I’ve got some news. Last year Focus on the Family invited me to their offices to make some video series about my books. They have just published the first one, on Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus.
We made 6 short videos, about 10 minutes each, where I talk about some of the highlights of my favorite chapters. I also wrote questions so you can watch with friends and discuss them together if you like.
Here’s how they introduce the series:
Can you imagine what it must have been like to be one of Christ’s twelve disciples? Living and interacting with the Son of God on a daily basis was undoubtedly life-transforming.
And Christ still transforms our lives today! Scripture and the Holy Spirit give us everything we need to know Him and follow Him as modern-day disciples. If you’ve struggled with making this a reality in your own life, I have good news.
We’ve produced a series of six brief video episodes that examine what being a disciple of Christ means for each of us. These short videos feature Lois Tverberg, an author and longtime friend and student of Ray Vander Laan, who brings deep expertise in the Jewish context of Christianity. Her book Walking in the Dust of the Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life is the basis for this series.
Episode 1—Introduction to Walking
Episode 2—The Puzzle of the Eye
Episode 3—The Greatest Commandments
Episode 4—How to Have a Kosher Mouth
Episode 5—Judging Favorably
Episode 6—Tying it All Back to Discipleship
You can start the series at this link.
Focus also has a very nice deal on Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, even better than the “friend-of-the-author” discount I give in my bookstore ($12.99/$19.99). For a donation of any amount they will send you a copy of the book. Wow!
Visiting Focus on the Family
It was in February 2025 that I flew to Colorado Springs, CO to visit the headquarters of Focus and to make these videos. Having listened to Dr. James Dobson on the radio every day in my home growing up, I felt like I knew their ministry quite well already.
For me the most important thing that Focus published was the Faith Lesson videos with Ray Vander Laan (aka “RVL”), which teach about the Bible in its cultural context. In fact, it was because I was listening to Focus one day on my radio that I heard Dr. Dobson interview Ray, and shortly after that, found out that he was teaching a series at my church that fall. That was 30 years ago (!), and it started me on the journey of studying and writing about the Bible in its cultural context. Eventually I left my day job as a college biology professor to study and write full time.
Focus has had an interest in my books because of the audience they have who love Ray Vander Laan’s videos and want to keep learning about Jesus in his Jewish context. So I hope many will be blessed by the series we made.
At the end of the series I was happy to tell people to watch RVL’s newest video series for Focus, called RVL Discipleship: The Study. For many decades Ray has been teaching a Senior Capstone class at the Christian high school in my town of Holland, Michigan, and these videos allow you to join the class as they learn to become passionate disciples of Rabbi Jesus.
Focus has a very cool “standing stone” outside its offices.
Leave a Reply