Idyllwild Bible School

Get ready for Idyllwild! Meet one of the teachers for 2026, Brother Martyn Lawrence, from Cleckheaton, UK.

“Deb and I have lived in the north of England for over twenty years, and we are members at Cleckheaton, a small ecclesia in West Yorkshire. As the crow flies, that’s almost exactly midway between London and Edinburgh. We have two boys, Josh and Ezra. My background is in history, and I currently manage the publishing programme for the UK’s oldest museum - a job that involves regular visits to the Tower of London.

The Way of the Sea is our class theme for the week. In these sessions, we’ll explore the exodus metaphor woven throughout Scripture. We'll see how the whole Bible - from Genesis through the conquest and the monarchy to the gospels and letters - calls back and forth to these familiar events through moments of departure and return, exile and homecoming, judgment and salvation. Scripture is one story from beginning to end, and it is exodus-shaped.

As we hear these exodus symphonies, we’ll be reminded that Israel’s salvation (and failure) is ours too; that if we love anything more than God, then we are still in Egypt; and that today’s key issues of freedom, citizenship, identity and power speak directly to all those led by the way of the sea."

Get ready for Idyllwild! Meet one of the teachers for 2026, Brother John Perks, from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

“First and foremost, you need to know that God allowed me to meet, marry, and spend the last 32 years with my wife Rachel. We have three grown children (Silas, Owen, and Grace) who live all over the place. I grew up north of Toronto, spent a couple of short stints in Sussex, New Brunswick, and Seattle, Washington, but for the last 26 years have lived just outside of Ottawa, Ontario. I’ve worked as an elementary school teacher for the past 30 years. Perhaps that has contributed to my appreciation of a good cup of coffee and peaceful mornings. Finally, I absolutely love reading the Bible, listening to Bible related podcasts, and spending time with my family.

I hope to lead you in a series of classes where we will think very practically about our discipleship. We live in a society that tries to sn**ch away the time, attention and space that is required to engage in meaningful transformation. Therefore, we must be intentional and diligent in our discipleship. These will not be classes where you are given a list of things to do, rather we will try to better understand how we can cultivate a life where following the commandments of Christ becomes more and more natural.”