Next Quarter = Next Week!

So I mentioned in class yesterday that June marks the beginning of a new Sunday School quarter, and thus the beginning of a new topic for us to look at each week. Thanks for helping me out and giving suggestions for what you wanted JW and I to teach on these past 3 months. After a slow start (to the suggestions), I ended up having a lot more than I could possibly cover. If your topic didn't get covered, it was probably because I had already taught a lesson on something you suggested, and I was moving on to somebody else's request. If you still would like some info on it, though, you can always email me or call me and I'll be happy to find and answer for you.

That said, now the question is what about next quarter...er...next week?! What do you think? I visited my brother in Chattanooga last weekend, and their whole church is doing a Sunday School series studying the book of Proverbs. That might be interesting, and Proverbs is full of truth that can help us everyday - and it's plain and easy to get for people who need it plain and easy, like me. I'm open to any suggestion from you...maybe you've done a particular bible study in the past that has really helped you, or maybe you'd just like to see us gear the lessons more towards a particular format. In any case, leave a comment or drop me a line and let me know what's on your mind (sounds like the ending of a cheesy limerick).

AND, in case you missed yesterday and missed the big news, I'll send a big E-CONGRATULATIONS to Greg and Lisa, now officially betrothed to one another to be wed in holy matrimony! If I had thought about it, I would have taken a picture of Lisa's ring and posted it on the website for all the girls, but I am a guy and, consequentially, do not think about those things. But we're happy for you Greg and Lisa, let me know what kind of cake you want for the wedding and I'll save you some money and make it myself.

It is time...

...to help our missionary family out. If you remember, I mentioned in class maybe a month or two ago how our missionaries (David & Katie Gardner) would be needing some items to help them get started on their first official missionary "tour" in Peru (David was raised there, so not really his first trip, but their first stay as missionaries together). Well, let me explain Plan B.

No, there is no time, let me sum up Plan B:

As it turns out, through God's provision using some other folks and timing issues, it's no longer possible for us to be able to get some things together and to David in time for he and Katie to fly to Peru...they're leaving on June 2. So here's the skinny - they are still in need of some stuff, and are probably going to have to buy lots when they get there. In addition to that, the plane tickets they just booked cost around $1500...and on top of all of THAT, they aren't yet 100% supported yet (meaning, if it takes your family $1000/month to pay the bills, that would be like trying to do it with $600 or $700).

I feel like we ought to do what we can to help them out before they go, and the best way obviously is to take up an offering. Listen, if you're like me, you don't have piles of cash that you can't decide what to do with-trust me, I know, nobody's using dollar bills for tissue paper b/c they have so many extra. But, if you can help out in any way, please do so, and if you can't, don't feel bad about it. You can give $1, $5, $5000, or anything in-between, and if you'd like to write a check make it out to College & Career Sunday School Class. Everything, of course, will go to them, except for the 25% administrative fee that goes to me (just kidding).

If you're gonna be able to give, I'll need it by Sunday, May 17 to make sure I can get it to David and Katie before they leave (they are currently driving hundreds of miles/day to raise support). Even if all we're able to do is buy some groceries, I think we can be a help to them.

Let me know what you think, and if you want to find out more about David & Katie's ministry, there's a link to their web page over on the right. Thanks in advance for whatever you can do to help, and don't forget to PRAY FOR THEM TOO!!

Let me just say that I do not have the perfect job for blogging, like some of you (ahem, E'thelton), and blogging on the blackberry in the woods doesn't work too well. So, I was slack in posting this week. But, here's something that's been on my mind since Sunday:

If you were in church Sunday night, Bro. Gene commented that it was becoming "too quiet" around GSBC and asked for volunteers - some men to come and sit on the front row and "AMEN" the preacher, Bro. Eddie Davis, whenever you agreed with something he said. I don't know if you noticed or not, but there was one thing in common with the men who volunteered and sat on the front row: AGE. Not that the men who got up there were decrepit or anything, but nobody up there was under 50 years old.

One of my absolute favorite things about our church is the atmosphere. It's not restricted to just one thing, like the choir or the preaching or the special music...it's all aspects of the service. And the support and "life" from the audience is a unique part of that. I found myself wondering Sunday night if that atmosphere that I love and that most of us take for granted will be around, say, in another 10-15 years? There was nobody on the front row that night that I or anybody else would call a "young man" or somebody in the mid-stages of life, unless my memory is telling me lies, and yet the guys up there were the stalwarts of the amen choruses that we hear every week. The guys who, believe it or not, ADD ATMOSPHERE to our services. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that I have felt more movement of the Holy Spirit in services where I knew others were experiencing Him as well.

Who will ensure that our atmosphere remains the same in the years to come? What happens when those men can't speak out anymore like they used-to? Who will be around when the leadership roles of the church must move to a younger demographic? And I don't think that we should limit this conversation just to MALES...there are plenty of responsibilities that women have in our church today that someone will have to take-over-for one day. How can we keep GSB from becoming a ho-hum church that is (dare I say) BORING and or DEAD because it feels like no one WANTS to be there?

Bro. Eddie Davis commented on Wednesday night that GSBC is one of his favorite places to come because of the atmosphere...I hope that he can still say that in 10 years. Who will start supporting the preacher/choir/special music AUDIBLY? Who will start to take responsibility for the prayer-burden? Who is going to ensure that the atmorsphere of GSBC will be for our kids what it was for us?

Could you do it? How weird would it be if you started saying "amen"? How about me? Just something to think about...something that I've been thinking about a lot. Maybe we'll all hear a few new voices in the weeks to come...