Hey! I’m Marla and I’m so glad to meet you here. The last two decades have been rich journeying with students and leaders in the local church pursuing Jesus together. If you are considering a retreat or camp speaker, I’d love to connect about your needs. Teaching the Bible in compelling & creative ways and helping others understand & appreciate their true value and worth in Christ is my great joy!
Jesus is good news for everyone!
Jesus is good news for everyone!
My ministry heroes? Leaders and parents! Encouraging, training, vision-casting, partnering with and supporting parents, adult volunteers, and student volunteers was a key part of my role on student ministry staff and THE key to seasons of flourishing. I’d love to dream with you about how to develop and care for the people that make weekly ministry possible.
Midweek Teaching
Students are eager to learn. In a world of ever expanding information, they are searching for truth. May we never water down the gospel, may we never think they’re too young for deep theological truths, may we be surrendered to the Holy Spirit’s leading to communicate in ways that connect with their context, may we always point them to the One who will never disappoint them, the One who will never forsake them, and may they know they are deeply loved by their Creator and are of infinite value to Him.
(Video clip above: Wednesday Middle School teaching series on the life of Jesus)
“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. ”
Beautifully, mysteriously simple
If you can preach (not in today’s negative sense of the word, but in it’s Greek meaning: to proclaim or announce Jesus/the gospel) to middle school students, you can preach to any audience.
I stand by that encouragement and often hyped guest speakers with it after they “survived” sharing a message with students!
The secret: Tell the truth as simply as you can, don’t apologize for the mysteries of God, and be personally enthralled with the beauty of it all. The resulting authenticity will leave space for your listeners to explore the claims of Christianity.
Check this video to see how I encouraged students to learn the WHOLE Bible could be summed up with 5 pictures and 7 words! I gifted them a watercolor sample for Christmas!
We referred back to this illustration often in any biblical context we were discussing and asked where the people or events fit in the picture.
This also gave students a simple way to share the meta narrative of scripture with their friends!
5 pictures & 7 words;
5 pictures & 7 words;
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Contact
Interested in working together? Let’s talk about how I might join you-retreats, camps, leader training, and prayer experiences are some of my favorite things.
Fill out some info and I’ll be in touch shortly. Can’t wait to hear from you!
