“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk,
so that by it you may grow up in your salvation...” 1 Peter 2:2
Matthew 28:19-20 states, "Therefore go and make disciples..." We
are a church that takes this verse very seriously. Not only do
we desire to see individuals come into a saving relationship
with Christ, we encourage everyone to steadily grow in their
relationship with Christ. That is why we offer these opportunities
of discipleship.
Webster defines a disciple as one
who is a pupil or follower of a particular teacher. As
Christians we are disciples of Jesus Christ. However,
regularly attending a worship service and/or Sunday
school class does not make one a disciple. A disciple is
one who individually and continually seeks to grow in
their faith and relationship with Christ through the
study of God's Word, possibly using outside helps,
and responds to the direction or change that God
produces in their life. To promote the discipleship
process, we offer these classes. This semester we are
offering a variety of classes that will hopefully
encourage you in your relationship as a follower of
Christ. Our hopes are for you to take full advantage of
these opportunities.
Below is a complete listing of courses for this
quarter, which begins on Sunday, August 15. You may also wish to dowload the brochure (pdf). To learn more about any of these classes, contact Danny
Davidson, Minister of Education. NOTE: Most classes will meet on
Sunday evenings at 5:30 p.m., but a couple meet on Wednesday evenings
or Tuesday mornings. See the date and time listed for each class.
NOTE: We at First Baptist encourage participation in DiscipleLife to promote spiritual growth, and we never want cost to be a determining factor. The cost for most classes covers the cost of the book and materials. If cost is a factor for you, scholarships are available and confidential. Contact Minister of Education Danny Davidson at 876-0527.
The Truth Project (New “Don't Miss” Study!!)
Type: Video-Driven/Discussion
Dates: 12-Week Course Beginning Aug. 15
Time: Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
Leaders: Pepper Ashford
Location: Room 1102
Suggested Donation: $15
Description: In a recent study, the Barna Research Group revealed a stunning
statistic that continues to reverberate throughout the evangelical
world. Only 9 percent of professing Christians have a biblical worldview.
Because of this, today's believers live very similarly to nonbelievers.
A personal sense of significance is rarely experienced, we
spend our money and time on things that fail to satisfy, and we
begin to wonder what life's ultimate purpose really is. We are, in
short, losing our bearings as a people and a nation. To counter this
slide within the body of Christ, Focus on the Family has launched
one of the most ambitious and powerful projects in the history of
our ministry — The Truth Project. With lessons taught by Dr. Del Tackett, this study is the starting point for looking at life from a
biblical perspective. Each lesson discusses in great detail the
relevance and importance of living the Christian worldview in daily life. Lessons Include:
Lesson 1 - Veritology: What is Truth?
Lesson 2 - Philosophy and Ethics: Says Who?
Lesson 3 - Anthropology: Who is Man?
Lesson 4 - Theology: Who is God?
Lesson 5 - Science: What is True?
Lesson 6 - History: Whose Story?
Lesson 7 - Sociology: The Divine Imprint
Lesson 8 - Unio Mystica: Am I Alone?
Lesson 9 - The State: Whose Law?
Lesson 10 - The American Experiment: Stepping Stones
Lesson 11 - Labor: Created to Create
Lesson 12 - Community and Involvement: God Cares, do I?
For more information
about this study or for a detailed summary of these
lessons go to: www.thetruthproject.org.
“We believe this one project represents the possibility for exponential
change within the body of Christ, as we expect that thousands will be
transformed by this curriculum. As it has been throughout history, God
continues to call ordinary people to make an eternal difference in our
world.” —Focus on the Family
Experiencing God (Adult Study) Knowing and Doing the Will of God
Type: Workbook/Discussion
Dates: 13-Week Course Beginning Aug. 15br />
Time: Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
Leader: Bill Williamson
Location: Room 121
Suggested Donation: $15
Description: God is always at work around you. He pursues a continuing relationship with you that is real and personal. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work. He speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes and His Ways. Learn to hear when God is speaking to you. Find out where God is working and join Him. Experience God doing through you what only God can do!
