The resident of Stony Plain, who is also a musician, writer and professional speaker, said he was introduced to the Great Adventure Bible Study program about 20 years ago when its founder, American evangelist and biblical scholar Jeff Cavins, taught the learning system to Landry and his classmates pursuing an Advanced Certificate in Youth Ministry from Life Teen Inc. in Arizona.
Landry says Cavins鈥� work, along with the book written by Scott Hahn entitled A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God鱿鱼视频app Covenant Love in Scripture, gifted him with a more holistic view of the Bible.
鈥淭hey gave me a framework to understand what I was reading and listening to when I would go to Mass on Sunday and when I devoted time to my own private Bible study,鈥� said Landry, who with wife Jennifer has five children. 鈥淚n youth groups, we would read a passage here or a book there, but never the whole big picture.鈥�
Successful completion of the Great Adventure Bible timeline is reading and meditating upon 14 books. Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, Luke and Acts are among the featured books. The connective tissue that Cavins scholarly forged between these 14 narratives spread over 12 time periods is illuminating God鱿鱼视频app 鈥渇amily plan鈥� going from Adam and Eve to King David up to Jesus and the Church.
Sparked by coming across a different book authored by Cavins last summer, Landry took the scriptural knowledge he learned and pass it along to the Evergreen Catholic Schools鈥� community, which consists of five schools in Spruce Grove, two in Hinton and one apiece in Devon, Stony Plain and Westlock.
The timing was right to complete an activity of this nature as Landry knew entering the school year that his visits to classrooms and large school activities or assemblies would be essentially off the table.
Landry posted an introductory video to the study on Oct. 5 and has proceeded to release video commentaries and written excerpts for the chapters assigned for that week. He is slated to wrap up this experience with a concluding video on April 30 to summarize Acts 16-28. All the materials for the study are posted on his . The tagline for his website is God First, Others Second, I am Third.
Students have expressed gratitude for the study, but Landry has received more feedback to how his colleagues have received his initiative, and he says greater spiritual knowledge has been attained.
鈥淭here鱿鱼视频app a lot of people who don鈥檛 see the connection between Moses and the Passover meal with the Eucharist, and it鱿鱼视频app one of the things I鈥檝e assumed,鈥� he said. 鈥淗aving worked around the Church for about 24 years, connecting the Passover with the Eucharist is always how I鈥檝e seen things. Moses had the Israelites take a lamb, kill the lamb, spread its blood on the door posts and then eat the lamb to join themselves to what is sacrificed to God.
鈥淚f the apostles had grown to understand Jesus as the Lamb of God, they take the lamb, kill the lamb and eat the lamb, you are freed. The light really went off for one of the teachers extraordinarily well.鈥�
Landry recalls that prominent Catholic figures such as Bishop Robert Barron and Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith advocated for followers of Christ to become comfortable with being still and quiet to give room for God to speak to you and direct you.
鈥淏ut in many ways, we鈥檝e done the opposite,鈥� said Landry. 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen political difference in our province, our country and beyond our country. We have kind of sat behind a bunker and lob hand grenades at each other.
鈥淭aking a step back and reading Scripture can orient our hearts and put our minds to listening to God鱿鱼视频app voice.鈥�
While Landry will be done posting digital content for this Bible study at the end of the month, anyone Catholic, young and old, can visit his website and complete the timeline for themselves.