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Iowa City Church Podcast


Welcome to the Iowa City Church sermon and teaching page.  We know that life can be confusing, and sometime just plain hard.  We believe the best way to live life comes through following Jesus.  These lessons and sermons are designed to be a resource to help you on that journey.  We hope you find them helpful!

Jan 21, 2024

In the late 1600s and early 1700s a half-literate Italian craftsman named Antonio Stradivari designed and made a series of beautiful musical instruments. Today, those violins, named after the Latinized form of his name, Stradivarius, are considered priceless. In 2010, a Stradivarius was purchased for $3.6 million. It is believed there are only around five hundred of them still in existence, some of which have been submitted to the most intense scientific examination in an attempt to reproduce their extraordinary sound quality. But no one has been able to replicate Stradivari's craftsmanship.

Today we do know that Stradivari used spruce for the top, willow for the internal blocks and linings, and maple for the back, ribs, and neck. He also treated the wood with several types of minerals, including potassium borate, sodium and potassium silicate, as well as a handmade varnish that appears to have been composed of gum arabic, honey, and egg white.

But the genius craftsman never once recorded his technique for posterity. Instead, he passed on his knowledge to a number of his apprentices through what one scholar called "elbow learning." The apprentices of the great Stradivari didn't learn their craft from books or manuals but by sitting at his elbow and feeling the wood as he felt it to assess its length, its balance, and its timbre right there in their fingertips. All the learning happened at his elbow, and all the knowledge was contained in his fingers.

As Jesus begins his ministry of announcing the good news about the Kingdom of God, the very first thing that he does is find some apprentices, you would know them as disciples. Here is how he invites one third of his disciples into their apprenticeship.


"Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." ~ Mark 1:17


We learn a lot from Jesus' strategy for growing the Kingdom; it's more then just announcing good news. The Kingdom strategy for expansion is about finding apprentices/disciples and inviting them to engage in some "elbow learning".

Who showed you how to be a Christian? Was it a parent or family member? A friend? Or was it a book you read, a class you took or a video you watched?

What is clearly missing when it comes to living as a follower of Jesus is good, old fashioned, 
Stradivarian, "elbow learning". To discover more about Jesus' strategy for making "elbow learning" disciples, check out the lastest sermon from, Come, Follow, Me.