Fresh Encounter: Experiencing God's Power for Spiritual Awakening (Adult Study)
Type: Video Driven/Workbook/Discussion
Dates: 7-Week Course Beginning Aug. 15
Time: Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
Leader: Andrew Dossett
Location: Room 1103
Suggested Donation: $15
Description: There is much joy and hope associated with beginnings—the
birth of a new baby, a new romance, a wedding, a new job ... but we
don't live in a prefect worl, and inevitably, life unfolds in ways we
had not anticipated. Most people who become Christians
experience tremendous excitement and joy as they enter into an
amazing, loving relationship with Almighty God. But believers are
not exempt from challenges of the economy, pain of disease,
struggles in relationships, and the effects of sin. Some Christians
begin to feel as if God is distant from them and wonder where the
vibrancy of their faith has gone. As in biblical times, being in God's
presence is an awesome, life–changing experience, but because
our hearts tend to wander from God, we are often in need of a
fresh encounter with Him. We need to be revived. While God is
always present in a believer's life, revival is a sacred event when
the Holy Spirit draws unmistakably near to His people. Revival
involves a fresh encounter with God, and entails a serious,
irrevocable accountability. Through this study you will be taught
what the Bible says about God's requirements for fellowship with
Him. By exploring the gracious nature of God and wandering habits
of the human heart, you will be called and challenged to return to
Him.
Don't Waste Your Life (Adult Study)
Type: Video Driven/Workbook/Discussion
Dates: 12-Week Course Beginning Aug. 15
Time: Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
Leader: Glen Biggers/Danny Davidson
Location: Room 122
Suggested Donation: $15
Description: Ask the average person to sum up his or her ideal
life, and you get the American dream: College.
Job. Marriage. House. Kids. Comfortable Income.
Cushy retirement. But God has designed us for far more than this.
God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his
supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. But most people slip
by in life without a passion for God, spending their lives on trivial
diversions, living for comfort and pleasure, and perhaps trying to
avoid sin. This study will challenge you to not get caught up in a life
that counts for nothing. It will challenge you to live and die
boasting in the cross of Christ and making the glory of God your
singular passion.
Want to know your spiritual gifts and how to use them? A spiritual gifts inventory will be taken at the end of this class.
Walk as Jesus Walked (Adult Study)
Type: Video Driven/Workbook/Discussion
Dates: 6-Week Course Beginning Aug. 15
Time: Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
Leader: Ken Hutchison
Location: Room 1105
Suggested Donation: $15
Description: Because God speaks to us through the Scriptures,
studying them is a rewarding experience. The
inspired human authors of the Bible, as well as those whom the
words were originally given, were primarily Jews living in the
ancient Near East. God's words and actions spoke to them with
such power, clarity, and purpose that they wrote them down and
carefully preserved them as an authoritative body of literature. Join
renowned teacher and historian, Ray Vander Lann, as he guides you
through the land of the Bible and illuminates the historical,
geographical, and cultural context of the sacred Scriptures. Filmed
on location in the Middle East, these lessons will transform your
understanding of God and challenge you to be a true follower of
Jesus.
Learn from the Hymns, Part 1 Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs
Type: Workbook/Discussion
Dates: 6-Week Course Beginning Aug. 15
Time: Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
Leader: Mike Francen
Location: Room 1101
Suggested Donation: None
Description: The writers of our favorite hymns were not just happy, pious, “old-fashioned” people. There is much to be learned from the theology and writers of the hymns. One of these hymns was written by a man who experienced a dramatic conversion from gang member to preacher, another by a man who lost his entire family in a sinking ship, and yet another by a woman who was discouraged in her work as a missionary. It is through these trials that these men and women of God were able to praise him from the depths of their aching hearts. What do the words of these songs mean, and do they have any value for us outside of a church service? What do they reveal about God's character? This study will help you learn more about the origins and lessons from the hymns and songs we sing every
Sunday.
