First Sunday

     My first Sunday at First Baptist Church at Clairemont was an intimidating step of faith. I knew that I had to teach Sunday School at 9am to a group of about 40 students who were visiting from Mississippi, so I woke up around 5:30 to get ready for church and then prepare my lesson. I had a lot of books and resources to help me, but it turned out that they weren't quite as helpful as I hoped. I mean, they helped a lot, but putting a lesson together on such short notice was more difficult than I thought it would be. 

     Finally the time came to teach the lesson I had prepared, and it turned out okay. I started out with a game called gorilla-man-gun (kinda like rock-paper-scissors only you use your body instead of your fist). Everyone, especially the guys, really loved the game. Then we did another game that led into a discussion about evangelism. The point of the game was to guess how long a stick was and then break up into groups based upon the length you guessed. Then you go around to other groups and try to get them to join your group by convincing them that your length is correct. It worked really well. Some groups got others to convert, but most people stuck with their first choice. The point was to understand evangelism from both perspectives. It opened up a good discussion and brought up some good questions. I'm sure it could have been done better, but I think I did an okay job for my first Sunday school lesson. After we finished, they all wanted to play gorilla-man-gun again. 

     In church, the pastor introduced me to everyone, and I felt really welcomed. For the most part, a lot of older people attend this church. That's fine with me, but it's not so great when you're trying to lead a youth ministry. I think the challenge this summer will be to attract new members for the youth group. It should be an interesting summer filled with surprises - hopefully good ones.