People studying Emmaus Bible courses used to get their courses through the post — hence “Emmaus Correspondence School” (ECS). In developing nations, postage is often expensive and sometimes unreliable. In response to this situation, Emmaus is implementing a system of Emmaus Bible Centres in which courses are distributed and corrected by local believers rather than through a central office. Those carrying out this system at the grassroots level are known as Correctors. To be a corrector, an Emmaus student must first complete twelve courses and be in good standing. Then the student must also complete sixteen hours of instruction and training on the ins and outs of the great responsibility of being a corrector.

This training for english speaking Africa would often fall to Jim Gillett and his colleagues. The idea behind making training videos is that they would cut down on all the traveling that Jim does and would make training available as soon as it is needed. It would make scheduling training sessions much more flexible.

I think it’s a great idea, but sixteen hours of video is a lot of video! We’ll need eight DVDs for all the training. This is going to be quite a project.

Stay tuned for my thoughts and questions about the technological tools and production methods I’m looking into for making these videos. Ever heard of a “c-stand“? I hadn’t either.