Class of 2010-- Demonstrating Christ's Love @ School New Video Blog Post & May 9 Worship Preview @ 1st Baptist Knoxville

John Hill Interview from First Baptist Church, Knoxville on Vimeo.

May is commencement month; and for this group of Seniors, this
ceremony is only the beginning. We have dragged them from Croatia to
Orange Beach; from YAK to SMAC and every acronym in between. But they
have saved some of their best work for the 8-6-5 area code.

Last month, a young 12th grader and her family from Egypt lost their
home in a fire. She attends West High School; she and her family are
not Christian. But fortunately for them, God is alive and well at
West; and we have Christians there. In fact, two of our Seniors attend
there. They are the Hill twins. John mentioned the situation in Sunday
School and asked for his class to pray for "Nora." This group, though,
has been trained by some excellent parents and a fine church to learn
how to answer their own prayers. They discussed ways to minister to
Nora, and John investigated the situation back at the high school. He
didn't know Nora well; but with a little networking at school, and a
few connections through a teacher, Nora told John that the family had
an apartment to live in. The conditions were pretty dirty, and the
carpets needed cleaning.

John reported the information to Michael McEntyre, who naturally said
that the church would "handle it." This is the kind of thing that your
benevolence funds go toward. But John brought the response back to his
Sunday School class. The students decided to donate their money from
birthdays, babysitting, grocery bagging, and lawn mowing to the cause;
and they raised enough money to pay for the carpets to be cleaned.
They contacted David's Carpet Cleaning and contracted for the service.

When John told "Nora," about the gift she was in tears. She and her
family were so grateful and had "no idea that Christians would care
that much." When the cleaning service arrived and realized the
condition of the apartment and the circumstance surrounding the
family, David's Carpets did not charge the students for the service.
Now the students have money to spend on another project that needs
their answers to prayer, and this family has seen just the beginning
of Jesus' love for them.

This is the kind of class we salute on May 9. They're not the "best
ever." They're just the next great group linked together in the chain
of students and parents who make a difference in their corners of the
world. They show us truly that wherever we are, we can see First
Baptist's work and Christ's presence.