Sunday, November 15th

This week, Gayle reviewed Paul's Jewish interpretations of the words righteousness (God's act of bringing about shalom) and the Law (Obedience to the Law is like watering the tree of life. The fruit of the tree is righteousness, God bringing peace to the world.

We then moved into how Paul's Greco-Roman environment has impacted the way that he views Sin. Paul saw sin as a condition instead of individual acts of wrong. He knew that obedience to the Law does not produce righteousness, so what will?

Paul believes that Jesus Christ is the path to God's justification. God justifies us inspite of the fact that we are all sinners. We are all "out of whack," but God justifies us anyway through Christ, if we believe.

November 15th

This week Gayle talked about how Paul viewed the Law. We discussed how rules can often have a negative connotation in modern day society. People often don't associate having rules with a feeling of freedom. We did talk about how people thrive when they are given barriers and limits. Children need someone to set limits for them to be truly happy.

Paul would have viewed the Law in a very positive way. The Law was the path to righteousness, which is God bringing about Shalom.

Gayle compared Righteousness to the Tree of Life. Following the Law waters the tree. The tree produces fruit. The people themselves do not create the fruit. That is God's doing. God brings fruit out of their efforts.

Discussion Question:

In your experience, do people have to be in line with the law and righteousness for God to produce fruit?

Sunday, November 1st

This week in the forum, Gayle talked about Paul's Judaism. We looked at the development of Christianity developing first as a sect of Judaism and then as a separate religion.

We discussed the Convenant that the Jews entered into with YHWH. We reviewed the 3 types of eschatology (study of the end times).

1. Promise-Fulfillment eschatology: God and Israel enters into a covenant which brings Shalom to the world.
2. Prophetic eschatology: the path from making the covenant to the desired result of Shalom (Peace for all) was broken because of the unfaithfulness of the Jewish people.
3. Apocolyptic eschatology: The path to shalom is continually interrupted as people make mistakes, repent and get back on the right path again, and then mess up again. It will take some form of crisis to break this cycle and bring Shalom.

We examined the meaning of the word: righteous to Paul and the Jews. The word "righteous" would be wonderful to Paul because it describes God bringing the world together in shalom, in peace, as it was in the beginning of creation. Righteousness to Paul meant Justification, righteousness, and justice all in one greek word.

Sunday, October 11th

Today Matt led a discussion on seeing the world through "different pairs of sunglasses" or different perspectives. We examined the teachings of Jesus through the lense of Game Theory. Game theory is the idea that each situation can be characterized as:

zero sum game: You either have a winner or loser. For example: in a game of chess, one person wins, one loses.

Non-zero sum game: People find a way for everyone to win. Turn the other cheek is non-zero sum game. For example: A woman was kidnapped in Atlanta. She talked to her kidnapper and helped him to see the wrong in his actions. They built a relationship, and he ended up turning himself in.

Matt talked about how often times human nature can lead us to view the world from the zero sum game perspective. If at the end of your basketball game the other team shoots from half court, do you pull for them to make or miss the basket? If you are a true competitor, then you have done what you can. Now, you let the chips fall as they will. Do you wish the best for others?

Matt talked about how there were many zero-sum games in Jesus's time. The affluent and wealthy religious leaders vs. the prostitutes and sick, who were clearly the losers in that society. Jesus urged us to fight human nature and make choices designed for everyone to win, where everyone is accepted and cared for.

Agree? Disagree? Got a comment? Post it below!

Sunday, October 4th

Gayle taught the first session on Paul. She gave us an overview of his letters: (They are not chronological. They are ordered longest to shortest.)

Romans: most influential, weightiest; closest to a full explanation of Paul's beliefs
1st Corinthians: considered to be one of the most valuable. It sheds light on Paul's character and vigorously presents the gospel.
2nd Corinthians: Paul's relationship with the church was deteriorating.
Galatians: Magna Carta of Christian liberty. Time of Gentiles vs. Jews.
Ephesians: Hymns that celebrate the life of the church
Phillipians: First church started by Paul on European soil. He had a close relationship with it. He writes about issues they dealt with
Collosians: Believers are faithful; this letter was probably written by one of his students.
1st Thessolonians: Church was located in the capital of a Roman Province. It was a devoted congregation that was set apart from their community by their values.
2nd Thessolonians: This letter is an extension of the first one. It gives instruction on how to act. They believed the return of Christs was eminent.
1st & 2nd Timothy, Titus, and Philemon: These letters were all written to inviduals from Paul. these are the Pastoral letters.

