The 12 Foundation Stones Course has been online for a month now, and it’s got 73 students already. I have it available for free, for now, as that’s what we’ve been charging when we were running the course in person. Yes, it costs something to run the site and all that, but someone’s donated the cash for the first year’s running, so that’s great! My dad had a saying, ‘Where God guides, He provides.’
I’m sure there are ways to run it better and keep a closer eye on students’ progress and all that, but the option that I’m running on has it at USD1500 per year, and that’s a bit out of my price range at the moment.
In any case, I’m more of the opinion of the Parable of the Sower that Jesus told in Matthew 13:3-9:
Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Jesus goes on the explain that the seed is like the Word and this is the result of sharing the Good News. In any case, the math goes: A quarter shows no reaction, a quarter has a good reaction at first but then nothing, a quarter has a good reaction but life gets in the way, and a quarter produces fruit. And even that is done with degrees. In other words, there won’t be a 100% success rate.
What I enjoy about having the 12 Foundation Stones Course online is that even people that I’ve never met will be able to go through the course and grow in their spiritual walk with the Lord!