This page is designed for those who would like to set aside the use of the teaching videos and create TCI sessions where they present the material themselves.  Suggestions here will help a TCI teacher get ready to do just that!

This page will enable you present the content of The Christ Institutes for a gathering of any size by using the nine PowerPoint slide packages incorporated by David Bryant in his nine sessions recorded on the TCI videos.

Over 2000 slides give shape to these nine presentations.  The reason for such an abundance of visual aids is quite simple: nearly every point David makes in his teachings has a slide to go with it – sometimes they are only illustrative pictures; many times the actual insights David shares appear on screen for the audience to read.  All total, this fairly unique approach provides any TCI teacher with a virtual outline of each talk captured on PowerPoint.

In addition, the TCI teacher is provided a PDF document containing hard copy of every slide (six to a page).  There’s one document for every session.  The resource allows teachers to review content and prepare what they want to say with each slide and between each slide.

Also, TCI teachers can prepare to share by previewing the video for a particular session to discover how David utilizes the slides, taking notes on what he says as the sides progress. Then, they can make it their own, as they re-present the content in their words,  in their own way, to their audience (adapting it to the specific needs and goals of those participants).

Presented in a variety of venues – from a living room, to a Sunday school classroom, to a sanctuary, to a conference center auditorium – each of the nine teaching sessions can be expanded or contracted, depending on scheduling constraints.  For example:

• A home Bible study group might allow a TCI teacher to follow the suggested schedule below for a 2-hour TCI session, teaching one session each week for nine weeks.
• A weekend retreat at a conference center might adapt the schedule suggested for a 48-hour TCI Intensive, beginning on a Friday evening and concluding sometime Sunday afternoon.  This approach would certainly prove to be the most challenging for a new TCI teacher.
• A regular one-hour Sunday school schedule will require choosing between one of two approaches: (1) The briefer version allows for an opening prayer, the teaching for that session and a closing prayer. (2) More preferable, the teacher could break the presentation in half, presenting one portion one Sunday and the second portion the following Sunday.  This means the nine sessions would become eighteen sessions. This approach, however, allows the teacher to facilitate some open discussion and group prayer after each presentation – giving everyone a more meaningful engagement with its focus and content.

If you are able to conduct a full two-hour TCI session, here is the typical approach used by David Bryant in live events:

Two-Hour TCI Teaching Session
Worship Hymn or Song (5 minutes)
Responsive Readings (5 minutes)
Worship Hymn or Song (5 minutes)
Presentation (70 minutes approximately)
Open Discussion (20 minutes)
Huddle Prayer (7 minutes)
Personal Prayer (3 minutes)
Praises to the King (5 minutes)

Explanations

• The discussion times (or the prayer times) can be expanded or collapsed depending on the length of presentation.  Talks may vary from 50 minutes to 75 minutes, the average being about 65 minutes.  Note: The content of Session VII is the longest; on the video it lasts 85 minutes. For it, discussion and prayer for that session must be adjusted accordingly.
• The opening Responsive Readings for each session are found on the opening five slides in each PowerPoint package. They highlight four brief but important preparatory activities: Praise (opening hymn or song), Prelude (read out loud by one participant), Passage (read out loud by another participant), Prayer (read out loud in unison).  These may be followed with one more hymn or song if scheduled.  If scheduled time allows. Teachers guide people through this opening exercise to set the stage for the focus of the presentation.  (Note: There are no such opening slides for Session IX. Start with prayer and then begin to teach.)
• During each teaching there are “Selah” times. This is where David allows the audience a few moments of silence to reflect and pray over what they have just heard. Similarly, allow the group a sufficient pause for “selah” before pressing on.
• Open discussion times can unfold in two ways: (1) Open to the floor for an exchange of comments or questions, for as along as the schedule allows.  The teacher’s role simply is to moderate, making sure no one person dominates the time.  Time for discussion is brief and does not lend itself to in-depth analysis of the session’s themes and insights.  Therefore, encourage participants to continue discussions at a later time.  (2) The teacher may want to draw on the two discussion questions found at the end of each PowerPoint package. Participants may prefer beginning with these questions to prompt the sharing time.  The questions can be discussed either in small clusters or by the group as a whole.
• Huddle Prayer provides a short time for participants to pray together about what they have heard and discussed, doing so in smaller groups so that everyone has an opportunity to join in if they want.
• Personal Prayer allows each participant to reflect, or worship, or pray – as they choose.  It is recommended, however, that during the time everyone be invited to kneel, preferably before a chair, representing the Throne where King Jesus reigns.
• Praises to the King involves a final hymn or song that focuses on the major theme(s) for that specific TCI session.
• Note on Session IX: Open with a worship song and prayer.  Go straight to your teaching time. As you conclude, have your group discuss some (or all) of the closing questions found among the final slides. More specifically, spend time discussing (perhaps in smaller groups) your willingness to assume the “Lifetime Commitment of Every Messenger of Hope” outlined at the close of Session IX. What does each participant intend to do next as a result?Conclude this session – and the entire TCI experience — with a personal prayer time on your knees; then stand to sing together one final hymn of consecration.
• Participants can review the content of each session in three ways.  If your TCI takes place over a nine week period, between sessions students can either (1) read the chapter in Christ Is NOW! that relates to the previous session, digging deeper into its themes and insights; or (2) download the PDF document of the PowerPoint slides for the previous session, using that to reflect back over the talk; or (3) watch the video for that session. However, if your TCI schedule is more concentrated (like the “intensive” approach) then after TCI is concluded participants can visit the TCI web site to access its many free resources (including viewing the videos, scanning the PDF documents or exploring Christ Is NOW!).
• One practical suggestion: Link your PowerPoint projector to a laptop that sets right in front of you, permitting you to see what the others are viewing on screen behind you without turning around.  In addition, select a PowerPoint view that allows you preview two or three up-coming slides along the bottom of your lap top screen, as well as see the main slide being projected on the screen behind you.  This way you’ll be alerted to subsequent slides before you actually need to project to them, which will allow you to teach more smoothly, with minimal hesitations between slides.
• Of vital importance for each teaching presentation, remember this: David Bryant presented TCI’s material for many years. This has equipped him to articulate a great deal of content in exciting but efficient ways, in a limited space of time. Because teaching this material is new for most others, from time to time TCI teachers may need to by-pass portions of the content to stay within the schedule, particularly during some of the longer sessions.  For example, a teacher may need to skip through slides related to a specific insight — with apologies, of course — to move the audience onto the next insight. Both segments are important, but there may not be time for both.This especially may be true regarding some of David’s more detailed illustrations as well as some of what he calls “sidebars”. The decision on what to cut, if anything, is left to the presenter. (Incidentally, if you do use any of David’s personal stories you can do so effectively simply by relating them in the third person, such as saying: “David tells the story of the day that he….”)