[THANK YOU Marjie!]
The road trip is over and what a journey it was! Our Heavenly Father helped First Presbyterian Church of Maitland take one giant step forward. It began with Ron’s vision that the entire congregation would spend six weeks studying one subject and have an ongoing church-wide conversation during the season of Lent.

Starting January 17, 2010 through February 14 various church members gave testimonies regarding their experiences in small groups. A special thank you goes to George MacKay, Richard Ott, Pete Taulbee, Mike Armstrong, Jeff Flowers, Bev Reponen, John & Marjie McDonough, Judy Self, and Fred Hastings for inspiring the congregation to find the joy and comfort of participating in small groups.
The next challenge was to find members who were willing to act as facilitators for the small groups. As Ron has often said, “Without leaders it is impossible to have a program.” Leaders came enthusiastically from throughout the congregation! In fact there were over thirty members who were willing to facilitate groups or serve as a group “contact” person. The study was successful due to the leadership of Debbie Horn, Sandy Bishop, Ron & Cheryl Smith, Pat Schaper, George MacKay, Judy Self, Doris & Jim Lowry, Ray Crickenberger, Rhett Wickham, Vern Styron, Ivor & Mary Scott Singer, Joe McKinney, John & Marjie McDonough, Dottie Poole, Mike Rusnak, Madge & Jerry Sutcliffe, Barbara Brumfield, Virgil & Winni Hartsock, Kathy McLain, Carol & Frank House, Bud & Anita Raike, Dena Anderton, Doug Child, Bev Reponen, and Mary Ann Garner.

With such strong leadership the church was able to offer twenty-eight classes a week. Classes ran from Sunday through Friday beginning Sunday, February 21. There were classes in the morning, midmorning, lunch time, afternoon, and evening. In fact, there were enough classes to accommodate almost 300 people. That’s right, almost 300. Current and new members, youth, staff, and visitors all participated in the church-wide journey. There were classes for young couples, young moms with babies, couples with school-aged children, all men, all women, couples, and mixed. If there was someone that desired to be in a class, there was a class available.

Ron chose the book entitled, Community, by Bill Hybels for the church to study. He promised that the sermons during the Lenten season would reference the chapter to be studied the upcoming week. Little did the congregation know how powerful these sermons would be! Each sermon spoke directly to the study and showed how powerfully God would work in the lives of the congregation if they were willing to do the work.

For six weeks the church studied the same subject, the sermons were centered on the same subject, and the conversations among the members were centered on the same subject! Everybody was on the same page. As a result a true “community” has come together at First Presbyterian Church of Maitland!