I was visiting with a fellow in Bible Life Group* this morning, getting caught up with him and his family. They lived in Midland years ago, and moved to the Bay Area of California to be closer to family. He’s back in Midland for a few months, working with his brother who owns a roofing company and thus is extremely busy following the terrible hailstorm earlier this year.
In the course of the conversation, I asked about his wife, specifically where she was working. His reply went something like this: She’s a nanny, and works for a family that’s pretty well off. Johnny Ive and his wife have twins and…
I interrupted him, making a huge leap of logic: Johnny Ive…as in Jonathan Ive? Apple’s chief designer?!
Yes, that’s the fellow.
Excuse me for being an Apple Fanboy, but I think it’s pretty dang cool that I know someone who knows the guy who created the iPod, the iPhone, and the iMac, among many award-winning designs.
*Bible Life Group is our church’s new-fangled name for Sunday School. I guess the latter term sounds too old-fashioned.
Hmmm, Bible Life Group. Wonder if that is why our Sunday School is dropping off. Sunday School is just too old=fashioned today. Of course, with the group I go to, ours is the oldest group and no one will join now as they don’t want to be considered old. We were a group of 60 and now we’re down to 11 yesterday. Our people are dying or moving to be near kids or too sick to come. However, attendance has dropped off in the other adult classes so maybe I’ll suggest a name change to our pastor!
Eric and Alice, one thing I like about the term “Bible Life Group” is that it gets people to ask , “what’s that?” The other term works just fine for me … but it can be instantly recognized and – I’m sorry to say – easily dismised. Maybe someone had a great idea for engaging people when they coined that BLG phrase.
Forgive the sidebar that completely ignores the IMPORTANT substance of your original post, Eric…but I’ve gotta jump on the “Sunday School” bandwagon here. Our church went to “ABF” classes over a year ago. ABF…Adult Bible Fellowship. Even after this length of time, most conversations alluding to the meeting time go something like this:
“Last week in our Sunday School–uh, well, you know, uh, I mean–our ABF class…”
Tell me again…what exactly are we accomplishing here?
P.S. Kudos on the 2 degrees of separation thing 😉
Alice, I think that at a certain age it doesn’t matter what the official title is; it will always be Sunday School. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Jeff, you may be right but I can assure you that whenever most members are asked about “Bible Life Groups” their answers always include the phrase, “it’s Sunday School.”
Sherry, you’ve got a new building. Surely you’ll concede that that requires new terminology! 😉
Speaking of fanboys, greetings from one of yours! Glad to see you back in business. Happy 40th anniversary of the moon landing to all.
Bret, great to hear from you, amigo! Hope things are going well for you.
Say, did you hear something Michael Jackaon dying?