth and wisdom to know how to do that.”
But while the Bible School team faces unusual demand—and challenges—during the pandemic, we rejoice that God is leading people to study the Scriptures, and that He has moved so many to financially support this effort to educate seekers and prepare them for eternity!