Let the word [spoken by] Christ (the Messiah) have its home [in
your hearts and minds] and dwell in you in [all its] richness, as you
teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom [in spiritual things, and as you sing] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with [His] grace in your hearts. (Colossians 3:16 AMP)
52 Things Kids Need from a Dad (Men's Study) What Fathers Can Do to Make a Lifelong Difference
Type: Book/ Discussion
Dates: 8-Week Course Beginning Aug. 15
Time: Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
Leader: Curtis Wheeler
Location: Room 212
Suggested Donation: $15
Description: GOOD NEWS! You are already the perefect dad
for your kids. Still, you know you can grow. Most dads could
use a little more patience, a plan for plugging into their gifts
and resources, and a few fresh fathering ideas. This study will
allow you to gather together with other dads to discuss the
challenges of being a dad, as well as, promote accountability
and learn what your kids really need from you. This study will
offer you a bounty of inspiring and unexpected insights that
reveal that fatherhood is designed to be a joy, a blessing, and
a blast!
Anointed Transformed Redeemed (Women's Study) A Study of David
Type: Video Driven/Workbook/ Discussion
Dates: 6-Week Course Beginning Aug. 15
Time: Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
Leader: Manda Ullrich
Location: Room 1104
Suggested Donation: $15
Description:Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed provides the participant experience for the women's Bible study taped at the 2007 Deeper Still conference featuring Beth
Moore, Priscilla Shirer, and Kay Arthur. These three women
explore their lives and the life of David in this six-session Bible study. The messages presented by these beloved authors are
divided into three segments, two lessons from each author. Each segment focuses on the life of David at a different stage of his life: as a young man (sessions one and two by Priscilla Shirer), as a middle-aged man (sessions three and four by Beth Moore), and as a man facing the final third of his life (sessions five and six by Kay Arthur). You'll laugh with them, cry with them, and learn to love God with them.
Ruth (Women's Study - Tuesday A.M.) Love, Loss and Legacy
Type: Discussion/ Workbook
Dates: 8-Week Course Beginning Aug. 17
Time: Tuesdays at 9:00 a.m.
Leader: Michelle Davidson and Beth Collins
Location: Room 1103
Suggested Donation: $15
Description: The Book of Ruth, nestled between Judges and 1
Samuel, is a short, four-chapter narrative that
wraps together the human experience of loss, love and legacy with
the divine hope and sovereignty of a redeeming God. From its
pages steps a wayfaring foreigner into the town of Bethlehem,
amidst hardship, famine and tragedy, affecting the course of
human history forever. She is godliness with its sleeves rolled up,
expressing her love for God even when she was profoundly
devastated and left with a mother-in-law who had changed her
name to “Bitter.” Ruth is an emblem of grace for every flawed and
ailing sinner who has lived in her wake, not because of her own
nobility but because of the One under whose wings she had come
to trust—the God of Israel. Do you trust God enough to follow Him?
Seeking Him (Women's Study - Wednesday P.M.) Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival
Type: Video Driven/Workbook/Discussion
Dates: 12-Week Course Beginning Aug. 18
Time: Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.
Leader: Susan Gleaves
Location: Room 1105
Suggested Donation: $15
Description: Are you tired of trying to be a good Christian? Are
you overloaded and worn out with church activities? Do you
sometimes feel as if you're just going through the motions of the
Christian life? Do you often find yourself running on empty
spiritually? Do you experience heaviness and shame more than joy
and freedom in your Christian life? If you answered yes to any of
the these questions, perhaps God is calling you to something
deeper. Maybe you're ready to experience personal revival! This
interactive study will lead you into a revived relationship with God.
God wants to reveal Himself to you. He wants to fill your heart and
set you free from unholy passion. He wants you to drink deeply of
the joy found in His presence. He wants you to be revived! .
Living With Confidence in a Chaotic World (Adult Study - Wed. P.M.) What on Earth We Should Do Now?
Type: Book/Discussion
Dates: Beginning September 1
Time: Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.
Leader: Dave Broome
Location: Room 1104
Description: This study provides practical instruction for living a confident life in a world filled with chaos and crisis. It demonstrates how, with the power and love of Almighty God, we can live with confidence in this age of turmoil. In the New York Times bestseller What in the World Is Going On?, Dr. David Jeremiah summarized ten prophetic clues that are coming true in our own generation. In light of these chaotic events, how can we continue to live a life of commitment and confidence? Looking through the lens of the same verses that speak of Christ's return, Dr. Jeremiah now points us to the habits we must establish that will form a pattern for living with certain hope in our uncertain times. They include how to stay:
