Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 10, 1991 TAG: 9103100067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: E-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Explaining the Bible to people across the world via shortwave radio is Woodward's new life's work.
"When I became a believer, I was 19," he said. "I was a young barbarian. No one could explain the Bible to me."
At Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., a professor of Bible, Dr. J. Vernon McGee "was a great minister, a great Bible teacher," Woodward said. "As soon as I could understand it, my father, who had a third-grade education, asked me to teach it to him. When I saw what it meant to my father, I thought everyone's father ought to have that experience."
In the Biblical account, Philip asks the traveler if he understands what he's reading and the man replies, "How can I unless someone explains it to me?"
So when people say "I wish I could understand this, I'd like to get up in the chariot" with them, Woodward said.
He developed a course for the church he founded, Virginia Beach Community Chapel. "The leadership of the church felt their greatest need seemed to be working knowledge of the Bible," Woodward said.
But, Woodward said, while he was healthy he was so busy he had time to give the course only "a lick and a promise."
He developed multiple sclerosis in the late 1970s, which slowed him down and eventually confined him to a wheelchair. Suddenly, he had time to refine the course. He left Virginia Beach and became pastor of Williamsburg Community Chapel, where he now is part-time teacher in residence.
The course is now 180 lectures on videotape and audiotape. There also are almost 2,000 pages of notes and outlines.
Woodward said the course first explains a Bible passage, then shows students how they can apply it to their lives.
The course was intended for laymen, to bring the Bible to those without seminary training, or even much formal education. But Woodward said he's found that in foreign countries, often the greatest need is for Bible training for preachers.
The course is translated and broadcast over Trans World Radio in English, Spanish and Portuguese in South America and in Mandarin Chinese in China. By the end of the year, Woodward said he hopes the course will be broadcast in Eastern Europe and in India.
"I had no intention of it going beyond my local church," Woodward said. "Some men got a hold of it. They decided to have it packaged and distributed."
The men, listed on his letterhead as his advisory council, helped raise the money to buy the radio time on Trans World Radio, Woodward said. Between May 1, 1990, and the end of the year they raised $250,000, he said. "The men on the letterhead, most of them were converted from hearing the course," he said.
The courses are read and taught by native speakers in those countries, Woodward said. They run five days a week for nine months until all 180 lectures are finished, he said.
"In South America, we ran it through a couple of times and said `now what?' " he said. Pastors there asked for supplemental broadcasts outlining key books of the Bible. Now, Woodward is planning to tape programs about issues in the church.
The idea of explaining the Bible to travelers continues to work today, Woodward said. "Some of my best students . . . are men who work as traveling salesmen and they have tapes and rack them up in their car. Some of them have gone through the course four of five times that way."
by CNB