Here at Crossroad Bible Institute headquarters, many of us know children or friends who are heading back to school this month—but Crossroad students study the Bible all year round! With the help of their Instructors, students are learning about biblical truths and studying what God desires for their lives every day. And time and time again, these studies prove to be more than just exercises for the mind. Knowledge of Jesus’ love spreads from students’ heads to their hearts, hands and feet as they find creative ways to make God’s Word a way of life.
In Lesson 8 of Great Truths of the Bible, the first course in CBI’s curriculum, Crossroad students encounter a verse that explains what it means to live for God: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1). Whether Crossroad students are leading Bible studies, handing out CBI enrollment forms, mentoring brothers and sisters in Christ, leading chapel worship or giving of their precious resources, they are taking to heart this idea of offering up their lives in service.
Here are some inspiring stories about students who hit the books and then hit the ground running, eager to serve others in the name of Christ . . .
The courses I have already taken have been edifying and uplifting . . . I experience God’s presence in my life in the gifts He has blessed me with. One in particular is the gift of giving. For a little over nine years, I have fed a different day hall or tier burritos. I provide everything by purchasing the items from the canteen. Everyone in the day hall or on that tier receives one. There are no distinctions between race, religion, origin, size, shape, mood, personality, crime, etc. I tell them it’s free, and I do it for the greater glory of God. I give in this way because I love God, and I wish to smile upon all of God’s creations.
– CBI Student Ramon R., CO
I’ve never felt this kind of love and joy. I usually cry because someone is helping to guide me through the Bible, and I so need the help. I’m studying the Gospel here in our pod with four others, and a lot that I learn from CBI I share with them.
– CBI Student Lori C., TX
Thank you for all the time and encouraging words you’ve given me that have really inspired me to keep reading and studying the Bible every day. Crossroad gave me such an understanding that helped me to study the Scriptures diligently. I now live to glorify God in whatever season. Last year I took a lot of CBI applications from the chapel just to pass them out to those who never make it to church because they are in the hole. I serve those in the hole by providing them with devotionals, Bibles, words of encouragement and other resources. I thank God for using me. He enables me, providing jobs to serve Him by serving others each day.
– CBI Student D.F., MD
When doing my CBI lessons, I began to see clearly what God really wanted me to do in prison, which was to use my gifts as a professional theatre artist in drama, dance and music to help other prisoners in the rehabilitation program. The completed CBI lessons and certificates that I have will help me when I get out of prison. I wish to enroll in university and do creative Gospel ministry, which will help me reach out to the people through my God-given gifts in drama, dance and music. To save a life and soul is the most divine gift of all.
– CBI Student Sam, Papua New Guinea
God has provided opportunity after opportunity for me to be a witness for Him. There are a dozen or so men who I have had the joy to witness to who ultimately have received the Lord. I was put on a work detail that I hadn’t requested, and as it turned out, it is a perfect position for me to lead multiple Bible study groups for men on different housing wings than me. God has blessed me to be a mentor to several of the men, and I thank CBI for being my spiritual mentor and showing me how to mentor others.
– CBI Student DeWayne G., MI