Adult
Sunday School
Encouragers Class [9:30 A.M.]
Facilitators: Larry Vesey
Contact: Lynn Smith (547-1552)
Room: 112
Current Curriculum: "God In America" Beginning Sept. 25th (12 weeks)
The Encouragers’ class is an outgrowth of the Shook Class. The Encouragers came together in 1990 to have a small group, discussion-based Bible Study. The group wanted to dig deeply into the Scriptures to better understand the messages of the writers and to apply God’s teaching to every day life. The class started with 5-7 people and grew quickly to an active membership of over 20.
The Encouragers seldom use standard curricula – rather, we utilize the expertise of two class members who are Bible scholars. The regular leader of the class is Larry Vesey, who studied at Seattle Pacific University, earning a Master of Christian Education degree. Stan Burgess, PhD and professor at Regent University in the doctoral program fills in for Larry and provides the class with great insight into the history of the Bible.
We begin our Sunday mornings with coffee and small-talk – followed by prayer requests, prayer and the lesson. We share our prayer concerns each week with our email distribution list which includes current as well as past members of the class. We lift each other in prayer and support during illness, death and crisis providing encouragement to each other in times of need.
Our class is very active in its support of the church. We take very seriously the charge that we support GBUMC with our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service. A partial list includes support of the NEST ministry, the food closet, Lay Pastoral Ministers, mission teams, The UMW and the UMM, the music ministry, Habitat for Humanity, and preparation of meals for the AIDS ministry. Several class members are active on church committees – so we are deeply involved in the life of the church.
We welcome new members who are seeking to deepen their walk with God and who want to discuss what the Scriptures mean and how to apply the lessons to our lives today. Come by for a cup of coffee and stay for a lesson – we won’t make you be class president until (at least) your third visit!
The class is made up of 50+ year olds – many of whom have raised their children at GBUMC and have common bonds from all the years of youth group and Sunday school classes. We are a very social group with frequent gatherings in our homes for covered dish dinners, trips to the Norfolk Tides baseball games, and the Botanical Gardens for picnics. We have excellent cooks in our class – so the socials are always well attended. 