Sunday, September 27th

This week, Jeremy led the discussion on the historical Jesus. He talked about the history of the Jewish leadership and how it was influenced by outside forces before and during Jesus's time. He talked about how that may have played a role in some of the teachings of Christ.

Sunday, September 20th

This week, Gayle asked the forum to discuss our topic of learning for the next unit. Elizabeth suggested that we look at Paul, and everyone thought was a great idea. Gayle was concerned, however, because in order for us to study Paul, we need to have a lot of background knowledge about him. Gaining this background knowledge will involve learning in a more traditional Sunday School setting over the next weeks with Gayle instructing the class on the subject and us listening.

As we have determined that our class is a forum, based on discussion of topics amongst its member, Gayle wasn't sure that this idea would mesh with our class identity. However, it was agreed upon today, that a mix of traditional instruction with discussion is a healthy thing, and we are all eager to learn what Gayle has to teach us from her experiences and readings about Paul.

She introduced 2 texts to examine as a class.

Paul: The Man and the Myth by Calvin J Roetzel is a scholarly examination of Paul's life and teachings. It was the winner of the Biblical Archaeology Society Award.

Making Sense of Paul: A Basic Introduction to Pauline Theology by Virginia Wiles is written in more a textbook format for those of us who are new to Pauline theology.

Sunday, September 13th

This Sunday we continued our discussion of what it means to be a Baptist. Matt asked us if we have observed the signs of the 4 freedoms (Church, Religion, Bible, etc) in our lives during the week.

We discussed the issues of "in God we trust" on our national currency. We also talked about how some are calling to "bring Christ back into schools."

We discussed the need for separation of church and state. We talked about the dangers of limiting personal liberties of students to express religious beliefs.

We also discussed the roles of the church and of government in fulfilling social needs in our nation.

August 23, 2009

This week Matt led a discussion on how do you balance giving of yourself to serve others and taking care of your own family. It can be difficult to strike a balance with this. Jesus led an example of calling each man and woman his brother and sister. Does this mean we should treat each person the same? What about our loyalties and responsibilities to our own families?

Sunday, August 2

Today, Matt taught the Sunday School Lesson. We discussed how tough economic times cause many churches (and people) to have to make tough decisions about "looking outward or inward." We have to preserve the church itself in order for it to continue to have the opportunity to look outwardly and help in the community. However, it is very important for us to continue to seek ways to engage in mission opportunities, especially in a time when people need help the most.

We also discussed the Christian Life as a spectrum. On one side, we look inward as Christians promised with eternal life. On the other hand, we look outward working in the world to love those around us and build the Kingdom of God. We will continue discussing seeking balance to this next week.

Sunday, July 19

Today in the Foundations Forum, we discussed ideas to contribute to the mission statement of young adults at First Baptist. We talked about the purpose of the young adult ministry being:

1. Glorifying God
2. Fellowship
3. Outreach and Missions
4. Supportive Young Adult Classes
5. Spiritual Independence/Consistency in transition

Lindsey led a talk on the role of the holy spirit in the book of Acts.

Sunday, June 21

Business:

Greenville Drive Game - August 7

Cook out in July

Trip to the Carrick Creek trail in Table Rock State Park in the fall.


Topic:

Gayle led us today in a discussion of the book of Acts. We looked for threads that we could find that extend through the book about the holy spirit. We discussed how the apostles stayed in Jerusalem as Jesus asked. They were overcome with the holy spirit and began speaking in tongues. Peter preached a sermon and gained 3,000 new converts to the new religion.

We also examined how the early church functioned: mutual ownership of possessions, gatherings, food, and prayer. We talked about the question of how this example of the early church impacts us today.

June 14, 2009

This morning the Forum met and discussed up coming events that are being planned: Matt has offered to host a cook out sometime in July, we will go see a Drive game, and we're considering a weekend retreat to the mountains. On June 28, we are going to meet after church at Corona's for lunch.

Next Sunday, Gayle will be leading us in a study of the the Acts of the Apostles.

Have a great week!

