The Case of the Delinquent Disciples

Connie's Tuesday night Bible study is vanishing before her eyes - week after week, fewer kids show up, until one night nobody comes at all. Bumbling private eye Harlow Doyle declares it a missing persons case and blunders into the truth: the students think class has gotten boring, and it looks like Connie isn't even preparing her lessons. When Connie hears what they've said, she's so hurt she cuts off Courtney's apology and storms out, vowing not to care if anyone ever comes back. Whit won't let anyone off the hook... the girls broke a commitment without a word, and Connie, he says, has been plain lazy, trying to wing it instead of doing the work. She admits it's true, and when the students return a week later, so does she - with an apology, a promise to work harder, and a freshly prepared lesson on, of all things, commitment.

Found on A Time of Discovery Album 18 · 12 episodes

The run See every episode

0243 Family Values When his son's joke essay lands the family in the finals for Family of the Year, a scheming father tries to fake strong family values in a single weekend.

1 of 2 0244 The Mysterious Stranger A young stranger walks into Whit's End claiming it was once his childhood home - and he knows secrets about the building that no outsider possibly could.

2 of 2 0245 The Mysterious Stranger A troubled stranger's impossible claim about Whit's End leads Whit and Lucy into the ashes of a decades-old fire - and a family secret someone will do anything to keep buried.

0246 My Fair Bernard When rival Bart Rathbone starts stealing his janitorial customers with slick radio ads, Bernard Walton turns to theatrical impresario Edwin Blackgaard - who has his own hidden reasons for putting the window washer's life story on stage.

0247 Why Don't You Grow Up? Tired of waiting to grow up, a schoolgirl gets the chance to skip ahead and live a week of adult life - and discovers what it actually costs.

0248 Terror from the Skies When a live radio drama about an alien invasion airs in Odyssey, two boys who missed the disclaimer become convinced the invasion is real.

0249 The Case of the Delinquent Disciples When Connie's Bible study students start vanishing one by one, a clueless private detective takes the case - and stumbles onto a truth nobody wanted to say out loud.

1 of 2 0250 Pilgrim's Progress Revisited Burdened by a dire warning and a weight he cannot shed, a man flees his doomed hometown on a narrow path toward a distant city - where every helpful stranger may be friend or trap.

2 of 2 0251 Pilgrim's Progress Revisited Christian and Hope face their darkest trials yet - battles, shadows, and a castle of despair - as their long journey nears the gates of the Celestial City.

0252 The Bad Hair Day When Henry's prized comics vanish from a secret hiding spot, he must choose between joining a gang's rush to punish a suspect and waiting for real evidence.

0253 A Time for Christmas A busy girl too wrapped up in Christmas shopping to help a friend is taken on an Imagination Station journey through Christmases past to discover what the season really means.

0254 Truth, Trivia & 'Trina When a bruised ego pushes Connie into a televised trivia showdown against Eugene, a brilliant new arrival forces him to question whether he's more than the facts he knows.

0255 The Boy Who Cried 'Destructo!' When an imaginative boy's make-believe spy game leads him to a real crime, his history of tall tales means no one will believe the danger is genuine.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 3 more roles

3 supporting roles

Courtney Vincent Sara Buskirk Man on the street Actor Unknown Giselle Myeisha Phillips

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Paul McCusker Writer · Director · Producer Dave Arnold Sound Designer · Producer Chuck Bolte Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 2 min

Harlow Doyle, private eye, is working undercover at Whit's End - though even he isn't sure what his top-secret case is about. He soon finds one. Connie is heading home early because not a single student has shown up for her Tuesday night Bible study, and she admits to Whit that her class has been shrinking week after week. The moment Harlow hears the word "disappearing," he declares it a missing persons case and rushes off to investigate. Connie, meanwhile, has reached her own gloomy conclusion: she must be a failure as a teacher.

Harlow's bumbling interviews actually turn up something. Courtney confesses that the Bible study has gotten boring, and Giselle adds that Connie seems to come to class without even looking at the lesson, as if she is making it up as she goes along. Courtney tells Whit the same thing - the kids are losing interest because it seems Connie has lost interest - and Whit urges the girls to talk to Connie honestly. But when Harlow reports that her students find her boring, Connie is stung. She interrupts the girls' apology, announces that she doesn't care if anyone ever comes to her Bible study again, and storms out.

Whit reminds Courtney and Giselle that the mess is partly their fault, since they slipped away from their commitment without ever telling Connie how they felt. A week later the students are back at Whit's End, but the teacher is missing. Whit finds Connie and challenges her self-pity: worse than being called boring is being called lazy. Connie admits she had stopped preparing lessons, figuring she could simply wing it and let the Holy Spirit speak through her. Teaching, Whit tells her, takes time, preparation, and experience - and she truly does have a gift. While Harlow entertains the class with hand shadows and detective stories, Connie returns, apologizes for being lazy, promises to work harder, and opens the night's lesson - which happens to be about commitment.