Resource Review: Seamless by Angie Smith
Ever feel like you know some parts of the Bible really well, but other parts are pretty, shall we say...murky? Feel like you have a lot of pieces to the Bible puzzle, but can't quite put it all together?
In the past year, I've been elbow deep in several different books of the Bible. After emerging from a New Testament Pauline letter, two apocalyptic books located at opposite ends of the Bible, and a gospel, I felt a little dizzy. I know they are connected, but how?
When I came across the Seamless study by Angie Smith, I knew it would be a smart move for me. After zeroing in on the different books, it was time to look at the bigger picture. I wanted to revisit God's big story, so I could put all of these books and concepts I was learning about into perspective.
The Details: I picked up the Bible study with a gal pal and we met weekly. The study is seven weeks long. As with many studies, we had options on how we followed along. There's the individual Bible study guides (called "member books"), an optional leader kit, video sessions and audio sessions. You can buy all the materials you would like, or only the study guide, which sells for about 20 bucks on Amazon. There is also a student edition for teens and leader kits for youth leaders to go along. We opted to buy just the member book and the individual video sessions to watch at the end of every week. The first session is free on Vimeo, so you can try a sample of the video without buying it. You can watch a little promo video for the study here.
What I loved: The study did exactly what I needed it to do: instilled in me a solid overview of the entire Bible, which is a challenge, to say the least. In a flourish of brilliance, the designers created visual icons for each part of the Bible. Visual learners, this is made for YOU. In the back of the study book, there is a timeline filled with these icons putting the entire story together. By the end of the study, you should be able to write out the timeline with each icon. Essentially, you should be able to tell the entire narrative of the Bible, from start to finish. You can get a peek at the icons (and another review of the Seamless study) here. I love that she focused on going chronologically, so now I know where books go and why (Job comes right after Genesis! What!?! I know, shocker.) In addition to all of this, she picks up the overarching theme that God has a plan all along, and that we, too, are a part of this story.
What I didn't love: I really appreciated the videos at the end of each session, and they were worth my money to buy, but a few things distracted my heart. Each session had a lot of production time and effort put into it, which produced a beautiful result; but I often found myself having to fight to refocus on the words, instead of the candles, barns, and brilliant hair and makeup. There is a solution for this, however, if you struggle like I do with these things. You can just buy the audio mp3 files instead of the video sessions. I accidentally bought the sound only once instead of the video and it really helped me focus.
All in all, I highly recommend spending seven weeks with Seamless, no matter how little or great your knowledge of the the Bible. It will point you to worship the Author of its every detail and connect the Bible history dots swimming around in your brain to Christ.
Jillian Vincent has been a lover of Jesus for twenty years. She's a wife, mother of two and a Dayton enthusiast. Jillian currently is a stay at home mama and spends nap times writing and discipling other women. She would (almost) die for an avocado, a cup of coffee made by her husband, a novel that makes her cry, and a bouquet of sunflowers. Her favorite verse is Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."