Sunday, June 7

This week Lindsey Tabor led our session. She had planned a lesson, but willingly put it aside when we saw a need to plan upcoming events and a direction for our group. The following are the notes that she prepared for us:

Social Functions:
1. Cookout - Possibly hosted at the Rollins' house
2. Open House Sunday - a Sunday school period spent with prospective members. We would provide breakfast, socialize, do some Q and A, and have a small discussion about the ministry needs of adults our age.
3. Greenville Drive Game - Jeremy volunteered to investigate this for a night on the weekend.
4. Barley's night - reserving some space in the upper room for pizza, pool, and libations
5. Bowling - classic idea
6. "Every-other-Sunday-Lunch" - Lindsey will send out emails, and suggest places to get together for lunch. The first one will probably be tentatively scheduled on the 21st of June.

Retreat Ideas:
1. A short camping or hiking trip w/ devotional - James has expressed interest in helping to organize
2. Lock in at a climbing gym (for when you get those midnight rock climbing cravings)
3. Elizabeth had an idea, and I forgot the specifics so Elizabeth, can you email us cuz I'm a space cadet?

Service Projects:
1. Soup Kitchen
2. GAIHN - Jen will look into finding our class a consistent time or task to help with. This could be a project which we "make our own", that we can use to engage interested members.
3. Boys and Girls Club

"Promotional Considerations"
1. Order of Worship - we should try to put our next social event, or simply a description of our class in here to draw in new people.
2. Blog - I think Jeremy was going to help set up a blog for our class. Someone can volunteer to write brief notes on our lessons every Sunday, to keep classmates in touch, and to give us more time to discuss, and learn from each other!

"Tech Stuff": - We can create a reputation for using technology to further our learning and communication
1. Facebook Page - every super cool organization has it! Amy has volunteered to create a page for our class. Interested people can friend us and we can use it to post events, describe books that we've studied, advertise our blog, and collect contact information if offered.
2. Laptop in class - We can have one available to look up information that comes up in conversation, or for other multimedia enhanced learning. (Jen do I sound like a teacher yet? hehe)

Class Identity: We brainstormed ways to make our group distinctive, and to create an identity that is true to the current members and meets the needs of people our age.
1. Flexibitlity - We offer lots of ways to be involved and to keep in touch. We recognize that folks our age are mobile, and may miss some classes. We don't pressure constant engagement, but we provide lots of opportunity.
2. "Forum" - We considered renaming ourselves from a class to a forum to reflect the structure of what we do. There's lots of discussion, and we all have the opportunity to plan lessons, and teach and be taught by each other.
3. Tech Savvy - We want to be known for using technology to enhance our connectedness, our learning, and our planning. We feel that this may be a unique way of reaching people in our age group.
4. Explorative - This was a hard concept to put into words. Our group recognizes that many our age are still in the process of forming what their faith means to them personally, or "working out your own salvation." We want to be a place where theology and the practical application of our Christian faith can be discussed with respect. We do not all have the same opinions and we find this creates a rich environment for the growth of faith. In colloquial terms: "Seekers Welcome."

Matt's List o' stuff to do: Matt volunteered to help us implement our ideas as only an "inside man" can
1. Checking our buget - particularly for our upcoming social functions
2. Providing us a list of "20 Somethings" that go to our church so we can do some outreach (there's gotta be more of us right?)
3. Checking on arranging an email address for our class through the FBC website - this will make communcation a lot easier.
4. Once we get our first event planned, Matt will get it in the order of worship
5. Matt will contact any recent college graduates in our church so we can let them know that we exist.

Conclusions:
1. Matt emphasized that we need to get cracking on summer activities. Our first social event should come pretty quickly, and we should try to get our electronic forms of communication up and running for any newly interested people
2. We should try to have one or two social or service events that are promoted to the congregation before having our open house. The open house should be in the Fall after we have moved to our new class room. We can call it our "Grand Opening"
3. Everyone is trying to take an active role in making these events and ideas a reality. Please email the class if you see something that you think you can help to plan or implement! And send an email out if a function or idea is in the works.
4. We also talked about getting our class communicating with each other more frequently. Let's start using the Blog and Facebook site as soon as they're ready to keep in touch and do updates on plans.
5. As we consider our classes' ministry, we talked about two considerations: What are the spiritual needs of people our age? What ministry can people our age offer to others in our church and community?
6. Don't forget to pray! My two cents is that people will want to join us if they see Christ's love reaching out to them. Let's make sure to keep that our focus!