April 22, 2012 - Should I seek to speak in Tongues?

Lesson and class discussion over chapter 16 of Charles Ryrie's book Balancing the Christian Life, led by Bob Carroll.

April 1, 2012 - Breakfast Sunday and discussion about the method of dating Easter and Holy Week in History

Breakfast Sunday and discussion about the method of dating Easter and Holy Week in History.

April 15, 2012 - Legal or Legalistic

Lesson and class discussion over chapter 15 of Charles Ryrie's book Balancing the Christian Life, led by Bill Gambrell.

Share the Blessing

Saturday, April 28, is Share the Blessing Day at Johnson Ferry. The ministry assigned to our class is the Atlanta Day Shelter. I've attached a link to the website and a success story for you to read. Hope you can participate in Share the Blessing Day. Mike and Debbie Mullinax will be leading our class to go bless this wonderful ministry.

Mona's Story

Mona came to the Atlanta Day Shelter in need. Now she is on her way to becoming a home owner. In the Autumn 2010 issue of the Atlanta Day Shelter newsletter, Mona shared her story of struggle describing how she and her two daughters came to be homeless. Like several of the women who visit our Shelter daily, Mona found it difficult to maintain a job in the faltering economy that followed 9/11 as companies were forced to downsize. Mona and her girls moved from their home to a friend’s home and ultimately found themselves homeless and staying at a night shelter. A few days after arriving at the night shelter several of Mona’s new acquaintances suggested she visit the Atlanta Day Shelter. Mona’s first day at the Shelter was May 5, 2010. Within a few days of her first visit, Mona was signed up and taking part in the Job Readiness Program. Working with Ms. Gean, she developed a resume and diligently searched and applied for open positions. Her hard work and dedication to leaving the homeless lifestyle behind proved successful on March 29th, 2011. Mona is now employed full-time with Comfort Inn and loving her new position. She and her youngest daughter have moved out of My Sister’s House and in to transitional housing—she is working towards once again owning a home of her own and with her spirit and determination it will only be a matter of time before she succeeds! http://www.atlantadayshelter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=42

Sunday's Coming

That's My King

The Darkest Day

The Coming of Everlasting Joy

by Elizabeth Sherrill

And they crucified him…—Mark 15:24

It was the darkest day. The unbearable day. Many who had followed Jesus up to now fled from the events of Friday. And those who stayed to watch wept in horror.
The rigged trial, the mob that howled for the blood of the man who had failed to meet their patriotic expectations. The brutal beating, the savagery of the soldiers, the stumbling walk through the city He had entered to cheers five days before. Finally, the nails pounded into flesh, the tortured body jerked upright, the naked man dying by inches as his enemies jeered.

To have it end like this, after all the bright promise! It was not just the cruel death of the disciples’ young leader, but the death of their faith, the end of all they believed in, on this black Friday that seemed anything but good.

Most of us have experienced this Friday for ourselves. It’s not the disillusionment of Thursday, when our own performance falls short. It’s the blow that strikes from the outside, the tragedy that destroys our loved one, our health, our livelihood. We feel, as the disciples did on that terrible day, that Jesus Himself has failed us. If He were really God’s son, things like this could not happen. “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39)

There is no way around the Fridays of our lives, only the way through—through pain and death and burial. As His sorrowing followers laid Jesus in the tomb, so we lay down the wreckage of our hope.
Ahead was Easter Sunday, but on Friday they couldn’t know that. And neither can we, in the first shock of loss. We can only know that we will know. We can only know that the whole story is not yet told.
For, of course, Jesus is the Christ. He is saving us, whatever the appearance. He is bringing about our everlasting joy, in a way only God could have chosen.
If it is Friday in your life today, Easter cannot be far away.