Sunday School Retooled

I meant to say something about this yesterday (I need to do a better job commenting on stuff the day it happens instead of doing it the next day when so much else has happened. But I digress...), but I went to Sunday School yesterday morning for the first time in months. Prior to this, I had a few misgivings about the state of my church's college ministry. After more than two years, I just felt that college classes weren't really doing anything for my spiritual growth. It felt too much like the teachers were going through the motions, reciting things from the weekly workbook. Not that any of that is wrong, but I just feel that yearning for more, something deeper. I'm a young adult, being challenged by a secular world much more than as a child or a teenager, and I feel like the church's college ministry can go a long way toward providing helpful guidance and insights into the kinds of things that we struggle with as college students. But for so long now, I wasn't getting that; I didn't feel like I was being engaged at all. So I stopped going as often and attended the worship services instead.

Yesterday, I had woken up from only a few hours sleep. I'd stayed out the other night with my friend Ashley and her extended family after graduation at Furman. So offhand, I decided to attend Sunday School class at 10:15. I knew a lot of students would be there, having been off school for weeks now (whereas Furman just finished up). I listened as Tom Possell, one of the teachers, gave the lesson. To my surprise, the focus of the lesson centered on the state of the college ministry. I was floored to see that Mr. Possell felt exactly the same way I did. He felt that for years now, the ministry had slumped, to put it lightly. It wasn't challenging students, engaging them in the material like it needed to, and put simply, the state of it was lacking. Of course, part of that is on our shoulders as well. We can certainly do more to provoke interest, engage friends or people interested in looking into the class.

To make a long story short, he doesn't like where the class is right now, and he's determined to restructure it to the level it needs to be. I felt like applauding as I listened to his ideas. We're starting a new Bible Study meeting at a house across from our chapel Tuesday nights at 7:00. And each of us has chosen three people on our fifty person Sunday School roster to contact this week and encourage them to come on Sundays. Mr. Possel feels that if we have fifty people on a roster, then to have barely a quarter of that attend each Sunday is ridiculous. I absolutely agree. I hope we get to a point where we have as many as 40 people attending (of course, then we'll have to change rooms. No way could we fit that many people in our small little corner on the second floor). He also wants to arrange a Saturday or two for our group to get together and do something fun, like go to Six Flags or something. I felt inspired by his attitude and commitment to this, and I was even more encouraged to look at the other students nodding in approval. I'm so glad that something is finally being done with the college ministry.

Anyway, now that I've said my piece about that, on to today's events. It was a quiet Monday with a relatively short work shift. The good thing is I'm getting more comfortable with Haywood's CFA each day; moving faster and doing more things at once. I'm at the point where I can look after the backbar by myself during quiet periods (provided we have a good stock of food, that is). My co-workers are very nice; quite a few of them are bilingual and so that's been a fun new challenge for me. I'm not sure if I'm working enough hours, though, but this is only my second week. I'll wait and see what happens before I say anything about it. So that's all`good. :)

Song of the Day: Mark Schultz - "He Will Carry Me"

Verse of the Day: "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." - Psalm 4:8